Back in black

THEC64 Mini is back, and it's black

According to the C64-Wiki, THEC64 Mini debuted at the end of September in 2017, and, as I recall, units shipped early 2018. Whilst imperfect (more on that later), it has done very well, selling in the hundreds of thousands since, and remains Retro Games Ltd's (RGL) most popular product, still available in some places for as little as £50 in the UK. Though, TheSpectrum (also from RGL) is hot on its heels since it was launched in November 2024.

Just over 8 years after its launch, and THEC64 Mini is back in a beautiful matte black finish, complete with a microswitched joystick. Unlike the regular unit, with THEC64 and the Mini sharing many games (with an outlier being THEVIC20), the new unit, due to launch October 2025 (I'm really hoping that people don't start calling it THEC64 Blackie or something, I'm going to refer to it as the BE (Black Edition) henceforth) contains some of the best games ever to grace the C64 platform. Headline acts are from Protovision, with the unreal Sam's Journey and A Pig Quest stand out titles, along with Covert BitOps dystopian cyberpunk classic Hessian.

As far as I can gather, only 25 games are included, but all of them are absolute "bangers", as some young 'uns might say these days! In no particular order of greatness, the entertainment software included is as follows:

1. Yeti Mountain
2. Spinning Image
3. Steel Ranger
4. A Pig Quest
5. Hessian
6. Joe Gunn: Gold Edition
7. Hunter's Moon Remastered
8. It's Magic 2
9. Runn 'N' Gunn
10. Guns 'N' Ghosts
11. Metal Warrior Ultra
12. Millie & Molly
13. Rocky Memphis: The Legend of Atlantis
14. Good Kniight
15. Planet Golf
16. Nixy and the Seeds of Doom
17. P0 Snake
18. Grid Pix
19. Caren and the Tangled Tentacles
20. Ooze: The Escape
21. Sam's Journey
22. Shadow Switcher
23. Pains 'N' Aches
24. Knight 'N' Grail
25. Galencia

As for the imperfections of the original THEC64 Mini, most notable of these was the poor joystick build quality: the stem could snap too easily. In order to get the most out of the platform, there is some learning involved, and some manual work, for instance, remembering file flags or manually creating Commodore Joystick Map files with a text editor (on your modern PC or Mac) per game or per game folder. Perhaps the firmware has been updated so that this is no longer an issue, bringing the platform in line with the user experience on TheSpectrum and THEA500 Mini? Maybe then there is a new and improved UI. And maybe the launch of THEC64 Mini BE tells of a reboot for the platform, with the future being a THEC64c in a slimline casing? All will be revealed I'm sure. I'm wondering too if this Mini variant will support VIC-20 software? The temptation to do this with previous firmware upgrades was likely due to a lack of a keyboard, especially as THEC64 was nearly twice the price of the Mini at launch.

As a side note, it seems that RGL has resisted and probably not even thought about making THEC16 or THEPlus4 (gotta get that productivity software, right?), or maybe this is a hint that this will be a thing too? I'm letting my imagination go wild here. Anyway, I now have to wonder, do I want THEC64 Mini BE in my life? A positive might be an improved user experience, and I'll definitely be supporting indie C64 developers (note that all of the titles are post-commercial games). The joystick might also be a joy to use as well. But I'm waiting just like everyone else, and curiosity will get the better of me. As they say, a fool and his money are easily parted.

User experience... it's important.

Electronic devices are everywhere: the best devices generally have the best user experience

In the early 1980s, home computers were the new thing, and not many people owned one compared to the mass of the population. At this time in our history, a good proportion of the populace here in UK still had black and white television sets, most people would have a Milkman, and a Mars Bar was around 15 pence. As I recall, a Fudge Bar was still 10 pence or under (or two Shillings [or Florin], because we still had these coins as legal tender). During this time, there wasn't much of a perception of what a computer was, or how one would use it. A new computer only needed to be working at a rudimentary level, and even with these now very primitive machines, a whole new world was opening up for a new generation. This is why we ended up with Sinclair's quirky machines as a mainstay throughout the 1980s, especially the culturally significant ZX Spectrum: Sinclair's machines were enough of a computer to do computering things, at a price point that would encourage many people to take a punt.

We are a long way from this fledgling world. Computers and other tech has to be usable and user friendly - although there will always be some learning curve for some people. Most of us use technology daily, and much of the user experience is engrained in us. As a now professional software developer in 2025, it's very important too; getting the design right, and the user experience as pain free as possible can be its own important subset of a good development team. Don't confuse the user: keep it simple and stupid (or keep it simple, stupid I tell myself when making web-based computer software).

There has been some chatter and feedback about my previous blog post Who would win in a fight between the Speccy and C64? Whilst the Sinclair-branded ZX Spectrum Next might be your dream machine, it is lacking in some areas. My view is that these areas are:

1. User experience
2. No clear product vision
   • Translated: trying to be too many things at once
3. Not a great keyboard
4. Kickstarter v1 specific issue: the SD cards were very cheap (or at least so for me)

The most important area here is user experience: it's okay if you set it up once, and don't really change very much. But there is are some critical things to remember: one is, don't change your display (like go from HDMI to VGA output) without noting down how to get it to detect the change of VDU when switching on the machine again, and the other is, if you are using HDMI, unplug the HDMI or switch off your screen before switching off or unplugging your Next machine. Aside these two things (and I still don't remember yet how to set up for a different display, maybe I should follow my own advice and write it down), all of the nice to have features seem to be a bit of a mess around. The TZX support, for instance, requires an internal Raspberry Pi as does the "SID Chip" support, neither of which is very good. TZX files are good if it's a single load, but there is no support multi-loads. Or if there is, then I need to update my Next firmware, which has to be done per SD card, even for commercially purchased titles. Which isn't the best way to keep things up to date.

