Thank you for using The Hobbit on the thumbnail. People forget about these text adventures. They were my favourite type of game on the Spectrum back in the day.
Nice touch from retro saying RIP to sir Clive Sinclair and rick Dickinson thank you for the amazing 80s gaming remember getting my zx spectrum 48k 1982 Christmas day
Mine arrived yesterday on pre-order from Smyths. Really nice packaging and presentation. I've added a few roms of the cassettes I still have now up in the loft with my original Spectrum: Atic Atac. Jet Pac. 3D Starstrike. Knight Lore. Jet Set Willy I&II. Darkstar. Really happy with it 👍👍
Fantastic video bud, cheers 👍. I fired mine up Wednesday night after Amazon delivered early. It really is a great little machine. I didn't know about Amazon selling the Collectors manuals until this video, I've just ordered mine so thanks for the heads up. On a personal note the first games I'm adding to my little Speccy will be the Dizzy collection. I love that little egg 😂😂
Great review of The Spectrum which is the quintessential British Home Microcomputer. Even though I loved the Commodore and Atari Minis, this for me is easily the best release to date from Retro Games Ltd. One thing I noticed is that you need to select Keyboard on Nodes of Yesod for it to work with the gamepad and remember to collect your mole from the surface before delving deeper ;-) Keep up the awesome work!
Good review, but it's not a "mini" as you say - it's a full-sized unit. The Retro Games full-sized units released prior, have likewise had fully functional keyboards ... The C64 Maxi and The VIC20
Cheers. Yeah a deliberately didn't mention the maxi. Even though it's not a mini, it's probably more comparable to them than the maxi versions. All we need now is the Amiga maxi..
@@CrazyBurger Mystified by this response - why is it more comparable to the minis than the maxis? This is a fully functioning Spectrum. Is it because it's small? It's the same size as the original Spectrum.
@@CrazyBurger Yeah, I was seriously joking. One of my friends has a channel with sub-1,000 subscribers and he spends a LOT of time making and editing videos. A LOT. More power to you my friend. If you keep making these video, I won't have to. :-)
@michaelhill6453 lol yeah I know. No worries. It really is a lot of work. For the best part, the time spent doesn't equal the money gained. At least I enjoy it though. And really started cause I got frustrated at videos not providing the answers or details I was looking for.
WOW! You got this vid, vids up quick on this! Great job! 😊. So much covered, and very in-depth too! 👍. Certainly looking forward to your own choice of games list that you will be downloading. Also might be interesting to cover a little of the programming side of things too! Such as the making of your own games as well! 🤔. My only issue is that it is not necessarily that straightforward to do anything on it. A lot of technical set up to things! I guess that why it can be considered more like a computer than a console?! 🤔. Again. Well done. Great vid. Loving that “Speccy” original intro too! 😊❤️👍
WOW! 😍 Very awesome you got the press pack again Crazy!! Loving that manual, I won't one! 😎 My one arrived from Amazon on Friday, from them directly in a smiley box. I've not had a chance to look at it yet, it arrived late in the day lol. I'll be doing the same, trying to avoid using the keyboard as much as possible as the original machine was prone to wear on the most used keys, and they don't make things as solid as the godd ole days. I might get a spare at some point. Thanks for the video and glad you got a press pack again! Enjoy! 🎉🎉🤘😁🕹️🎉🎉
@@MIKandJEAN There are affordable replacement keymats out there so don’t worry. People have been customizing their Spectrums for years. You could even change its colour if you wanted. :)
Never had one but used to look at the Timex Sinclair in computer magazines at $99 CAD and dreamed of having one. Preordered the Retro Spectrum and its on the way to Canada. I appreciate your video and looking forward to see if any of my TV/Monitors that output 50 Hz as these games were originally made for PAL.
Sadly mine arrived from Amazon and the box was damaged so I’m sending mine back. Luckily the game pad box was mint so will keep hold of that! Interestingly, the spectrum that come from Amazon, whilst the box was damaged, it was sealed but on opening it the spectrum didn’t have the plastic peel on the keyboard! Did anyone else who bought from Amazon get one with no plastic peel on the keyboard? Thankfully my local Smyths toy shop is not too far so I whizzed around and picked one up from there! Not had chance to look at it yet, looking forward to spending some time with it over the weekend! Gutted the standard edition didn’t include the ring binder book that’s included come in your edition John, I do have to agree with a few commenters who feel aggrieved the paying public get short changed with releases. I get they want to push and advertise a product but it’s a bit of a slap in the face to say look what you don’t get if you pay! Hopefully they will offer the ring bound book as a separate purchase! Brilliant as always John, one of the best reviews as always!
