Yes I do, I remember me and my brother being up all night taking it in turns reading out code and the other typing out a program for a game which from memory was called 'Duck Shoot' to only get to right to the end and the thing crashed. We were totally gutted. I loved the Speccy days but then moved to an Atari 520stfm and then a 486 dx PC.
I still HAVE those old computer mags (Sinclair Programs, Crash 1-50, etc). My Speccy turned up this morning, looking forward to giving it a whirl later on.
I'll never understand why they don't sell these "deluxe" bundles they they send to reviewers to the general public. I'm sure people would pay for it, especially the paper manual.
I wish them tons of success, but Retro Games Limited makes some baffling business decisions. Like not releasing this in North America at all. There are plenty of people, myself included, who would love to play around with the system we never had the opportunity to buy.
@@caseycu Some Yank UA-camr got this and reviewd it in the last couple of days. First hands on review I seen actually as I had largely forgot for a bit that this product was getting released at the end of November.
When programming, DO NOT press Space after line numbers and between keywords. It’s inexplicable that all UA-camrs reviewing the Spectrum seem to explicitly talk about pressing Space! The whole point about the Spectrum’s keyword system is that it does all the hard work of formatting for you. By inserting extra spaces, all you do is mess up the standard formatting and waste a small amount of memory. The ONLY time you need to press Space when programming a Spectrum is within quotation marks (i.e. strings that you want to print etc.) and in REM statements (comments). Otherwise just leave the addition of spaces to the Spectrum itself and it’ll get it right for you. Add them yourself and you mess up the standard formatting, waste a byte of memory each time and slow the system down very slightly.
When demoing programming… you do NOT need to press Space. The Spectrum’s keyword system does all the formatting for you. If you insert extra spaces yourself, you just mess up the formatting and waste a small amount of memory.
Crash magazine was fantastic. They were based in Ludlow in Shropshire. I did a couple of weeks work experience when I was young, and even got my pic in one issue!
BBC should definitely put "Micro Men" from 2009 on air once again. It's a great fact based story about the beginning of the ZX Spectrum and sir Clive Sinclair competing against Chris Curry and his BBC Micro.
Did you ever watch the version with the actual people Chris Curry, Hermann Hauser and others commenting while watching Micro Men it’s very interesting on how they said a lot of events were very different to some movie events. I thought both versions were fab.
Got mine on Saturday 23/11/2024 and I absolutely love it. Looks and feels exactly how I remember, even the rubber keys felt as good as the original. Enjoyed a few of the included game but I was a little disappointed with the included games so I soon got loading the better ones via USB. Overall I rate this highly, especially the ability to programme it.
Believe it or not my mum assembled those ZX Spectrums in Timex Dundee. I believe David Jones from DMA Design also worked for Timex until he started to make his own games with Mike Dailly and more. Then came Lemmings which became a huge hit and became an exclusive game for the A500s in 1991.
I emailed Rick Dickinson, designer of the ZX-81, Spectrum, QL, Z88 & lots of other things. I wanted to tell him how the ZX-81 & Spectrum were my first computers & what an impact they had. He took the time to email back, bless him! Said that he got lots of similar feedback from people who were growing up at the time. It wasn't that long afterwards that he died, which was very sad. I was so grateful to have had that connection with him.
@@SteveNorman Yeah, I went looking for the firmware update this evening and there's a note to that effect on RGL's website. They've taken the update offline for the moment. Sucks that you got caught for being quick on the draw! Not sure what the fix might be..
Yes, ZX-81 with 16K RAM PACK, Spectrum, then a Spectrum+, then a Spectrum +2 128K (the 'Amstrad' version). Proper keyboard, built in tape player - amazing! 😊
The reason for pressing the key for the keyword was because they were tokenised to save space, when you listed the program it simply converted the code back into the token word like PRINT. So each command took the same space.
Almost every BASIC back then tokenized. The Sinclair machines were unique in that the tokenizing happened during input whereas other BASICS did it after you entered the line. I think it was a brilliant system, started with the ZX80, and wish there was more history out there about who came up with the idea and the pros and cons.
@@jimweil8879 There are many old computer books inc Sinclair books online in pdf format. The 70s computer magazines Dr Dobbs, SCCS Interface, and Interface Age are historic and show the birth of core things in the desktop computer world.
@@jimweil8879 The main advantage is you then don't need tokenising code in the ROM, so it saves a bit of space which meant lower costs, which was what the Spectrum was all about. It does have the advantage of making coding basic on it very, very quick at the expense of a higher learning curve.
