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Speccy Nation
@speccynation.bsky.social
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The official account for the best-selling retro games book series Speccy Nation, celebrating the golden age of British 8-bit gaming.

Written by @danwhitehead.net

Buy the books here: https://shorturl.at/VRNjy
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TURBO ESPRIT, Durell, 1986

"You're actually driving down real streets in a fully-mapped city...you could see the ordinary people. The ones who didn't get to zoom around in a cool car. It gave you something to measure your escapades against."

As featured in Speccy Nation: amzn.eu/d/aBq5Ir4
The front cover of Turbo Esprit on the ZX Spectrum. Beneath a metallic Durell logo is a large hand-drawn image, set at a dutch angle, of a bright red Lotus sports car racing down a city street at night. A corner flash lists the recommended retail price as £8.95. A screenshot of Turbo Esprit on the ZX Spectrum. A large steering wheel and cyan dashboard occupies the bottom half of the screen while the gameplay window shows a monochrome 3D city street with cars travelling down it.
November 26, 2024 at 9:09 PM
speccynation.bsky.social
DRUG WATCH, Nottinghamshire Constabulary, 1985

"Grass is depicted as actual grass – a twiggy sort of thing that looks nothing like the iconic marijuana leaf. LSD apparently comes as a cyan bar of soap...sometimes, it’s just the word DRUG."

As featured in Speccy Nation Vol 2: amzn.eu/d/8GIqKrr
The inlay card for DRUG WATCH, a 1985 computer game. The front panel features the title in a distressed red military font over a skull and crossbones, except the crossbones are syringes. "Can you say NO?" is written across the bottom in a script font. A screenshot from Nottinghamshire Constabulary's anti-drug game, Drug Watch. The screen is bright green with trees down each side. A line of evil drug dealers march across the top in single file, throwing the word "DRUG" at the player like Space Invaders. The words AVOID ALL DRUGS are flashing at the top.
November 20, 2024 at 8:08 PM
speccynation.bsky.social
The text adventure is way more obscure, whereas the terrible "arcade game" was ubiquitous and still turns up in literally every job lot of Speccy games on eBay.
November 20, 2024 at 7:53 PM
speccynation.bsky.social
Your regular reminder that the opening screen of the Super Gran text adventure is like something out of a Saw movie.
A screenshot from the Super Gran text adventure game for the ZX Spectrum. The screen features a large graphical view of a room with garish blue walls, a bright red wardrobe, and a large magenta rectangle that is presumably a bed. In the centre of the scene is a bizarre yellow and black contraption. Text below the graphic reads: I'm in a bedroom. Things I see: Bed. Strange Machine. Broken Window. Wardrobe. Tape recorder playing cries for help.
November 20, 2024 at 6:33 PM
speccynation.bsky.social
THE FALL GUY, Elite Systems, 1985

"The decision to render the masculine icon that is Lee Majors as a sort of pot-bellied stick man certainly doesn’t help..."

As featured in Speccy Nation Vol 2: amzn.eu/d/7nCFOkJ
The cover art for the ZX Spectrum game based on The Fall Guy, featuring a semi-accurate drawing of Lee Majors and Heather Locklear. In the background, Colt Seavers' brown-and-tan GMC truck is jumping through the air. Also has the metallic blue and gold logo of publisher Elite Systems and a little hologram sticker, which is about as 1985 as you can get. A screenshot of The Fall Guy game on the ZX Spectrum. It shows Colt Seavers, here depicted as a little featureless man with an egg-shaped torso, standing atop a bright red railway tunnel. A blue-and-cyan train carriage is passing beneath him. He's going to jump on it, folks! Because that's literally the only thing you did in the game - jump up and down on moving obstacles.
November 19, 2024 at 3:54 PM
speccynation.bsky.social
DRILLER, Incentive Software, 1986

"Driller's victories may have been technical rather than creative in nature, but there's no denying that it represented a staggering achievement in Spectrum coding."

As featured in Speccy Nation: amzn.eu/d/4LO6YrF
The box art for the 8-bit game Driller. A red spaceship swoops towards us, while behind it is a large science fiction styled drilling tower with flames coming from the top. In the background, a giant blue planet. A screenshot of Driller running on the ZX Spectrum. A gameplay window shows a grey monochrome 3D world, with a building and archway, and behind those a tall tower. Surrounding the gameplay window is a cyan control panel showing the player's coordinates and other information.
November 14, 2024 at 1:37 PM
speccynation.bsky.social
EVERYONE'S A WALLY, Mikro-Gen

"There are moments of whimsy, of course, but the whole game groans with bone-deep sadness. If Mike Leigh had gone into game design rather than film making, this is the game he would have made."