But the Next is expanding, it already has a Sinclair QL core (not that I have a problem with that, but I'd have preferred improved ZX80 and ZX81 support before that happened). This presents another issue: the keyboard. Despite not being a good keyboard, at least on the KS1 and KS2 variants, it is only really a useful keyboard for a Spectrum. It is not ideal, and in fact would be frustrating for any other machines that I can think of. The Sinclair QL has five function keys, and these are used with a lot of QL software, as one might expect. So, whilst the QL core is nice, and at least fits in to it being a Sinclair branded machine, you will likely need a PS/2 keyboard to make any use out of it, without it feeling clunky. And that needs to be set in the start up menu, i.e., are you using the [PS/2] port for a keyboard, a mouse, or a mouse/keyboard combo? Which makes me feel that the Next team could have included two PS/2 ports to stop the faffing about. Note that if you want to use both a computer mouse and keyboard with the Next, you will need a splitter cable. And don't get me started about the KS3 "C64" now being a part of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum Next ecosystem!

In fact, scrub that. Do get me started. Without making the same points again, my understanding of the Next back when it was announced some years ago is that it was to be the ultimate ZX Spectrum; 100% compatible with the original ZX Spectrum and its various iterations, but with new, exciting features. Maybe even 100% hardware compatible too? Although I seem to recall that was a bit more ambitious. It was supposed to be the best Spectrum that it can be, a "Super Spectrum" if you will.

We seem to have strayed a long way from what I understood to be the original vision for the platform. Including the ZX80 and ZX81 in there, no matter how flawed this was, makes it the ultimate Sinclair-branded machine. And adding the QL, no matter how useful that is, at least fits in with the Sinclair branding. However, the reality is that it isn't the best Speccy that it can be. There are flaws. Adding in a whole different platform from a different manufacturer, back when home computers came in many flavours isn't fixing any of the existing issues. Leave aside the keyboard being unsuitable for a Commodore C64, which has four function keys (8 possibilities through BASIC), and you're creating confusion, not clarity.

More confusion about this official C64 core isn't helped by the information of the original Kickstarter landing page, as follows:

ZX Spectrum Next Issue 3 in C64 Core mode:

• Processor: 6510 processor running at 0.97MHZ (PAL) & 1.023MHz (NTSC) with accelerated modes in the works
• Compatibility: Full C64 compatibility
• Memory: 64KB RAM
• Video: Full VIC2 support (320x200 colour mode, 16 colours, sprites and raster)
• Video Output: RGB, VGA, HDMI - PAL and NTSC modes (switchable via hotkey)
• Audio: SID fully implemented
• Joysticks: Standard joysticks support
• Storage: Support for 8K and 16K cartridges, D64 disk images (single and double sided) with multi floppy software support
• OS: Jiffy DOS compatible
• PS/2 port: PS/2 supporting GeosMOUSE protocol and external PS/2 keyboard
• Keyboard: Full C64 keyboard support via combination keys
• Tape: Tape support via Next MIC/EAR socket

People who know the C64 platform will know that there is no such thing as a double sided D64 disk image, and the claim of "Full C64 compatibility" is only in software, not in hardware, unless there is a serial bus added and other Commodore specific ports. There is also no such thing as a GeosMOUSE: there was the SmartMouse and SmartTrack by Creative Micro Designs (CMD), Inc. But these were based upon Commodore's own 1351 mouse (note, it doesn't say that it will support a 1351 mouse or a compatible clone, through the Atari-style joystick ports). The "Full C64 keyboard support via combination keys" sounds like a painful work-around, and kind of acknowledges my point about the Spectrum keyboard only really being useful for, well, Sinclair's machines. And whilst it might be "compatible" with JiffyDOS (not Jiffy DOS; I know, I'm being pedantic), this will disable tape loading, as CMD's Kernal upgrade is for disk drives only systems (well, disk drives and drive types, such as hard drives or RAM drives) which needs to be switched off in order to access the cassette port to load and save on real hardware.

Multiple floppy software support is ambiguous. Does this mean multiple drives? I'm not sure, but Commodore's own 1541 Mk II, 1571 and 1581 drives could be drive 8, 9, 10, or 11 (this had to be set in software on the 1541 without a motherboard modification). Experienced Commodore users know what this means, but does the Next team?

If they have GEOS working, that's a good indication that the drive emulation and computer emulation is pretty accurate. The fact that the non-existent "GeosMOUSE" is mentioned suggests that you need to use a PS/2 mouse, and with the pain of multiple key presses and an already poorly mapped keyboard layout, will mean that you'd also need a PS/2 keyboard, and therefore a splitter cable, and set this in your C64 core settings first. I won't mention anything about the SID fully implemented, but I'm sure it'll be a good approximation.

Clearly, however, this list taken from the Kickstarter page tells me that the Next team don't really know the C64 platform well. And that's not a good sign. Sure, it might have an official C64 core, but will it be another feature that exists but is soon forgotten about? One has to wonder.

This diversion aside, if The Spectrum Next was supposed to be the ultimate "retro" computer, being able to accurately emulate multiple systems, why call it the ZX Spectrum Next? And why the Sinclair branding? You're ending up with potentially a convoluted mess, with too many menu settings, and too much to remember, making a not so smooth user experience. In any case, there are other FPGA solutions already in this "do everything" market that are likely cheaper, and any PC from the last 10 or 15 years can already do this, thanks to so many software emulators existing. And some emulators are just drag and drop, working on operating systems that most people are already familiar with. People wanting a multi-system are already likely invested in either other FPGA devices, or emulators. Or even cheap Chinese knock offs imported in a grey market, with thousands of unlicensed games. Who from this crowd is going to spend £300 or more on buying a ZX Next then? Answers on a post card.

A real convincer would be a so-called "Killer App"; but with the official ZX Spectrum Software website only listing 42 exclusive titles, and only showing productions up to 2024 at the time of writing, this is not a good look. Sure, there is Head over Heels, but guess what? You can play this on an original Spectrum. I'm not convinced that a new version will be any better in terms of gameplay. And honestly, the "improved" graphics aren't that good. But then there was only so much you could do with the source material being as it is.

Clearly, the market for Next specific software is small, otherwise, why isn't there at least the same amount of new Next titles released as there is for it's parent platform? Or at least half as many? In its two issues, Break Space magazine has review over 70 software titles for the ZX Spectrum. And that's not even every release for the period of time it has existed. That's a lot of software to play through by any standards in just six months or so. Which leads to the question: how many Next exclusive titles have been released during the same time period? At a distance, the Next might look like a Stallion, but in truth, with a lack of forthcoming exclusive original software, it's a bit of a lame Horse.

