I was looking at searching what ever happened to the computer games we used to play? Well ‘We’ being my brother and I and the majority of us white folk (in SA in the 1980’s) who’s parents had the money to get this for their kids, we were fortunate as we were one of those families. As I started searching I started with what I remembered as my favourite game or the interaction and connection with my best friend Robin, and then I realised that there were many different phases as the hardware/software changed.The first thing that jumped into my mind was “Leisure suite Larry” but realised that this I played on a 286 or 486 and came later in life when I was in my sexual prime as a teen and obviously the thing to come to mind, so I tried a bit harder.
A lot of emotion ran back and hit me like a ten pound hammer!
I started to remember “Ghost Busters” and worked my way backwards…
I said to my self what the hell was the first…
Other than the Café games and “Pac Man” on the Atari because Atari was definitely the first ‘platform’ I played on…it was…”Manic Miner” on the ZX Spectrum 48k!
Yes that was the game that first kept me captivated for months on end! But not as much as it’s follow up “Jet Set Willy”!
These were the first ‘colour’ games that changed my world as a child and the first platform that we owned – ZX Spectrum 48k.
So I found a great sight (as I looked no further) called http://www.worldofspectrum.org/ and it gave me what I wanted, not only a glimpse of what used to be but I could actually play some of them real time on their sight using a 48k Java Spectrum Emulator - how cool.
With time I remembered other greats like “Jet Pack”, “Atic Atac”, “Movie” and “The Great Escape”.
Well, all and all it was a great remembrance for me as a kiddie and as a teen. Most of all the fact that my Dad (only bread winner financially) kept a secret for a long time after we had moved back to Jozi. We had some long months before that living in George… got back to Jozi and a lot of speculation by my self and my boet got us frustrated before our surprise that would change our lives!!!
Yes, that day when my Dad got home with a thorough-bread ZX in his boot…don’t remember the car but I sure remember the colour of the ZX…black with the rainbow trim!!
I remember my Dad paying up to R300, which was like R3000 in my terms today – a lot of money! But the beautiful part was the fact that a Father would give this to his kids yet limit the exposure?
Good for you Dad, as I now find my self…
A Software Developer…
One thing I know for sure is that the Lord had more influence in me being a Software Developer than me being an Engineer!
