Icarus review

The following review was submitted to BreakSpace

I guess I know the editor's policy to AI assisted and developed games now

Artificial Intelligence is a hot topic. Do I like it? Not really. Is it useful? Sometimes. I’ve used it to explain errors with Node when I couldn’t find the documentation, or I’ve exhausted alternative sources.

As the world seems to be moving towards this AI technology, and as a software developer myself (albeit modern days PHP stuff), I understand Ed’s concerns as stated in his editorial for issue six: we need an AI policy. On that note, here’s a review for a game made with the help of Claude. I didn’t know who he was either, but it turned out that it wasn’t a ‘he’, but a Large Language Model or something.

Icarus starts out looking like a bat and ball game, when in fact it is more like a catch-em up. Think Kaboom! on the Atari 2600, but with a hint of Greek mythology as a theme. Collect stars, gold and power ups by moving your “bat” left and right; hearts provide extra lives, and beware of attracting the wrath of Zeus.

On each level, various items fall from a starry night sky as above, some items will elongate your bat, whilst others shorten it. The controls are responsive, and the graphics are slightly naive. It has a certain early 1980s feel to it, especially the repetitive looped game music during play.

How much of this is Claude and how much is human is unknown, but it’s an interesting if a little repetitive distraction for your work break, and as such I’m arguing here for the inclusion of AI assisted games with the caveat that there are no Aces awarded to them. If our leader Mpk agrees, you’ll be reading this review in BreakSpace issue 7; if not, it’ll appear on my blog. Neither of which I mind, but even with my suspicions about AI, I’m okay with it assisting fledgling developers as long as the output isn’t dreadful and the resulting software works on original hardware.

Icarus is available from free from here.

All issues of BreakSpace are available for free download from here.

Best? Or Good Enough?

It's 2026. We are nearing the end of a long, hot summer. And here I am, writing this blog post on a Speccy 128 (hardware) clone thanks to some esxDOS trickery and a handy file browsing and manipulation utility by shrek128, namely Bow Commander.

Why not write this on the Blogger interface? One may ponder. To answer that rhetorical question I will put it this way: whilst I tolerate modern days computering and technologies, I love messing around with 8-bit machines, especially from the main two brands from the 1980s - Sinclair and Commodore.

Working with nearly ancient home computers gets you back to the absolute necessities. No AI getting in the way, and in this instance not even a spelling and grammar check! But this way of writing provides something that modern applications with swish user interfaces does not: a blank canvass that's good enough, allowing a different and freer creative process. Every key press is its own unique experience and in this case, using the rubber keys of a Spectrum, its own battle.

Fighting the technical limitations of an Eon ago is somehow more rewarding. No wonder machines like the Sinclair ZX Spectrum remain relevant today, with many regular releases of all types of software, although mostly entertainment stuff.

Who'd have guessed that in 1990 or 1991 that someone would still be using 8-bit home computers so readily some three decades later? One has to wonder what this says about the modern tech? Or, perhaps a more pertinent observation is that it is all part of the human condition, wanting to go back to simpler times or being afraid of change?

For me, it has always been about what is useful. Here is the prime example. To write, I just need a simple text editor. That is all. But for you to read these words, I am then reliant on modern days technology, though I'm not adverse to publishing my ramblings on cassette tape for the old Speccy if anyone is interested?

As I mentioned above, for me, "best" is often beaten by good enough. The text editor in Bow Commander is good enough. The Omni 128HQ is good enough. And the Spectrum 48 is good enough. You only need more, or better, if you believe that you do.

Deadline time

It's the final Countdown!

It's got to that time again. As I write, a deadline is looming for the one publication that I [still] opine for, and that's the now famous (almost) BreakSpace. My previous record for number of reviews was in the low 20s, but for this issue, I've gone a couple better. One only imagines how many reviews I could have written if I wasn't wasting so much time playing Sinclair ZX Spectrum games.

It hasn't gone unnoticed that the quality of entertainment software is now much better than it was in the early days, and by that, I mean from around 2002 onwards when new wares were in the hands of just a few people. Now we're in a very definite peak. A stock market analogy would be that it's a Bull Market, and there's a feel of the good old days about it, when you almost couldn't keep up with new releases on popular systems like the Spectrum.

