Spectrum shmups

theevilfunkster · Post by **theevilfunkster** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 9:29 pm

I'm getting free Spectum off a neighbour and was wondering if there are any good shmups that I should get for it.

I've already ordered Salamander, what's R-Type like?

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 9:37 pm

Sorry if I am stating the obvious, but the Xenocidefiles has a large list of Spectrum shmups with oneliners describing them.

On R-type it says:

Cracking version of the shooter full of colour and missing nothing from the arcade

I guess it's great then, for Spectrum standards at least.

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:24 am

theevilfunkster wrote:I'm getting free Spectum off a neighbour and was wondering if there are any good shmups that I should get for it.

R-Type is great on the Speccy. Flying Shark is awesome too.

There are some outstanding games that are no arcade ports, though. Go check out Cybernoid I+II, Sidewize and, most importantly, Zynaps. The Spectrum got the best version of it. (All others I've played are fine too, though.)

Sly Cherry Chunks · Post by **Sly Cherry Chunks** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 9:33 am

Xenon was okay. More playable than the Amiga version.

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 9:44 am

Herr Schatten wrote:
theevilfunkster wrote:I'm getting free Spectum off a neighbour and was wondering if there are any good shmups that I should get for it.
R-Type is great on the Speccy. Flying Shark is awesome too.

There are some outstanding games that are no arcade ports, though. Go check out Cybernoid I+II, Sidewize and, most importantly, Zynaps. The Spectrum got the best version of it. (All others I've played are fine too, though.)

I also enjoyed CrossWise, can't remember if it was the prequel or sequel to SizeWise. Long time ago though. Cybernoids were cool, though the Amiga got much improved versions of those (the smaller ship actually made the game far more enjoyable to play). R-Type was an utter miracle, and next to the PCE, the most accurate conversion of R-Type to be released (more so than Amiga & ST). There was a cracking little budget vert shooter from Firebird called Time Flies, and a great vert clone of Uridium that was never officially released that I can't remember the name of. It was given away free as a cover mount on Your Sinclair, and programmed by a team called WASP (We Are Spectrum Programmers), I'd love to play that again.

Fost · Post by **Fost** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 10:56 am

I used to really love lightforce, although I may have a rose tinted memory of it...

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 3:02 pm

Marc wrote:
Herr Schatten wrote:
theevilfunkster wrote:I'm getting free Spectum off a neighbour and was wondering if there are any good shmups that I should get for it.
R-Type is great on the Speccy. Flying Shark is awesome too.

There are some outstanding games that are no arcade ports, though. Go check out Cybernoid I+II, Sidewize and, most importantly, Zynaps. The Spectrum got the best version of it. (All others I've played are fine too, though.)
I also enjoyed CrossWise, can't remember if it was the prequel or sequel to SizeWise. Long time ago though. Cybernoids were cool, though the Amiga got much improved versions of those (the smaller ship actually made the game far more enjoyable to play). R-Type was an utter miracle, and next to the PCE, the most accurate conversion of R-Type to be released (more so than Amiga & ST). There was a cracking little budget vert shooter from Firebird called Time Flies, and a great vert clone of Uridium that was never officially released that I can't remember the name of. It was given away free as a cover mount on Your Sinclair, and programmed by a team called WASP (We Are Spectrum Programmers), I'd love to play that again.

I think the Uridium rip was Xanthrax. Off to check on World Of Spectrum now.

theevilfunkster · Post by **theevilfunkster** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 3:41 pm

Thanks for the suggestions, keep 'em coming. I'll start searching ebay right away.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 3:41 pm

The best version of xenon indeed was the spectrum one. It's more playable than the Amiga, Atari ST and C64 versions. (The MSX one is 100% identical to the spectrum version)

Silent Shadow is pretty cool IMO, if you can stand the bi-color graphics.

And yeah, R-Type. That's a game that I wished the MSX had got a direct spectrum port. Whoever ported that, made an amazing job.

