Sinclair ZX Spectrum A Visual Compendiu

by Sam Dyer (Designer)

Invented by Sir Clive Sinclair, the successor to the ZX80 and ZX81 home computers would come to de ne an age of video gaming, with a range of games as quirky and eccentric as the computer that inspired them.

304 pages, Hardcover

First published November 17, 2015

Reviews

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully packaged mini-coffee-table-sized book with glossy artwork. It’s a mix of in-game graphics, articles on developers crucial to the Speccy’s history, and a smattering of cover art design. Each game merits one page and a covering paragraph – no more. This limits how deeply you dive behind the scenes, but is usually furnished with an interesting fact or two. It doesn’t overly devote space to the big hitters and I didn’t see every game mentioned I would have liked. Similarly though, I bowed out of the ZX Spectrum’s lifetime about halfway through so many of the games covered were completely new to me. This didn’t stop me enjoying the 8-bit colour clashing graphics. Some games, I had completely forgotten about, others I could recall, but the words and pictures still helped drag buried latent memories of being 11 / 12 years old again, playing on a cutting edge home computer system. The future was then.

[Luke John · Rating 5 out of 5]

The art of the Spectrum was unique and so, for any gamers of that era, also very much a look that can transport you back to that time. The attribute clash was problematic for the system, but also contributed directly to that 'Spectrum look', which now lends itself to that distinctive art style. This book frequently sent me back to a childhood during the home computer war, when there seemed to be so many systems hiding away in friend's bedrooms - Amstrad CPCs, C64s, C16s, BBC Micros, etc, etc, and of course the ZX Spectrum. This a beautifully designed book, and a joy to leaf through just for the images alone, without even mentioning the lovely oral history style of the work.