Your favourite Sinclair ZX Spectrum games

The humble Spectrum is 30 years old. Here is a completely biased, unscientific celebration of 10 outstanding games from the glory days

For many of us it was a formative part of growing up, as essential in the home as Star Wars figures.

The colourful successor to the black and white ZX81 was launched on 23 April 1982, making it 30 years old today. Released with just 16k, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum evolved between 1982 and 1992 to include 48k and 128k variants. In total, Spectrum models sold over five million units.

For ten years the humble Sinclair ZX Spectrum was plugged into TVs up and down the land and, despite the original aspirations of its creator Sir Clive Sinclair, it was the games that had us hooked.

So to celebrate this anniversary we asked our readers and our team to hit us with their favourite Spectrum game memories. From among the posts on our forum, Facebook, Twitter and emails to the office, we mined these 10 gems. Click through to read what people have to say about them…

1-5
1. Ant Attack
2. Starion
3. 3D Deathchase
4. Kentilla
5. The Horace series of games
6-10
6. Lords Of Midnight
7. Tir Na Nog
8. Knight Lore
9. Manic Miner
10. Jet Set Willy

We’re well aware that, with hundreds of games to choose from, this list doesn’t even come close. We know a thousand people will wonder where Atic Atac, Jetpac, the Wally Week games, Quazatron or
Elite are. But it’s not meant to be definitive – this is a simple nostalgia blast and we welcome your suggestions in the comment thread below or over on our forum.

Let the happy memories begin!