I just opened mine from Amazon, no plastic peel but it does have a moulded vacuum plastic cover similar to the Amiga mini which is ace, dust cover ready! 👍
Mine also arrived from Amazon without the plastic peel and with a damaged box. I would return it but they don't have replacements. Are you getting a replacement? And I completely missed the new gamepad release and it's now out of stock everywhere!
Hi Crazy Burger, thanks for the video! Nice Work! Just so you know, I would be interested in a video showing the 8bitdo controller being mapped with a couple games to see how that works. I am interested in getting The Spectrum and using an 9bitdo M30 on the games. Thanks again!
I have no nostalgia for this computer, and frankly, some of these games have not aged well. However, I highly respect what they have done with this unit. A fully working hardware, even if powered by emulation, with a full keyboard and Basic to run your own creations, yet with modern I/O... i can imagine why the retrogaming community is so excited about this.
@@moomin7461 Also fair point, which could be raised against any emulation device or console in general. I think, people like to have dedicated devices, separate from the laptops and PCs, they spent entire day working with.
Quick question, does it have an internal speaker? Mine has no sound. Just wondering if I need to get speakers attached to the monitor or send it back to the shop? I just assumed it would have internal sound like the original.
Allegedly there were 24,000 different commercial programs written for the ZX Spectrum. Assuming each is 42,240 bytes in size (given 6912 bytes, or just under 7kbytes, was used for the screen), the total size of Spectrum software is 990,000KB, or 967MB, so the entire software library should fit in a 1GB USB stick or SD card. Obviously some Speccy games were 128KB and some had multiple loads/programs, but others were just for the 16K Spectrum occupying just over 11KB. Also a formatted 1GB drive won’t hold 1GB, and some are in GB not GiB (ie, in 1000,000,000 bytes not 1024x1024x1024 bytes). But definitely a 2GB drive would be large enough.
For a truly authentic experience they should add a random crash after a game has been loading for ages. Always happened to me with ‘Tapper’. The way the screen just went white and reset was crushing.
Yeah, rest of people we get the bare bones edition. Don't know, but this is starting to bother me. The public we are paying for this... what's the goal of this unboxing? How cool is being a RUclipsr? It's not your fault, but I'm not sure what the publishers are trying to do with this
Yeag, I saw the other day, they sent a fancy press kit to some dude with under 10K subscribers. So they're throwing them out the door, to retro vloggers all and sundry. Why should the paying consumer be subsidising that - who'll pay top dollar to only receive the "bare bones" edition
To be honest the press pack is just a thank you. Crazy did them a favour by creating loads of videos leading up to the launch, free advertising for them... A nice idea and very cool if you're worthy of it. 😉
@MIKandJEAN ruclips.net/video/BIvyJA9z8NA/видео.htmlsi=oL511isjC_m2_I4c This video definitely helps. But as you said I've done lots of vids on the spectrum since the announcement. There's a playlist.
The only thing that annoys me is the standard edition not coming with the ring binder book that’s included with this edition. Not really fussed on missing out on not having this box, I agree with John, I think the standard box looks better and more easy to display.
I'd like to get one here in the US as well. I've checked multiple websites and none of them appear to ship to the US. I'm hoping I can eventually find one on Amazon.
Publishers need to have these special or limited editions available to paying customers, so often we see these cool boxes and packages with or without goodies included and it's only for reviewers, I hate it, should be something everyone can get their hands on if they are willing to pay for it. Both the spectrum and the new atari release doing the same thing.
How is everyone setting up their SD card? I have a 32gig SanDisk stick, formatted to FAT32, and haven't organised it yet but have some classic games in a folder, then further games in a dedicated Spectrum +3 games folder, but it won't let me navigate to this folder, just can't open it on The Spectrum....
@CrazyBurger Only about thirty classics, as a test.... I've been looking into it. Seems like I might need to make an image or some kind of partition or something? Not sure Did you just stick them all on a stick and that's it?
