What are the Killer ZX81 games

[Simon_Carr]

I have the Zeddy now punching its proper fighting weight with a ZX8CCB and ZXpand (although I'm not planning *yet* to add sound or a Chroma interface), and am having great fun doing some BASIC programming on my Zeddy, but now I have to ask;

WHAT ARE THE 'MUST-HAVE' KILLER GAMES FOR THE ZX81?

To complicate this, I would like to identify three categories:

1: Original arcade and 'graphics' games from the heyday of the ZX81 in the early 1980s
2: Original text adventure games from the early 1980s
3: New games that have emerged via the retro scene

As I have discovered with my ZX Spectrums and WoS, it is simply not worth trying to download or otherwise obtain copies of every game known to the format, I just don't have the time or leisure to be able to devote hours to discovering which games I like. Unlike the Spectrum, I have never owned a ZX81 before, so I have no idea where I should start my collection. I am looking for the absolute jewels in the ZX81 crown here, so, ladies and gentlemen, please suggest the games that I should not live without!

Any or all advice most welcome!

[Shaun_B]

Hi Simon,

Much of the releases by Bob Smith over the past few years has turned out much better than even the most optimistic ZX81 fan would expect. Many of his titles are simply Speccy quality game play in monochrome; for instance, Virus set the bar high for mere mortals, and then Bob released Bolder Logic, and then One Little Ghost, Ant Attack (yes, actual Ant Attack) and, most recently, Pandemic. Please see http://www.bobs-stuff.co.uk/zx81.html for all of his Zeddy works.

Regards,

Shaun.

[Moggy]

Football manager is a must, a game well suited to the zeddy as it plays as it should without relying on the random generator to fix results. Ie if you field a strong team then the results reflect this with the random generator throwing in the occasional upset like in real life.

Simulations like Dallas where you are an oil magnate trying to build a fortune in the oil business or Civ8 a zeddy version of the famous civ series, the list is endless,

Some of the better titles here.....

http://www.rwapsoftware.co.uk/zx81/zx81_software.html

Also agree with Shaun (no mean programmer himself) Bob's stuff is the best example of low res gaming I've seen, and I think it's true to say that if he had released his software in the 80's he would be a very wealthy man now!

[rune]

3D Monster Maze, Fungaloids are two good ones. Bobs games are among the best ever games.

[RWAP]

I would say 3D monster maze, Mazogs, Rocket Man and 49er by Software Farm from back in the day...

More recent - Bob's programs, maybe the 1K high res pack and the Revival Studios games

[PokeMon]

and the Revival Studios games

By the way - does anyone know what happened to Revival Studios ?
I think no more published games this year and latest news on the website have been in january 2014 ?
http://www.revival-studios.com/

[Simon_Carr]

Thanks for the tips so far. I will be definitely getting hold of all that is listed so far, and giving them a go over Christmas, with a little luck...

I had seen and been impressed by Bob Smiths games, but it is useful to get some of the others. What would you say the Atic Atac or Manic Miners were for the ZX81 back in the early 1980s? You know, the games that had greatness written all over them?!

Cheers

Simon

[rune]

I would say the manic miner of the ZX 81 world is manic Miner - its out there somewhere and Im sure I've got a copy at home

[Moggy]

Just as difficult as the speccy version though too few levels unfortunately.

[Simon_Carr]

REALLY?! That would impress me.... MM on a Zeddy.... Wow, I have to find that.

next thing someone is going to say that Knight Lore was originally designed for the Zeddy...