@@jimweil8879 Yes but the reason that Sinclair BASIC didn't tokenize the string on input was because the ZX80 only had 1k of RAM. Not tokenizing an input string meant they didn't need to allocate an input buffer and the code to tokenize it.
Always great seeing new hardware, the Speccy lives on. Just now, with the talk of remake games, and looking back perhaps 20 years, always want to give a shout out to the RetroSpec crew that created some awesome ports - inc likes of Manic etc..
I had a Timex Sinclair and credit that device with teaching me the logic of coding. The fact that the BASIC language was right there in front of you was an amazing design. I even had the 16k module that would overheat the device. Does anyone else remember using little bags of ice to keep it cool? 😀
A guy who worked in the Timex factory in Dundee learned to code on it. He went on to make Lemmings and another little known game called Grand Theft Auto.
Got one, it's cool. Early compatibility issues with their version on the rom they're using causing some tape and snapshot files not loading. Save games of side loaded games disappear after power off. Could be legal thing. Would have been nice to have a user carousel.
For the Americans that want to get this in the states, you can use a mail forwarding service in the UK to get it shipped to the USA. For some reason, Amazon UK would not ship it to the USA.
My first computer, the VIC20, was because of Sinclair. Computers were completely new to us, kids. We had simple videogames and 'outside' there were the first arcade videogames. A friend got a Philips Videopac, which had a built-in keyboard and a cartridge that allowed programming. I did not know how that worked but I was saving for the Videopac. Then a brochure came in the mail, with an ad for the ZX81, a real computer. This machine became like an obsession, I couldn't wait to have enough money. As the months progressed more home computers saw the light and were put on display in shops, and there I found the Vic20 with an older student who explained programming to me. The Vic20 had a real keyboard and therefor (to me) that was a real computer, unlike the ZX81 "Videopac keys" and the rubber keys of the Spectrums. Little did I know that there were only a few chips around, and that differences between computers back then were very small. Nice video, thank you.
Nice but naughty they sent you a different version from what is actually available to buy (or will be when it when comes back into stock after their successful youtube marketing, or when i can get a return from an annoyed customer who didn't get the spiral bound user guide!)
This looks superb, and a truly fantastic review of a reboot of something that really changed my life. The first money I earned was for writing a program for Sinclair programs magazine, £50 for a morning’s work when my mates were on £2.50 a week doing a paper round! Happy days.👍
That is so cool.. i started with a ZX81 then went to Spectrums.. this brings back so many memories of my younger gaming life.. i used to love the Horace games and chuckie egg and School Daze and manic miner
I remember taking all day typing a game from a magazine that vaguely worked, my sister's friend came in to have a look, tripped over the cable and pulled the plug out.
Can you stretch it to fill a 16:9 display? Bear with me, I'm not insane... If you can do that, then connect it to a 4:3 CRT through an HDMI to Svideo converter, it would display correctly (unlike the NES mini which cannot be stretched, thus displaying a skinny useless picture on an old TV).
@@joefish6091 I've got 4:3 monitors, that's not the issue. If you can't stretch the display on the Spectrum, it won't fill the screen of a 4:3 monitor. It's designed to display a 4:3 picture on a 16:9 monitor, so on a 4:3 monitor the picture will be skinny. Try an unmodded NES or SNES mini on a 4:3 screen. It's terrible.
I want to see a retro datacorder too, where it simulates tape loading errors if you don't set the volume and tone just right. The manual should contain the whole of basic
Did you checkout the joystick configuration options as mentioned in the manual? I think they are available in game pause menu. I guess you may still need to use the keyboard to navigate the main menu though.
If I was a reviewer who got something that doesn't represent what the normal buyer gets, I would return it with a big picture of a middle finger. It's an underhand way of trying to manipulate reviewers and annoys the people who are actually paying for theirs. This is the second enhanced variant I've seen and it's really tainted the whole experience for me. I will NOT be buying any more of their products.
My first access to a computer at home (at school we had a BBC Micro). It was my brother's (he was old enough to work and pay for it himself) rather than mine, but I spent hours playing games on it, and typing in programs for games from a listing book, and also attempting to program my own (admittedly over-ambitious) games.
I didn't even realise that the Zx Spectrum has been relaunched. I had an original 48k in the 80s (I think I sold it to help pay for a new bike) and loved playing Way of the Exploding Fist and Manic Miner. I am 52 years old now, and nothing much in the tech world excites me anymore. I am genuinely excited about buying this machine!. Great review btw
Greetings from Brazil. I love anything Speccy related. My first computer was a zx81c, then a ZX Spectrum 48k. I would love to be able to buy one of these new "Spectrum" machines.
