3D Monster Maze is probably the most memorable pieces of software on the ZX-81, and maybe one of the most important (ground breaking) games ever - this and 3D Defender, two J. K. Greye games on the list, the man had skillz!
With its combination of first-person action and humorous writing and art-charm with a touch of menace-I feel that it’s also a precursor to Valve’s first-person games in some ways.
My strongest memory from watching this is from that last pic at the end - I suddenly felt that thrill of heading down to WHSmith Saturday morning after being paid for my paper-round to see if there were any new games to buy. less than a year later I got a spectrum for Xmas and never looked back..
My first experience of a computer was a friend's zx81, I remember it with affection, I saved up and bought a 16k Spectrum a few years later, I distinctly remember lunar Lander and scramble
A very nice vid showcasing many of the top games but as someone else has pointed out, please review SABOTAGE and also Kevin Tom's FOOTBALL MANAGER next time around. I realise these might not be from your actual recollection(s) but they are both very very worthwhile and playable titles for the most wonderful 1980s Sinclair monochrome creation.. ever! :-)
I remember I had a tape with 4 games: scramble 1 and 2, fungaloids and 3d defender. One thing that intrigued me was the fact that in 3d defender (5:26), sometimes, comets appeared on the screen that had a very thin "tail". Something that was much smaller than the graphic plots that the machine provided or combinations of special ascii characters. I'm still curious to this day: how could they do that?
Nice selection. Brings back lots of memories. I had forgotten just how many arcade ‘conversions’ there were. The one game that jumps out as missing is probably the one you said you never had. The Trader trilogy by Pixel productions. Elite before the BBC - although the graphics weren’t 3D the animated cut scenes were amazing. Another genre that did well on the ZX81 was text adventures. I spent many an hour was on them!
@@ZXRetroGaming If you wanted to settle for seeing what you missed Peter G has videos of all 3 parts... ua-cam.com/video/FhElddXeLDU/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/nQm30Gh079M/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/QYeljgQ-lBE/v-deo.html as well as some of the other classics.
I remember buying a decent machine code version of a game similar to Space Invaders complete with hi-res graphics. I can't remember the name of it, though.
What's up with the cross hairs in 3D Defender? I don't remember that bottom cross hair to be like that, but hey I probably remember wrong :) Maybe it's a quirk of this Dutch translated version? But anyway, this game was such an astonishing achievement back in the days: 1st person 3D, quite fast and these huge graphics wizzing past. Games that I also remember fondly are the Quicksilva games: Generally really fast and responsive versions of arcade classics with amazing artwork on the cassette inlays to boot.
3D Monster Maze is probably the most memorable pieces of software on the ZX-81, and maybe one of the most important (ground breaking) games ever - this and 3D Defender, two J. K. Greye games on the list, the man had skillz!
absolutely, still enjoy playing 3Dmm
With its combination of first-person action and humorous writing and art-charm with a touch of menace-I feel that it’s also a precursor to Valve’s first-person games in some ways.
My strongest memory from watching this is from that last pic at the end - I suddenly felt that thrill of heading down to WHSmith Saturday morning after being paid for my paper-round to see if there were any new games to buy.
less than a year later I got a spectrum for Xmas and never looked back..
Glad it stirred something :)
Saturday morning up to WH Smiths - buy game - go home and copy - back to Smiths saying it didn't work and swap for another game - repeat all day !
Thanks for the great souvenirs we have had with our Zx81 !!! I remember a game named " Cosmic Cockerel " in hi res ... ;-)
Wow, never saw that 3D defender before. Flight Simulator brings back memories, it made me want to be a pilot!
Yeah 3d defender was a great game but not easy. I did like Flight Simulator at the time. Nice photography website btw
that restyled zx81 is the king of x81s.
Lol
I like the Star Trek Game - which was turn based strategy from memory . Shields, Phasers, Klingons and Star Bases - brilliant. The 1K Chess !
Me and a buddy just finished our DonkeyKong clone we started in 1983 lol. Get it on Sinclairzxworld.
great game. I made a playthrough video. Sorry I suck at Donkey Kong :)
My first experience of a computer was a friend's zx81, I remember it with affection, I saved up and bought a 16k Spectrum a few years later, I distinctly remember lunar Lander and scramble
i always liked "Maze Death Race" and "Tai" very much.
Tai looks very good, will have to track it down
Given the massive technical limitations of the machine some of these games were remarkable…especially 3D Defender
Great choices; I also had a tape with Galaxians/Gloops; with Gloops being a Pac-Man clone but with multiple mazes :-)
They look like great games. Thanks for watching :)
Gauntlet I liked
And wow I remember all these games !
A very nice vid showcasing many of the top games but as someone else has pointed out, please review SABOTAGE and also Kevin Tom's FOOTBALL MANAGER next time around. I realise these might not be from your actual recollection(s) but they are both very very worthwhile and playable titles for the most wonderful 1980s Sinclair monochrome creation.. ever! :-)
Noted. Glad you enjoyed the video
I remember I had a tape with 4 games: scramble 1 and 2, fungaloids and 3d defender. One thing that intrigued me was the fact that in 3d defender (5:26), sometimes, comets appeared on the screen that had a very thin "tail". Something that was much smaller than the graphic plots that the machine provided or combinations of special ascii characters. I'm still curious to this day: how could they do that?
Good question. Late on in the Zx81s development, hi res games started appearing but I don’t remember that in 3d defender
Super Glooper was my favourite.
Nice selection. Brings back lots of memories. I had forgotten just how many arcade ‘conversions’ there were. The one game that jumps out as missing is probably the one you said you never had. The Trader trilogy by Pixel productions. Elite before the BBC - although the graphics weren’t 3D the animated cut scenes were amazing. Another genre that did well on the ZX81 was text adventures. I spent many an hour was on them!
Cheers Mike, yes Trader was one game I really wanted to play. Maybe I'll have a look at it in an emulator one day. Fun times, thanks for watching!
@@ZXRetroGaming
If you wanted to settle for seeing what you missed Peter G has videos of all 3 parts...
ua-cam.com/video/FhElddXeLDU/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/nQm30Gh079M/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/QYeljgQ-lBE/v-deo.html
as well as some of the other classics.
I’ll have a look, cheers !
I remember buying a decent machine code version of a game similar to Space Invaders complete with hi-res graphics. I can't remember the name of it, though.
It's amazing what you can do with very little 🙂
reminds me of my wedding night
So terribly great
I think (hope) there's a compliment in there
@@ZXRetroGaming of course. these are the beginnings, we have to respect them for what they are.
I loved Sabotage
I'll have to give it a try
Good list! Rocket man, Lunar Lander were good. I never got to play Rocket man in the day, but plays very well on an emulator, great game.
will have to give them a try. Thanks for watching
Gun Fight.
I'm surprised you didn't mention the central graphic resembling a bird's eye view of the starship Enterprise!🤣
What's up with the cross hairs in 3D Defender? I don't remember that bottom cross hair to be like that, but hey I probably remember wrong :) Maybe it's a quirk of this Dutch translated version?
But anyway, this game was such an astonishing achievement back in the days: 1st person 3D, quite fast and these huge graphics wizzing past.
Games that I also remember fondly are the Quicksilva games: Generally really fast and responsive versions of arcade classics with amazing artwork on the cassette inlays to boot.
possibly, the spaceships don't look right either for some of them
Mazogs -> the later ZX-Spectrum version Maziacs
yes, I've never played Maziacs. Will have to give it a go one day
I loved mazogs, played it for hours. When I moved on to the spectrum and played maziacs I was a little disappointed