Sinclair ZX Spectrum

For emulators, see ZX Spectrum emulators and Emulators on ZX Spectrum.

"Be who you want to be."

The ZX Spectrum is a line of 8-bit personal computers from British company Sinclair Research.

Its hardware was nothing to write home about. In fact, it suffered from a graphical quirk called "attribute clash" that limited its colors in a severe way (every 8x8 pixel area could contain only two colors) and made its games look primitive when compared to other machines of its day. Also, it was infamous for its terrible chiclet keyboard - an improvement over the membrane keyboards of their previous machines, but still far worse than what many rivals offered. Nonetheless, its extremely low cost (less than half the price of a Commodore 64) made it hugely successful in the United Kingdom; it was also very popular in the Eastern Bloc and in Brazil, in the form of unlicensed clones. Consequently, the Spectrum amassed a rather vast gaming library.

A variant called Timex Sinclair 2068 was sold in the US briefly. It had some technical improvements, but also huge compatibility issues with existing software. It was such a flop that it ended Sinclair's presence in the American market.

The list

Cover	Title	Genre	Description	Screenshot
	Agent X in the Brain Drain Caper	Action	Control a smoking detective as he pursues a mad scientist, each level featuring a different gameplay style (first stage is a isometric racer, second is a side-scrolling platformer and so on).
	Astro Marine Corps	Platformer	An obscure Spanish run-and-gun with very impressive graphics: colorful stages, parallax scrolling, and almost no attribute clash in sight!
	Atic Atac	Top-Down Action	Pick from one of three classes and explore the many dark rooms of a castle while killing the many creatures inside. Available on Rare Replay on the Xbox One.
	Dan Dare III: The Escape	Platformer	While the whole series is well-regarded, the third Dan Dare game is especially praised for its graphics that work around the ZX's attribute clash pretty well. Developed by Dave Perry and Nick Bruty, the same duo who would later do Earthworm Jim.
	Deathchase (EU) Cyclepath (US)	Vehicular combat	In the year 2501, a mercenary rides through the forest to blast the enemy bikers. Clearly based on the speeder scene from Return of the Jedi, its pseudo-3D visuals were quite impressive for the time. Magazine Your Sinclair called it the system's best game ever.[1] Get a PC fan remake here.
	Lunar Jetman	Shoot 'em Up	Defender-styled shooter and sequel to Jetpac, you control the Jetman on foot or flying with his jetpack and shoot at the alien hordes. You also have a car at your disposal for fast travel. Both are available on Rare Replay.
	Pyjamarama	Puzzle-Platformer	Wally Week is having the weirdest dream ever, so you now must guide him and solve puzzles to wake him up in time for work.
	Sabre Wulf	Action-Adventure	Control the Sabreman and explore a jungle, collecting treasures and defeating enemies while avoiding the dreaded Wulf. One of the first games made by Rare when they were still called Ultimate Play the Game, it later got a sequel on the GBA with same title. Also available on Rare Replay.
	Slightly Magic	Action / Platformer	If you like Dizzy but don't like the crap port, then Code Masters made a very similar game for the ZX Spectrum that worked quite nicely. Slightly Magic is a very colorful, lighthearted romp with an interesting spellcasting game mechanic. There is a remake on Steam which fixes a lot of the original problems with the game. (link)
	Tír Na Nòg	Adventure	A.k.a. the "Walking Man" game. You explore the land of Tír Na Nòg, picking up items and avoiding enemies. You always walk left and right using the middle keyboard buttons to change the camera angle in order to enter intersections on the road. Features what is probably the best animation you'll ever see on the Speccy. Has a prequel named Dun Darach.

The homebrew list

Cover	Title	Genre	Description	Download	Screenshot
	Buzzsaw+	Puzzle	A simple puzzle clearly inspired by arcade Cosmo Gang The Puzzle aka Pac-Attack. Arrange boxes in rows, use saws to eliminate the monsters that get in the way. But there's something special about this game: it was the first to actually break the ZX's color limit by changing the palette between scanlines. See a review.	Link
	Castlevania: Spectral Interlude	Action-adventure	This fangame by a Russian demoscene team started as a "demake" of Simon's Quest, but after a while they decided to make it something more interesting, an entirely new quest. The graphics and sound are pretty good by ZX standards, especially the music.	Link
	Kyd Kadet 3: The Eyeburx Plee	Action	Kyd Cadet is back and fully trained, ready for his next mission. Fight off an invading army on this alien planet, but do it quick because oxygen is scarce and in short supply.	Link
	Mighty Final Fight	Beat 'em up	Port of the NES chibi take on the arcade hit. By the same guy who made Spectral Interlude. Much, much better than the near-unplayable official port of Final Fight by US Gold.	Link
	The Dark	First person shooter	Monsters have taken over the land. Years later, the son of a refugee decides to go back and slay all the uglies to free the land. Yes, this really is a first person shooter. No joke. It even has an intro with voice synthesis. Behold.	Link

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External links

• Tech Radar's 30 best ZX Spectrum games
• World of Spectrum's best games
• Immortal ZX Spectrum games
• Den of Geek's 50 underappreciated ZX Spectrum games
• Us vs Th3m's 100 best ZX Spectrum games