Have one at home already. The best reto experience so far. I have Next 2 but The Spectrum is really plug and play. The thing you need if you have few minutes and want to play instantly :-) 👍🏻
I was interested seeing you look through the printed manual. You say you can download a pdf version of this, and you can download a pdf but it is only 65 pages and it doesn't include instructions for the bundled games. But I do think that this is a really great device and I'm enjoying playing with it.
This popped up on my feed as I only heard about this today and looked into it. Was a 128k kid myself and asked my niece's boyfriend to get one at work but they just sold out. Fingers crossed they get them back in.
I wanted one of these back in the day but my dad thought it was wiser to get me a BBC Micro Model B, as that was what was used in my school. I might just have to pick one of these up now.
I will have to have a look in the back of my wardrobe. I have a 1984 spectrum and some tapes, some c90 with lots and lots of games if the tape hasn't degraded.
The Dizzy games were probably my favourite. I remember Colditz, Daley Thompson, Arkanoid, Horace Goes Skiing but there was one game I don't remeber the name of which was a kind of dragon like character that swam under water and then shapeshifted to walk on land. Also there were a couple tank games I spent so many hours playing: 3D Tank and TANK. Don't remember how you loaded different games though from those magazines as they had like 40 games on a tape, although most were probably demos.
Can you load ones original games on cassette onto this computer. I've got a box full of old ZX Spectrum games knocking around and I am wondering if I can use them.
I was 11 in 1982 and that machine created my future career. It looks sensational, every bit true to the original in appearence with more ease of use. If they did the Spectrum+, I would be there, it is a true design classic. This is an excellent replica, though, and I am sorely tempted.
Can you load a game to a real Spectrum by piping the audio from a TZX loading on The Spectrum? Like "The Re-Created Sinclair ZX Spectrum" bluetooth keyboard that came out years ago it still bugs me that they don't just make it a Pi shell. either with Pi or without.
I've still got my 48k in its original box etc. It needs a new power lead and the metal keyboard has lifted off. I've been meaning to fix it for years; I really should get around to doing it.😀
What a lovely surprise to get another video... Be absolutely awesome if your next video could be released on Christmas day... Think that would round the day off perfectly... And an excuse to ignore the Mrs and family 😝👍
Quick shot pro joystick I think I had. Crash mag was a flashback for me. Loved watching this. Totally forgot about the programming is I had a speccy plus with the solid keyboard and a separate tape player. My favourite games were outrun and Tornado low level(TLL)
Seeing some of those games again takes me back like Where Time Stood Still, Ant Attack, Skool Daze i played them for hours. Looking at the basic programming reminds me when i used to goto WH.Smiths and type in basic programs where by it did not matter what key you pressed it just kept on scrolling the message which sometimes was bad language and the only way out was to pull the mains plug out.
I had the Atari 2600 wooden one and plastic edition, OG Spectrum and 128, the C64, Amiga 500, 600 and 1200. There was no console war or "sides". Good times.
What's the pink and green joystick controller you have there ? I had both that and one in black. If you can tell me the brand I might try and track one down again for old times sake
You don't need to press space after the line number - when the cursor is flashing K it means Keyword mode and it will put the space in automatically when you press the key for the keyword :)
Hmmm, will there be an upgrade kit like there was back in the day to re-home the internals into a Speccy+ body and plastic keyed keys, still on the rubber membrane.
I'm thankful that they've included a way to get into basic, but honestly I would have preferred that as the default, either via an option to in the menus, or (preferred) a simple switch on the back of the unit. This is the same thing that stopped me from buying the mini classic Amiga system, for me the Amiga was about Workbench and that's pretty much the same as having the spectrum start up in Basic.
If nothing has changed again, Retrogames A500-Maxi is supposed to come out in the first quarter of 2025.🤞🏻 I am so waiting for it! Also, given the nature of these machines (a rather small PCB with a System on a chip inside), I am not sure if an A600 case(maybe too small), or an A1200 case would not be better suited for a Maxi-Amiga. I had both the A500 and the A1200, back in the day. And I love them.
@@_Matthias_0815 Damn, I skipped the a500 mini.(No real need for it having a raspberry pi 400 + amiga forever, can just make my own a500 mini.) But MIGHT do a maxi version.
Bloody hell. Can you old buggers remember typing them basic games in from those old computer mags?