What's helped is not just a renewed interest in the rubber-clad micro, but the numerous clones, including The Spectrum which if nothing else continues to be a commercial success, likely far outselling all other clones regardless of how much "better" those [clones] happen to be. I still say the Omni 128 HD is the best clone of all, although nearly everyone disagrees with that sentiment. But I'm used to being an outlier with a different world view than others.

All of this has me pondering a question: when will this Bull Market become a Bear Market?

My own daughter has some nostalgia for Speccy software, she loves the EggHead games; especially EggHead II. But then she is her father's daughter. There is one person who may carry on the 8-bit legacy into this century and who is currently under the age of 35. I suspect that she isn't the only one: her friends enjoy 8-bit games too, because there's something refreshing about them to this new generation of gamers. Most are way more difficult than modern titles, even those inspired by 1980s and 1990s gaming. There is no hand-holding. You are thrown into the deep end and expected to swim right away. No tutorials. No explainers. Just get on with it!

Whatever the future holds, 8-bit computing and gaming has been a part of my life since the 1990s, and if I'm the last person alive still entertaining myself with these ancient technologies, through programming, gaming or whatever they can do, then so be it. But enjoy this time: Bear Markets don't last forever!

The Comfort Blanket of Retro Gaming in the Face of Tragedy

My last post began with the title "Surviving 2025". This one is going to be even tougher to write, I think. But I'll give it a go anyway.

At the time of writing, the final month of January is nearly done, and last week I had the worst news; someone who I was very close to has sadly and tragically passed. As one might imagine, this has put extraordinary pressure on me and my family, but I know I will get through. Time is a great healer. But mostly, I am concerned greatly for my child, and angry at a system that failed the departed. I hope she has found peace.

Before I continue (as I must: writing is cathartic for me), may I remind you, dear reader, that if you are feeling low or are at risk to yourself, it is never too late to seek help. You are enough, and there is always someone to talk to. Help is only a few clicks away: https://www.iasp.info/suicidalthoughts/ - I also believe that these hoodies send a positive message too: https://live2lives.org/

The comfort blanket of video gaming has again been a companion for me this week, but this time I went to the Amiga, or, more precisely, THEA500 Mini from Retro Games Ltd. With some WHDLoad magic, there was quite a few games to play through. And I found one that I was still good at: Turrican! This classic game from the great mind of Manfred Trenz is probably my all time favourite. I got to that bit where the platforms are vertically stacked (Level 1-2 I think). This took me an age to learn back in 1990, but I got there. I was struggling though in the here and now. What was I doing wrong? The issue wasn't my skills at this fab game, but that I was using as a controller and not a joystick. I just couldn't get on with Turrican and the bundled A500 Mini control pad here. So I got out my joystick from THEC64 Black Edition. And that was much better. Progress became easier. And my mind, for a short while at least, was distracted.

Soon it was back to reality though: life, like many video games from the 1980s and early 1990s, well it isn't always fair. You're not able to switch to easy mode, and there is no walkthough, except the daily one that we all experience. Please look after yourselves, and look out for anyone who might be in crisis. Your actions could be the difference to make someone's life a little easier.

Surviving 2025: Therapy, Friends, and the Comfort Blanket of 8-Bit ZX Spectrum Magic

2025 was a year I'd rather forget, except for many excellent entertainment software releases for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum and the likes

2025 might not have been the best year for humanity, and if you forgive the self-indulgence for a short while, it was not for me personally either. Before I get into my usual meandering gaming topics, there is a good reason why I support mental health and anti-suicide charities; without wishing to dwell too much on this sore and often painful topic, I can guarantee that unless one lacks empathy or humanity, seeing suicide, or suicidal attempts, up close and personal isn't a pleasant situation to live through. Even if the tragic loss happens to someone who you have fallen out with, or thought ill of in life, such a desperate final act is no less saddening, indeed heart-breaking. The phrase "I'd rather listen to your problems than attend your funeral" is especially pertinent. So, please, if you are feeling low, or have thoughts of self harm or ending one's own mortal existence, reach out to someone. I find this resource to be useful for those who need it: Suicidal Crisis Support. Reaching out can help; it is never too late to seek support.