The additional official cores might be nice, but the platform expansion and obvious feature creep has spread everything too thinly and to my mind diluted the platform's appeal, not added to it. At it's core, it feels like an unfinished product which takes some time to learn how to use as in order to make use of all of the features, or at least all of the interesting features (I never saw much point in the NextTel thing). You need to remember lots of things. Most products try to keep things simple, and this appears to be Sinclair's original ethos. Each iteration of Sinclair's 8-bit computers from the ZX80 to the Spectrum 128K had incremental improvements, and each time you got just enough computer for your buck. In about 2 years, it went from a black-and-white only machine with a flickering display, to a colour machine with, for its time, fairly high resolution graphics. The 128K added better sound capabilities, and also fixed some timing issues, making it a slightly faster machine too (but also breaking the use of graphics in the border, or skewing them at the very least).

In summary, I would love the Next team to focus on honing the platform to its original intended vision, cut out some of the unused features, and look at making original software, not taking existing software and "upgrading" the graphics and sound. But this isn't going to happen. Snakes on a Plane in FPGA form is here, and this is the third movie. Sure, it got funded in minutes, and it's raised over £1.5m in pledges from its loyal backers. This is all good, of course, but whilst the features and digital ecosystem of the Speccy Next is expanding, its user base doesn't seem to be. Not by enough, anyway. What would prove this wrong is if the Kickstarter 3 campaign ends with 10,000 or more backers. 15,000 would be pretty exceptional. But I suspect whilst it'll go beyond the second Kickstarter in terms of backers, it won't get too far beyond that. I'm waiting to be proven wrong, and will be happy if I am.

Who would win in a fight between the Speccy and C64?

In 2025, an old rivalry has been inadvertently invoked

There was always a rivalry between the Commodore C64 and Sinclair ZX Spectrum, or certainly so in the UK and likely Ireland, propagated by some of the magazines of the day from writers who used to secretly own both machines, most likely. It's part of our collective history and culture now, and surely we're all grown up and stuff. No one would be so petty as to reignite this conflict, surely?

Well no. And yes. Or, if I may adumbrate my point further: it'll be interesting to see what happens with the modern-day iterations of both mainstay 8-bit computers; the "Super Spectrum" in the form of the Sinclair-branded ZX Spectrum Next [Speccy Next], and the Ultimate 64 in the form of the Commodore-branded Commodore 64 Ultimate [C64 Ultimate]. Both platforms have been kicking around for a while now, with the latter being a rebadged Ultimate 64 II by Gideon's Logic.

To some extent, because things have clearly moved on since the 1980s, and the flame wars of the late 1990s and early 2000s have largely been forgotten, these two machines are now competing with each other for the same market space, crowded by the same consumers, and I'd wager that the C64 Ultimate has a slight advantage, being announced just before the Speccy Next Kickstarter [KS] v3 started.

I don't imagine that everyone could afford both, especially given the time-sensitive nature of a KS campaign - you can either afford to back it, or not. It's that simple. Whereas, Commodore.net's offering isn't so time limited, giving people a chance to save some money. You may also buy with Klarna, meaning that potential customers may pay it over three months. I project that the C64 Ultimate will be a slight winner here (lest we forget that these units are also sold by Gideon's Logic independently from Commodore.net).

I therefore do wonder why the Next team decided again upon the KS route. As Gideon's Logic has proven, if you get the business model right in the first instance, you don't need to crowd fund your product beyond its first iteration. Clearly people want a Sinclair-branded Speccy Next, but some people will miss out because the timing of the KS doesn't fit their budget up to 7 days after the campaign ends.

There are Speccy Next boards available, which are more affordable, but many of us prefer something out of the box, instead of messing about building a system out of spare or replacement parts. But the good news is that this makes XBerry Pi Speccy Next clone looks reasonable value by comparison, and these seem to be available at your convenience, rather than just for a few weeks, and every few years.

Commodore.net's timing is interesting; those people who were considering the Next because of the C64 core (and poor user experience with the keyboard, no doubt) will more likely now be drawn to the C64 Ultimate. I don't buy this new idea that the Sinclair-branded Speccy Next needs to do everything, as there are other FPGA solutions already in this market. And nearly every PC from the last 10 years can already emeulate nearly everything that you want, and many things that you don't.

Owning a U64 Elite tells me of a much better and more complete user experience over the Speccy Next, and most of the features on the U64 platform aren't just nice to have afterthoughts, or some crazy suggestion from some guy on the Internet. Each feature on the U64 has a real-world use case, from playing Sonic the Hedgehog by utilising the built-in RAM Expansion Unit [REU] capabilities, or making the GEOS experience way better by utilising the virtual 1581 disk drive, said REU, and ramping up the MHz to 48, from ~1MHz of a stock C64. And then of course, out of the box, you can have stereo SID without very much effort. And then double up again by adding two more SID chips if you want to.

In any case, the next KS3 campaign is off to an exceptional start. It doing well when it's all done and dusted would mean around 10,000 backers in my view, but it's already knocking on the door of the number of backers for the second campaign (around 6,000 from memory). Lots of stretch goals have been announced, but some of them seem superfluous to me. I won't get into that here. I only hope that one of the stretch goals is something sensible, like offering complete boxed units after the campaign (as well as the board replacements/upgrades), even if those units are offered at a slight premium. There must be a sustainable business model in there somewhere, or has that ship already sailed as Retro Games Ltd is dominating the market for perfectly usable The Spectrum.

A post script would be that the Commodore C64 clearly has a much broader international appeal than Sinclair machines do, so maybe this is part of the issue for the Speccy Next team? And of course, the consumer base in countries where the Speccy was and is popular is being drained, thanks to issues such as lack of job security, decreasing prosperity, high inflation, and other stress factors. Leave the mass market to RGL, and focus on a niche product that appeals to a small subset of it. That seems to be the thinking from the Next team.

At what point should dedicated Spectrum magazines start reviewing Commodore C64 games?

