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Retro Arena: 8-bit computers

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    Retro Arena: 8-bit computers






    Here we have a collection of popular 8-bit computers. Choose 3 in descending order that you like the most.

    (Choosing less than three is fine.)


    Last edited by Leon Retro; 08-11-2019, 22:26.

    #2
    Amstrad CPC 464
    Largely for the same reason I suspect most will pick their fave, because it's the one I owned.

    Other than that the Spectrum ZX and the Commodore 64 because they're the only other two I played on

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      #3
      C64- spend more time on this than any other computer until my amiga, it was my cousins and friends ones (i had a Vic20) Barbarian/Impossible Mission/Uridium/Gauntlet and so on
      Spectrum 128, again never had one but a lot of time at my cousins playing over weekend and holidays.
      MSX- a friend had one and I never seen anything like it it seemed so much more at the time than the C64, Salamander was jaw dropping.

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        #4
        Zx Spectrum 128+ The best 8-bit micro computer ever made , I wouldn't bother with the rest LOL. Loved played Gift From the Gods, Manic Minner and Match Day II on my ZX Spectrum

        Sir Clive is the best !!!!

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          #5
          The C64 gets my vote, great sound, sprite support, 2 joystick ports, good keyboard, even a cartridge slot. Oh & the genius that was "Braybrook" - Uridium & Paradroid

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            #6
            Acorn Electron. My first computer back in 1986. Not many big games out for it and it was quite crude but have amazingly fond memories of it, plus it looked ace with a quality keyboard.

            Zx Spectrum 48k+. Got one cheap in early '87 because of the lack of new stuff coming out on the Electron. My favourite home computer. Scrolling, sound, colours, smoothness, ALL worse than the C64. But it had a dark, sexy jazz about it, slinkily skeletal. And the 3D vectors it could do were the best. Sadly, arcade conversions weren't always its forte and you were pretty much lumbered with uberjerky scrolling, plinky-plonky sonics and no music. But that didn't matter to me.

            Commodore 64. Got this in late 1987, joint Xmas/birthday prez. Arcade quality scrolling, beautiful sound, full colour with no colour clash, smoooooth-playing games. I loved the C64. It was and still is amazing. And the MUSIC!!! So many good tunes. Deficits? A bad C64 game is baaaaaad. The Speccy had graphical limitations so when you see a C64 game running badly then it feels twice as bad.

            Anyhoo:

            GOLD: Speccy
            SILVER: C64
            BRONZE: Acorn Electron
            BAUXITE: Speccy 16 from the car boot

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              #7
              1. C64
              Never had one. I had a Vic and the folks couldn’t afford to upgrade me
              2. BBC
              It had Elite and chuckle egg and was what we had at school. Again, never had one in the day but am always looking at master systems on eBay
              3. Msx
              Lusted after one back in the day. Never had one. Kinda want one now.

              I always thought the spectrum was total garbage in every way. Never had one and never wanted one and still don’t. The QL however...

              I have a C64 now though in real good nick, along with a 1541 drive and a 1081 monitor. I think bbc is next on the list.

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                #8
                My list is the same as JazzFunk’s.

                1. Acorn Electron.
                We only had the tape player edition but it was amazing having a computer at home. My local chemist stocked a surprising amount of games for the system mostly budget stuff. I picked up Soccer Boss for £1.99 and played it for hours on end. And when I discovered it was programmed in BASIC I hacked it to give my team amazing stats and resources. The Dodgems game that came with the system was also surprisingly addictive. I can’t remember the manufacturer of the tape but it was huge, similar to the size of a contemporary Betamax VCR.

                2. ZX Spectrum 48k (then eventually a 128k).
                The system that brought computing to the masses of the British Isles. Great looking system with rubbish keys but so many good games. I used to program my Speccy to try to recreate panels from comics of the era. I can’t imagine having the patience to do that now.
                Games wise I still play Chuckie Egg, Chronos, Myth - History in the Making, Dan Dare and Tintin on the Moon to this day.
                And it’s not long to go now until I’ll have a Spectrum Next. I’ve already bought games for it.

                3. C64.
                A few years after the Speccy my parents offered my brother and I a new computer. We looked at the Amiga, ST and C64. Now this was early days for the Amiga and ST and a lot of the games we tried were frankly rubbish. So we picked the C64. The gulf in visuals and especially sound capabilities made it feel like a different generation from the Speccy at times. Boot up R-Type and listen to that incredible SID chip. OK the system has a bizarre colour palette but it was used well. R-Type, X-Out, Uridium, Creatures and Last Ninja were some of my favs on the system. I’m now patiently waiting for the release of the Mega65 while cursing the sh*tty stick that came with my C64 mini.

                I have to admit to having a soft spot for the CPC too. My friend had a 464 with colour screen and I couldn’t get enough of games like Puzznic and Pipemania on there. I’m still looking for a 6128+ at present. Some of the modern games on the CPC look fantastic.

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                  #9
                  C64

                  After that... erm...!
                  Lie with passion and be forever damned...

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                    #10
                    What Mayhem said. I only ever owned a C64 out of those, but it gave me some of my best moments in gaming.

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                      #11
                      I'm obviously going to plump for the C64 (especially as my Ultimate 64 turns up in about 3 weeks), but I've had extensive playtime on most of them, bar the Atari and the MSX, through mates.

                      I grew up in a town with a Laskys store, so I have tinkered with a variety of MSX systems on the way home from school. Missing from your list were two that I have tinkered with and would like to see again, the Jupiter ACE and the Oric Atmos 48.

                      Personally, I'd give all of them a home if I could! I'd quite like the Atari 800, given it's design by Amiga and Atari 2600 genius, Jay Miner. Definitely got the impression that, graphically at least, it competes well with the C64.