What got me through 2025, aside from Mind, some talking therapies and beautiful, supportive people around me was the comfort blanket of 8-bit gaming. It was a really great year for entertainment software, and joining the Break Space team from issue two really helped me to focus on something positive. Sometimes, because of external pressures, it was all a bit of a blur, and I'd wager that many of my submissions [to Break Space] weren't my best, but then again, as someone who left School without any GCSEs, I suppose I've done quite well. This fact perhaps also explains my err... let's call it unique, clumsy and deviant writing style. This is a self-critique here; one may opine about it using different nomenclatures.

At the time of writing, Break Space issue four has just been released, and I've already authored two pieces for consideration by the editorial overlord Mpk who put in a tremendous effort to get this issue finished. I don't envy him one bit, as this is clearly a passion project not just for him, but for the whole review team. Not to mention that all of this gaming goodness is provided for free, so even if you only have a passing interest in 8-bit computer software, it's certainly worth a look. All current issues are available to download from https://breakspace.itch.io/ - it's certainly the most cost effective 8-bit gaming 'zine currently on the market, so download and [one hopes] enjoy!

THEC64 Mini - Black Edition... it's arrived!

In initial thoughts

In good time for Hallowe'en 2025, THEC64 Mini - Black Edition has arrived. It contains 25 post-commercial Commodore C64 games for you to enjoy (okay, one is essentailly a re-release that has been remastered in the version included). So why this new version? And isn't it just more of the same, but in a more darker colour? And as it's gone black, will you be going back?

There has been a lot of care over this relaunch. The packaging, a matte finish with spot gloss, really makes the box art pop. And unboxing is its usual treat: Retro Games Ltd (RGL) know how to package its products, giving a warm, fuzzy feeling on opening. It states proudly that this is the world's best selling mini home computer... I don't know about that. Maybe the Raspberry Pi has something to say about this, but I think what is meant is that it's done very well (I suspect RGL's best selling product to date), better than all other reimagined mini computers (RGL would know as they have cornered the market here), and it might even have done as well or better than some of those mini consoles too, from bigger companies starting with N, for instance. Now, I think THEC64 Mini is more akin to a mini console, but it does allow an external keyboard, and you can therefore write BASIC and even Assembly/Machine code on the system, but out of the box it is just a console.

The purely cosmetic keyboard is now super shiney, the power light is bright, and the power input is USB C (unlike previous editions). Like other products from RGL, no power adapter is included, however you do have a joystick and all of the cables to get you going, assuming that you have access to a HDMI television set or monitor that is. The model number, despite these changes, is still RGL001. But the big question that everyone wants to know is what about the joystick? Is it still crap?

The answer on the joystick question is a resounding NO. Not only is it fully microswitched, it's also pretty striking too, and feels much nicer to use than the early, non-microswitched efforts bundled with the original Minis (and actually, I didn't mind the old more fragile 'sticks, but this new one is much better). It won't fall apart after one game (or even event) of Daley Thompson's Decathlon for sure.

It's not just the exterior that's darkened either, the UI has been reskinned and it's all rather foreboding if I'm honest, though the bright music from all other THEC64 variants remains, and is now kind of a mismatch to the interface. I'd have liked some dank and eerie SID music to accompany the new personality of it, but I guess that would mean extra licensing and more work.

System updates

Checking the system information, we're now on firmware version 1.7, or thec64-black-1.7.0-inertia to be precise. So, without extensive testing, I'm assuming it'll do everything that's included with firmware 1.6, including Mouse the FourPlayer Adapter support, though on this variant of the console, you'll obviously require a USB hub in order to use more than two joysticks and a pen drive. This is my initial impression though, so if I'm wrong on this, I will provide an update later.

The games

The 25 games are really some of the best released, not just post-1990 releases, but best ever. Joe Gunn, one of my most favourite platform games, is still a delight to play (hint, use the onscreen keyboard to start the game with F1 for unlimited lives, though the save states kind of negate this now I guess). A list of all 25 games included may be viewed on the website linked above, so I won't mention all of them here, but I will give you a brief overview of the six best as I see it.

Conclusion

The joystick is good, the unit itself is rather dashing, there's a new UI and new firmware, and the games are excellent. What's not to like?