The main difference is that you can access the test mode but nothing else. Factory reset doesn't exit it either. Can't find any documentation on how to exit it. Essentially it's unusable!
ruclips.net/video/iz5OrPgBNXs/видео.htmlsi=aOcn0qwa9lmYj5mz this is what factory test mode looks like. Guess I could do an exclusive review showing how it works and how it recognises usb devices!
So a proprietary controller is needed to access full functionality of that menu system? Or can another multi-button controller, e.g. a Sega Mega Drive joypad, also be used to access all of the menu functions? I own a Speccy Next KS2 but have a passing interest in this product but if a proprietary controller is needed to fully use the menu system and such a controller isn't included in the box then they can jog on!
They should've incuded a joystick or controller, just like all their prior products. Having said that, many other controllers (with at least 8 buttons) are compatible with it. My Mayflash Universal Arcade Stick F500 V2 is fully compatible with The C64 Maxi, so it's odds-on it'll likewise be compatible with The Spectrum. I saw another YT vlogger using an 8BitDo controller with The Spectrum, and it worked fine
I'd say the fully functional keyboard (combined with the "home" button on the rear of the unit) could be utilised to control the menu system - as a substitute for a controller
@@txtworld That sounds promising. Much appreciated. That said, it still seems somewhat unfortunate to me at least. I'd want to be using an original joystick from back in the day with a Speccy rather than a Mega Drive joypad or arcade stick but that wouldn't be able to operate all of the menu.
Mine bricked when I tried to update the firmware so it had to go back to Amazon. Of course they’re out of stock but luckily enough I found another. What I saw of it for five minutes was fantastic though!
I'm hoping the carousel will be hackable in the future like the c64 was with the 64 maxi tool. Won't need to bother with usb sticks then, albeit admittedly it's a lot of work preparing all the game photos, and game descriptions. Many of the supplied carousel games aren't my cup of tea, although i like that they've put in some homebrews.
You keep saying it's a mini, it's not a mini, it's the same dimensions as the original Spectrum. The only difference is the logo and of course the hardware on the inside.
@@CrazyBurger You also repeatedly say 'any other mini that they've done' which implies you think it's a mini, and compared it to the size of a mini. But no matter, hope you enjoy it.
I think the virtual keyboard would be good for people using wireless controllers and they need to press a keyboard key but the Spectrum may be out of reach.
That was supposed to be the Amiga... I hope that the Amiga is actually being released in a few months. And what is the deal with flashing a USB stick? Why not just dump files onto a USB stick and that's it? It was the case with The C64 and that was great. They keep making things more and more complicated now.
A good and a bad thing. Good, as in they are actively fixing things and care more than other companies. Bad, in that in this day and age, products go out the door before they are ready and are patched later, to hit targets. 20 plus years ago, products could only go out after they were really ready. After extensive testing. As there wasn’t much you could do afterwards besides a product recall. Which is very expensive.
Magic !!!!🤔 Flickering graphics ,colour clashes and sound composed of beeps and buzzes. Back in the day this was the closest you could get to the arcade at home but now you can play those actual arcade games at home . Yet people think, " I'd really like to play substandard versions of these games". It makes no sense 🤦♂️
What’s the point of the unboxing when it’s nothing like the experience us ‘normal’ people will get. Would be far more useful to send these to people who can compare them to a genuine spectrum. Yes it’s nice to see what your ‘bribe’ experience looked like but it just sours the experience for all the people like me putting our hands in our pockets to buy these. Perhaps they should offer an ‘Elite’ edition that includes all the nice extras and focus a bit more on sending these to people who are showing the original hardware.
Bloody heck.. majority of stuff on my channel has been paid for by myself. I dont get that many things sent for review. Trust me, if this was crap I'd say its crap regardless if it's sent to me or not.
@ Yeah, I should have been a bit clearer and for the sake of balance I would point out that I think your reviews are very genuine and trustworthy. I certainly don’t begrudge you getting the ‘influencer’ pack as I know it won’t change your opinion. It just annoys me when a company’s marketing department sends out a superior package for review and then suddenly there’s 20 shining reviews all pop up at the same time. Smacks of shitehawking. I don’t think they need to with this product. I genuinely think they have missed a trick not offering a premium package alongside the regular. You are still the best Evercade reviewer on RUclips mate 👍
@@drrev40 I do actually agree with you. I think ideally it would've been good if they had put these up to buy in limited editions. I'd probably just prefer the standard box as that's what everyone is buying and expecting to see. Also.. majority of the channels that got these review copies will be one vid and done ( apart from the odd couple), I'll be covering it in quite a lot of vids. I genuinely enjoy playing them and discovering what they can do, then sharing that to you guys.
