Sinclair ZX Spectrum, ZX81 Games & Consoles
Ah yes, the iconic computer for the 1980s, with it's geeky inventor, rubbery keyboard, and amazing games.
The Sinclair ZX Spectrum was released in 1981 and was the successor to the ZX81. The Spectrum was so named because of it's first true colour screens (though even that was a bit of a limitation), however it brought about a generation who were geeks and could code. The reason? The price, it was the first computer many people owned. It came in two flavours - 16K of RAM Sinclair ZX Spectrum for £125 and one with 48K of RAM for £175. It was highly affordable for many people, especially when the price dropped to £99 and £125 respectively.
The best thing about the ZX Spectrum was the games though. Due to the whole machine being built on "Sinclair BASIC", a programming language, and each key (which were rubbery and frequently stuck) having a basic command, it was easy to plug out simple programmes. Anything more advanced needed serious knowledge of graphic and sprite routines, however it was a start for some of the biggest coders today. Popular games include "Jet Set Willy", an exploration game, "Head Over Heels", and it was the birthplace of the Dizzy series for Codemasters (who are still going today) and "Sabrewulf" (which the company who made it is now Rare, maker of the Donkey Kong Series, Killer Instinct, and more recently Viva Pinata).
It is held with such high nostalgia with collectors, so it's well worth checking out the games below!
