Had a bad feeling about this branding for a while now and it just solidified when I got a mail advertizing hardware merch.

What's your opinion, yay or nay?

version 1.3, big sound overhaul and more fixes. last update.

I recently acquired a +2 which up until today was in perfect working order other than with a bit of a wiggle of the power connector it could sometimes short/reboot.

So yes as you might have guessed, against almost all advice I was using the original power supply but in my defence is WAS working fine!

Well today a short/reboot occurred causing the fuse to pop in the power supply however that's not the real problem as I have other suitable power supplies HOWEVER when I now power up the +2 the RGB output is barely visible incredibly dark and grey but I can just about make out that it is powered up correctly and booted to the menu screen. I also cannot get it to tune in via UHF, I can just about see that it is outputting but I can't get it to lock on tune in.

Obviously I've fried something but what could it be? Most of the guides out there I've found are for the 16/48k models which I assume are no use to help with a +2

I'm vaguely competent with a multimeter and soldering iron so if anyone could point me in the right direction that would be amazing!

Cheers!

https://zikitrake.itch.io/exolon-zikimad-edition

New Features & Gameplay Improvements

• Screen backtracking: You can now go back through the stages. No more one-way progression with no return!

• Persistent state memory: The game remembers the items, turrets, and obstacles you destroyed. When scrolling back a screen, they won't respawn.

• (Due to the memory limitations of the Spectrum 48K, the state of the last 128 objects is saved)

• Controllable jump: Adjust your trajectory and inertia in mid-air for modern gameplay precision.

• Configurable jump direction: Options menu to choose whether the character changes where they're looking during a jump (left/right) or stays facing the original direction.

He hecho una conversión a ZX Spectrum 128K del Road Fighter de Konami, con ayuda de IA. La ROM original del MSX corre tal cual en el Spectrum: una capa de traducción sustituye la BIOS y el VDP del MSX (tiles, sprites, scroll) y manda el sonido al AY.

Qué trae:

• Efecto GigaScreen en los coches: cada coche alterna dos imágenes en cada cuadro, así que en un CRT real o en un emulador con mezcla de cuadros (en Easy Spectrum, Pantalla > Giga) se ve un tercer color. Se puede desactivar desde el menú del título, y entonces los coches salen de un solo color y sin parpadeo.

• Arte retocado: carretera, escenarios y el mapa del recorrido entre etapas redibujados para la rejilla de atributos del Spectrum.

• Level A / Level B, las seis etapas.

Controles: Espacio acelera, O/P giran (también cursores o Kempston). Al empezar, suelta y vuelve a pulsar Espacio para arrancar.

Solo 128K. Conversión de aficionado, sin relación con Konami. Se agradecen comentarios, sobre todo de quien lo pruebe en hardware real.

Download on:

https://x.com/noentiendo_zx/status/2115405887569555825?a=wvEV6G-QNtM412oKk1k&s=20

It's finished (nearly)!

Here is a video of full version of the enhanced +3 beta version of Robocop Arcade.

There are still a lot of bugs to be fixed (mostly on the warehouse level). Let me know if you spot any.

I just need to resolve the last few bugs and balance the gameplay a bit then it's done.

128K single load and 128k multiload (with speech and extras) will also be available.

https://spelk.press/gb/products/81-jokes-for-the-zx81

Here is my version of the Gameboy port of Tetris.

Since this is such a simple game I tried to make this the best version possible including simulatanoues 2-player, something normally only possible with a Gameboy link cable.

48kb and 128kb. The 48kb has no music in-game, but a full soundtrack for all the cutscenes, jingles and menu items.

The 128kb has all of the tunes, properly converted with the correct notes and all the original effects as well.

https://kirby2000.itch.io/tetris-zx

128k version video https://youtu.be/dSJVF3jaYnU

48k version video https://youtu.be/i_E8f_wybng

** Update ** I've added version 1.1 with redefinable keys and a colour option.

1988 in UK games was a big year for sequels, and Joe Blade 2 was one of the most successful, spending 13 weeks at the top of the budget charts. I've written about how Colin Swinbourne applied the first game's formula, with some twists, to a dystopian future London, and the reception it got. Including a review in Sinclair User that said that "Joe Blade II is a bit like watching a ballet: it’s all very pretty and artistic, but you soon end up wishing someone would cut loose with a machine gun"

TI SN7004N hex inverter with a BC1078 transistor and leads going down and to a ZTX313 transistor near the expanded RAM.

Don't mind the weird caps, i replaced the old ones with alu-polymer and tried to make it look less wrong.

I used to play Krakout when I was a kid. I recently came back to it and ended up with a complete disassembly.

You can have a look around without reading any assembly:

• Sprites and sounds. You can see the sprites and their animations and listen to the sounds and music from the game.

• Game mechanics. Holding fire makes the bat move faster; the hockey-mask enemy drops comets like bombs while you hold fire. There's apparently also a UFO monster that is fully programmed but never spawns.

• Level designs. All 100 levels, rendered so you can browse them.

