Not sure on this one.While I grew up with the ZX Spectrum and spent a few years of my life waiting for games to load (and crash) I am undecided whether or not to spend £100 on re living my wasted youth.
I know a lot of people got excited about the Vega not so much because it let you play Spectrum games, but from a collectors standpoint, as it's a licensed official 'Sinclair' product. Nice to add to a collection, but with no keyboard lots of games will be practically unplayable, and with only Composite Video output it'll look hideous on a modern screen. Under emulation on a PC you can replicate the look of an old CRT screen or enjoy crisp upscaled visuals. And you'll have a keyboard.... so many Spectrum games used multiple keys even when Joystick support was available, even Ant Attack had a half dozen fire buttons and directional view buttons and... a D-Pad just won't cut it. Adventure games? Corridors of Genon?
If you want to play Spectrum games via emulation, it's free on multiple platforms. You could use it on PC or Mac, mobile, or get a Raspberry Pi 2 and a single 8gb micro SD card - that would hold several Spectrum emulators and pretty much every Spectrum game ever made!
And it has HDMI output, so it'll look a lot better on the average modern screen (it also has composite out, if you want to go full retro!).
The Vega is an odd product, nice to add to a Sinclair collection but pretty expensive and impractical if you just want to play the old games.
Nice to add to a collection, but with no keyboard lots of games will be practically unplayable, and with only Composite Video output it'll look hideous on a modern screen. Under emulation on a PC you can replicate the look of an old CRT screen or enjoy crisp upscaled visuals. And you'll have a keyboard....
This is something that put me off getting one. An HDMI out would have been a great addition. The only games that really held my attention was Jet Set Willy, Manic Miner, Dizzy games and a handful of others, all of which play fine on my PC via the emulator.
They showed a finished version of the long-delayed Elite Spectrum recreation on Sky News this morning (in a piece mentioning - but not showing - the Vega). For my money it looks a better way to relive your Spectrum gaming memories, as the tactile experience of the Speccy as a controller is a major part of that.
OK, it's almost the same price as a Vega now (£99) but it's capabilities have expanded since it was first announced, there's a spec sheet pdf you can grab on the 'at a glance' page of their site here:
The Recreated Sinclair ZX Spectrum looks the same, feels the same, and even has the same rubber keypad as the original, so the games play exactly how the developers intended all those years ago. There’s feel, feedback, and a tactile pleasure from using it that simply cannot be found elsewhere.
I have the Vega ordered but I wish someone would release a combination of the Vega and the recreated Spectrum. The Vega is able to play spectrum games but the recreated Spectrum can't it's only a Bluetooth keyboard that looks like a Spectrum. The recreated Spectrum seems to have had a few teething problems with accusations from developers about not being paid and their app having pirated some games.
I have the Vega ordered but I wish someone would release a combination of the Vega and the recreated Spectrum. The Vega is able to play spectrum games but the recreated Spectrum can't it's only a Bluetooth keyboard that looks like a Spectrum. The recreated Spectrum seems to have had a few teething problems with accusations from developers about not being paid and their app having pirated some games.
Pairing a Vega and a Recreated Spectrum would be an expensive solution that still wouldn't have a modern video output; if you got a Recreated Spectrum and paired it with a Raspberry Pi 2 + Bluetooth dongle you'd have HDMI and a 'proper' computer when not running a Spectrum emulator, with HD media capability, countless other emulators, web access, and more - for less! You'd even have enough left over for a joypad!
The issues with Elite's previous non-payment of royalties is known, but there are 'question marks' over the Vega maker's approach to the software owners rights - how many have given their approval for inclusion in the first place, and the fact they don't intend to pay royalties in any case, but make a 'donation to charity' rather than offer any payment to software authors, even though they'll be profiting from using them -
Developer John Pickford, co-creator of the superb Magnetic Billiards—but also a load of Spectrum games—notes: They’re seeking permission from copyright holders but not offering a royalty. Instead they propose a charity donation. So the devs are expected to donate their work despite this device being sold for profit. I hope the copyright holders turn them down.
I wonder about the Vega's current state, on the Sky News piece the other day about it, they showed a finished Recreated Spectrum, but the Vega shown in use was still only a 3D printed 'prototype' that appeared to be functioning as a Joypad for a PC emulator if the visuals on the PC monitor it was running on were anything to go by.