Had a speccy back in the day for about 2 weeks before i sold it, didnt like the horrible color clashing on my eyes,no joystick ports..Got myself Commodore 64, never looked back..Which i still have and use today..
Funny enough.. I had a Spectrum for a week in 1990 but it was flawed. Controller port was broken. We sent it back and got a C64 instead. Lol I've no idea why we didn't get another Spectrum.
Ugh there it is! The 'just get a MiSter FPGA' comment that infects every video that showcases a retro gaming product. We know what it is and what it does and we don't want one.
@@garethLLB FPGA is also able to connect to CRT screens. This does not. Get a recreated zx spectrum and connect it to a mister and you can run anything spectrum using rubber keys. Ugh Ugh. Why would you have fun this way:)
Finally got a hold of one of these after being sold out everywhere. Cant wait to get it as this was my childhood.
Thank you for using The Hobbit on the thumbnail. People forget about these text adventures. They were my favourite type of game on the Spectrum back in the day.
Memories of Christmas 1983 playing Panic, Trans Am and Manic Miner 😊😊😊😊
Pre ordered on Amazon and it turned up today with no problems .
Mine arriving soon. I still remember getting my 16k version at launch. It was why i got into electronics and programming.
I had the fawn key in the brown box 16k. Totally awesome.
Absolutely LOVED this video. Thanks s much. Will become a regular here now 💙💪🏻💙
@@ThePolice1500 Wow thank you. Need to try do more speccy content soon.
Nice touch from retro saying RIP to sir Clive Sinclair and rick Dickinson thank you for the amazing 80s gaming remember getting my zx spectrum 48k 1982 Christmas day
Getting mine soon. All we need now is a mini Amstrad CPC.
@QuantumYouthI’m interested what these extras are as I’m most familiar with A500 mini
That’s an obvious choice for next release. Maybe an Atari 800 maxi as well.
Mine arrived yesterday on pre-order from Smyths. Really nice packaging and presentation. I've added a few roms of the cassettes I still have now up in the loft with my original Spectrum: Atic Atac. Jet Pac. 3D Starstrike. Knight Lore. Jet Set Willy I&II. Darkstar.
Really happy with it 👍👍
Fantastic video bud, cheers 👍.
I fired mine up Wednesday night after Amazon delivered early. It really is a great little machine. I didn't know about Amazon selling the Collectors manuals until this video, I've just ordered mine so thanks for the heads up.
On a personal note the first games I'm adding to my little Speccy will be the Dizzy collection. I love that little egg 😂😂
Thank you and yeah I'm a huge Dizzy fan. I'll be definitely playing those.
Great review of The Spectrum which is the quintessential British Home Microcomputer. Even though I loved the Commodore and Atari Minis, this for me is easily the best release to date from Retro Games Ltd. One thing I noticed is that you need to select Keyboard on Nodes of Yesod for it to work with the gamepad and remember to collect your mole from the surface before delving deeper ;-) Keep up the awesome work!
@@jayme69 Nice tip, thank you!
It's a great price considering the other options.
Good review, but it's not a "mini" as you say - it's a full-sized unit. The Retro Games full-sized units released prior, have likewise had fully functional keyboards ... The C64 Maxi and The VIC20
Cheers. Yeah a deliberately didn't mention the maxi. Even though it's not a mini, it's probably more comparable to them than the maxi versions. All we need now is the Amiga maxi..
@@CrazyBurger Mystified by this response - why is it more comparable to the minis than the maxis? This is a fully functioning Spectrum. Is it because it's small? It's the same size as the original Spectrum.
Right! I'm setting up my own RUclips channel so I can get these press kits! 🙂
@@michaelhill6453 ha good luck. Years of hard work. Honestly you're not missing too much in this instance.