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by Neon Ignition View Post
                        Amstrad CPC 464
                        Largely for the same reason I suspect most will pick their fave, because it's the one I owned.

                        Other than that the Spectrum ZX and the Commodore 64 because they're the only other two I played on
                        I have great memories of enjoying my Amstrad for a few years, but the C64 is now my favourite 8-bit computer.alongside the MSX2.

                        The Amstrad had quite a few good to great games that made nice use of the attractive colour palette and decent sound chip, so I have a lot of nostalgia for Amstrad games and watch 'Xyphoe' now and then on YouTube. It's also nice to see how clever people have pushed the hardware further with loads of excellent homebrew titles.


                        Originally posted by Team Andromeda View Post
                        Zx Spectrum 128+ The best 8-bit micro computer ever made , I wouldn't bother with the rest LOL. Loved played Gift From the Gods, Manic Minner and Match Day II on my ZX Spectrum

                        Sir Clive is the best !!!!
                        The Spectrum is definitely the most iconic British computer -- and it has tons of games to enjoy. It's funny how the machine has some truly basic, terrible games, but there are also plenty of really impressive titles that really show off how capable the hardware actually is. The gulf between poor and good games is huge.


                        Originally posted by paulus View Post
                        The C64 gets my vote, great sound, sprite support, 2 joystick ports, good keyboard, even a cartridge slot. Oh & the genius that was "Braybrook" - Uridium & Paradroid
                        Yeah, such a great machine for gaming. It still impresses me how fast and smooth C64 games can be. The SID chip...

                        Originally posted by JazzFunk View Post
                        Acorn Electron.
                        Originally posted by CMcK View Post

                        1. Acorn Electron.
                        I've now included the Acorn Electron, because I know quite a few people had it back in the day. I think it was Steve Benway's first computer.



                        Originally posted by CMcK View Post

                        And it’s not long to go now until I’ll have a Spectrum Next. I’ve already bought games for it.
                        I haven't ordered a Next, but I'm really interested to see what people do with it. I expect loads of really fun retro style games. I'll probably end up buying one.


                        Originally posted by JazzFunk View Post
                        But it had a dark, sexy jazz about it, slinkily skeletal. And the 3D vectors it could do were the best.
                        Yeah, there's some deeply enchanting magic running through those Speccy chips. The Ultimate games, 3D Starstrike, Deathchase etc... have a quintessential Speccy vibe that doesn't translate well to other machines.

                        Originally posted by Brad View Post
                        2. BBC
                        It had Elite and chuckle egg and was what we had at school. Again, never had one in the day but am always looking at master systems on eBay
                        The BBC was the first computer I ever used, which was at school. Then I got to use one round my cousin's house when his dad bought one and loads of gear to go with it. I've always thought it was a really interesting machine with quite a few excellent games. I'd definitely like to own one, but only when I have much more space to set retro computers up properly.

                        Originally posted by Brad View Post
                        3. Msx
                        Lusted after one back in the day. Never had one. Kinda want one now.
                        It's best to get an MSX2, which is backwards compatible. The MSX2 hardware can do pretty impressive stuff.

                        I remember seeing the original MSX in upmarket shops and not having much idea of what it was. There was a kid at school who said he had one, but I never got to use one back in the day. The MSX always had a strange mystique about it. Then years later I found out that it had been a big thing in the Far East and the Netherlands.

                        Originally posted by JazzFunk View Post
                        Commodore 64. Got this in late 1987, joint Xmas/birthday prez. Arcade quality scrolling, beautiful sound, full colour with no colour clash, smoooooth-playing games. I loved the C64.
                        I also got a C64 after my other computers, and it really impressed me. All the fast action and amazing orchestral music blew me away after the Amstrad and Spectrum. Each computer has good and bad points -- but the C64's good points made it a great machine for arcade style gaming.


                        Originally posted by CMcK View Post
                        3. C64.
                        A few years after the Speccy my parents offered my brother and I a new computer. We looked at the Amiga, ST and C64. Now this was early days for the Amiga and ST and a lot of the games we tried were frankly rubbish. So we picked the C64.
                        Yeah, early[86-88] Amiga games were mostly terrible. The C64, on the other hand, had loads of excellent games covering all genres.


                        Originally posted by gunrock View Post
                        I'm obviously going to plump for the C64 (especially as my Ultimate 64 turns up in about 3 weeks),
                        I'll probably grab an Ultimate at some point, seeing I still enjoy playing C64 games. I'll have to find a decent joystick to use with it.


                        Originally posted by gunrock View Post
                        Personally, I'd give all of them a home if I could! I'd quite like the Atari 800, given it's design by Amiga and Atari 2600 genius, Jay Miner. Definitely got the impression that, graphically at least, it competes well with the C64.
                        The Atari 800XL is an excellent piece of kit that competes really well with the C64. Major advantages are the much nicer colour palette and the 1.97 MHz clock speed( which really benefited vector/3D games).

                        I'd like to own an 800XL, because I really enjoy watching the machine's best games on YouTube. Some of the games still impress me.
                        Last edited by Leon Retro; 11-11-2019, 17:14.

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                          #13
                          ^yeah, the graphics looked ace, sort of like they'd mixed the C64 with the Amstrad palette. Just no games around for it at the time, it was so much easier to find Spec/Ams/C64 stuff.

                          Never had an Amstrad but I secretly lusted after its lush colour palette.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by JazzFunk View Post
                            ^yeah, the graphics looked ace, sort of like they'd mixed the C64 with the Amstrad palette.










                            A few examples of what the hardware can do. Always thought the 800XL computer looked really cool.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by JazzFunk View Post

                              Never had an Amstrad but I secretly lusted after its lush colour palette.






                              These really show off the colour palette.
                              Last edited by Leon Retro; 08-11-2019, 22:46.

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