SPECTRUM MEMORIES PART 8 I bought a +2 in March 1990 and for a while I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. My 48k+ model had started to become increasingly tetchy as had its cassette player with games either not loading properly or crashing at a crucial stage. A...Posted by jdanddiet on Apr 16, 2011 20:40 (Apr 16, 2011 20:40) |
I bought a +2 in March 1990 and for a while I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. My 48k+ model had started to become increasingly tetchy as had its cassette player with games either not loading properly or crashing at a crucial stage.  At the time the Spectrum was obviously dying; despite the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST 16-bit computers, it was clear the coming of the consoles was upon us. In less than a year the Sega Megadrive and Super Nintendo Entertainment System would be unleashed and the Spectrum would forever after look utterly inferior in every respect. But back in early 1990, I only had £100 saved up and a huge library of Spectrum games. Additionally, my local Software Plus were selling off 8-bit games very cheaply and every Spectrum magazine offered tapes full of games on its covers, as well of course the plethora of budget titles and re-releases that were common by then. Master System games were still very expensive, as were the 16-bit games, with budget titles clocking in at eight quid. The +2 had a built-in tape deck and a proper keyboard but it wasn't without its issues: some games still had a habit of not loading correctly and most 128k games were simply 48k games tarted up with some fancy sound effects and a lack of multi-load. But it was a vast improvement over my crusty five-old-old cassette deck and 48k+. So how long was it before I realised my mistake? Well, there were still some great games being released for the Spectrum with Midnight Resistance, Myth and Rick Dangerous bringing back particularly fond memories, all played with the backdrop of INXS on my stereo. 2 years later, however, I was in full time employment and the regular income I was receiving meant more money for consoles and their expensive cartridge games. I eventually bought a Mark 2 Megadrive and the +2 was duly relegated to the loft. To this day I still don't know what became of it, or my library of games. Either my Mum gave the lot to charity or, worse, they were thrown out along with the trash. Either way, it was a sad end to my Speccy gaming and computer gaming in general was out for me until 1997 when I purchased a shiny new PC. But that's another story... |
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Apr 30, 2011 10:05:19 (
Apr 30, 2011 10:05
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