The Sinclair-branded ZX Spectrum Next is launching, and it'll play Commodore C64 games, apparently

The next ZX Spectrum Next Kickstarter has been announced, and as anyone paying attention will already know, there's going to be a Commode C64 core. And this just feels wrong to me. Not because I want to restart the flamewars from comp.sys.sinclair and such places (actually, I miss them sometimes, so maybe I do), but because it's obvious that Sinclair and Commodore 8-bit machines have distinct lineages and histories, intertwined only in some parts of Europe where both were popular. But why stop at the C64? Why not VIC-20? PET? C16 or Plus/4? In fact, why not just turn the Next into a MiSTer FPGA and be a free-for-all?

I thought the Next existed because it was to be the ultimate Spectrum; a dream machine, compatible with the original, can play ZX80 and ZX81 games, and can do some cool things besides with enhanced Speccy modes, like a better BASIC interpreter, faster CPU clock speed and other such delights. Although I've been critical of the platform for having too many features, or more precisely, feature creep, with the Next team seemingly unable to resist every crazy idea that's suggested on the Internet. But many of these go unused and unloved, and most people only want a reliable and modern Speccy to use with modern televisions (something that the Next hasn't implemented well, but that's for another time).

Anyway, with the Next now supporting a C64 mode (and will this even be licensed? Or will you have to provide your own Kernal, BASIC and Character ROM images? I think with the launch of Commodore.net, there will be interested parties for IP theft here, unless this has been resolved behind the scenes), it's going to be another mess in an already overcooked computer platform.

The most annoying thing about emulators is key mapping; to get the full C64 experience, you want a properly mapped keyboard, and this is something that THEC64 and THEVIC20 from Retro Games Ltd do, and so does the MEGA-65 Computer and Ultimate64 platform. How's the keyboard mapping going to work? Is the asterisk (*) going to be on the B key, or is it going to be somewhere else? What about the Stop key? Is that still going to be Caps Shift and Space? Or will there be an on-screen keyboard like on the C64DTV and THEC64 Mini?

This aside, and as I've alluded to already, Commodore.net have announced a range of "officially branded" Ultimate 64 computers, and so far pre-sales are strong; at the time of writing, around 4,000 units have been ordered. Adding a C64 core to the Next makes even less sense as the Ultimate 64 is just that, the best C64 clone (or compatible) you can currently buy, and will exceed any Next core in terms of completeness and compatibility; I mean, the U64 has a real serial bus to use real Commodore disk drives, and it has a real cartridge port too. Is someone going to make a third-party C64 cartridge port adapter for the Next edge connector? Stranger things have happened.

Surely now the C64 is part of the Next ecosystem, dedicated Sinclair magazines, specifically those Speccy Next publications, will now have to start reviewing C64 games, right? Although I'm concerned that no one interested in backing the Kickstarter is really keen about this new core, especially the freelance writers for Next magazines. I can understand why a Next or Sinclair-interested publication would want to write about the QL core, or even list ZX81 games that work with the Next's ZX81 emulator (some don't), or authoring articles about CP/M on the platform and what it can do. The C64 core will just be there, like so many other features, mostly unused and unloved. My conclusion is thus: the C64 core is a waste of good development time, and is not bringing anyone new to the party. Most Next users will be using it to play Speccy games. It is a pointless edge case that no one really asked for, but every backer will get.

You wait for a decent Speccy mag, then two come along at once...

What a time to be alive, eh?

Way back in September 2024, I was hungry. Not for food, but for a fab and skillo Speccy mag. At that time, that meant me yearning for the crap (and I don't mean that) Your Sinclair (YS); although not a Speccy owner back in the 1980s, I had one by proxy as me and some mates used to try to write games on the rubber-clad microcomputer. Nothing too advanced, and not as advanced as the now infamous Advanced Lawnmower Simulator, of course. But hey, it was a great time to be alive, and YS was a great mag, even for part-time or honourary Spec Chums like myself (was that allowed???). I got a ZX 48K rubber key machine in the early 1990s, while everyone else was upgrading to supposedly better machines. And it was around this time that I found my passion and fascination with 8-bit technologies again. So, modern computers could do more, but that didn't mean anything to me. The unsophisticated home computers of the 1980s, when programmed well, brought a whole new world to life, and as I was a programmer first, seeing well timed interactive code executing on a television set was like a someone with the eye admiring a work of art.

It was around this time [September 2024] when I was approached by Chris Thacker, who had ideas for a new gaming magazine. I was surprised that he contacted me, and even knew anything about me. The last significant feature I had published in a gaming mag was probably around 2006 for gamesTM. And whilst my Micro Mart (MM) column continued after that, life circumstances meant it was difficult to meet any deadlines, and I ended up losing it likely due to over-work and burn out, amongst other issues. But at least by that time I had stopped invoicing MM, in fact for a number of years before. Anything printed after around 2007 was submitted at no cost to the magazine as, and rightly so in my view as I couldn't commit the time to it that I once had.

I think it was around April 2025 when I first heard about FREEZEZX; it was wryly touted as an April Fool's joke, but it turned out to be real. At that time, I had a Cruise to Norway to prepare for (after the long, cold Winter, Norway was the ideal destination for a break). And after spending too much on the Ship (Iona) I was skint. But as soon as I could, I pre-ordered issue one, knowing that its sister mag, FREEZE64, is the best Commodore C64 gaming mag that money can currently purchase (unless you're buying old issues of Commodore Format or something from eBay or wherever).

In my skint state, I noticed another Speccy gaming mag - BreakSpace - and it was FREE! Hurrah! Available from itch.io, this is a mag with real heart, giving you a lowdown on the most recent releases for the old ZX Speccy, although this one is in digital form only, and not printed (I personally prefer printed matter, but that's just because of my age).

FREEZEZX can be pre-ordered (or ordered, depending on when you are reading this) from here and BreakSpace issue one is available here

Gaming Culture issue two KickStarter campaign is alive!

Go back it, if you want a magazine that's a bit different

Starting a magazine when physical printed publications are clearly in decline, especially so in the once massive gaming market, is something of a risk, but thankfully, platforms like KickStarter (KS) are there to help to crowd fund such endeavours. Mixing in a diverse group of writers and a block of Lard, as well as advertising from Heard Plus, Pixel Jockey and Cronosoft, and of course the wonderful backers from the first KS campaign, and we got a magazine, although not perfect, something to be proud of. Nearly all of the heavy lifting was done by Chris Thacker, that is, magazine design, concept, layout, editing, news round up, proofing, direction, and some writing. And after all that, Chris is handling the postage and digital deliveries too. So he should be especially proud. Although it was kind of a self punishment to increase the page count at least twice, eh Chris?