Yes I do, I remember me and my brother being up all night taking it in turns reading out code and the other typing out a program for a game which from memory was called 'Duck Shoot' to only get to right to the end and the thing crashed. We were totally gutted. I loved the Speccy days but then moved to an Atari 520stfm and then a 486 dx PC.
I certainly do...spent hours for them not to run!
Oh yes
Yes sir 🤗
I still HAVE those old computer mags (Sinclair Programs, Crash 1-50, etc).
My Speccy turned up this morning, looking forward to giving it a whirl later on.
I'll never understand why they don't sell these "deluxe" bundles they they send to reviewers to the general public. I'm sure people would pay for it, especially the paper manual.
Welcome to the world 2024
I wish them tons of success, but Retro Games Limited makes some baffling business decisions. Like not releasing this in North America at all. There are plenty of people, myself included, who would love to play around with the system we never had the opportunity to buy.
@@caseycu Some Yank UA-camr got this and reviewd it in the last couple of days. First hands on review I seen actually as I had largely forgot for a bit that this product was getting released at the end of November.
@ yeah retro games sent them to UA-camrs in North America but won’t sell them here.
@@caseycu Probably expecting yanks to go via direct online ordering from them or a few select retailers acting as proxies.
When programming, DO NOT press Space after line numbers and between keywords. It’s inexplicable that all UA-camrs reviewing the Spectrum seem to explicitly talk about pressing Space! The whole point about the Spectrum’s keyword system is that it does all the hard work of formatting for you. By inserting extra spaces, all you do is mess up the standard formatting and waste a small amount of memory. The ONLY time you need to press Space when programming a Spectrum is within quotation marks (i.e. strings that you want to print etc.) and in REM statements (comments). Otherwise just leave the addition of spaces to the Spectrum itself and it’ll get it right for you. Add them yourself and you mess up the standard formatting, waste a byte of memory each time and slow the system down very slightly.
To this day I can't hold shift and press space..
When demoing programming… you do NOT need to press Space. The Spectrum’s keyword system does all the formatting for you. If you insert extra spaces yourself, you just mess up the formatting and waste a small amount of memory.
Crash magazine was fantastic. They were based in Ludlow in Shropshire. I did a couple of weeks work experience when I was young, and even got my pic in one issue!
agreed Crash was amazing. I learnt assembly language from the hacking articles, which gave me a huge advantage in my first job! thanks Crash.
Homosexual magazine. Two have paid for their perversions
Homosexual magazine. Two of those involved have expired
Homosexual magazine @@smorris7741
BBC should definitely put "Micro Men" from 2009 on air once again. It's a great fact based story about the beginning of the ZX Spectrum and sir Clive Sinclair competing against Chris Curry and his BBC Micro.
Its on youtube, or atleast it was. Im sure i have it on a playlist somewhere.
@@paulward2076it is. It’s linked in my description.
@@danwood_uk nice one 🙂. Its a great little film.
The BBC should be showing a lot of programs about all manner of subjects instead of what they're currently showing.
Did you ever watch the version with the actual people Chris Curry, Hermann Hauser and others commenting while watching Micro Men it’s very interesting on how they said a lot of events were very different to some movie events. I thought both versions were fab.
Nice to see bloggers get full manuals, cool freebies etc whilst the paying punter gets the bare minimum
Including bloggers who admit during the video that they preferred the c64 and aren’t very familiar with Spectrum games, apparently.
It is being sold as a separately I believe in paperback and hardback
If marketing strategies didn’t work companies wouldn’t do it
American UA-camrs are getting the spectrum to review, and saying they never heard of the zx spectrum. They even pronounce the zed properly
@@mrfoamerukWhere did you hear this?
The reason behind the keywords is that the language was tokenised so each command only uses 1 byte to store rather than a byte per letter
Yeah and he did not need to press "SPACE" between the line and the command either! That really bothered me more than it should have!
Got mine on Saturday 23/11/2024 and I absolutely love it. Looks and feels exactly how I remember, even the rubber keys felt as good as the original. Enjoyed a few of the included game but I was a little disappointed with the included games so I soon got loading the better ones via USB. Overall I rate this highly, especially the ability to programme it.
I really want one. Brings me right back to Christmas 1984 😊
@a1white well worth getting.
Believe it or not my mum assembled those ZX Spectrums in Timex Dundee. I believe David Jones from DMA Design also worked for Timex until he started to make his own games with Mike Dailly and more. Then came Lemmings which became a huge hit and became an exclusive game for the A500s in 1991.