Well, in purely numeric terms, you may pick up a regular THEC64 Mini at not very much money, and this Black Edition is more than the launch price of the beige original. But if you buy all of the 25 titles on the carousel, you'd probably be paying as much or more. A Pig Quest by itself would set you back €8.99. So, there is value in this. In procuring your unit you are also supporting these developers as each is no doubt paid a commission for each unit sold. So, unless you already own all of these games (and if you do, you likely already have a C64 solution that you're comfortable with using), then this is pretty good value. But here's a small complaint, one or two of the games start after the lush introduction sequences, so keeping A Pig Quest in mind, there is no "Piggy 18" splash (which never gets old) before the title screen, which is a shame. This has something to do with how the games are "fast loaded" from the carousel, I suspect.

Looking at this new THEC64 Mini from afar, it's not a leap to imagine it as THEC16 Mini, though I think one issue with making such a device might be the lack of quality games from the Commodore 16s commercial life, and despite selling a million units or more, it was very much an entry level system. Don't get me wrong, I like the C16 and Plus/4 computers, but very clearly there are way more titles available for the C64, and way more good games too. Anyway, that aside, here are what I reckon to be the six best games included with this new edition.

Six of the best

It’s a difficult choice, is this; the team who chose the games for THEC64 Mini BE have done very well indeed. How do I get this down to six? With some controversy, no doubt.

Joe Gunn: Gold Edition

Joe Gunn has taken hours of my life. Graphically, it harks back to a simpler time, unlike Sam’s Journey, for instance, which shows the best of the C64’s VIC-II chip, Joe Gunn looks like it could have been released in 1986 or so. Look beyond the aesthetics and you have a very deep platform adventure game with some teasing puzzles along the way. Undoubtedly inspired by the famous Indiana Jones movies (the good ones, from the 1980s), this epic sports superb chip music and great gameplay. And with the save slots on THEC64 Mini, I might actually complete it this time.

Hunter's Moon Remastered

Hunter’s Moon Remastered is very much a reminder of our past, originally released in 1987 to a broad critical acclaim, and even now managing a healthy score on online outlets like https://lemon64.com. This is something of a psychedelic space-based blast fest; not quite as off the wall as some Jeff Minter games, but out there enough. On board the ship Hunter, you find yourself lost in a strange and unexplored part of the Galaxy; Hives are constantly renewed, regardless of how much fire power you use to obliterate them, and the way back home often requires a quick trigger and skilful navigation.

It's Magic 2

Perhaps not the most obvious side-scrolling platform game to be included here, but if you don’t like it, then write your own review, won't ya!

It’s Magic 2 stars Tom Cat, a cute, yellow and white upright feline who must navigate Dream Islands, a beautifully pixelated game world; collect diamonds and other goodies, and remove the roaming [and rather cute] creatures by bouncing on their heads to take them out, or avoid them altogether if you’re trying for a speed run.

Collect all diamonds to exit each level. It’s an excellent platform game with great presentation and music.

Runn 'N' Gunn

Carleton Handley’s Runn 'N' Gunn, another from the Thalamus Digital stable, is an explorer-type scrolling shoot-em up in which you play as one of two interchangeable characters: Runn or Gunn (ah, now the title makes sense).

Runn is more agile and can do "double jumps", whilst Gunn has a more powerful arsenal; find keycards to further open up the game world in this slickly executed piece of entertainment software, containing well animated roamers and some ear-catching SID tunes.

p0 snake

It’s always nice to hear digitised speech from the SID chip, and p0 snake has some great samples along with bright and rather jolly music.

This is actually a "one button" game; and only the fire button needs apply. You control an ever hungry snake around a static screen tasked to consume food pellets. Moving clockwise by default (and to move anti-clockwise, you press the fire button), you must guide your never still snake around each level; for every food pellet consumed, your body grows, thus limiting the space left on each level. This is a really fun take of the classic Snake adding puzzle elements, and has excellent and progressive learning curve. I love it.

Knight 'N' Grail

Wide Pixel Games have come up with some really immersive C64 software, and this is definitely one of them. At first, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s a Ghosts n’ Goblins clone; let’s be clear, it is far more than this.

It seems a plodding and slow-paced game initially, with moody and atmospheric music in the background, which comes and goes so as not to be too repetitive. Unlock this sprawling game world, find different projectiles (some of which are harmless against some of your malevolent foes lurking in the game world), and save the Princess cursed to be a Dragon by finding the Grail. It’s well designed, eerie and sometimes tense, with some excellent graphics, and 200 screens to explore. Go ahead, adventurer. Be the hero you know you were born to be!