@@CrazyBurger Yeah, I was seriously joking. One of my friends has a channel with sub-1,000 subscribers and he spends a LOT of time making and editing videos. A LOT. More power to you my friend. If you keep making these video, I won't have to. :-)
@michaelhill6453 lol yeah I know. No worries. It really is a lot of work. For the best part, the time spent doesn't equal the money gained. At least I enjoy it though. And really started cause I got frustrated at videos not providing the answers or details I was looking for.
Nice review, sure looks good.
Have mine on order from Amazon 😀
WOW! You got this vid, vids up quick on this! Great job! 😊. So much covered, and very in-depth too! 👍. Certainly looking forward to your own choice of games list that you will be downloading. Also might be interesting to cover a little of the programming side of things too! Such as the making of your own games as well! 🤔. My only issue is that it is not necessarily that straightforward to do anything on it. A lot of technical set up to things! I guess that why it can be considered more like a computer than a console?! 🤔. Again. Well done. Great vid. Loving that “Speccy” original intro too! 😊❤️👍
WOW! 😍 Very awesome you got the press pack again Crazy!! Loving that manual, I won't one! 😎
My one arrived from Amazon on Friday, from them directly in a smiley box. I've not had a chance to look at it yet, it arrived late in the day lol.
I'll be doing the same, trying to avoid using the keyboard as much as possible as the original machine was prone to wear on the most used keys, and they don't make things as solid as the godd ole days. I might get a spare at some point.
Thanks for the video and glad you got a press pack again! Enjoy!
🎉🎉🤘😁🕹️🎉🎉
Yeah I was pretty surprised when I got the package..
@@MIKandJEAN There are affordable replacement keymats out there so don’t worry. People have been customizing their Spectrums for years. You could even change its colour if you wanted. :)
A beautiful piece of kit
Never had one but used to look at the Timex Sinclair in computer magazines at $99 CAD and dreamed of having one. Preordered the Retro Spectrum and its on the way to Canada. I appreciate your video and looking forward to see if any of my TV/Monitors that output 50 Hz as these games were originally made for PAL.
Yeah exactly why ideally it needs to run at 50hz. Thanks for watching!
Sadly mine arrived from Amazon and the box was damaged so I’m sending mine back. Luckily the game pad box was mint so will keep hold of that!
Interestingly, the spectrum that come from Amazon, whilst the box was damaged, it was sealed but on opening it the spectrum didn’t have the plastic peel on the keyboard! Did anyone else who bought from Amazon get one with no plastic peel on the keyboard?
Thankfully my local Smyths toy shop is not too far so I whizzed around and picked one up from there! Not had chance to look at it yet, looking forward to spending some time with it over the weekend!
Gutted the standard edition didn’t include the ring binder book that’s included come in your edition John, I do have to agree with a few commenters who feel aggrieved the paying public get short changed with releases. I get they want to push and advertise a product but it’s a bit of a slap in the face to say look what you don’t get if you pay! Hopefully they will offer the ring bound book as a separate purchase!
Brilliant as always John, one of the best reviews as always!
Thanks Sam, glad you got yours sorted!
I just opened mine from Amazon, no plastic peel but it does have a moulded vacuum plastic cover similar to the Amiga mini which is ace, dust cover ready! 👍
Mine also arrived from Amazon without the plastic peel and with a damaged box. I would return it but they don't have replacements. Are you getting a replacement? And I completely missed the new gamepad release and it's now out of stock everywhere!
@AfterBurnettMy machine serial number is 7195, being under 10k it still looks neat lol. At some point they've made a change though. Ummm.🤔
Saberman RetroNews, his unboxing vid on RUclips shows him opening it and again no plastic peel.
I love this thing, I really want to figure out how to order one to the United States.
Can you not purchase from Another Amazon site in Europe? Though think stock might be an issue now.
Hi Crazy Burger, thanks for the video! Nice Work! Just so you know, I would be interested in a video showing the 8bitdo controller being mapped with a couple games to see how that works. I am interested in getting The Spectrum and using an 9bitdo M30 on the games. Thanks again!
I have no nostalgia for this computer, and frankly, some of these games have not aged well. However, I highly respect what they have done with this unit. A fully working hardware, even if powered by emulation, with a full keyboard and Basic to run your own creations, yet with modern I/O... i can imagine why the retrogaming community is so excited about this.
I totally understand this point of view and it's a very fair comment. I think many will probably feel the same.
But you could do all that on a laptop/pc with a spectrum emulator (and it would be free).
