A few months ago I decided to go through Spectrum games year by year and list my favourites. I got as far as sorting some games into folders and taking some screenshots of a few games, then I didn’t do anything. Recently, the YouTube channel The Spectrum Show did just that.
First things first, their top games were:
- The Hobbit
- 4D Timegate
- Penetrator
- 3D Tanx
- Football Manager
with honourable mentions to:
- 3D Escape
- Planetoids & Space Raiders
- Cyberrats
- Arcadia
- Great Britain Ltd
- Invaders (Artic) was mentioned but didn’t end up in their final list.
My Choices
There are a few things which won’t be making my list:
- Imagine Games:
This is possibly an unpopular opinion. A lot of people have a fondness for some of the early Imagine games but I they were a bit overrated in my opinion – definitely a lot overhyped. Jumping Jack may have been addictive if you played it at the time but I didn’t. Arcadia is a flickery messes and while I did play it a bit at the time, it hasn’t aged well. - The Horace Games:
Less of an unpopular opinion. I mentioned these in the 16K Games page. - Planetoids:
This was the first game I ever played on a Spectrum. It was at a friend’s house and they hadn’t had the machine long so didn’t have many games. I played it a lot but like many games from that era, it hasn’t lasted well.
![](https://mikedowney.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/arcadia.png)
![](https://mikedowney.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/5_3dtanx.png)
![](https://mikedowney.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/horace.png)
![](https://mikedowney.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/planetoids.png)
I played through a selection of games – not only ones I remembered at the time, but also a few ones which were new to me, to see if there were any classics I had missed first time around. There will be games I have forgotten about which should be here, but this is the list as it stands (in no particular order):
![](https://mikedowney.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/football_manager.png)
Football Manager, by Addictive Software.
There is no way I could leave this out of the list. Despite being written in BASIC, being a bit slow and having fairly crude graphics, it was such a good game. One of the best ‘management’ games on the old 8-bit machines.
![](https://mikedowney.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/hobbit.png)
The Hobbit, by Melbourne House.
While it wasn’t my favourite adventure game it was technically impressive, especially when you consider how early it was in the Spectrum’s life.
![](https://mikedowney.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/penetrator2-1.png)
Penetrator, also by Melbourne House.
An impressive early game, from the opening firework display to the level editor. Who among us didn’t create a completely flat level so you could just fly straight and shoot, getting a high score?
![](https://mikedowney.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/timegate.png)
4D Timegate, by Quicksilva.
I recently rediscovered this game when I was originally going through some old games to play (which is what inspired this post). I played through it on ‘Easy’ and meant to go back and try again on a harder level but haven’t done that yet.
Honourable Mentions
There were some games which I remembered playing which I should probably mention even if they weren’t among my favourites. Some were technically impressive, others were a bit crude but fun.
![](https://mikedowney.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/orbiter-silversoft-1982.png)
Orbiter, by Silversoft.
I remember playing this quite a lot when I first got it, but it hasn’t aged well compared to other games.
![](https://mikedowney.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/artic_adventure.png)
The various Artic Adventures.
I played a few of these and, with the help of a schoolfriend, even managed to complete some. It was often a case of ‘guess the word of phrase the programmer was thinking of’ but you accepted that as part of the game.