BubbleBack: The Story of Forward to the Past 2

I'm only happy when I'm grumpy!

When I was much younger, which might as well be sometime 100 years back at this point, as my health sometimes makes it feel like that, I used to ponder the expression aimed at men of a certain age "he's only happy when he's grumpy"; now I've got here, I understand this all too well. I like being grumpy too. So leave me alone and I'll go back to live under my rock. Okay!

As one might imagine then, anything that makes me even think of a smile is well avoided. Reading through the latest issue of BreakSpace I noted that the guys seem to really like this 'ere Bubble Back game for the old Speccy. It has a coveted Ace award from this publication (disclaimer, I'm one of the writers for it, by the way), and it does looks good. Maybe I'll give it a go too, as I missed out on reviewing it for the mag.

Before I continue, it would be somewhat remiss of me not to include some back story, so here goes:

This is the much anticipated follow up to Forward to the Past, in which Dave has attempted time travel, specifically to go back to 2021 (which I recall the UK and much of the world was on lockdown, so why travel back to this time is unknown). As we all know from Star Trek, people who mess with the space time continuum get into all sorts of trouble, so you can guess what's happened to Dave here then. No? Well, some evil force has kidnapped him and turn Nate into a bubble dragon from Bubble Bobble, with all of the ferocious abilities of such a formidable creature... err, I mean, he can blow bubbles in your general direction. Well, that can be fatal to at least some of the onscreen roaming baddies anyway.

Of course, it's up to you to save the day. Guide Nate's spritely bubble expelling and bursting dragon to collect 86 bubbles (though not the ones you generate as that'd be too easy); doing so will break the Baron's spell and return everything back to normal, or something. More importanter than this, Dave will be rescued in the process. Right, sounds like a typical excuse to a run-of-the-mill, by-the-numbers platform game to me. Well, yes. And no.

Loading this title nearly got me, turning my glum morning into something cheery and fluffy. The music! So bright, jaunty one might say; I was almost singing along to it, a rendition of "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis & The News. No, not gonna smile... it's just a Speccy game, I've played loads of them. So, it has nice music? Okay. Concentrate. Now to redefine the keys and start the game. And... Finally... I broke. The in game tune is even better than the title music (and there's more than one, depending on the location in the game world) which is mostly a medley of the Back to the Future theme, and Bubble Bobble. This arrangement is excellent, for sure. As for the rest: the graphics are silky smooth and the game play is a delight, responsive, and it's true testament to great design. Aside from this, I appreciate the little touches, the Amstrad Green Screen simulator room, for instance, and the Break Out screen (which brings me to my one complaint; surely one should score points for taking the blocks out before the bouncing ball does?). My conclusion is thus: if you've ever used a Sinclair ZX Spectrum for entertainment purposes, and remember at least some of the 1980s, you must play this game. It's so delightful, so sickly sweet that I cannot help but recommend it wholeheartedly. I mean, if it can make me smile, it must be good, right?

Before I finish this short review, I'd better mention who did what, and where you might get your copy, hadn't I? Right. Bubble Back is carefully and lovingly crafted by Sloanysoft. See sloanysoft.itch.io for this and other titles by the same author. Music is by the award winning Lee Bee, and it's built using something called MPAGD by Jonathan Cauldwell.

That's me done. I've had enough of this cheeriness. I'm going back under my Rock, and I'll bid you a good day.

21 reviews.

I never knew there was so much in it

Back in 2004 or 2005 (citation needed), I was briefly writing for a British magazine called Retro Gamer. And earlier than that, I had the opportunity of writing a retro computer column for Micro Mart magazine, but I choose to do things differently: not to focus on nostalgic articles, but to report the developments that were happening there and then on various 8-bit home computers such as the Sinclair ZX Spectrum and Commodore C64. Of course, there was enough to write about for a weekly column, and by the time I got to Retro Gamer, enough across multiple 8-bit formats to review four to six games per issue (monthly).

