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30th anniversary of the Amiga
31 Jul 2015 13:39 #11897
by Valence
Replied by Valence on topic 30th anniversary of the Amiga
I'm far too young to remember the ZX81 
Before my Amiga I had a Spectrum 48, but it was one with a proper keyboard not the one with rubbery keys that felt like the cold skin of a dead body. (And yet I rather liked those but not enough to pay through the nose for that bluetooth one they released recently.)
And I also used to type in pages and pages of Hex (complete with a checksum at the end of each line) in order to play what turned out to be a slipshop Marble Madness clone.
But even though the tapes took an eternity to load, even though it sounded like a five minute fight between robot cats, even though the graphics were monochrome despite being called "Spectrum" and even though the games were absurdly and unforgivingly difficult I still think the Speccy version of Head Over Heels is the greatest game I ever played. (Ah, whatever happened to Jon Ritman and his lovely beard?)
Before my Amiga I had a Spectrum 48, but it was one with a proper keyboard not the one with rubbery keys that felt like the cold skin of a dead body. (And yet I rather liked those but not enough to pay through the nose for that bluetooth one they released recently.)And I also used to type in pages and pages of Hex (complete with a checksum at the end of each line) in order to play what turned out to be a slipshop Marble Madness clone.
But even though the tapes took an eternity to load, even though it sounded like a five minute fight between robot cats, even though the graphics were monochrome despite being called "Spectrum" and even though the games were absurdly and unforgivingly difficult I still think the Speccy version of Head Over Heels is the greatest game I ever played. (Ah, whatever happened to Jon Ritman and his lovely beard?)
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31 Jul 2015 14:19 #11899
by Banj
As if I wasn't feeling old enough already
I also went from a Spectrum 48 to the Amiga, but mine was the original type with the rubber keys. I wasn't a fan of the Amstrad produced Speccy plus things they made later (the Sinclair QL was interesting though).
And I agree, back then games were hard. These days even games with a reputation for difficulty can be finished in a few hours, I can't recall ever completing a single Spectrum game (bloody Thorin would never lift me out through that window, no matter how I asked him).
Replied by Banj on topic 30th anniversary of the Amiga
I'm far too young to remember the ZX81
As if I wasn't feeling old enough already
I also went from a Spectrum 48 to the Amiga, but mine was the original type with the rubber keys. I wasn't a fan of the Amstrad produced Speccy plus things they made later (the Sinclair QL was interesting though).
And I agree, back then games were hard. These days even games with a reputation for difficulty can be finished in a few hours, I can't recall ever completing a single Spectrum game (bloody Thorin would never lift me out through that window, no matter how I asked him).
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31 Jul 2015 15:21 - 31 Jul 2015 15:22 #11902
by Valence
Replied by Valence on topic 30th anniversary of the Amiga
Having graphics! 
Yes it was annoying when they were text only. Although it added to the atmosphere in an imaginative bookish way, typing in the correct instructions in the correct syntax was terribly frustrating even back then.
The Amstrad Speccys did lose the iconic look and feel but real keys did improve my performance on games like Hypersports and Daley Thompson's Decathlon. I could do the 100m in under 9.4 on my own machine but struggled to get under 10 secs with the rubber ones. But whatever keys you had the 400m was actual physical agony. 40-50 seconds of flatout button bashing was a new kind of pain to me. And these days they say video games are inactive and promote obesity!
Yes it was annoying when they were text only. Although it added to the atmosphere in an imaginative bookish way, typing in the correct instructions in the correct syntax was terribly frustrating even back then.The Amstrad Speccys did lose the iconic look and feel but real keys did improve my performance on games like Hypersports and Daley Thompson's Decathlon. I could do the 100m in under 9.4 on my own machine but struggled to get under 10 secs with the rubber ones. But whatever keys you had the 400m was actual physical agony. 40-50 seconds of flatout button bashing was a new kind of pain to me. And these days they say video games are inactive and promote obesity!
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