ZX Spectrum 30 Years Old Today

Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear ZX Spectrum, happy birthday to you!

Yes you are reading right. The Sinclair Spectrum is 30 years old today. Kitguru jumps into our Delorean and heads back to 1982 for a nostalgic look at the start of home computing.

1982 was a busy year. Argentina invaded the Falklands (history has a habit of repeating itself) The Delorean car company was official placed into receivership and Michael Jackson released the album Thriller. But more important to us, as we travel back is the birth of mass home computing.

Today in 1982 was the launch of the Sinclair Spectrum ZX. One of the most ground breaking computers of its era. The brain child of Sir Clive Sinclair the original ZX came in 2 flavours. The 16kb Ram model for only £125. Yes you are reading that right, back in 1982 16kb was a lot of memory. Or if you wanted the top of the range you could opt for the 48kb model for £175.

The Sinclair was cheaper than any other computer on the market, and within the first 3 months they had amassed over 30,000 back orders. The Spectrum started a bedroom war. You were either a Spectrum or Commodore owner. It was like a football rivalry (without the terrace fights).

While not the most powerful computer on the market the Spectrum opened up basic programming to the home user, allowing everyone to design games. Many of today’s gaming companies can still trace their roots right back to the Spectrum. CodeMasters were one of the original pioneers of games on the ZX with titles such as Dizzy.

Loading games was via a tape deck and the screechy whine became a universally acknowledged sound byte.

For nostalgic reasons we have managed to find a Youtube clip.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGVnT7u9rOY']

For those who don’t remember or are too young, check out the clip and thank the lord for progress.

Kitguru Says: We loved our ZX, what games can you remember?

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