Now, I've offered my writing skills, such as they are, to the ZX Spectrum gaming 'zine BreakSpace, and for issue three, I've completed a total of 21 reviews across a variety of game genres. Sure, BreakSpace is not a monthly periodical. It has a single focus (the Sinclair-branded ZX Spectrum Next Multi-System need not apply here) on the original Spectrum models, from the 16K upwards to Amstrad's 128K varieties. And, of course, the entertainment software that is opined about is new and recent releases (less two re-releases); this isn't just a nostalgia trip. My 7 reviews for each month of the quarter might not sound a lot, but there have been more than double that amount of releases. We're in a new golden age of 8-bit software, with the Spectrum and Commodore C64 leading the way, like it was and as it should be (though I don't keep up with the Atari 2600 scene anymore; that might also be doing well too).

Just a small note: issue three of BreakSpace includes a very special guest reviewer, whose contributions are golden, and I've been lucky enough to see them first (along with the other guys on the team). So, look out for the Autumnal release of issue three; it's going to be a right corker!

A bit about my blog

It has come to my attention that people disagree with some or all of my opinions. Which is nice

It appears that not everyone agrees with my ramblings. In fact, hardly anyone does. And I have no issues with this. For the avoidance of doubt, I write these pages as a form of self therapy: nothing here is meant as a source of truth, and should not be relied upon as such. And whilst there may be some factualities buried here, like a newspaper, those truths are surrounded by a lot of hyperbole, misinformation, half truths and opinion. The difference here is that I am not now - nor have I ever been - any kind of journalist, whereas those writers for those newspapers often claim to be. I am a creative writer, and the only thing that one might ascertain from reading one or more of my blog posts is whatever was in my head at the time of writing, expressed in English words typed out and wrapped in HTML tags for your entertainment purposes. Or not. You could be here equally to hate read and rage, though as someone who has had high blood pressure, I wouldn't recommend that.

In any case, even if you might disagree with me, my opinions, or my conclusions about any given subject matter, then that's healthy. That's called reading. If what I say upsets or offends you, my advice is not to read. But I take a lead from what is being read according to the statistics for each blog post here, and almost certainly some of my most read pages are regarding the Sinclair-branded ZX Spectrum Next, or the ZX Multisystem as it should now be more accurately called.

I guess here that I'm managing a skill that some parts of the Internet are all about: click bait. But in my defence, my views on the ZX Spectrum Next ZX Multisystem computer are honest to my experience of the platform and what I see that is happening to it. Other opinions are available. You may trust, however, that it's not just the ZX Spectrum Next ZX Multisystem in which my views differ from some of the mainstream of the wider "retro community". A caveat here is that I've not been active in said community since around 2012; and when I started to get interested again, as one might expect, everything had changed, and not necessarily for the better.

When I did return (and I'm not saying here that I'm actively and overtly involved like I used to be), I was happy to see that Retro Gamer magazine was still a thing; although it's not a magazine that I would read nor purchase on a regular basis. I think I've procured around 4 issues since 2019 or so. Whilst I could offer my services to it again (and it is just a case of dropping an email to the editor with a proposal of one or more futures, it's not a little more complicated than that), it would be fraudulent to do so. Why write for a publication that one does not read oneself? The last issue I saw didn't give me an impression that this magazine was for someone like me. That's my opinion anyway. It has it's audience, and I'm not one of them.

This is why I ended up joining the BreakSpace team: reading issue one of that was and is pure joy; it is a publication with heart by people who review ZX Spectrum games for all of the right reasons. Thankfully, I was let in to opine on the latest Speccy entertainment software from issue two, and at the time of writing, I've already written 18 reviews for issue three, with some more to do before the looming deadline.

It's great to be writing again and for a publication like BreakSpace, and it's good that I have this blog as an outlet. As already stated, the purpose here is, or has latterly become, to entertain. This blog is so old, I don't remember why I started it in the first place: the likely reason though is because I could. I'm surprised that people still read blogs: like printed magazines, I thought they'd be dead by now, but I do understand Vinny Mainolfi's point about printed matter: landfill sites now have too many waste electronic devices, including tablets, eBook readers and smart phones, so the printed press might not be as environmentally damaging as publishing electronically after all. Anyway, I have more games to review and a deadline to hit. So, I'll leave it there.

