The Kempston Joystick - 7 Directional controls

This was simply the joystick to get back then. The autofire button, the pilot type grip and the suction cups at the bottom. It just made games even better, well compared to using the "a","z", "op" and "space bar" keys. There were many Kempston joysticks but the best one was the Kempston Quickshot. In fact most of the games had to be Quickshot compatible to work.

If only they didn't break so quickly. Well, what I mean is the 8 directional movement became 7, then 8, then 7 again, then 7 and a half if I pushed it hard enough.

Still, what a grip!

Roland in Time - Dr. Who?

This was a game that confirmed something that I have always known. I am just hopeless at platform games. Where people would rave about Jet Set Willy and Super Mario games, I was struggling with this game called Roland in Time. It was one of the those games that came with the 6128 on a 3 inch disk. I kept loading it because it was one of the first games on a 3 inch disk.

It had this Dr. Who title screen that warped when you started the game. The graphics were awful and the controls were too stiff. The enemies didn't seem to interest me and overall it was not pretty or enjoyable enough to even perservere with. I mean, there are some games, where you just keep going just to see what the next level is going to be like, not this game however.

Seabase delta - Wooosh! Beep!

Seabase delta

This was just a brilliant game. It was very atmospheric and I liked the underwater feeling and I loved the fact that it actually had sound effects. It was also one of the first interactive fiction typing games that actually had graphics that made it so immersively captivating, rather than just obligatory pretty pictures.

I really wanted to complete this game and even to this day, I still do and it's one of the few interactive fiction games where the parser is not too difficult, and the puzzles do seem logical compared to other games, which were absolutely nonsensical.

Amstrad CPC 6128 - 16 Colors and a Built in Disk Drive? Get Out of Here!

I was first exposed to this awesome computer when my father bought it from a garage sale. It came with a few games and I remembered my father telling me how he used to own a previous version and actually rented games on tape through a mail order company.

I remember going through some games looking only for movie titles and game compilations, some only came in tape form which wasn't what I was looking for.

Anyway, this was a sleek machine with a cool built in 3" disk drive which you have to switch sides to use up the full capacity. The disk was awesome and solid, none of the flimsy 5.25 inches or 3.5 inch type. This was hardcore.

The graphics were great even though it had 16 colors. However, I must admit some games were just bad ports from other 8bit computers and so sometimes used only 4 colors. It was also one of the few computers that had 80 column character displays. That was impressive back then.

What sets this computer apart from the rest is the fact that it had a built in disk drive and a matching monitor that was sold as a bundle.

Gateway II: Homeworld - Floppy Version

This was another awesome interactive fiction game. The atmosphere was incredible. Built in maps and animated cut scenes with sound. It also had a graphical user interface, which I applaud their idea, but recently I absolutely deplored the use graphical interfaces because it makes things cluttered and I find the mouse a means to and end, rather than a pleasurable experience.

Anyhow, the graphical user interface boast features such as point and click for directions and objects and also interacting with characters is as simple as selecting the available questions, rather than guessing what sentences the programmers wrote in to the program.

There were two versions, the floppy version came on 4 disks while the CD-rom version had more cut scenes but it also had an official hint book enclosed!

Hulk - Spectrum Version

This was awesome when I first saw it. From the box to the inlets. A marvel character interactive fiction game. This was a great experience and a chance to play the hulk.

The atmosphere and the story seemed just right. But then things don't seem to go very well. Yet again, I struggled with the parser and the puzzles often don't seem logical. As much as I wanted to see the different graphics, it was often too frustrating.

Unfortunately, my experience with the parser prevented me from playing other great titles from the same software publisher. Such titles such as 'The Human Torch and The Thing' and 'Spiderman'.

Hobbit - Spectrum Version

This was one of the first games I saw someone play. I must admit, the times I did have a go I was struggling with the parser and always ended up inputing swear words just to see what inventive things it would come out with.

Still, this was a great interactive fiction games because it had graphics to go along with the text. Unfortunately, although it's retro feel does create a great atmosphere, my concentration level was in tuned with today's games and I didn't have enough patience to delve further into this game.

The idea of inputting commands was great at first but when things don't seem to improve or go anywhere, it started to get frustrating to the point that I needed a FAQ. But then with these games, once you see the FAQ, you see the whole game and then there wouldn't be any point in typing out all the instruction. Unless, you were keen to see the rather dated yet charming graphics.

Solar Jetman

This game was on the NES. This game is an updated version of Jetpac mentioned previously. Only this time you get to control a ship and you roam around a large scrolling area.

At first I thought this was a great idea. Same addictive principle of collecting the different parts of the ship and collecting the fuels and then blasting off to another zone/world. However, it's not as pick up and play as the original. In fact if your not a patient person who likes to control your thrusters using short bursts, then this can be a slow game and the controls can sometimes fustrate you.

What's novel about the game is that should your ship get destroyed, you are can still fly back to your main ship using your jetpac and recharge/repair. This is great as otherwise it would be a fustrating and difficult game.

All in all, I do like this game, just because I loved the original theme of picking up parts to blast off. What I don't really like is the difficulty and the off pace control of the ship.

Jetpac - Space Fuel Addiction

This is just an excellent game. No music to mention of and that's the beauty of it. It's just pure sound effects. Admittedly the lazer sound effects sound like someone squashed a whoopee cushion, but when your ready to lift off, the clicky-clicky sound is just great.

The graphics are also great too. Just the basics and simplicity makes it just clean and uncluttered.
The thing with the graphics is the fact that if you updated it with thousands of colors, or if you updated it with a 3d version it would lose all of it's charm.

The difficulty level is just right, getting progressively harder, but even if you have to start the game over, just collecting the fuel and missing parts to the ship in order to lift off is just addictive.
If only there was a version on my cellphone.

Absolute gem of a game.

ZX Spectrum - Classic

This was a great machine. The old version was still the best. I had only the newer version which I didn't seem to like. Look how tiny this computer is.

You can create games on it just by typing them from magazines. You can run commerical games and demos from tapes. Those must have been incredible days. The anticipation of something exciting and great.

Now, it's a quick download here and there, install huge files on hardisks etc etc etc. The gaming experiencing is far move absorbing today, but it doesn't have that anticipating excitement of old.

I simply love those 8 bit graphics. I guess it allows me to use a lot of my imagination. It's like reading a book vs graphical novel. The latter has great graphical content but sometimes doesn't have the same impact as a good wriiten book.