Stardust by Topo Soft was a very original shmup, with an amazing soundtrack

LSU · Post by **LSU** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:47 pm

Terra Cresta was also nicely playable on the Speccy, I used to really enjoy playing that version, it's one of the very few home systems to actually have a port of that game too.

Also, whilst not really being a shmup (it's a rail shooter), Starstrike 3D might also be of interest to you - it's my all-time favourite Speccy game and a very nice 'interpretation' indeed of the original Star Wars arcade game.

theevilfunkster · Post by **theevilfunkster** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 10:20 pm

My Commodore 64 may well be long dead but I must have this copy of R-Type, the box art is awesome!!!

theevilfunkster · Post by **theevilfunkster** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 2:19 pm

Got my Spectrum today, With a lot more games than I thought I was getting, with another big box of games still to come. And to think all this was headed for the skip.

I've only tried Salamander so far. Not a bad little conversion though I can't get very far as it's pretty hard (and using the keyboard to move is a bastard, need to ebay me a stick).

Heres a few of the shooters I've got, there may be more but I haven't had a propper look through yet,

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 3:20 pm

Nice photos!

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?p=102822

^check for some spectrum shmups that aren't mentioned in Xenocide files (yet?).

Oh, and check the MSX R-Type boxart if you really want to drool!

theevilfunkster · Post by **theevilfunkster** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 5:01 pm

Had a better look through the games I got but it'll take weeks to catalog what I've got.

Shmups I've found so far,

Blasteroids
Xenon
Swiv
Light Force (Tried it and it is pretty good, meaty explosions!)
Side Arms
Cyberdyne
Saint Dragon

Oh, and Turrican 2

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 2:38 am

Do the tapes work correctly? I always wondered how much these magnetic media would last...

Also, how much does it take to load a game? Just curious, I've read a lot about spectrum but never had one myself!

Post by **Shatterhand** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 9:24 am

If I remember correctly, MSX games could take from 3 minutes up to like 10 minutes to load, depending upon the size of the game.

Rough days

theevilfunkster · Post by **theevilfunkster** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 11:49 am

Turrican wrote:Do the tapes work correctly? I always wondered how much these magnetic media would last...

Also, how much does it take to load a game? Just curious, I've read a lot about spectrum but never had one myself!

Yeah, all the tapes I've tried so far work, they were all stored in anti static bags.

And they do take around 3-10 minutes to load. Not really a problem though, I just have a couple of rounds of Outrun 2006 while im waiting.

tizerist · Post by **tizerist** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 12:39 pm

those pictures brang some nice memories back.
ive actually got a speccy +2 in a sack behind the chair im sitting on now, but the last couple of times i tried to get it to work no games would load.
just as well really, i dont need another games system and even more wires lying around the place.
got 3 already.
glad you said saint dragon was in there.
good memories of that, pity about the unholy load times.
treat it well.
also recommend xevious. that mothership was big and scary. used to stare at it in fright.
also midnight resistance was good. bit like metal slug.
oh how i wished it would work again...

K-J N. · Post by **K-J N.** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 1:36 pm

Allways liked Pheenix, it's a clone of the arcade game Phoenix and a very good one at that.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 3:42 pm

theevilfunkster wrote:
Turrican wrote:Do the tapes work correctly? I always wondered how much these magnetic media would last...

Also, how much does it take to load a game? Just curious, I've read a lot about spectrum but never had one myself!
Yeah, all the tapes I've tried so far work, they were all stored in anti static bags.

And they do take around 3-10 minutes to load. Not really a problem though, I just have a couple of rounds of Outrun 2006 while im waiting.

Anti static bags? do you have a pic? I would need that stuff.

theevilfunkster · Post by **theevilfunkster** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 10:43 pm

Turrican wrote: Anti static bags? do you have a pic? I would need that stuff.

They look like this,

http://www.caaos.com/catalog/product_in ... cts_id=106

shmups.system11.org

Spectrum shmups

Spectrum shmups

Re: Spectrum shmups

Re: Spectrum shmups

Re: Spectrum shmups