Today I completed Highway Encounter and Atic Atac on the new Speccy. Haven't done that since 1985! 😍
Highway Encounters control mechanism is just wild. And I can master the arcade machine defenders 7 controls
I'd buy it just for Highway Encounter. frankly.
I loved Atic Atac. I also remember Thorin being angry a lot in the Hobbit.
Yay new Dan Wood vid!
I emailed Rick Dickinson, designer of the ZX-81, Spectrum, QL, Z88 & lots of other things. I wanted to tell him how the ZX-81 & Spectrum were my first computers & what an impact they had.
He took the time to email back, bless him! Said that he got lots of similar feedback from people who were growing up at the time. It wasn't that long afterwards that he died, which was very sad. I was so grateful to have had that connection with him.
What is a Specturm? Take a second look at the name on the circuit board above the heat sink.
Timestamp for this is 6:49. Well spotted, mate 👊😜
😂 good spot! I wonder if they’re all like that.
A major typo 😮
Probably assembled in China or something.
@@WillScarlet1991 it was but the error came from this side of the world.
Will it break 3 times in the first year of ownership? I'm looking for that authentic Sinclair experience.
Best to wait at least 15 seconds before switching off and switching on again.
Mine broke within the first ten minutes - firmware update bricked it!
Just don't use the keys to play Daley Thompson's Decathlon.
@@SteveNorman Yeah, I went looking for the firmware update this evening and there's a note to that effect on RGL's website.
They've taken the update offline for the moment.
Sucks that you got caught for being quick on the draw!
Not sure what the fix might be..
@ Whatever it is, I won’t be updating the replacement for a while!
My 1st Computer was a Sinclair ZX81 then I had a Sinclair ZX Spectrum Plus!!! Thanks for the Review - good to know you can sill Program it!!! 😉🚂🚂🚂
At least there is no wobbly RAM pack!
Yes, ZX-81 with 16K RAM PACK, Spectrum, then a Spectrum+, then a Spectrum +2 128K (the 'Amstrad' version). Proper keyboard, built in tape player - amazing! 😊
@@Logan_5I had a Memorex 16K one - it had a velcro sticker to put between computer & RAM. Still wobbled!
48k+ was my first computer, learned to code on it - been a coder for 35 years now...
The reason for pressing the key for the keyword was because they were tokenised to save space, when you listed the program it simply converted the code back into the token word like PRINT. So each command took the same space.
Almost every BASIC back then tokenized. The Sinclair machines were unique in that the tokenizing happened during input whereas other BASICS did it after you entered the line. I think it was a brilliant system, started with the ZX80, and wish there was more history out there about who came up with the idea and the pros and cons.
@@jimweil8879 There are many old computer books inc Sinclair books online in pdf format.
The 70s computer magazines Dr Dobbs, SCCS Interface, and Interface Age are historic and show the birth of core things in the desktop computer world.
@@jimweil8879 The main advantage is you then don't need tokenising code in the ROM, so it saves a bit of space which meant lower costs, which was what the Spectrum was all about. It does have the advantage of making coding basic on it very, very quick at the expense of a higher learning curve.
@@jimweil8879 Indeed - it saved ROM space.
@@jimweil8879 Yes but the reason that Sinclair BASIC didn't tokenize the string on input was because the ZX80 only had 1k of RAM. Not tokenizing an input string meant they didn't need to allocate an input buffer and the code to tokenize it.
Got one chrimbo 1983 and immediately became addicted to horris goes skiing..... Happy days.
in 2024 wearing a tee with 'Spectrum" on the front, has different connotations ;-P
Always great seeing new hardware, the Speccy lives on. Just now, with the talk of remake games, and looking back perhaps 20 years, always want to give a shout out to the RetroSpec crew that created some awesome ports - inc likes of Manic etc..
I had a Timex Sinclair and credit that device with teaching me the logic of coding. The fact that the BASIC language was right there in front of you was an amazing design.
I even had the 16k module that would overheat the device.
Does anyone else remember using little bags of ice to keep it cool? 😀
You used ice.....to cool your Speccy ?
🤤
@Geordie-Jedi-77 The ventilation was cut off by the 16k add on module, so it would overheat. This was the American Timex Sinclair 1000.
A guy who worked in the Timex factory in Dundee learned to code on it. He went on to make Lemmings and another little known game called Grand Theft Auto.
I just got mine in today (Monday) to the US from Amazon UK. I live in Pensacola, Florida.