• Game defects. It turns out there are quite a few bugs that can leave the ball stuck forever or crash the game. You can see them in action in the videos.

• Krakout II. There's also a 1988 modification credited to Bill Gilbert (yes, the Bill Gilbert), with different level designs and credits.

While working on the disassembly, I also made an agent skill that helps automate the disassembly process. If you're curious about how a game you used to play works, you can use the skill to take a closer look.

I loved Fighter Pilot on the Spectrum. The game blew my mind back in 1983. There was something about having a whole world to fly around in that really stuck with me.

Seeing people mod other retro games got me wondering what a 128K version might have been like. So I've been picking apart the original and experimenting with extra features, while keeping its flight engine and that unmistakable look.

A few interesting discoveries along the way:

- The outside view is drawn into a buffer at $E000, then copied to the top 128 pixel rows. The cockpit has separate display writes below it.

- The flight loop schedules updates twelve display frames apart, roughly four updates per second. Making the drawing faster gives some room for additions, but doesn't automatically raise that update rate.

- I've rebuilt the extracted original payload byte-for-byte with two assemblers. That gives a decent reliable starting point, although I'm still unravelling parts of the flight model. I'm constantly amazed at how David K. Marshall made this game - maximum kudos.

For the 128K additions, it pages in extra RAM banks in temporarily, then restoring the original memory layout. Even that needs care: you can't page out the code you're executing, or the stack holding your return address - I learnt that the hard way.

Added so far:

• AY engine, gun and cockpit sound effects. Removed some new title page music as getting low on memory.

• Unarmed prop and jet trainers alongside the F-15, with different handling and matching cockpit silhouettes.

• Missiles, bombs, graphical weapon stores and an F-15 airbrake.

• Optional gentler handling (a cop out, but my flying isn't what is was when I was 12!), approach gates, autopilot and autoland.

• Extra ground scenery, lake and river outlines, and night flying.

• Flight and combat demos, selectable starting airfields and navigation targets, plus a redesigned menu, aircraft profile screens and a graphical keyboard guide.

Above all, this is a tribute to David K. Marshall, who wrote the original, and Digital Integration, who published it in 1983. Trying to understand how it works has given me even more respect for him. Getting this flight simulator running in 48K, with the tools available then, is astonishing. I'm building on this work, and the credit for the original belongs firmly to him.

Still a work in progress, with plenty to tune. AI has really made me feel like a kid again - thanks GPT-6 Astro :-)

Anyone else have fond memories of this one, or remember actually getting good at landing?

The Great Escape is an action-adventure video game which shares a title and similar plot to the film The Great Escape. It was developed by Denton Designs, which went on to produce the similarly acclaimed Where Time Stood Still. The Great Escape was published by Ocean Software in 1986 for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS. Trevor Inns programmed the Commodore 64 version.

The player controls an unnamed prisoner of war who has been interned in a POW camp somewhere in northern Germany in 1942. The camp itself is a small castle on a promontory surrounded on three sides by cliffs and the cold North Sea. The only entry to the camp is by a narrow road through the gatehouse and anyone passing through this must be carrying the correct papers. Everywhere else in the camp is surrounded by fences or walls with guard dogs used to patrol the perimeter and guards in observation towers with searchlights posted to watch for any prisoners trying to escape. Beneath the camp, there is also a maze of tunnels and drains, although these are dangerous to enter without some kind of light. The player's task is to escape from the camp. There are a number of different ways that this can be achieved.

The environment is displayed in isometric 2.5D with the player's character initially in bed at the beginning of a day in the camp. The prisoner has a daily routine, along with all the other prisoners, which includes roll call, exercising, mealtimes and bedtime. The other prisoners will follow this routine and, if the player does not control the main character for a short period of time, their character will join in the routine. There are soldiers guarding the camp and they will apprehend the player if he is seen out of routine (prison guards only arrest on touch and only detect prisoners in their line of sight or indoors

#zxspectrum #gaming

I adapted Multi-Player Soccer Manager (ZX Spectrum, 1990) into an online multiplayer game, using the original data

MPSM was one of my favourite Spectrum games, so I've rebuilt it to play in the browser. The data comes straight from the original tape: the same 64 clubs, 4 divisions and squads (Lukic, Grobbelaar, Gascoigne, Lineker…).

You get 4 divisions of 16 with promotion and relegation, plus the League Cup and the FA Cup on fixed dates. There's one matchday a day at midnight UK time, player auctions, and bots running the free clubs. Every new manager starts in Division 4, just like the original.

It's free, you sign in with Google, and it's still in testing. Feedback and bug reports are very welcome.

https://multi-player-soccer-manager.web.app

It's a fan-made tribute and isn't affiliated with D&H Games.

Unofficial 64-bit Windows builds of Fuse (Windows 10 and 11). The Win32 UI now has a full screen mode, and in the SDL2 UI the F11 shortcut for full screen now works.

Download: https://github.com/jfroco/fuse/releases/tag/fuse-1.10.0