The Kickstarter version 3 Sinclair-branded ZX Spectrum Next can play some excellent games, you know

The latest installment in the ZX Spectrum Next Kickstarter saga raised over £2.5m

Sometimes, developers for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, the parent platform to the ZX Spectrum Next, really surprises me. Be it a demo, or a new piece of entertainment software, it has brought to me much enjoyment over the years, and I've written many words about the good games that have been released since 2002, most notably between then and circa 2015 when life circumstances forced me to stop my weekly "Retro" column, much to the relief of my editor at the time.

Recently, through my work with the excellent publication BreakSpace, I found out about a lot of new game software. If I focus on the recently released Cubix for a moment, this should help to clarify my point (do I ever have a point though?) - at least induldge my aimless waffle.

Cubix is a masterpiece of 8-bit gaming, both in terms of pure enjoyment, and technical achievement. I've not been this impressed with a Speccy game since Jonathan Cauldwell's GameX: The Games Exchange, or Bob Smith's super colourful and pretty intense splATTR, and I commend both games to you wholeheartedly.

Cubix reminds me a little of Nebulus, released by Hewson Consultants in 1987, but is very much its own game. Starting out as just another platformer, you get so far in and you find that there is a virtual twist to proceedings: things start moving in three dimensions, as the platforms rotate horizontally. Not only does this look rather resplendent and technically outstanding, it also proves the point that the best games for the Sinclair-branded ZX Spectrum Next are just plain old ZX Spectrum games that run on out-of-the-box Sinclair hardware to the specific memory requirements of said software. The suggestion that the Spectrum Next was or is THE next geneation Spectrum is now gone, perhaps forever.

One might also argue that, with the inclusion of a Commodore C64 compatible core, and also a ZX81 core, the best games for the Next might also include C64 and ZX81 games. Surely, that's hyperbol, especially noting the old monochrome '81, right? Well, I invite readers to play Bob Smith's One Little Ghost, Boulder Logic, Virus or Pandemic, and tell me if these aren't worth your time. As what's happened with the Speccy, in terms of its best ever software releases happening after its commercial decline, the same has happened on these two platforms as well.

My point is that the Next doesn't have a great software library outside of what was already available by virtue of its parent platform. And whilst adding nice graphics and improved sound to existing and already well known games might give those titles a new lease of life, fundementally one is unable to escape the fact that you are essentially playing the same game. This is why I never liked the PC "Remakes" scene too much, as the Monty on the Run remake was still just Monty on the Run, for instance, so why not just play the original? Although some remakes were more liberal with their implementations, of course, or provided something that the original game could never do because of the vintage hardware specifications.

One thing to note about the £2.5m raised, adjusted for inflation as of 2025-09-16, the original [KS1] amount of £723,390 would be worth approximately £1,063,380, and the KS2 amount of £1,847,106 would be some £2,715,245 today, at least according to this UK Inflation calculator. Of course, these adjusted numbers don't tell the whole story; the KS1 campaign was 289% funded, its second iteration was 739% funded, and its third and maybe final being 1045% funded. Drilling down into the data further, from KS1 to KS2 increased the number of backers by 2,123, and despite the headline figure of the amount raised by the third installment, it managed to add another 2,288 backers from the second campaign. I know Kickstarter is funding driven, but I would have considered a strategy of getting the total number of backers to 10,000, or as close as possible to that, before starting the campaign. As Commodore.net's 64 Ultimate has proven, that should have been possible to do, although the beauty of what Commodore.net is doing is that it is not time limited in the same way, and is something the team behind the Spectrum Next should consider, in my view.

It looks to me like the Spectrum Next will continue to be a posh way to play classic and new Spectrum games on modern televisions. And whilst other solutions are available to do just this, at a much cheaper price, the aesphetic of the Next is definitely much more beautiful that those other solutions. Well, a fool and his money is easily parted, which is why I decided to procure a Commodore.net 64 Ultimate and not back the latest Kickstarter campaign for the Next. I don't need another Next, and honestly can't think of a good use for one; aside from the ZX81 core, the new features offered weren't really of any interest to me, the platform itself seems diluted, perhaps deliberately so, and honestly I thought at the time that it'd be of more value to invest in a MiSTer FPGA solution over the Spectrum Next KS3. The only problem with the MiSTer is that I'd only be using one or two of the cores available, so I'm still not wholly convinced by that either.