Anyway, Gaming Culture issue two has launched with a spanky new KS campaign, and is 100% Lard Approved. No other magazine can say that, surely? For convenience, the link to the campaign is below in an iframe. Lovely!

Finally in the 48 club

After some years, I'm finally in print again

My first foray into writing for magazines (not fanzines) started in January 2002, and was first printed in the now much missed Micro Mart magazine. My first column appeared in a February 2002 issue and I continued to write on an eight week trial basis. By the time I'd written my 10th column, I realised that I'd passed my trial, although I don't remember ever receiving confirmation from the then editor Simon Brew. The subject matter of my weekly column was all about 8-bit home computers launched mostly in the early 1980s, although I did cover some 1970s personal computers, like the Commodore PET/CBM range, and branched out to some occasional next-gen machines like the Atari Jaguar, a 64-bit powerhouse providing you did the right mathematics.

After my retro column was establishing itself as something that people in the fledgling 8-bit communities were embracing, a new magazine called gamesTM (gTM) launched with a fairly substantial Retro section called just that. It was focused on only nostalgia with a lot of the articles seemingly written from memory with some of the writers opinions shining through. I can't say that I did much better when writing about purely nostalgic articles, but I did try to weave in factual truths remembering those simpler times and any technological constraints. For instance, the portable Commodore SX-64 was already a pretty hefty machine, and adding a battery to this wouldn't have made the thing any more portable, something that, as I recall, the gTM Retro section seemed to complain about; no one seemed to consider the limitations of rechargeable battery technologies of the time, nor the technical feat of making a Commodore C64 with a 1541 disk drive portable; in essence, the 1541 disk drive controller board was essentially another 6502-based computer.

And then came the original and best Retro Gamer (RG) magazine, which I think survives today, although it is in many ways a very different magazine from Martyn Carroll's and Mate Mabe's vision (with some significant contributions from Aaron Birch back then, as I recall). Those of you who know or recall those days may remember that I wrote a significant piece about Commodore's 8-bit machines for issue two [of RG], and was named in issue one. By issue four or five, on Tuesday, 4th May 2004 (my 27th birthday) I was RG's first official staff writer, which didn't last long and showed many of my own short comings as a writer. But anyway, regardless I somehow (with some breaks) managed to continue my weekly Micro Mart column for over 10 years.

And 21 years and a day after I became RG's first staff writer (and I say that Aaron did a much better job as a staff writer than I did) a digital copy of Gaming Culture landed in my inbox, a slightly belated 48th birthday present. Gaming Culture is hoping to offer something a bit different from other gaming mags, and hopefully my small contribution remembering the late, great Joffa Smith, and a reprint from this 'ere weblog - specifically this article - is doing just that.

If you are interested in procuring a copy of Gaming Culture to see what it's all about, head over to here, although at the time of writing, only the digital copy is available to purchase. Issue two of this will be launching on Kick Starter soon, so when it does, go back it if you are able to.

Another ZX Spectrum Next Kickstarter on the Horizon

A third instalment in the exciting KickStarter series, known as the ZX Spectrum Next, is planned

One has to wonder how many KickStarter campaigns it takes before you can formulate a business model to actually, you know, sell your product like you're running a for-profit business? The answer to this question is, I guess, at least three, and who knows how many more?

Yes, that's right, as confirmed in an update to the second ZX Speccy Next KS campaign, with the heading "Heading into 2025 -- a bit late, eh?", it reads as follows:

Kickstarter 3 on the making [SIC]

Yes, we left this one for last as we didn’t want to take away the attention from the amazing work the community is brewing on the Spectrum Next every day.

We are, in fact, getting the plans for a third instalment of the ZX Spectrum Next crowdfunding in motion. The main reason for doing this is twofold: the urge to expand the size of the community for the benefit of the developers who are keen to get their games and apps in the hands of more people and; the knowledge some missed out (still!) on the first two, and want a Spectrum Next for themselves – we got constant emails about it and eBay prices keep on telling us there’s more to be done Next-wise.

Thus begins the journey of another Kickstarter which, if history is anything to go by, will be full of surprises, challenges and (likely) delays. But if all goes well, we’ll be welcoming a fresh class of users and fans to bolster our ranks, and keep the Spectrum Next’s momentum at maximum. What’s not to like?

After all, we wouldn’t want to disappoint Bret Bapstarcade Pritchard: 2024 was the best year ‘so far’ indeed – let’s make sure that’s the case!

Stay tuned!

This statement is doing well to manage expectations, by already stating the probability of delays to the next campaign, but it shows that the team behind the ZX Speccy Next are clearly living in something of a bubble here: another KS outing is unlikely to significantly increase the number of people using and procuring ZX Spectrum Next exclusive software, especially as it can be emulated (as mentioned in the above update), and there are other ways to get hold of a ZX Spectrum Next in hardware form, a quick search of the Internet tells me about a system called the Ngo, and also a Raspberry Pi based solution called the Xberry Pi ZX Spectrum Next clone. In fact, the only benefit I can see over emulation, or a Ngo or other clone, is that the Speccy Next has the authentic Rick Dickinson industrial design, so is a nice piece of eye candy.

So, who is going to be backing the next ZX Next KS campaign? Those people who like the design, for sure, some people who will see this as an investment, and others who want a reliable modern days Speccy that uses new television sets without any trouble (although the Next does have issues with HDMI and changing between one display and another). And, of course, collectors who just must own every iteration of a Sinclair product, because why not? The minority of people will be backing it to play or use exclusive Next software because there isn't that much of it, and the really good games tend to have equally excellent actual ZX Spectrum versions as well. Yes, I'm looking at you, Aliens: Neoplasma!

