Rebelstar

Father of X-Com.

Source // Wikipedia

Like many abstractly named games, I didn't have a clue what Rebelstar was about until researching it. After researching, I sat a thought "All of that? On a ZX Spectrum?"

There is only one game that you'll probably be aware of that will help me explain Rebelstar, and that is X-Com. It doesn't matter if you think about the recent releases or the earlier X-Com classics, so long as you have that style of game in your mind, you'll know what Rebelstar is all about, because Rebelstar is X-Com. 

Not 'like X-Com', 'is X-Com'. Developed by the same guy, Julian Gollop. Rebelstar is X-Com. On a ZX Spectrum.

Skool Daze

A pioneer of the sandbox genre, this early on?

Source // YouTube

I've never seen Skool Daze, despite hearing it in passing, so I never had any idea what it was about, beyond a game set in a school - which doesn't sound incredible, but there are many aspects of school life that can be made into a game.

Skool Daze tries to get you to act out the roles of both a good student and a troublemaker in an attempt to steal your report card from the staffroom safe, and the entire school is open for you to explore in order to accomplish that goal.

Fairlight

The ZX Spectrum can't do graphics, you say? Ok, let's see if this says otherwise...

I don't know a whole lot about the ZX Spectrum, but I know there are a handful of titles that get thrown about when an example of a great ZX Spectrum game is needed, especially when it comes to graphics. I usually forget which titles, but we've already seen Knight Lore on this list, and we're about to see Fairlight.

Created in response to Knight Lore, the game sees you navigate a castle looking for the Book of Light. Seen from a familiar isometric view, Fairlight makes sure to improve on what Knight Lore showed was possible.

Jet Set Willy

Nothing to do with Jet Set Radio.

I know I've heard about Jet Set Willy somewhere, but couldn't tell you where, when or why - and I'm not thinking of it being written down in the 1001 entry for the first game in the series, Manic Miner. I know Jet Set Willy is of some importance to video gaming history, but I just don't know why I know that.

What I do know is that it's hard as nails before any bugs. Gamers of the 1980s were built of sterner stuff than I...

The Lords of Midnight

Yours will be no inevitable victory...

Source // Winterdrake

The entry for The Lords of Midnight in 1001 Video Games includes a screenshot of a chap on a horse, in front of some rocks, accompanied by some blurb. It's reflective of what you'll see in game, but it's akin to taking a screenshot of some dialog in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, rather than showing what you can actually see in Skyrim.

I use Skyrim as an example because both it and The Lords of Midnight allow you to traverse the world you inhabit from a first person perspective, where you're able to move all the way up those mountains in the distance. Mostly.

Skyim-lite on the ZX Spectrum? Count me in. PC remake with the input and blessing of the original developer? Count me in. Accompanying short story to set the scene of Luxor the Moonprince on a quest to rid the world of the evil Witchking Doomdark? Count. Me. In.

Knight Lore

If my choice was finding the cure or taking the silver bullet, I'd probably take the bullet...

That's a mid transformation screenshot. You don't waddle through the game like that

For some reason, I always got the impression that Knight Lore was steeped in so much mystery that it was some kind of underrated hidden gem and that it's a surprise nobody knew about it. Turns out it was just me, as Knight Lore blew away gamers of the mid 80s with its graphics, showing off the previously unseen effect of things being in front of other things. Depth! In a game!

I poke fun but it really is something to behold. I know next to knowing about how the ZX Spectrum works, but even I can see how swanky the screens of Knight Lore are. It's the third part of Sabreman's adventures. He's been cursed to roam the world as a werewulf and wishes to find the cure to rid himself of it. To do so, he must find a whole bunch of items scattered throughout the castle, bung 'em in a magical pot in the right order, and hey presto, no more lycanthropy.

Simple.

Deus Ex Machina

Art games are easy?

Source // Motherboard, Vice

No, it's not that Deus Ex, but a much, much weirder one. You might even argue that nothing can prepare you for it, because Deus Ex Machina plays out so differently to what you might imagine when you're tasked to picture a conceptual interactive art piece on the ZX Spectrum.

It's hard to even conceive that home computers back in the 1980s even bothered with art, being content with offering funny characters dodging brightly coloured blobs to the 'tune' of mostly noisy sound effects, yet here stands Deus Ex Machina, and it is a journey, I can say that much...

Manic Miner

Stuck in the Central Cavern of the Mountain King

Do ignore the touch controls on the HTML5 version, they're not as authentic as the rest of the image...

Manic Miner, Miner 2049er... was mining as popular a game theme as space back in the 1980s? Although there isn't so much mining in these games. More gathering. Perhaps it's a potholing/treasure hunting simulator, kinda thing. The point is, these games are awfully familiar, and with good reason - Manic Miner was inspired by Miner 2049er, and like many games to have borrowed ideas and mechanics from earlier titles, it has gone along and improved upon them so much.

Jetpac

Are we sure this guy is being propelled by a jetpack?

Source // Wikipedia

I haven't ever played Jetpac, but I've seen it mentioned often enough to know about it. I don't remember where I first heard about it though, or in what context, or why, but none of that matters when we're approaching it with a clean slate, and finally playing it.

As you can tell, it features a jetpack, and as is often the case in life, the jetpack in Jetpac can be found on the back of an astronaut. It's a space game, yay! At least it doesn't involve shooting.