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...that I recall with fondness:

1) My first computer, a Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2 computer with - wait for it - a whole 128k of memory. I still have it stored away somewhere; great stuff. I loved that computer. The games were in a league of their own: Dizzy, Colin the Cleaner (don't laugh - it was fab), Cobra, Outrun, Blizzard Pass and my favourite, Elite. It used to take about an hour to load up (using the built-in tape cassette recorder) and then promptly crash and refuse to run. Excruciatingly frustrating at the time, but I look back on it now and it makes me chuckle.



2) My Raleigh Burner bike with its "mags" wheels (no spokes here, no sirree). It was the mutt's nuts and the envy of all my friends; I remember my parents paid about £100 for it at the time. My friends had lowly BMXs and were forced to ride in my shadow. I could do bunny hops nearly a foot off the ground and all kinds of other freestyle movements, except the elusive wheelie, which I just couldn't master for some reason. Tried it on a quiet road once, pulled too high and flipped the bike up and completely over, with me ending up on my back. Luckily, the only witnesses were the birds in the trees (I hope - I didn't hang around long enough to check).

3) Transformers (robots in disguise). ThunderCats. Dangermouse. MASK. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. And possibly my favourite cartoon of all time - Dungeons and Dragons. Did they ever get back home in the end? They don't make them like they used to, I'll tell you that for nothing.

4) School summer holidays - those six weeks used to last forever and spending most of it with a select few of my friends from primary school was just the best feeling in the world. Playing on my Spectrum computer. Going out on our bikes. Watching classic cartoons on TV. I possibly didn't think so at the time, but those were the best days of my life.

5) My first girlfriend. Her name was Marissa and she was the cutest thing since the last cutest thing that caught my roving, yet innocent, eye. We were about nine-years-old and used to pass secret love notes to each other in class. Then I got myself another girlfriend who was in the same class. I still feel guilty about two-timing her. Come to think of it, I'm sure most of the girls in my class became my girlfriend at one point or another. (I was a tart, even back then....)

Ah, the memories.... I'm sure there are more, but that's all I can think of right now.

(This thread was inspired by Adrian's Egyptian thread, which I didn't want to take wildly off topic).

The late 1980's I believe, I bought my first upgrade on my computer. Bought an Amiga 1200. After a while I upgraded it and fitted a tower with an extra HD and bought 8meg of memory to boost the standard 2meg supplied. The bloody tower was empty !! I still have the receipt, £128 quid that 8meg cost me

I got a modem and went on the tinternet. I spent 20mins watching a website open I got myself an email address and didn't know anyone else who had one so I couldn't email anyone except myself

Aaaahhhh, that was better than my childhood of the 60's

Replicant wrote:.1) My first computer, a Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2 computer with - wait for it - a whole 128k of memory.

The first Spectrum that came out had a massive 16k. I bought the next model up, that had a whopping 48k - and I vaguely remember the price being around £130 (which was alot of money back in them good ol' days ).

Ahhhh .... memories .

I had a 48K Spectrum, not long after they came out (ahh, those rubbery keys). It got overheated once, and developed a bizarre problem that caused little dots to appear on the screen. The replacement lasted a fair while, but then part of the keyboard stopped working, and I upgraded to the 128 version. Mine didn't have the integral tape recorder.

Here's a blast from the past. For a while, my Dad signed us (i.e. me) up for Prestel - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prestel

It was actually quite fun. It was sort of a cross between Ceefax/Oracle and a bulletin board. I have a vague recollection of "choose your own adventure" style pages, where you got to choose from certain options and see how the story developed. That's literally only just come back to mind as I've been typing this!

I also remember trying to download games from there and being charged (more than once), even though the blooming things didn't work. Crazy, because after the first attempt, it would have been cheaper to buy the tape of the game, although I didn't know I was being charged for each attempt at the time.

Carrying on with the nostalgia, my favourite games were the two Shadowfire ones (I think the second was called 'Enigma Force' and was very different in gameplay), the various Wally Week platform adventures (one of which had a song sung my Mike Berry on the other side of the cassette) and Jack the Nipper (a very funny game about a naughty child). There was also a hugely enjoyable game called 'Stifflip & Co', which, as far as I could tell, no one ever finished.

I'm sure I'll think of some more later.

This also reminds me of the text only (or pretty much text only) adventure games that died out in the 90s. I remember hours of 'fun' trying to get the parser of 'The Hobbit' to accept the answers to Gollum's riddles (even though they were exactly the same as the book), or to get my companions to actually do what I asked so I could climb out of that window.