The other point is glaringly obvious: the two KickStarter campaigns has raised £2,570,496, according to the numbers on KickStarter. Now of course, there is the point that no one has made money from the Next, in fact, the first KickStarter was somehow a loss. Okay. So, it really was like Homer Simpson's fabled car then? Full of brilliant ideas (according to Homer) but expensive and poorly executed. But I suspect that this isn't the full story, and anything I say about potential profits or losses here is unfair without knowing all ends. However, the £2.5m in total monies already put into the two KS Campaigns are surely signs that, if you get the price, product and marketing right, there is a product there that doesn't need to rely on another go on KS.

Now, imagine then the beautiful Next casing, but with internals that are costs reduced? Perhaps the internals of the ever popular Ngo and the externals Rick Dickinson's excellent and sleek design? That would mean some compromises, but surely the Ngo does all of the things that a Next does, or at least all of the features that people actually want to use, which I still maintain is largely to play original Speccy software without the hassle of R: Tape Loading Error.

With a more singular vision and at a good price, this could be an actual a real viable product for a bigger market that bursts outside of the Internet bubble that surrounds the Speccy Next. But some may say that the Retro Games Ltd TheSpectrum has already taken that market. And there isn't enough Next-specific software (at least yet) to allow it can compete in a meaningful way, is there? Nor a decent dedicated magazine for it. Maybe the novelty of overclocking the Spectrum is enough of a draw as it certainly gives some games a new lease of life. But that novelty will soon wear thin for most people.

Another idea might be to offer the ZX Speccy Next as a casing by itself (although I still maintain that the keyboard is pretty dreadful to use), with internal mountings for your choice of Next hardware in a modular fashion. Externally, it is a Next, and regardless of whether the expansion bus is missing, or it has no built-in joystick ports, internally it is also a Next too. The internal keyboard connection would be a small technical hurdle, but nothing that could not be overcome. I think this would be a sensible offering, if it can be produced at a reasonable consumer-friendly price point.

My point is that the ZX Speccy Next could have been so much more, especially with it's elegant design; since it's announcement, it has lost ground and/or become mired as a niche product for two main reasons in my view: which are it has a clunky user experience (mostly), and that it tries to please too many people at once, but ends up pleasing too few. And that is perhaps how the people behind the Next want it. Perhaps they think it is somehow more cool that way too? Who doesn't want a niche product that has loads of features that you don't want, nor asked for, nor actually will ever need or use anyway? Eh?!?

But guess which mug will probably be backing the next ZX Spectrum Next KS campaign? Yep... that'd be me.

The ZX Spectrum Next vs The Mega65 Computer

It would seem that, from far fewer sales, the MEGA65 is doing better than the ZX Spectrum Next, at least on one metric.

Whether you grew up with Sinclair's rubber-clad monolith, in the form of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, or you were firmly in the Commodore camp with your C64, you are kind of spoilt now in the next gen machines available, with the Sinclair-branded ZX Spectrum Next and MEGA65 (M65) being two of the most prominent platforms your money can buy.

From what I can garner, about 8,500 real Next machines exist in the form of the KickStarter models, and probably a couple of thousand more N-Go FPGA variants. The M65 computer isn't doing quite as well, with perhaps aronud 1,000 sales, but it is a much more expensive alternative, and I expect that sales of the Ultimate 64 (U64) would be about equivalent to that of the Next, but the U64 is sold as a board and one must provide a casing and keyboard, as well as the Kernal, BASIC and character ROMs in software form.

Anyway, to the point: at the time of writing, and that is 2025-02-27, the Next has 118¹ pieces of entertainment software available for it (discounting, of course, the many thousands of compatible titles), many of which are still listed as "In development", whereas the M65 has 123², albeit that the development status is unclear and some of those 123 games may be early alpha releases for demonstration purposes. This is rather curious to me; how can something with a clearly much smaller market have an equivalent software library - in terms of entertainment software at least - of something presumabely much more popular?

Unless I spent my time doing thorough research into this topic, I don't think I will ever know. But I suspect that my conjecture that the Next is trying to please everyone but ends up pleasing no one, or at least not a significant number of users, is part of the issue. The potential market for the Next is many thousands, but that's no good if most of those people are just using it as a ZX Spectrum and not taking advantage of the platform's full potential. Whereas I'm guessing that people who own the M65 are doing so out of a curiosity of the unfinished Commodore C65 which exists in equivalent numbers (in theory, some units will have been lost to time) to the current number of M65s out in the wild.

And as for the aforementioned U64, I'll get onto that in good time, but I can say that it's a beautiful computer which very faithfully replicates the C64, but does much more.

^{1) ZX Spectrum Next software directory
2) MEGA-65 File Host}

The ZX Spectrum Next: KickStarter Part III

If there was another KickStarter for the Sinclair-branded ZX Spectrum Next, what should be done differently?

It came to my attention recently that we are fast approaching seven years since the launch of the aforementioned ZX Spectrum Next. Although not necessarily since it was a real thing beyond the prototypes and development boards, but since the world first knew about it.

Whilst I was pondering where that time went, someone suggested that they were waiting for another KickStarter (KS) campaign for another batch of Speccy Next computers. As some of you may know, and as I have adumbrated elsewhere, I have some critiques of the Next, some of which I think are fair and all are well meaning.

My previous conjecture was that most people who procured their Speccy Next machines - either through the KS campaign, or through the official website shop - did so because it was [in theory] a reliable modern days ZX Spectrum. It uses new screens and load entertainment software reliably via SD Card. No more aging CRT TVs with fuzzy pictures. And no more R: Tape Loading Error to worry about. The Next offers crystal clear images, especially good for aging eyes.

I'm not a zealous collector who buys stuff as an investment, and I therefore did not consider this as a possibility. But clearly though many people nabbed a ZX Next for investment purposes too; perhaps some will be sitting in display cases, unused and unloved except for a bit of eye candy. Perhaps worse, some have yet to be opened. But whatever the reason for purchasing, both KS campaigns were very successful. Who am I to judge someone else's motives if it means that a highly compatible machine based upon Sinclair's rubber-keyed monolith is an actual thing? It's what I dreamt of back in the late 1990s when I was being left behind with my Commodore C64c and other 8-bit computers including a 48K Speccy.