The ultimate option might to to bag a dead Spectrum on eBay, get a new membrane and one of several keyboard adapter kits out there, and build your own Raspberry Pi
internals into it, for an 'original' Speccy with the bonus of modern facilities and output. Stay clear of Daley Thompson's Decathlon though, unless you've bought some spare membranes...
mine arrived on saturday - played it yesterday - very cheap feeling, buttons a bit poor and you have a very long 3-4 meter cable.
powers via usb - so either in the back of the tv or via a iPhone charger or something - bit messy.
no dizzy or more well known games like final fight or sensible soccer. About 10 out of the 1,000 games I've heard of.
mine arrived on saturday - played it yesterday - very cheap feeling, buttons a bit poor and you have a very long 3-4 meter cable.
powers via usb - so either in the back of the tv or via a iPhone charger or something - bit messy.
no dizzy or more well known games like final fight or sensible soccer. About 10 out of the 1,000 games I've heard of.
Where did you buy yours from?
Your review has put me off now.
Can you not add .tap .sna TZX files to it, or does it need the games in its own format?
I knew about the usb cable, that didn't put me off too much.
mine arrived on saturday - played it yesterday - very cheap feeling, buttons a bit poor and you have a very long 3-4 meter cable.
powers via usb - so either in the back of the tv or via a iPhone charger or something - bit messy.
no dizzy or more well known games like final fight or sensible soccer. About 10 out of the 1,000 games I've heard of.
They were very quiet about the games included. That put me off buying one. Does it have Manic Miner or JSW?
Can you not add .tap .sna TZX files to it, or does it need the games in its own format?
I knew about the usb cable, that didn't put me off too much.
One of the funders - got limited edition 1 off 1000 first batch.
It has a micro sd card slot I think so assume you can add your own files - ill pm u as I plan to do a video review of it and would be interesting I see if the likes of dizzy can be put on it.
Edi can't pm u, anyone feel free to send some files over for me to see if they work (use wetransfer.com)
On,y slight problem, I don't have a micro sd card! Only big ones
One of the funders - got limited edition 1 off 1000 first batch.
It has a micro sd card slot I think so assume you can add your own files - ill pm u as I plan to do a video review of it and would be interesting I see if the likes of dizzy can be put on it.
Edi can't pm u, anyone feel free to send some files over for me to see if they work (use wetransfer.com)
On,y slight problem, I don't have a micro sd card! Only big ones
World of Spectrum has loads of files you can use to see if they work.
The Vega has a fair mix of games there is a lot of crap but you have the Ultimate games such as Saber Wulf, Jetpac and the Mastertonic Magic Knight series and you can Load games of a micro-SD card I tried a few TAP and Z80 files.There is no Manic Miner or Jet-Set Willy as I imagine the recreated Spectrum from Elite has that. The Dizzy games I didn't think would happen as Codemasters have always been protectic=ve of their copyrights and you wouldn't see the game like Final Fight and Renegade or Spy Hunter as that would require permission from the arcade companies as well as the company that did the Spectrum ports.
The Vega has a fair mix of games there is a lot of crap but you have the Ultimate games such as Saber Wulf, Jetpac and the Mastertonic Magic Knight series and you can Load games of a micro-SD card I tried a few TAP and Z80 files.There is no Manic Miner or Jet-Set Willy as I imagine the recreated Spectrum from Elite has that. The Dizzy games I didn't think would happen as Codemasters have always been protectic=ve of their copyrights and you wouldn't see the game like Final Fight and Renegade or Spy Hunter as that would require permission from the arcade companies as well as the company that did the Spectrum ports.
Is the Vega different to the Recreated Speccy?
I thought the Recreated Speccy was the Vega under a different name?
Yes I thought so, I take it you have the Vega then?
I wasn't too keen on the Vega because of the keyboard style, but I knew it could play proper Spectrum games.
The Recreated Spectrum has the better keyboard, but I'm not sure if it uses another operating system to emulate the Spectrum.
P.s. It is the Vega that has the Micro SD slot, not the Recreated Spectrum as I thought it might be.
It is the Vega I have.
I wasn't keen on the style either but it works for most games it also has text adventures which I haven't tried yet to see how I get on with the on-screen virtual keyboard. If you load a game from the SD card that hasn't had the buttons mapped it tells you to use the on-screen keyboard or select kempston joystick.
The Recreated Spectrum has a better keyboard and it uses a "Free" app to emulate the Spectrum. It is just a dumb bluetooth keyboard without any processing power it doesn't actually emulate anything it would be your tablet or phone that would run the emulator, and looking at it I'm not even sure if their emulator runs anything but the games supplied with it and you have to buy additional games as in app purchases . At least the Vega can load any Spectrum games that you have in TAP or z80 format.
I find the Recreated Spectrum site rather misleading.
Comments
If you want to play Spectrum games via emulation, it's free on multiple platforms. You could use it on PC or Mac, mobile, or get a Raspberry Pi 2 and a single 8gb micro SD card - that would hold several Spectrum emulators and pretty much every Spectrum game ever made!
