Fire up ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection on your iPhone and you?ll smile at the familiar sound of a program loading from a cassette tape. Launch one of the six included games and you?ll cringe at the graunchy, square-wave racket that blasts thinly from the phone?s speaker. How the hell did my parents put up with that noise back when I played for hours on end back in the 1980s?
The Spectrum originally launched as a 16k home computer in the UK, way back in 1982, but the most popular version (amongst my friends, at least) was the 48k version which followed soon after. It had no internal storage, loading software took many minutes from those error-prone cassette tapes, and you had to hook it up to a TV to enjoy its eight-color delights. I loved it, and as it only cost �129 (probably, like, one million dollars back then) it was as popular in the UK as the Commodore 64 was in the US.
ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection emulates the Speccy, and comes with six games: Frank Bruno?s Boxing, Chuckie Egg, Harrier Attack, Turbo Esprit, Saboteur and Buggy Boy. More are lined up for release this month, and apparently ?one of the 80s? biggest? developers is already signed up (please be Ultimate Play the Game. Please).
Games load in seconds, not minutes, and you play using an on-screen controller. Originally, you would have had to use the rubber keys of the Spectrum?s squishy keyboard, but the app has a more modern layout with buttons in a ring. And how are the games? Ugly, basic, frustrating and boring. In short, the emulation is perfect, and the button-mashing gameplay and impossible learning-curves remain intact. If any of your friends whines about the ?good old days? of 8-bit gaming, steer them away from that NES and give them a few minutes with Chuckie Egg. They will shut up forever.
The app is 99-cents, or more accurately, �0.59, available now. For Brit nerds of a certain age, it is probably an essential download.
ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection [iTunes Store]
See Also:
- Nintendo N64 Emulator Coming to iPhone
- iPhone C64 Emulator Approved by Apple, Removed Again for Hiding ?
- Video: SNES for iPad, Controlled by iPhone
- Sinclair ZX Spectrum Notebook Mod Would Make Sir Clive Spin ?
- Sinclair ZX80 and the Dawn of 'Surreal' U.K. Game Industry ?
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