Those ZX Spectrum users that were around towards the end of the commercial life of the great machine may remember an interface from Datel Electronics called the Plus-D. This peripheral allowed the 8-bit to interface with a 3.5" 720K floppy disk drive, conveniently making it possible to load programs from tape and take a 'snapshot' image of the computer's memory to save to disk, thus allowing you to archive all of your favourite cassette-based games to the floppy medium. Well, thanks to RWAP Software, these devices have been made available again at the bargain price of £48 excluding a disk drive, though these new devices are not re-conditioned units or graded stock but newly built for the 21st century Speccy userbase. If you'd like to get hold of a Plus-D while they're still available, head over to www.rwapsoftware.co.uk/spectrum.html and click 'Add to cart'.

In related news, the ZX Spectrum Hardware DIY website has added some 'simple' instructions that will allow your favourite home computer to be connected to mass storage devices, such as an IDE hard drive or a Compact Flash card. This is one of many sites that will tell you how to get more out of the 8-bit micro. However, I'm curious about this site in particular as it claims that the solutions are easy. Therefore, once I have the necessary components, I'll be giving it a try, and I'll let you know how I get on. Until then, head over to www.ppest.org/zx/zx.php to find out more.

Previous Next

Jason Kelk is putting the finishing touches on his VIC-20 game Lunar Blitz, which is based on the classic game from the same format Blitz. Lunar Blitz works on an unexpanded machine and is very slickly executed, although I'd still have the same complaints about the basic concept not aging too well. Expect this game to be released through Cronosoft on real media, along with ViColumn that was finished last year. Until the cassettes are available, www.cosine.org.uk will soon have the download available for your emulator. While you're there, the Commodore 16 version of the game is available, which has an identical game mechanic to the VIC-20 version.

Previous Next

Meanwhile, Kelk is also revising his game War Flame for Cronosoft, and is hoping to have War Flame Remix available soon. This game is a horizontally scrolling shoot-'em-up which starts at a fairly easy pace, though the emphasis is on level design as this becomes the real challenge as the game progresses. The current version is available from Cosine's site mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Previous Next

Not to be outdone by Nintendo, C64 fans have their own version of the DS classic Zoo Keeper to pore over. The game, entitled Zoo Mania, is a frantic puzzler in which one must match the animals in rows of three or more either horizontally or vertically on screen. This game is available to download from noname.c64.org/csdb/release/?id=33799, complete with a training mode and high score saver.

Unfortunately, there are still a few bugs to be removed from the game code, but the current preview is very playable and great fun too - if only there was a way to implement it using a light pen of some description for that extra touch.

Zoo Mania will probably remain as a free-to-download game due to obvious copyright implications, and a full release should be available shortly.