Section 3 - The First and Best of their Kind

3.1. What was the first Spectrum coin-op conversion?

As far as I know, the first licence was Hunchback (Ocean), although that is debatable (and probably will be). But does anybody know what the first "copy" rather than licence was? Not Spectral Invaders (Bug-Byte) as far as I know. Could it be that Thro' the Wall was the first? It could be said that it was the first copy (of Arkanoid?) since it appeared on the Horizons tape. (Yes, I know Thro' the Wall came out before Arkanoid.)

3.2. What games were the first of their kind?

These games were (until someone comes to me with a different answer) the first of their kind on the Spectrum. Note that they may be wrong, and it is up to you to correct me!

3.3. What was the first game to have speech?

Whether you actually understood it or not is irrelevant, since that would disqualify most games.

Take your pick from the following games. Anybody that has it on good authority that one was released before the others then please tell me!

3.4. What was the first game with an animation/game while loading?

Technician Ted (Hewson) had little "Ted's" that walked about around the screen while the game loaded. The first game to play a game while loading a game was Joe Blade 2 (Players), which had a simple pac-man type game.

3.5. What was the first game with in-game music?

Manic Miner (Bug-Byte). It played a movement from the play Peer Gynt called "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Edvard Grieg.

3.6. Which game featured the first piracy protection?

Night Gunner (Digital Integration) , which required you to enter a numerical code at the start before you could play it. This was reviewed in Crash issue 3, while Jet Set Willy (the game previously thought to have had the first piracy protection) was reviewed in issue 4.

3.7. What game was first released on CD?

It is the CodeMasters CD collection they released, with the nifty gadget that plugged into the joystick port.

3.8. What game was the first and last released for the Spectrum?

The first game was Escape by New Generation.

In the traditional sense, being that some people are still programming for the Spectrum. However, the last game to be published was Dalek Attack which finally got released after much pleading from Your Sinclair readers (who could buy it at the barg price of 4.99!). Quite a good game too (apparently).

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Written by Stephen Smith.
Stephen Smith (stevo@REMOVE-THIScarlylesmith.karoo.co.uk)