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"Be who you want to be."

The ZX Spectrum is a line of 8-bit personal computers from British company Sinclair Research.

Its hardware was nothing to write home about. In fact, it suffered from a graphical quirk called "attribute clash" that limited its colors in a severe way (every 8x8 pixel area could contain only two colors) and made its games look primitive when compared to other machines of its day. Nonetheless, its extremely low cost (less than half the price of a Commodore 64) made it hugely successful in the United Kingdom; it was also very popular in the Eastern Bloc and in Brazil, in the form of unlicensed clones. Consequently, the Spectrum amassed a rather vast gaming library.

The list[]

Box Art Title Genre Description
Agent X ZX cover Agent X in the Brain Drain Caper Action Control a smoking detective as he pursues a mad scientist, each level featuring a different gameplay style (first stage is a isometric racer, second is a side-scrolling platformer and so on).
Astro Marine Corps ZX cover Astro Marine Corps Platformer An obscure Spanish run-and-gun with very impressive graphics: colorful stages, parallax scrolling, and almost no attribute clash in sight!
Atic Atac ZX cover Atic Atac Top-Down Action Pick from one of three classes and explore the many dark rooms of a castle while killing the many creatures inside. Available on Rare Replay on the Xbox One.
Castlevania Spectral Interlude ZX cover Castlevania: Spectral Interlude Action-adventure No, this is not an official Castlevania, but a fangame by a Russian demoscene team. It started as a "demake" of Simon's Quest, but after a while they decided to make it something more interesting, an entirely new quest. The graphics and sound are pretty good by ZX standards, especially the music.

Get it here.

Dan Dare 3 ZX cover Dan Dare III: The Escape Platformer While the whole series is well-regarded, the third Dan Dare game is especially praised for its graphics that work around the ZX's attribute clash pretty well. Developed by Dave Perry and Nick Bruty, the same duo who would later do Earthworm Jim.
Lunar Jetman ZX cover Lunar Jetman Shoot 'em Up Defender-styled shooter and sequel to Jetpac, you control the Jetman on foot or flying with his jetpack and shoot at the alien hordes. You also have a car at your disposal for fast travel. Both are available on Rare Replay.
Pyjamarama ZX cover Pyjamarama Puzzle-Platformer Wally Week is having the weirdest dream ever, so you now must guide him and solve puzzles to wake him up in time for work.
Sabre Wulf ZX cover Sabre Wulf Action-Adventure Control the Sabreman and explore a jungle, collecting treasures and defeating enemies while avoiding the dreaded Wulf. One of the first games made by Rare when they were still called Ultimate Play the Game, it later got a sequel on the GBA with same title. Also available on Rare Replay.
Tir Na Nog ZX cover Tír Na Nòg Adventure A.k.a. the "Walking Man" game. You explore the land of Tír Na Nòg, picking up items and avoiding enemies. You always walk left and right using the middle keyboard buttons to change the camera angle in order to enter intersections on the road. Features what is probably the best animation you'll ever see on the Speccy. Has a prequel named Dun Darach.

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Third Generation
Consoles Action Max - Atari 7800 - Amstrad GX4000 - RDI Halcyon - View-Master Interactive Vision - Sega Master System - Nintendo Entertainment System - Casio PV-1000 - VTech Socrates - Epoch Super Cassete Vision
Computers Mattel Aquarius - Acorn Archimedes - Commodore 64 - Amstrad CPC - Fujitsu FM-7 - Apple Lisa - Apple Macintosh - Microsoft MS-DOS - ASCII MSX - ASCII MSX2 - IBM OS-2 - NEC PC-88 - NEC PC-98 - Amstrad PCW - Sinclair QL - Commodore VIC-20 - Sharp X1 - Sinclair ZX Spectrum