@@moomin7461 Also fair point, which could be raised against any emulation device or console in general. I think, people like to have dedicated devices, separate from the laptops and PCs, they spent entire day working with.
Quick question, does it have an internal speaker? Mine has no sound. Just wondering if I need to get speakers attached to the monitor or send it back to the shop? I just assumed it would have internal sound like the original.
@@leedn5 No.. it has a vent that looks like a speaker on the rear but I'm assuming that's for cooling purposes.
@@CrazyBurger Speakers it is then. Was hoping I'd not bought the only broken one. Thanks for the reply, Crazy Burger,. Great video.
Allegedly there were 24,000 different commercial programs written for the ZX Spectrum. Assuming each is 42,240 bytes in size (given 6912 bytes, or just under 7kbytes, was used for the screen), the total size of Spectrum software is 990,000KB, or 967MB, so the entire software library should fit in a 1GB USB stick or SD card. Obviously some Speccy games were 128KB and some had multiple loads/programs, but others were just for the 16K Spectrum occupying just over 11KB. Also a formatted 1GB drive won’t hold 1GB, and some are in GB not GiB (ie, in 1000,000,000 bytes not 1024x1024x1024 bytes). But definitely a 2GB drive would be large enough.
its only 89.00 quid , thats a good deal, I have a raspberry pi that does the same thing , but this is a nice piece of kit
For a truly authentic experience they should add a random crash after a game has been loading for ages. Always happened to me with ‘Tapper’. The way the screen just went white and reset was crushing.
@@gamesdog9067 Yeah the pain after waiting for it to load...
It's heavy because there's some weights inside, like in the c64.
Curious, what happens in basic if you try any of the microdrive commands
I'll investigate this further..
Yeah, rest of people we get the bare bones edition. Don't know, but this is starting to bother me. The public we are paying for this... what's the goal of this unboxing? How cool is being a RUclipsr? It's not your fault, but I'm not sure what the publishers are trying to do with this
Yeag, I saw the other day, they sent a fancy press kit to some dude with under 10K subscribers. So they're throwing them out the door, to retro vloggers all and sundry. Why should the paying consumer be subsidising that - who'll pay top dollar to only receive the "bare bones" edition
I'm not sure what the logic is too be honest. You are not missing much, if anything. The standard box actually looks better.
To be honest the press pack is just a thank you. Crazy did them a favour by creating loads of videos leading up to the launch, free advertising for them... A nice idea and very cool if you're worthy of it. 😉
@MIKandJEAN ruclips.net/video/BIvyJA9z8NA/видео.htmlsi=oL511isjC_m2_I4c This video definitely helps. But as you said I've done lots of vids on the spectrum since the announcement. There's a playlist.
The only thing that annoys me is the standard edition not coming with the ring binder book that’s included with this edition. Not really fussed on missing out on not having this box, I agree with John, I think the standard box looks better and more easy to display.
I'd like to get one here in the US as well. I've checked multiple websites and none of them appear to ship to the US. I'm hoping I can eventually find one on Amazon.
wow - might just pop into smiths and get one myself....great vid thanks
Great review John 😀😀 👍🏻👍🏻
Alas, no branded usb drive 😢
No... can't really complain can I? I did manage to get one ordered though..
@CrazyBurger No, you got a great set there with an awesome box 🤩🤩 I'm hoping for a restock of the stick this week 😀
Publishers need to have these special or limited editions available to paying customers, so often we see these cool boxes and packages with or without goodies included and it's only for reviewers, I hate it, should be something everyone can get their hands on if they are willing to pay for it.
Both the spectrum and the new atari release doing the same thing.
I agree. A limited run would be nice.
How they could clear copyright issues for The Hobbit but not for Chase H Q or BombJack is beyond me.
Love to get this in Canada, checked out Amazon France, but the cost was easily double the retail price
Retro Games try to simplify the GUI but as you said you were pressing the wrong button. It'll come to you in a few plays.
How do diaginals get on in games such as Fist, Barbarian? I found them a struggle with the original joysticks (c64) and amiga mini (gamepad)?
It varies from game to game. Stuff like Technician Ted was no fun.
How is everyone setting up their SD card? I have a 32gig SanDisk stick, formatted to FAT32, and haven't organised it yet but have some classic games in a folder, then further games in a dedicated Spectrum +3 games folder, but it won't let me navigate to this folder, just can't open it on The Spectrum....
