Manic Miner was, I think, the starting point for my own personal journey into the world of gaming. We had a Spectrum with rubber keys and I think it had broken or something because one day a new one arrived with futuristic plastic keys. I think my dad bought it out of the paper during a long stay on a makeshift bed on the living room floor (he had something wrong with his back).
I was three years old, I think, and this enormous brown cardboard box seemed to just appear. There were wires and tapes everywhere, it was fascinating. The white screen appeared on the television and a tape was slotted in to the machine. After a captivating couple of minutes listening to that iconic screeching noise and watching the coloured bars flick around the edges of the screen the game loaded up and the arguments over whose turn it was began.
I remember most of the Spectrum days very vaguely. I’m not good with names or details but I remember Jet Set Willy, Manic Miner, Attic Attack, The Hobbit (I was learning to read) and quite a few others. I remember a motorcycle combat game that had you riding through woods. I remember a 3D Star-Wars clone that enabled you to fly down the trenches of the Death Star. I remember Elite.
I grew up on the Spectrum. Even when friends started getting these fancy boxes from Japan that sat under your TV and had cartridges slotted in the front, I was hitting Shift+J on my Spectrum. I was also basically doing the most advanced coding of my life when I was four years old.
Eventually the home consoles, with their almost instant loading (remember those days?) and their flashy graphics, were too tempting and I would start to spend more and more time sitting on a mate’s living room floor playing Mario or Double Dragon. I even made friends with someone specifically because they were the only kid on the street that had a Master System and I wanted to play Alex Kidd. Sorry Stuart.
I always came back to the Spectrum though and in 1992, when we uprooted and moved across the Irish Sea it was one of the first things that I unpacked in my new bedroom. I sat on the floor, among sealed boxes of clothes and books, and tuned my black and white TV in to the Speccy so that I could play Commando.
I would be eleven years old (later that summer) before I got my own console and it would be my dad that was behind that move too. That’s a story for another day though. Right now, I’m going back to my daydreams of Elite and a wireframe Death Star.
teflon
I had a teacher in secondary school who one time admitted to owning a BBC Micro. I instantly asked him if he had been Elite, and he said yes. He was instantly a fair bit cooler in my estimations after that…
Were /you/ Elite?
Kovacs
I had an Acorn Electron which was like a BBC Micro but even cheaper. If that is at all possible.
duncanuaz
Possible? The BBC B was bloody extorionate! My mate had one but only because his dad worked on the rigs. And yes, I was elite! Still remember the novel you got with elite because it was written by Douglas Adams. Good times, good times.
Kevling
You make me feel sooooo old. :)
BrendanCalls
My memories of the spectrum are dominated by Daley Thompson’s Decathlon, Thudercats and Postman Pat.
My first gaming experience was on the Amiga 500 though, playing a batman game, fantastic
gaffers101
I think the first Spectrum game that sticks in my mind was Horace Goes Skiing. I remember that bike game too but can’t remember the name. The Hobbit was great, I even had a go at making my own similar game, without success I remember.
mugsybalone
Was that bike game Death Chase? I remember Jet Set Willy the most – had it on my Dad’s Spectrum +3 – mainly because I found every mention of “willy” hilarious at that age.
Remember sinking a lot of time into the two Starglider games, loved those along with Elite. I didn’t really understand what was going on for the most part though, I was only seven or so at the time.
I still stumble across the old +3 from time to time – usually quite literally as I keep inadvertantly kicking the box when I climb into the attic. How far we’ve come, eh?
colossalblue
Death Chase! That was it. Brilliant game :)
mugsybalone
Aye, there’s a game that needs an iPhone tilt-controlled conversion. Think I got mine off a Your Sinclair covertape…
Do they still even make tapes?
gaffers101
That was it, Death Chase, well done.
seedaripper1973
Bloody hell, i was gonna be all clever and say ‘Death Chase’ (or was it death chase 2000?) as i sodding had the game…gah i hate people being as old as me and having a memory.
mugsybalone
Woah, steady with ‘old’ there fella. I’m just… um, an ‘experienced’ gamer. Yeah. That’s it. Experienced. I do enjoy articles like this, but it does tend to hit home when I think about how my earliest gaming experiences were things like New Zealand Story, and then read comments from people who weren’t even born in the pre-32 bit era. I feel like I should have a bus pass and a mobility scooter on here sometimes!
seedaripper1973
Dunna fret Mugsy, your’e not alone mate…birds of a feather….more like tits mind?
Zephyre
Still remember nagging my Mum to input BASIC code from a mag we used to buy (Input?) never, ever worked :)
gaffers101
Your right, I used to try those programmes in Input magazine and they very seldom worked. Hours of typing and a wrongly placed ; or : and you were screwed.
mugsybalone
Sadly I don’t think my BASIC skills ever got beyond the classic:
10: PRINT “Steve is GAY”
20: GOTO 10:
RUN
seedaripper1973
LMAO, i like the cut of your jib! add me…seedariper1973 (guaranteed to offend and amuse in equal measures.)
yarg2k7
Best days of my gaming life playing up all night on manic miner wearing down the paint on the z,x and space keys I believe it was made by Matthew smith what ever happened to him, another classic was ant attack some great adventures back in the day.
seedaripper1973
The Knowledge is stromg in this one…
Bankzy108
Some poor bloke is sat reading this called Stuart that had a Master System, and a mate called Peter. =]
These ‘Gaming Histories’ makes for good reading. Thanks TSA for such filler stories while the festive season is upon us.
Rocket_345
I love reading articles and things like this just to see how other gamers got into gaming and what they’re fiirst console was. For me it was the PS1 and Crash Bandicoot that got me into gaming. It was his PS1 but as we used to share a room i always used to watch him. Then on Xmas one year i got my own PS1 along with 40 winks and have been a gamer ever since along with him.
seedaripper1973
Er, colour me confused? and in no way do mean to sound *Right* ? but are you female or male…soz if i sound like a twat, it’s juat that your comment puzzled me?
hol
Ah the spectrum, happy days :) made friends with a lad who had a BBC b just to play elite properly and that old f1 game. God feel old now!