As featured in Speccy Nation: amzn.eu/d/cIsnzMx
The cassette inlay card for Everyone's a Wally on the ZX Spectrum. The front cover features a cartoon of characters from the game and a flash boasting that it "includes hit single by Mike Berry". A ZX Spectrum screenshot from Everyone's a Wally. It shows a street scene, with a brighly coloured post office and a red telephone box. Wally, a yellow sprite with a pot belly and a flat cap, is shuffling to the right.
November 11, 2024 at 7:46 PM
speccynation.bsky.social
Weetabix promptly sued Ubik, understandably really given that the game obviously featured Weetabix. So, Paranoid Pete was pulled from sale and the cereal company pressed ahead with the presumably rushed Weetabix vs The Titchies instead, despite it being rubbish and a worse game than Paranoid Pete.
A screenshot of Paranoid Pete on the ZX Spectrum. The character of Paranoid Pete is a yellow Weetabix shaped guy, exploring an alien planet.
November 10, 2024 at 5:59 PM
speccynation.bsky.social
Games developer Ubik Software was given the job of turning wheat biscuits into a game but, for whatever reason, their effort was rejected by Weetabix. Undeterred, Ubik simply rebranded the game as Paranoid Pete and released it themselves.
The cassette inlay for Paranoid Pete. The front cover art shows a character who is clearly a Weetabix alongside a stylised wheat sheaf icon very similar to the one used by Weetabix.
November 10, 2024 at 5:59 PM
speccynation.bsky.social
So Weetabix decided to capitalise on this popularity by commissioning a tie-in computer game, available via mail order. Members of the Weetabix Club (and, yes, cereals had fan clubs back then) could get it for the bargain price of just £2.75.
A full page advert encouraging kids to join the Weetabix club. The comic-style layout depicts the various things you would get for joining at a cost of just 90 pence. This includes "5 great stickers", a card with the "Weetacode", a poster of the Weetabix characters, and a Weetabix comic. A full page advert for a Weetabix computer competition - 100 Home Computer Sets to be won!! The prize includes a portable TV, a Dragon computer (lol), a disk drive, and a copy of the Weetabix vs the Titchies game. Everyone who enters gets a free glow in the dark Weetabix vs the Titchies poster.
November 10, 2024 at 5:59 PM
speccynation.bsky.social
WEETABIX vs THE TITCHIES

"A crude Space Invaders clone...simple and utterly tedious. Still, it has the distinction of being the only Speccy game, and perhaps the only game ever, based on a breakfast cereal which is some small achievement."

As featured in Speccy Nation Vol 2: amzn.eu/d/aKkQDpB
The cassette inlay art for the ZX Spectrum game Weetabix versus The Titchies. It features the Weetabix skinhead character Dunk, voiced by Bob Hoskins in the animated TV commercials, punching advancing rows of Space Invader-style Titchies. Text at the bottom proclaims it to be "a unique computer game exclusively from Weetabix". A screenshot from Weetabix versus The Titchies on the ZX Spectrum. It is a crude Space Invaders clone with strange flat green enemies descending down the screen towards a yellow Weetabix sprite.
November 10, 2024 at 5:59 PM
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Correct! In the 1970s he was studying at the London Film School and working as a freelance illustrator when Donner hired him to create bespoke Action Comics pages for the movie.
A black and white photo of artist Oliver Frey at work. He's wearing a long-sleeved black sweatshirt with the Crash logo, the ZX Spectrum magazine he co-founded and provided almost every cover illustration for.
November 10, 2024 at 1:05 PM
speccynation.bsky.social
Speccy Sunday Trivia Time: which well-known ZX Spectrum-connected artist drew the comic pages featured at the start of Richard Donner's 1978 blockbuster Superman: The Movie?

For more Sinclair trivia, check out the official Speccy Nation Quiz Book: amzn.eu/d/fBMIIZW
A promotional image for the 1978 Superman: The Movie. The logo is made up of swooping crystal-style lettering. Beneath the title it reads "You'll believe a man can fly". A screengrab from the opening minutes of Superman: The Movie. Theatrical curtains have pulled open to reveal a comic book lying on an ornate floor. The title reads Action Comics and the art depicts a spaceship. The next shot from the opening scene of Superman: The Movie. A child's hand has opened the comic book revealing a double page introducing the reader to the city of Metropolis in 1938. The camera has now zoomed in on the final three panels of the comic pages. The first of the three panels depicts the Metropolis skyline. A caption reads "It's captains of industry". The second panel shows the Daily Planet skyscraper, with a large ornamental globe on top. The caption reads "Was the responsibility of the Daily Planet". The final panel has only text. It reads "A great metropolitan newspaper, whose reputation for clarity and truth had become a source of hope for the entire community!"
November 10, 2024 at 11:05 AM
speccynation.bsky.social
MANIC MINER, 1983, Bug Byte Software

"Few were able to clear all twenty screens without help from a POKE or two, but that doesn't dim Manic Miner's importance or the beautiful clarity of its design"

As featured in Speccy Nation: amzn.eu/d/9LuyLqL
The front cover of the cassette inlay for the original 1983 Bug Byte release of Manic Miner. The main image shows a bearded miner holding a lantern while a skeletal hand lunges in from the left-hand side. A screenshot of Central Cavern, the first level of Manic Miner. Red earthy platforms cross the screen, with surreal enemies patrolling them. Our hero, Miner Willy, stands on a platform at screen right.
November 9, 2024 at 2:39 PM
speccynation.bsky.social
Dip back into a more innocent gaming age with Speccy Nation, an ongoing series of books exploring how Sinclair's scrappy 8-bit computer helped to define British game design and reflect 80s pop culture.

Volumes 1 and 2 available now, plus a Speccy quiz book!

Buy here: shorturl.at/VRNjy
An image showing the covers of retro gaming books Speccy Nation, Speccy Nation Volume 2, and The Official Speccy Nation Quiz Book. Text reads "available in paperback and for Amazon Kindle".
November 8, 2024 at 6:35 PM