After that mental meandering, which I'm often guilty of, I'll get back to my main point: if it was up to me and I was in charge of the next Next KS campaign, what would I do differently? As difficult as it might be, and as unpopular with certain people as it would make me, I would try to break out of the Speccy Internet bubble (which clearly guided the scope and features of the original KickStarter). What I would do is something that some people would hate: I would look at reducing costs so to manufacture to scale, and look for a distribution partner to get it into retail. This would ultimately mean cutting the number of features that both revisions of the KS Next machines have (I'm not sure about the N-Go or other versions here). My aim would be simple: to get it to a consumer price point of £125.00, which was the launch price of the original (albeit 16K) machine, and would be competitive against some other modern takes on old computers, such as THEC64 from Retro Games Ltd, for instance. So, what would go?

Let's first look at what I would keep: I would want my KS 3 machine to do three things well:

1. Play all 16K and 48K Speccy games;
2. Play all 128K games; and
3. Be compatible with all native Next software titles except those that require an internal Raspberry Pi or networking capability.

I would keep the reset switch, and the SD Card reader as is, and remove the expansion bus and PS/2 socket. And, if I could achieve it at a sensible price, include some USB ports. I might even remove the joystick ports in favour of USB and just allow the use of USB controllers. I would leave the ULA+ support, but remove the option for VGA output, so there is only one video output, which would be real HDMI. And perhaps, finally, I would look at removing the audio input and output, although on this latter point, if I could get it to cost, I might leave this in.

This sounds a lot like leaving the world of FPGA behind in favour of the much more cost effective System on a Chip (SoC), so of course some of the purists will hate it because, in essence, the Next has always been in the FPGA camp as far as I can tell.

But here's the thing: another KickStarter based upon the last one won't significantly increase the number of ZX Spectrum Next users, as many people who own one or both revisions of the Next (or maybe even the white ultra rare version too) will find a way to back the third, and despite all of my critiques, that'd probably include me too. You might therefore increase the user base by another 10 or 20% and most of those new users will be there just to play original Speccy games, or as essentially investors hoping for a good return one day. In other words, in my view, you've only increased the potential market for actual Next specific software marginally. Making the price point attractive and accepting that people just want to play Speccy games on reliable hardware as their old machines fail is more likely to increase the interest in the Next specific software too. Adding USB connectivity and cutting the nice-to-have features will allow for a better end-user experience, as the current ZX Next feels unfinished, at least to me. Remembering to unplug the HDMI each time is one of those annoyances that I have. Changing displays (and remembering how to do so) is another.

Ultimately, more users will surely mean more interest in the Next as a viable platform and more than just a curiosity.

Saying all of this, I am trying to find some use cases for the nice to have features, such as the classic CP/M; I am finally making progress with the CP/M mode on the Next, and have software running on it, including MicroSoft BASIC, Zork and other text adventures. What I really want is to use WordStar to write my articles for some printed matter publication that I am going to be writing for. And although I don't like the ZX Next keyboard too much, I do have an external PS/2 keyboard that works well for me. If I do manage to author any articles on CP/M WordStar, I'll let you know how I went about it, but some suggestions that I should print out my work to submit it to my editor are probably more ridiculous than this 'ere blog!

And on that note, dear reader, I'll thank you kindly for taking time to read. Let's see if another KS for the Next happens, and we'll also see if a fool (like me) and his money is easily parted, as I'll probably end up backing it again.

What is the real market for a new ZX Spectrum Next magazine?

With the Sinclair-branded ZX Spectrum Next being a highly capable and enhanced 8-bit micro computer, is there really a market for printed matter publications covering it exclusively?

One of my favourite magazines from the 1980s, despite being mostly a Commodore C64 user and fanboy, was Your Sinclair (YS), clearly an highly intellectual and serious magazine aimed at the brainy kids. Of course, I couldn't count myself in the latter category, but the carefully designed and well thought out content still somehow appealed to me. From 2002, the 20th year of the C64 and Sinclair ZX Spectrum, I became a freelance writer, and I think then in 2004 (from Tuesday, May 4th as I recall), I was briefly a staffer at Retro Gamer. To my delight, I was lucky enough to work on the YS tribute issue, the famous issue 94 which, despite some minor grumblings, seemed to hit the spot with its design and obviously verbose and articulate content.

Of course, since 2004 a lot has changed in the Speccy scene, and nothing more notable in my opinion than the Speccy Next computer. Although it feels unfinished to me in many regards, it is clearly a clever piece of kit that does a lot more than just what a Spectrum did (kind of like any computer running a good emulator, but, you know, different). Ironically, I suspect that many of these 'ere new snazzy features are largely unused, and most people are either using their Next machines as a modern days and reliable ZX Spectrum that can use new television sets, or purely as an investment. After all, there aren't more than 10,000 units produced, and I suspect around half as many owners. This excludes other Next solutions and emulation, which although I've not looked into too greatly, I'm sure exist.

And with the launch of The Spectrum, from Retro Games Ltd, I suspect many people have reboxed their expensive Next machines to use The Spectrum instead, which is mass produced and cheaper to replace, and has that lovely rubber feel. Ohh... Rubber... Anyway, where was I? Oh yes. Err... sorry about that.

So, although I'm not a maths surgeon, let's try to work out how successful or not a dedicated Speccy Next magazine might be, should one launch, with some estimates based on what we know about just the Next by itself and not any other clones or emulators. The original KickStarter had 3,113 backers, plus some units were sold through the official site, so let's say that number is 4,000. The second kickstarter had 5,236 backers, but again some units, as far as I can tell, also sold through the official site, so let's say that there are around 5,500 of the V2 units about (some apparently a brilliant white), we're not far off my 10,000 estimate above, but we'll use that figure for the easiness of the calculations.

With anything in life, there is usually between 10 - 20% of people who seem to be somewhat evangelical about this thing or that, and some Next owners I've come across have this unwavering love for the Next, and any modest criticism of it isn't welcome to their ears or eyes. So, if we assume that there are ~10,000 Next owners, which there aren't - as many people backed both Kickstarter campaigns - that would mean a market for any magazine of around 2,000 readers if we assume that 20% of those 10,000 are real fanboys. That's a pretty good number to be selling a printed magazine for such a niché product in 2025 in my opinion. However, the true number will be fewer than half of that.