Much better was the follow-on adventure, 'Sherlock', which had a really good plot and some clever bits, including Holmes disguising himself to get into an opium den in Limehouse. It was very difficult, though.

Which brings me to 'Dodgy Geezers', an adventure about criminals trying to rob a bank. I loved the idea of the game, and the snaphots (or mugshots, perhaps) of your friends were great fun. The plot was a bit rubbish, though.

I also recall writing (no e-mail then) to computer magazines offering, or requesting, tips for games. I even got the occasional request directly from other readers, who'd be passed my details by the magazine staff. I suppose they couldn't do that now. Perhaps they shouldn't really have done it then!

That's enough from me for now, but I'll be back to talk about cartoons.

SPectrum 48K, classic. Horrace goes skiing! I also remember crashing games so you could 'hack' into the programming and change things. SO when messages came up on screen, it was now abuse directed at someone.
My bike was a raleigh grifter. The only thing that would survive a nuclear holocaust would be locusts and raleigh grifters.
Also jumping over the turnstile at the footy to get in free.
Free gifts from banks when you put a pound in. One even gave my a cheque book! Which I proceded to make checks out for millions of pounds.
And the free gifts and backs of cereal packets seemed so much more important im them days. I was a proud member of the tony the tiger club!
Sitting by the radio for the top 40 countdown and trying to press record just after the DJ stopped talking for your favourite songs (and on the same note...making mix tapes of your favourite songs to play on your personal stereo with them massive sponge earphones).
Thinking Im well cool with a pair of mirror shades (sunglassess) I bought for 99p at the market.
Star wars the first time around
Proper comics (roy of the rovers being my favourite)
10 pence mixtures (all the sweets have now shrunk...or have I grown...and you could get mojos for 1/2p each)
Swapping football stickers (and on the football issue...havent been since you could stand up and watch it properly)
Making dens...the ultimate pastime when I were a lad
I could go on for hours...

Wagon Wheels - the proper sized ones, not the shirt buttons they sell these days....

I was never into computer games.

My memories of when I was little was my Care Bears and She-Ra toys. They were brilliant, I always used to manage to get my day to buy me a new one whenever we went shopping. I had the soppy eyes and sweet smile down a treat.

After school, going over the fields and playing in the woods.

Sunday afternoons when we'd walk over to my Nans and have Fish and Chips for tea.

My first computer was a Commodore VIC-20 - massive 5k of RAM, (3.5k free) - with colour and sound and a real keyboard.

A Grifter bike with back pedal brakes and a twist grip gear change

Simon - probably the best computer game - totally indestructible.

Hornby Railway - I had loads of the stuff

Stickle Bricks

Fuzzy Felt

Spirograph

moonbeam wrote:

Replicant wrote:.1) My first computer, a Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2 computer with - wait for it - a whole 128k of memory.

The first Spectrum that came out had a massive 16k. I bought the next model up, that had a whopping 48k - and I vaguely remember the price being around £130 (which was alot of money back in them good ol' days ).

Ahhhh .... memories .

the first out, the zx80, only came with 1Kb, expandable to 16 (i think). It was the first computer for under 100 quid.

i used to love my speccy....jetpac was fantastic fun, and as for jet set willy....woooohoooooo! pyjamarama, attic attac, skooldaze all classics

It was a good job the keys were made of rubber, what with having to hammer z and x like mad in sport games

oh Fuzzy Felt, I used to have a few of these. My best was Fuzzy Felt zoo.

My first magic trick, I was about 9 or 10 and I taught the class I was in how to make a solid pen appear to be made of rubber. Everyone joined in and I was sent to the naughty corner!!!

Sophie wrote:My first magic trick, I was about 9 or 10 and I taught the class I was in how to make a solid pen appear to be made of rubber. Everyone joined in and I was sent to the naughty corner!!!

Admit it, you've been naughty most of your life, haven't you?

I used to play arcade games during lunch time at secondary school: Shinobi, Golden Axe, Final Fight. Classics. I heard they have made a film of Shinobi recently.

Not so much naughty as distracting!!!!

shinobi, golden axe...awesome games...I was usually the wee dwarf. Either that or glued to rolling thunder

Can't beat the 3D monster maze on the ZX-81

The Atari was the dogs wotsits for games though - used to bunk off school and go down to the local Woolies to play some of the great classics.