Got one, it's cool. Early compatibility issues with their version on the rom they're using causing some tape and snapshot files not loading. Save games of side loaded games disappear after power off. Could be legal thing. Would have been nice to have a user carousel.
Nice touch saying RIP to sir Clive Sinclair and rick Dickinson great memories
WOW I used to make and repair those and then the Sinclair QL .... memories lol
For the Americans that want to get this in the states, you can use a mail forwarding service in the UK to get it shipped to the USA. For some reason, Amazon UK would not ship it to the USA.
Mine did. Pensacola, Florida. Ordered on Amazon UK.
@Emudude1963 I wonder if they added the option later or if I missed something. It was not showing up for me.
@krathoon2338 I PreOrdered it the Second I found out they were releasing it. I also got my thevic20, A500 Mini, and A400 from them.
I was surprised by the built quality. Really nice.
My first computer, the VIC20, was because of Sinclair. Computers were completely new to us, kids. We had simple videogames and 'outside' there were the first arcade videogames. A friend got a Philips Videopac, which had a built-in keyboard and a cartridge that allowed programming. I did not know how that worked but I was saving for the Videopac. Then a brochure came in the mail, with an ad for the ZX81, a real computer. This machine became like an obsession, I couldn't wait to have enough money. As the months progressed more home computers saw the light and were put on display in shops, and there I found the Vic20 with an older student who explained programming to me. The Vic20 had a real keyboard and therefor (to me) that was a real computer, unlike the ZX81 "Videopac keys" and the rubber keys of the Spectrums. Little did I know that there were only a few chips around, and that differences between computers back then were very small.
Nice video, thank you.
Nice but naughty they sent you a different version from what is actually available to buy (or will be when it when comes back into stock after their successful youtube marketing, or when i can get a return from an annoyed customer who didn't get the spiral bound user guide!)
Freebies are for the influencer class.. have you just woke up in 2024?
@ well we’re all extremely privileged to be able to buy something like this, but I just want to be able to see what I will get is all.
@@StreborKram your point is fair I was just tripping trying to make light of things
Still got my old Spectrum, back in the day those poor keys got a pounding playing Daley Thompson's Decathlon...
I killed a few Quickshots playing that lol
Looks just like the original. I have the original so will keep that. I like to keep things as they were
This looks superb, and a truly fantastic review of a reboot of something that really changed my life. The first money I earned was for writing a program for Sinclair programs magazine, £50 for a morning’s work when my mates were on £2.50 a week doing a paper round! Happy days.👍
I did the same, got £65 from a magazine (PCS or PCW can't remember now). My game was called Swagman!
Thanks!
Thanks so much ❤
The 48K Z X Spectrum + keyboard was the one to go for as it had hard keys sitting on a rubbery underlayer feel.
That is so cool.. i started with a ZX81 then went to Spectrums.. this brings back so many memories of my younger gaming life.. i used to love the Horace games and chuckie egg and School Daze and manic miner
I remember taking all day typing a game from a magazine that vaguely worked, my sister's friend came in to have a look, tripped over the cable and pulled the plug out.
Chuckie Egg!!!
Can you stretch it to fill a 16:9 display? Bear with me, I'm not insane...
If you can do that, then connect it to a 4:3 CRT through an HDMI to Svideo converter, it would display correctly (unlike the NES mini which cannot be stretched, thus displaying a skinny useless picture on an old TV).
Find an old 4:3 LCD monitor. plenty of old 15" ones out there for free or cheap.
@@joefish6091 I've got 4:3 monitors, that's not the issue. If you can't stretch the display on the Spectrum, it won't fill the screen of a 4:3 monitor. It's designed to display a 4:3 picture on a 16:9 monitor, so on a 4:3 monitor the picture will be skinny. Try an unmodded NES or SNES mini on a 4:3 screen. It's terrible.
I want to see a retro datacorder too, where it simulates tape loading errors if you don't set the volume and tone just right.
The manual should contain the whole of basic
It should come as no surprise to learn I bought one the day it was released. 😁
FYI No SPACE is required after a line number in ZX BASIC. 😉
You can use physical tapes/games with it?
Not tapes, no - there's no cassette input.
But you can load games from a USB stick - there are instructions on RGL's website on how to do it.
BBC Micro: We were all so competitive back then!
Spectrum:
Commodore:
Shame they didnt put a joystick port..be nice if someone releases a usb to joystick connector as ive a box of old joysticks incl. My old kempston.
Welcome back Dan, and The Spectrum is perfect to collect and play with!