As I mentioned, many people backed both KickStarter campaigns, so the likely number of Next owners is more likely to be closer to 5,000 (remembering that we are of course excluding here other solutions through FPGA and such). Still, ~1,000 sales can't be bad if we assume 20% of users subscribing or otherwise regularly procuring such printed matter. But I still think this is a little high as an estimate. Whatever my conjecture is, this is a very generous upper end of how many magazines might sell into this market on an issue by issue basis. The true number is likely to be fewer than 500, because most users are likely using the Next as nothing more than a Speccy, and are probably much more interested in actual real ZX Spectrum content over the niceties that the Next offers. Plus, other than making Speccy games look better, the Next isn't opening up a whole world of other possibilities for most users. And there are only so far 62 exclusive pieces of software available for it, according to the official site as of 2025-01-31. How much content one is able to generate out of only 62 pieces of software is therefore somewhat questionable, or at least it is to me. Kind of like when Future Publishing kept publishing Commodore Format (CF), but had nothing new to write about, so many of the issues at that time covered Mayhem in Monsterland again, and again. Sure, it was a fine game, and thankfully the magazine was saved when Psytronik Software and other upstarts like Electric Boys Entertainment Software and Visualize Software released and promised new games. But at least that CF was still selling in the thousands back then. Something that no dedicated Speccy Next magazine could ever do. Not in printed form anyway.

Bring back the personal computer

Or is it back already?

I've now been exposed to video games and computering technologies for almost as long as I've been alive, which is nearly five decades at the time of writing, so won't be any fewer decades by the time you, my dear reader, are scrutinising yet another of my blog posts. As you can guess, I've seen lots of different technologies, from the Binatone Pong styled games, to the Texas TI99/4a (a robots game that I don't remember the name of) to the most modern days whatever it is that my favourite daughter plays on these ere games consoles.

Mentioning games consoles, I was never a fan. Whilst I saw some use of pocket or portable systems, the Atari Lynx, for instance, has allowed me many hours of escapism over the years. But dedicated consoles? Where was the keyboard? And why make such obviously powerful and useful technologies difficult to program? Okay, so I get the point that because home computers like the Sinclair and Commodore offerings could be programmed by anyone meant that whilst there was an abundance of software, that didn't mean you got quality releases. The big N, with its zealous control over releases for it's so-called Entertainment Systems might not boast nearly as many games as the working class ZX Spectrum, or the slightly more upmarket Commodore C64 - and even the "flash in the pan" VIC-20 managed nearly as many releases - at least each release was of a certain quality, right? I also found it rather puzzling that the company that rhymes with Tintendo (or that's how someone from t'north of England might pronounce it, well almost) had to have "official" magazines too, but as a scholar of Professor Marshall McLuhan, I know what he meant with his "The Medium is the Message" theory. Put a seal of quality on your game boxes, and then publish glossy literature to say how quality those quality releases are. Clever.

For me, the computer was always King, until the market stopped producing personal computers and started making the same thing in a different box, allowing monopolisation to take over so that ultimately corporations could benefit from the fact that the office computer was now also essentially the home computer (and also the dangers of that being the case too). But before I blame IBM or whoever for monopolisation, this happened early on in the UK market too, one might argue. Britain produced many computer systems in the early 1980s; offerings from Tangerine with its Oric, Memotech, Dragon Data, Acorn and Sinclair were just some of the companies slugging it out, and one might conclude that Sinclair won the first round, but was then absorbed into Amstrad. At least some plurality survived through the 1980s and into the early 1990s though. And Apple are still a thing today. At least it was there at the start thanks to the technical genius of Steve Wozniak. But Apple has mainly pioneered the high consumer price point, finding a niche that the standard PC could not compete in. The same could have been for the Amiga and Atari ST but for some dubious decisions at Commodore and Atari Corp. The Amiga was way ahead of the market when it came to graphics, and shouldn't have let that one slip, but somehow it did.

Anyway, I started this post thinking I'd write about one thing, and through some mental meandering I end up in a completely different place. I guess this happens sometimes. Like many of you, I miss the days when computers were more joyful and personal, and different machines had different strengths or weaknesses. The Amstrad CPC range for instance had... well I'm unable to think of any strengths for that particular system. But I found an entertaining 10 line BASIC game for the ZX81, which was a simple memory game. Of course, because it was BASIC, I had to do my refactoring to reduce the number of BASIC bytes it was using, then I made it so that the screen cleared between each level without adding a new line number, because that for me is what I love about computers. Or at least the computers from the 1980s. I'd say "bring back the personal computer", but in many cases some people already have; the MEGA 65, Ultimate64 Elite, Sinclair ZX Spectrum Next, Omni 128/128HD and the various offerings from Retro Games Ltd, such as THE400 Mini and THEA500 Mini (although neither have a working keyboard as standard, something I grumbled about above with games consoles, a USB keyboard is easy enough to add).

Want some more Culture in your Gaming life?

So full of content, you'll hear people say "I never knew there was so much in it!"

A promising development in the world of printed matter, especially for those with a pre-disposition for video gaming, is the announcement and campaign launch of Gaming Culture (GC), a magazine that promises to be for gamers and by gamers. Our hobby, the escapism and brain flexing offered by this form of personal entertainment is after all pretty important; it defines one's character and has for many of us been a life changer. And whilst I was always a programmer first, programming is itself a game; trying to create something to hold the attention of another human, to present someone else with a challenge in the form of a puzzle to solve, or (in my case) a short "arcadey" type reaction game of some ilk. Sadly, many of my efforts in the 1980s were written in BASIC, but one has to say that even with this being the case, I still managed some level of playability. With my slowly diminishing memories, I may try to recreate some of those games I made as a child at some point. I can still recall some of them which were recorded onto cassette tapes that I had nicked from my father, much to his distain when he found out.

GC will be a 96 page affair, brimming with excellent gaming content being from the creative mind of That Retro Video Gamer, the redoubtable Chris Thacker. Rather than regurgitate the full KickStarter campaign here, below is all of the information that you need, in a lovely iframe. Just click below to be taken to the campaign, and please consider backing it if you are able to.

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