How many games did you add?
@CrazyBurger Only about thirty classics, as a test.... I've been looking into it. Seems like I might need to make an image or some kind of partition or something? Not sure
Did you just stick them all on a stick and that's it?
@@DuckAlertBeats you need to flash it from the Retrogames download on their site.
Plugged mine in today and it's stuck in factory test mode. Seems someone at the factory didn't put it back in to Retail mode.
@@drbristowtube Interesting.. whats the difference?
The main difference is that you can access the test mode but nothing else. Factory reset doesn't exit it either. Can't find any documentation on how to exit it. Essentially it's unusable!
@drbristowtube ah nightmare.
ruclips.net/video/iz5OrPgBNXs/видео.htmlsi=aOcn0qwa9lmYj5mz this is what factory test mode looks like. Guess I could do an exclusive review showing how it works and how it recognises usb devices!
I have a Speccy clone but this looks so much more convenient. What's powering it on the inside, is it the same as the A500?
So a proprietary controller is needed to access full functionality of that menu system? Or can another multi-button controller, e.g. a Sega Mega Drive joypad, also be used to access all of the menu functions?
I own a Speccy Next KS2 but have a passing interest in this product but if a proprietary controller is needed to fully use the menu system and such a controller isn't included in the box then they can jog on!
They should've incuded a joystick or controller, just like all their prior products. Having said that, many other controllers (with at least 8 buttons) are compatible with it. My Mayflash Universal Arcade Stick F500 V2 is fully compatible with The C64 Maxi, so it's odds-on it'll likewise be compatible with The Spectrum. I saw another YT vlogger using an 8BitDo controller with The Spectrum, and it worked fine
Need to do a bit more work with 3rd party controllers. I'll investigate further.
I'd say the fully functional keyboard (combined with the "home" button on the rear of the unit) could be utilised to control the menu system - as a substitute for a controller
@@CrazyBurger Cheers. The reply from txtworld sounds encouraging.
@@txtworld That sounds promising. Much appreciated. That said, it still seems somewhat unfortunate to me at least. I'd want to be using an original joystick from back in the day with a Speccy rather than a Mega Drive joypad or arcade stick but that wouldn't be able to operate all of the menu.
Mine bricked when I tried to update the firmware so it had to go back to Amazon. Of course they’re out of stock but luckily enough I found another. What I saw of it for five minutes was fantastic though!
Wow.. thats not good. Maybe hang fire with the update for now.
@ Seems to have been a one-off md I’ve never had problems updating any of their previous machines, but yea, I’ll be holding off doing this one again!
I'm hoping the carousel will be hackable in the future like the c64 was with the 64 maxi tool. Won't need to bother with usb sticks then, albeit admittedly it's a lot of work preparing all the game photos, and game descriptions. Many of the supplied carousel games aren't my cup of tea, although i like that they've put in some homebrews.
I probably enjoy playing the homebrews more than the majority. Though I really enjoy wheelie.
You keep saying it's a mini, it's not a mini, it's the same dimensions as the original Spectrum. The only difference is the logo and of course the hardware on the inside.
@@martinbennett9908 I definitely say through the video that it's NOT a mini.
@@CrazyBurger You also repeatedly say 'any other mini that they've done' which implies you think it's a mini, and compared it to the size of a mini. But no matter, hope you enjoy it.
Speccy is a culture…if you know you know
.......this is awesome. Why i don't have this ultra special edition? 🤔🤫
I think the virtual keyboard would be good for people using wireless controllers and they need to press a keyboard key but the Spectrum may be out of reach.
i wanted to hear cb raging on the gameplay clips!
they have pulled the firmware update due to issues
Lol that'll come. That's weird regarding the update.
Always heart-warming to see what us plebs aren’t entitled to get. 🤦♂️
You're not missing much. Would've been nice if the actual manual was included in standard versions.
That was supposed to be the Amiga... I hope that the Amiga is actually being released in a few months. And what is the deal with flashing a USB stick? Why not just dump files onto a USB stick and that's it? It was the case with The C64 and that was great. They keep making things more and more complicated now.
Yeah its more complicated than it needs to be. Hope full size Amiga Q1 25
Mine dodnt have half of what you got NO T Shirt no Large Zx Speccy Manual mine was 3 pages ???