Did you checkout the joystick configuration options as mentioned in the manual? I think they are available in game pause menu. I guess you may still need to use the keyboard to navigate the main menu though.
If I was a reviewer who got something that doesn't represent what the normal buyer gets, I would return it with a big picture of a middle finger. It's an underhand way of trying to manipulate reviewers and annoys the people who are actually paying for theirs. This is the second enhanced variant I've seen and it's really tainted the whole experience for me. I will NOT be buying any more of their products.
Absolutely. They are trying to cream the consumer for every penny they can. Shameful cash grab.
You sound like an arsehole mate take it for what it is,a bit of nostalgic fun and fucking grow up
I remember learning BASIC on a Vax 11/750 at uni in 1982. I also had access to a Spectrum and I preferred the Spectrum's keyword entry system.
12:23 in fact the difficult thing is mostly to slow things accurately enough! Thanks for the video!
My first access to a computer at home (at school we had a BBC Micro). It was my brother's (he was old enough to work and pay for it himself) rather than mine, but I spent hours playing games on it, and typing in programs for games from a listing book, and also attempting to program my own (admittedly over-ambitious) games.
Teh Speccy is Commode 64 but Amstard PCP is my favrite compute
I didn't even realise that the Zx Spectrum has been relaunched. I had an original 48k in the 80s (I think I sold it to help pay for a new bike) and loved playing Way of the Exploding Fist and Manic Miner. I am 52 years old now, and nothing much in the tech world excites me anymore. I am genuinely excited about buying this machine!. Great review btw
Good luck trying to find one in stock somewhere because i can't.
Greetings from Brazil. I love anything Speccy related. My first computer was a zx81c, then a ZX Spectrum 48k. I would love to be able to buy one of these new "Spectrum" machines.
I remember getting my humble 16k Spectrum the 'supercharge' upgrade to the 48k Spectrum: so much memory!
Have one at home already. The best reto experience so far. I have Next 2 but The Spectrum is really plug and play. The thing you need if you have few minutes and want to play instantly :-)
👍🏻
I was interested seeing you look through the printed manual. You say you can download a pdf version of this, and you can download a pdf but it is only 65 pages and it doesn't include instructions for the bundled games. But I do think that this is a really great device and I'm enjoying playing with it.
This popped up on my feed as I only heard about this today and looked into it. Was a 128k kid myself and asked my niece's boyfriend to get one at work but they just sold out. Fingers crossed they get them back in.
I am so getting this for Christmas. 👍😄I had the 128k Spectrum with the built in tape player.
The 128k? Moneybags!
Great video! Thank you for the review! Respect to the spectrum from the plus/4 perspective. We got many converted games from this system.
Love my little retro spectrum. Best if both worlds i think . Excellent xmas present for me😂
I wanted one of these back in the day but my dad thought it was wiser to get me a BBC Micro Model B, as that was what was used in my school. I might just have to pick one of these up now.
We love Dan Wood video updates - very nice box and kit 🙂
I will have to have a look in the back of my wardrobe. I have a 1984 spectrum and some tapes, some c90 with lots and lots of games if the tape hasn't degraded.
Should be fine. I have also have a few 90m tapes as well.
Horace goes skiing was the first game i played at home on the spectrum. I really want this.
The Dizzy games were probably my favourite. I remember Colditz, Daley Thompson, Arkanoid, Horace Goes Skiing but there was one game I don't remeber the name of which was a kind of dragon like character that swam under water and then shapeshifted to walk on land. Also there were a couple tank games I spent so many hours playing: 3D Tank and TANK. Don't remember how you loaded different games though from those magazines as they had like 40 games on a tape, although most were probably demos.
Will it allow you to input POKEs for games?
It does yes
Can you load ones original games on cassette onto this computer. I've got a box full of old ZX Spectrum games knocking around and I am wondering if I can use them.
I always enjoy a new Dan Wood vid.
Excellent video. Thank you. Ordered mine!
I was 11 in 1982 and that machine created my future career. It looks sensational, every bit true to the original in appearence with more ease of use. If they did the Spectrum+, I would be there, it is a true design classic. This is an excellent replica, though, and I am sorely tempted.
Can you load a game to a real Spectrum by piping the audio from a TZX loading on The Spectrum? Like "The Re-Created Sinclair ZX Spectrum" bluetooth keyboard that came out years ago it still bugs me that they don't just make it a Pi shell. either with Pi or without.
Purists could wait for the toastrack 128K ZX Spectrum reimagined with a number keypad.
