Poll: Which 8-bit micro rocks your world?

[samanosuke]

The original classic, the ZX Spectrum 48k (or even 16k for the masochists)? The bigger, beefier, hearing-aid beige machine that is the C64? Perhaps you were the unlucky one whose parents bought you a BBC B for its educational value? Whatever your preference, let us know and why!!

For me it's the Speccy, simply because it was the first machine I ever played on and subsequently owned. My mate had a C64 which I loved for its snazzy graphics and sound, but I was so accustomed to playing on the Speccy with all its colour clash and beeping sound that the C64 never felt the same. Plus I wasn't adept at using this funny contraption called a 'joystick' and instead preferred using QAOPM. I did always prefer BBC Basic to that absurd one-key method the Speccy used though.

[kernow]

This should be a proper Poll! C64 FTW

[DCharlie]

C64 for me - i liked the Speccy and all that but once i had the c64, the speccy got relegated :/

SID chip was a big difference.

BBC Educational value : is that what Elite is know as?

[Welrain]

Amstrad CPC. It's criminal that its considered to be third after speccy and c64 in most cases.

[Shez]

C64 for me, although I was lucky that my mates had both Spectrum and the CPC, so I got to play all three regular - Always thought the CPC was the most desirable.

But regardless of that, the C64 gave me many hours of gaming and I loved that little machine.

[Soundwave]

Speccy for me.
Still have mine sat in the loft.

It was my first ever home computer & as such will always have a special place in my heart.

Started off with the plastic key 48k then a few christmas's later got a +2 which stayed with me always.

Had all the classics too...

Airborne Ranger
Robocop
Batman: The Movie
Batman: The Caped Crusader
Head over Heels
Football Manager
Crackdown
NARC
Nemesis the Warlock
Transformers
Ghostbusters

The list is endless.

Loved it so much & something I doubt I will ever part with.

Neil

[gunrock]

C64 without a question.

Having said that I think that the 8 bit era was very interesting for all the "almost rans", the Dragon 32, Oric-1, Jupiter Ace, Oric Atmos, the Elan, etc. Then there were the more US-centric big names, like the Apple IIgs and the Atari 800XL, and the Japanese consortium of MSX machines that I used to toy with in Laskys in bexleyheath after school.

Mere curios maybe, but I think of that era being the gold-rush of the home computing era, where genious electronics wizards and academics backed with their parents' pensions competed with large, established business machine companies and coin-op game upstarts. The excitement of this era likens to that of the propspectors rush to the Klondike and a lot of it was happening in Britain and Europe.

[Skull Commander]

C64 for me too. I started playing on a mates spectrum, but when I saw the C64 and how much better the games looked on it that was the one for me. I remember my mum got me one second hand with over 100 games. I was like a kid in a sweetie shop for weeks!

[chaoticjelly]

Commodore 16, beats all the rest hands down.

[Hohum]

C64 for me. I've actually owned a Spectrum and CPC464 aswell in the past aswell, and I have utmost respect for those too, but C64 got most of my attention.

I feel lucky that I was able to experience the 8-bit home computer era to a considerable extent (despite being quite young). I can't imagine what it must be like growing up these days with only consoles and Microsoft Windows... horrible thought.

[gunrock]

Commodore 16, beats all the rest hands down.

Actually, I was always interested in C16 and Plus 4, just from the point of view of them being some of the worst decision making I'd ever seen. I used to play with them in the high street stores to get a feel for them. Odd systems.

[charlesr]

Poll added.

[HHarm]

More options plz!

[gamerade]

Defo the C64.
Still got mine, set up, along with the usual suspects - 1541, Action Replay etc.
Had a Speccy sat farting away beneath me TV before a game of Frantic Freddie convinced me the grass WAS greener.
It wasn't just the amazing games or the fantastic SID chip, it was something that I was very lucky to experience at that time: The birth of the internet as a community and the C64s very active demoscene.
It was a machine that had and still has a very loyal userbase.
New demo productions are still released quite regularly, which push the hardware way beyond my
pre-conceived limits.
Along with hardware releases;
PC-Hardsid (you all know, I'm sure - Got Mine)
MMC64 - plug+play storage for the C64 on SDcard, imagine everything ever released on C64 including HVSC playable on the real Hardware (no more ****e PC emu).
Coming soon 1541-Ultimate!!!

[DCharlie]

the Dragon 32

i had a Dragon 32 - i guess that's where i got into coding (well, coding basic).

Tom Mix Software were awesome
The King was a great Donkey Kong clone.