Next, More Good News on the Next Edition of the Spectrum Next
On October 19th Henrique Olifiers, the father of the Spectrum Next, has posted another update on the Spectrum Next Kickstarter webpage. It’s absolutely incredible but would you believe that they are announcing new capabilities for the Spectrum Next even with production just around the corner! It seems that the latest iteration of the system is just going from strength to strength. We recently heard that our favorite new retro computer is going to be Sam Coupe compatible which is so awesome because it is such a rare system that very few people have it. So those of us getting the third edition of the next will be able use it as Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC 6128, Sinclair QL and Sam Coupé via the included FPGA cores. This is not emulation it is an accurate hardware-based recreation of those systems so the system essentially functions as all those systems natively. Not only that but right before production start a doubling of RAM from 2MB to 4MB was announced and a hint that the new resources are going to be used for an Amiga 500 core! The most powerful pre-built 8-bit computer on the planet is going to be compatible with 16-bit computer systems. Many people, including myself, are no doubt very excited about having the capability to play Amiga games on their Next. So when, not if, they make the Amiga FPGA that opens up the door to cores for other 16-bit systems so we can probably expect Atari ST to be one of the next systems available. The Spectrum Next just keeps getting better, it’s going from strength to strength. The good news just keeps on coming. This is the best kickstarter that I have ever backed, the high price tag is well worth it.
The Next's Next System Core
As if all that wasn’t enough news to celebrate the latest update that I mentioned in the very first sentence of this article included another big announcement for yet another new FPGA core. This one came completely out of left field that I don’t think anyone had expected, the Speccy Next now has a Pico-8 core! For those who don’t know what the Pico-8 don’t worry, I didn’t know what it was either until I heard about it earlier this year. It’s a relatively new system, about 10 years old, but it has gone under the radar for most gamers because of it’s obscurity and the fact that it doesn’t actually exist as a physical system. It was purposely designed as 1980’s console with limited specifications in order to encourage innovative games they don’t rely heavily on graphics but instead focus on creativity in gameplay. The system only exists as a “virtual machine” meaning that it must be emulated or replicated via FPGA which is how it’s able to be played Next. One of the system’s most popular games is called Celeste which you may have played on the Spectrum Next as a port of the game exists for the system. This game gives you a good example of the kind of games that are possible on the system. It is very graphically limited even more limited than the NES, it’s more like a colored Game Boy DMG but doesn’t even look as nice as the Game Boy Color because that was made in the 1990’s and the Pico-8 is a 1980’s system. However many game developers and talented programmers have been drawn to the challenge of creating games for this system and therefore there are lots of great games available. So it’s a very welcome addition to the cores available on the Speccy Next. If you want to try this unique system before the third kickstarter ships out than you can experience it online. As usual I will leave the link in the relevant links section of this post below.
Relevant Links
- The latest Spectrum Next 3rd Edition kickstarter production update [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spectrumnext/zx-spectrum-next-issue-3-0/posts/4515703] Includes the announcement of the Pico-8 core
- Wikipedia Pico-8 webpage [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PICO-8] Read about the basics of the Pico-8 fantasy console here.
- Lexaloffe Games [https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php] Play the Pico-8 in your browser here.