Two Million Quid and rising

We can now officially say that the broad Sinclair ZX Spectrum market is a multi-million pound industry

Overall, there are a lot of commercially dead computers from the 1980s and early 1990s that are back; various solutions that emulate or simulate your favourite personal computer exist, with the most accessible being on your modern days PC, or even your Android or Apple Smart Phone.

Specifically, the Sinclair-branded (and now misnamed) ZX Spectrum Next (it should more accurately be called a ZX Multi System or something) has passed the £2m milestone. So in terms of absolute numbers, it's done very well. Whether anyone is getting rich quick on the back of this is an unknown, but this is the second Kickstarter campaign for the ZX Multi System that has raised over £1.5m. I'm sure there is a business model in here somewhere. I'm sure that someone could come along and do what Commodore.net did with the "new" 64 Ultimate machine, and have it on sale (or pre-sale) for longer than a few weeks ever three to five years. I've spoken about that elsewhere.

This multi-system approach is something pretty new: I still maintain that just because you can doesn't mean that you should. But anyway, we are where we are. And revisionists may claim that this was always part of the Next ecosystem, or that it was always intended to be, but this isn't true: there was no indications from the first Kickstarter campaign, nor do I remember anything overt from the second, to suggest the ZX Multi System approach. It just happened, and rather than spending time making it the best ZX Spectrum and Next possible, improving the user experience or user interface (maybe incorporating SymbOS or something), good development time is now going to be spent making the platform do Commodore and even Amstrad CPC stuff (though on the latter point, you'll have to provide your own ROM images, legally or not).

So the Kickstarted III campaign has been a success, and if you look at absolute numbers, it's smashed the previous two campaigns by many thousands of pounds. In the Summer of 2020, when the second Kickstarter campaign ended, it managed to raise (some might say fleece) £1,847,106 from backers. Now, I know this is only five years ago (at the time of writing), but we've had inflation since then. Everyone knows that the money in their pocket is worth less than 5 years ago. If we assume that inflation has averaged 3% annually since 2020, which is a very conservative estimation, that total adjusted for inflation is approximately £2,141,153; in other words, unless something changes in the next few days, this third Kickstarter campaign hasn't necessarily done much better than the second campaign, which is a shame. I would have tried to aim for at least 10,000 backers somehow, and forget how much cash is raised; I would have wanted mass units produced in many more thousands, but hey, there is still time (unless you're reading this in the future, when the campaign has ended).

Someone will point out that the number of backers for KS2 was 5,236, whilst the number of backers for the ZX Multi System is over 6,000. I do worry that many of these backers already own a Next in some form: be it a clone, or one or other or both of the previous campaigns. This means that whilst the numbers look good, there hasn't been a focus on growing the total number of users: sure, the extended cores might bring some new people to the party, but I doubt this will be significant. And I can't imagine that anyone will be procuring this ZX Multi System only for one of the available cores. I mean, if you want an established multi system like device, there is the MiSTer FPGA, which isn't dependent on a time-limited Kickstarter campaign. From what I can tell too, prices are cheaper for the MiSTer, though I don't know that much about it. And as the ZX Spectrum Next specific bits of the ZX Multi System are open source, it might also be available on the MiSTer?

My biggest frustration is, of course, that I was once sold on the idea of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum Next as a platform. The original specifications seemed great, and 14Mhz, I thought, well that ought to be enough for anyone. Since then, it's become diluted and, as I like to say, it's the "Snakes on a Plane" of the retro computer world. If you know, you know.

On a more positive note, I’ve thrown my hat in for the C64 Ultimate, choosing it over the ZX Multi System. I know the 64U platform - it’s mature, well-developed, and driven by a singular vision that delivers an excellent user experience. Its interface is refreshingly straightforward, requiring little effort to master. And best of all, it’s the ultimate C64: crank it to 48MHz, eliminate bad lines, toss in up to four SID chips (two real, two emulated) with ease, and add 16MB of REU RAM — perfect for running GEOS smoothly. The potential is thrilling, a true next-gen Commodore 64. While I’m hoping for a pre-Christmas 2025 delivery, I’m bracing for possible delays. Still, when that modern bread bin lands on my doorstep, it’ll spark the same joy as unwrapping a C64 in the 1980s. Huzzah!

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, right?

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}