Purists purchase real Spectrums, not rip-off copies 😊
That manual looks exactly as how I remember it. Although I’m recalling roughly 38 years ago 😂🤔
I've still got my 48k in its original box etc. It needs a new power lead and the metal keyboard has lifted off. I've been meaning to fix it for years; I really should get around to doing it.😀
This brought back a few memories.
What a lovely surprise to get another video... Be absolutely awesome if your next video could be released on Christmas day... Think that would round the day off perfectly... And an excuse to ignore the Mrs and family 😝👍
Still got my original Speccy 48k, manuals, box, therminal printer & games. Also had a zx81 kicking about.
I had the commodore, my friend had a spectrum…good times!
Apart from the loading times😂
Where can I get same collector box? Can't find it anywhere for sale .
New video Dan! And one of my favourite machines too! It must be (nearly) Christmas! 🎄
how the f****k did that key come out the rubber keyboard underlay was molded as one piece
@@chrispriest1904 it was like that when I got it from eBay. Probably why it was cheap. I’ve since ordered a replacement rubber inlay to swap it over.
Can you import code files through the USB or just manually write them on the screen?
Thanks for the update
Quick shot pro joystick I think I had. Crash mag was a flashback for me. Loved watching this. Totally forgot about the programming is I had a speccy plus with the solid keyboard and a separate tape player. My favourite games were outrun and Tornado low level(TLL)
Seeing some of those games again takes me back like Where Time Stood Still, Ant Attack, Skool Daze i played them for hours.
Looking at the basic programming reminds me when i used to goto WH.Smiths and type in basic programs where by it did not matter what key you pressed it just kept on scrolling the message which sometimes was bad language and the only way out was to pull the mains plug out.
The Spectrum did have really good artwork on their game boxes. I was pretty impressed. Reminded me of Atari artwork.
The box artwork made up for the shoddy game graphics...
Tape to tape recording was the best thing ever! Minder was the best game!
Super stuff!!
I had the Atari 2600 wooden one and plastic edition, OG Spectrum and 128, the C64, Amiga 500, 600 and 1200.
There was no console war or "sides". Good times.
Very good review Dan, thanks.
I got the fire button working on my USB competition pro joystick.
What's the pink and green joystick controller you have there ? I had both that and one in black. If you can tell me the brand I might try and track one down again for old times sake
Spectrum vs C64 in playgrounds pretty much added up to Skint parents vs Well off parents.
You don't need to press space after the line number - when the cursor is flashing K it means Keyword mode and it will put the space in automatically when you press the key for the keyword :)
Hmmm, will there be an upgrade kit like there was back in the day to re-home the internals into a Speccy+ body and plastic keyed keys, still on the rubber membrane.
I'm thankful that they've included a way to get into basic, but honestly I would have preferred that as the default, either via an option to in the menus, or (preferred) a simple switch on the back of the unit. This is the same thing that stopped me from buying the mini classic Amiga system, for me the Amiga was about Workbench and that's pretty much the same as having the spectrum start up in Basic.
I agree. Something as simple as holding a key down ("B"?) during power on maybe.
Could do what I did, buy a raspberry pi 400, and amiga forever and you can basically make your own a500 mini complete with workbench, etc.
@15:13 You can set it to always boot into Basic when you power on - Boot Mode
@@MIKandJEAN You can. But if it is something you will flip between often holding down a key at boot up would be convenient.
so sad that I cannot get the manual like you have it Dan. They should at least have that option
Where can I get one? Cant find it anywhere in uk
I hated those rubber keys so much.
We need a full size Amiga 500 remake/reboot.
If nothing has changed again, Retrogames A500-Maxi is supposed to come out in the first quarter of 2025.🤞🏻 I am so waiting for it! Also, given the nature of these machines (a rather small PCB with a System on a chip inside), I am not sure if an A600 case(maybe too small), or an A1200 case would not be better suited for a Maxi-Amiga.
I had both the A500 and the A1200, back in the day. And I love them.
Yep, i want a Spectrum+, not a dead flesh. And the full sized Amiga delayed for this makes me even more upset.
@@_Matthias_0815 Damn, I skipped the a500 mini.(No real need for it having a raspberry pi 400 + amiga forever, can just make my own a500 mini.) But MIGHT do a maxi version.
The emulator UAE is good for casual Amiga play.
I loved those rubber keys when coding.
When I was a kid I had a Romanian Spectrum clone called a CIP-03, built on an Eastern European clone of the Z80.