There's a firnware update already available.
A good and a bad thing. Good, as in they are actively fixing things and care more than other companies. Bad, in that in this day and age, products go out the door before they are ready and are patched later, to hit targets.
20 plus years ago, products could only go out after they were really ready. After extensive testing. As there wasn’t much you could do afterwards besides a product recall. Which is very expensive.
Mine arrived yesterday but it’s a Xmas present 😐
Ah.. damn. Hope you've been good!
Was it intentional to make this video 48 minutes long?
@@genejoke8538 lol I'd like to say yes of course. But actually purely coincidental..
Disapointgly, it doesnt seem to have the original expansion port.
You say obviously way to much mate😂
Oh I bloody know. Its only when you edit back that I realise how bad it is. I can only apologise lol
99 euros for emulator+real replica of original keyboard? A half price would be decent.
If you owned the original as a kid, you would understand
@@really-americai own the originals and disk addons , microdrive and i don't see the point in paying for an emulator if the emu is free on pc
Magic !!!!🤔
Flickering graphics ,colour clashes and sound composed of beeps and buzzes. Back in the day this was the closest you could get to the arcade at home but now you can play those actual arcade games at home . Yet people think, " I'd really like to play substandard versions of these games". It makes no sense 🤦♂️
Na it doesn't. For some it's nostalgia. Others just curiosity. And then there's plenty than don't see what the fuss is.
What’s the point of the unboxing when it’s nothing like the experience us ‘normal’ people will get. Would be far more useful to send these to people who can compare them to a genuine spectrum. Yes it’s nice to see what your ‘bribe’ experience looked like but it just sours the experience for all the people like me putting our hands in our pockets to buy these. Perhaps they should offer an ‘Elite’ edition that includes all the nice extras and focus a bit more on sending these to people who are showing the original hardware.
Bloody heck.. majority of stuff on my channel has been paid for by myself. I dont get that many things sent for review. Trust me, if this was crap I'd say its crap regardless if it's sent to me or not.
@ Yeah, I should have been a bit clearer and for the sake of balance I would point out that I think your reviews are very genuine and trustworthy. I certainly don’t begrudge you getting the ‘influencer’ pack as I know it won’t change your opinion. It just annoys me when a company’s marketing department sends out a superior package for review and then suddenly there’s 20 shining reviews all pop up at the same time. Smacks of shitehawking. I don’t think they need to with this product. I genuinely think they have missed a trick not offering a premium package alongside the regular. You are still the best Evercade reviewer on RUclips mate 👍
@@drrev40 I do actually agree with you. I think ideally it would've been good if they had put these up to buy in limited editions. I'd probably just prefer the standard box as that's what everyone is buying and expecting to see. Also.. majority of the channels that got these review copies will be one vid and done ( apart from the odd couple), I'll be covering it in quite a lot of vids. I genuinely enjoy playing them and discovering what they can do, then sharing that to you guys.
I look forward to seeing if it can survive Daley Thompson!
@drrev40 lol omg no. That game destroyed me. Never mind the controller.
Had a speccy back in the day for about 2 weeks before i sold it, didnt like the horrible color clashing on my eyes,no joystick ports..Got myself Commodore 64, never looked back..Which i still have and use today..
Funny enough.. I had a Spectrum for a week in 1990 but it was flawed. Controller port was broken. We sent it back and got a C64 instead. Lol I've no idea why we didn't get another Spectrum.
Fun for 5mins
Agreed. There will be hundreds of these on eBay in the coming weeks/months.
@knightphantom3346 even though most of my childhood was spent on 48k and 128k, I just revisit via emulation same as Amiga
Get a mister FPGA and do yourself a favour.
Ugh there it is! The 'just get a MiSter FPGA' comment that infects every video that showcases a retro gaming product. We know what it is and what it does and we don't want one.
@@garethLLB You should get one and see. They are the same price as this and does so much more. Dont be scared anymore.
@AfterBurnett I can plug my reacreated zx spectrum into my mister. Blutooth. Its perfect.
@@garethLLB FPGA is also able to connect to CRT screens. This does not. Get a recreated zx spectrum and connect it to a mister and you can run anything spectrum using rubber keys. Ugh Ugh. Why would you have fun this way:)
@AfterBurnett Raspberry pi are not hardware emulatiion. THEY LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAG