The ZX Spectrum Next (third release) has reached it’s final week for it’s Kickstarter campaign. It’s generating a lot of buzz and hype, there is a flurry of activity and social media postings as gamers and developers scramble to ensure to secure their own Speccy Next. Over 10,000 units have been sold in the previous two campaigns, together with the latest campaign the system has been well established. There are many homebrew projects in the works already, with the new wave of Speccy Next owners a lot of people now have this system. This means there is a healthy demand for games as it’s nearly a brand new market and many enthusiastic and excited developers active creating games for this new platform. I have to admit that I was not exposed to the ZX Spectrum while growing up, it holds no nostalgic appeal but to me what’s much more exciting is the using ZX Spectrum Next as a new platform. Being able to explore the library of ZX Spectrum games is a nice bonus, however again I’m much more interested in new games developed for the Spectrum Next. Having the ability to experience multiple other systems through official cores was an excellent selling point for the machine as it negates the need to purchase any other 8-bit micro, nearly. Systems such as Commodore 64, Sam Coupe and Amstrad CPC are supported and fully playable. One thing to take consideration of is the difference in keyboard layout for each system. The Commodore 64 for example has many extra keys and so they have to be replicated by the Next via combination key presses meaning you have to remember or write it down somewhere. It however does have the ability to accept an external keyboard so perhaps that could be the solution to experiencing the other system cores authentically, if you can find a keyboard for them in PS/2 form.
The creators of the Spectrum Next really have been putting everything into making it a great platform. The Kickstarter campaign, in addition to having stretch goals also had “hidden” stretch goals that had been activated, executed and implemented. The latest update reviews the progress of the stretch goals. The first of which is a re-make of the highly anticipated game “Deathchase” for the Next. The progress of that game is on hold until a new firmware DMA mode for faster data transfer is implemented. There is a UDP network multiplayer soccer game in development, a screenshot is shown. The birth of 3D games starts with the Z80 drawing filled triangles, which is currently in the prototyping phase. The extra in-complete cores are mentioned which are ZX81, Sam Coupé and CPC are in various states of (in)completion. Two more games are being developed as part of the stretch goals including Monty The Next Episode a platformer and Target: Renegade a great looking co-op beatemup’ game. Screenshots are shown for the latter with the former only having a mockup title screen shown. The incredibly popular and successful game Roguecraft which came out on Steam, Amiga 500 and Amiga CD 32, received a Retro Gamer “Sizzler” homebrew award is a dungeon crawling chicken hunting game that is being ported to the Next. Lastly they mention the Kickstarter campaign for ZX Dreams a publication containing a comprehensive examination of all the games on the ZX Spectrum which is also coming to a close in a few days. Every backer of that publication will also receive an issue of Next magazine, focused on everything about the Spectrum Next it has game highlights, developer interviews, tutorials, features on upcoming software, etc. That is most of the update for the ZX Spectrum Next but not all of it, please see the latest update on the kickstarter campaign linked below.
With all of this activity and these developments going on for the Spectrum Next it’s hard not to get excited about it. There are already dozens of games out there available to play either for free or for purchase by digital or physical download. Below is a link to itch.io ZX Spectrum Next games and also a playlist of YouTube showcasing many of the games that are fully released or possibly in prototype form. There is an emulator called CSpect however it is still in it’s early stages and therefore has a low compatibility rate, most games don’t work. However it at least gives those of us who don’t yet have Spectrum Next a chance to try some of the games. Here are some games that I have gotten to work: Alien Neoplasma, Battle Tanks, Bomb Jack, Celeste, Dougie Doo, Fiona’s Flight, Nextoid, Outer Intruders, Scramble and Wonderland. I highly recommend Alien Neoplasma, it’s a very playable metroid type game based on the Alien story (yes the H.R Geiger one) and gives a pretty good indication of the quality of games that the Next can handle. I would rate it as being low level 16-bit graphics, similar to the graphics in some Sega Mega Drive games. It’s not quite at the level of high tier Amiga 500 and Super Nintendo games. But the game style has definite and special charm to it which is hard to quantify but is a major part of it’s identity.
Relevant Links
- ZX Spectrum Next Issue 3 Kickstarter campaign update #3 [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spectrumnext/zx-spectrum-next-issue-3-0/posts/4444390] A detailed run-down of all things to do with the Next and the third kickstarter campaign.
- ZX Dreams Volume 2 Kickstarter campaign [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zzap642021annual/zx-dreams-vol-2]
- ZX Spectrum Next Games for download on Itch.io [https://itch.io/search?type=games&q=%22Spectrum+Next%22]
- ZX Spectrum Next Games YouTube Playlist [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyylKv5-GEg&list=TLPQMTEwODIwMjUzf8QQchNSSA] Short several minute playthrough’s for over 70 games.