And it has HDMI output, so it'll look a lot better on the average modern screen (it also has composite out, if you want to go full retro!).
The Vega is an odd product, nice to add to a Sinclair collection but pretty expensive and impractical if you just want to play the old games.
This is something that put me off getting one. An HDMI out would have been a great addition. The only games that really held my attention was Jet Set Willy, Manic Miner, Dizzy games and a handful of others, all of which play fine on my PC via the emulator.
OK, it's almost the same price as a Vega now (£99) but it's capabilities have expanded since it was first announced, there's a spec sheet pdf you can grab on the 'at a glance' page of their site here:
http://sinclairzxspectrum.elite-systems.co.uk/
hands-on:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/keyboard-reviews/sinclair-zx-spectrum-recreated-hands-on/
Pairing a Vega and a Recreated Spectrum would be an expensive solution that still wouldn't have a modern video output; if you got a Recreated Spectrum and paired it with a Raspberry Pi 2 + Bluetooth dongle you'd have HDMI and a 'proper' computer when not running a Spectrum emulator, with HD media capability, countless other emulators, web access, and more - for less! You'd even have enough left over for a joypad!
The issues with Elite's previous non-payment of royalties is known, but there are 'question marks' over the Vega maker's approach to the software owners rights - how many have given their approval for inclusion in the first place, and the fact they don't intend to pay royalties in any case, but make a 'donation to charity' rather than offer any payment to software authors, even though they'll be profiting from using them -
http://reverttosaved.com/2014/12/03/the-questions-no-ones-asking-about-the-sinclair-zx-spectrum-vega/
I wonder about the Vega's current state, on the Sky News piece the other day about it, they showed a finished Recreated Spectrum, but the Vega shown in use was still only a 3D printed 'prototype' that appeared to be functioning as a Joypad for a PC emulator if the visuals on the PC monitor it was running on were anything to go by.
The ultimate option might to to bag a dead Spectrum on eBay, get a new membrane and one of several keyboard adapter kits out there, and build your own Raspberry Pi
internals into it, for an 'original' Speccy with the bonus of modern facilities and output. Stay clear of Daley Thompson's Decathlon though, unless you've bought some spare membranes...
http://sinclairzxspectrum.elite-systems.co.uk/
I like the idea of being able to use any tablet or tv screen with it.
Opps I see it has already been posted in post 5.
powers via usb - so either in the back of the tv or via a iPhone charger or something - bit messy.
no dizzy or more well known games like final fight or sensible soccer. About 10 out of the 1,000 games I've heard of.
Where did you buy yours from?
Your review has put me off now.
Can you not add .tap .sna TZX files to it, or does it need the games in its own format?
I knew about the usb cable, that didn't put me off too much.
No
It has jetpac amd back to school
One of the funders - got limited edition 1 off 1000 first batch.
It has a micro sd card slot I think so assume you can add your own files - ill pm u as I plan to do a video review of it and would be interesting I see if the likes of dizzy can be put on it.
Edi can't pm u, anyone feel free to send some files over for me to see if they work (use wetransfer.com)
On,y slight problem, I don't have a micro sd card! Only big ones
World of Spectrum has loads of files you can use to see if they work.
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/archive.html
Will see if I can get hold of a micro sd card
Apparently there will be a key mapping tool and more games added to the 1000
A vega website is coming soon (or will have new stuff added)
I can't see where the Micro SD card slot is on the diagram of the Spectrum.
I thought the Recreated Speccy was the Vega under a different name?
Put simply the Vega is a Spectrum that doesn't have a full keyboard and the Re-Created Spectrum is a keyboard without a Spectrum.
Yes I thought so, I take it you have the Vega then?
I wasn't too keen on the Vega because of the keyboard style, but I knew it could play proper Spectrum games.
The Recreated Spectrum has the better keyboard, but I'm not sure if it uses another operating system to emulate the Spectrum.
P.s. It is the Vega that has the Micro SD slot, not the Recreated Spectrum as I thought it might be.
It is the Vega I have.
I wasn't keen on the style either but it works for most games it also has text adventures which I haven't tried yet to see how I get on with the on-screen virtual keyboard. If you load a game from the SD card that hasn't had the buttons mapped it tells you to use the on-screen keyboard or select kempston joystick.
The Recreated Spectrum has a better keyboard and it uses a "Free" app to emulate the Spectrum. It is just a dumb bluetooth keyboard without any processing power it doesn't actually emulate anything it would be your tablet or phone that would run the emulator, and looking at it I'm not even sure if their emulator runs anything but the games supplied with it and you have to buy additional games as in app purchases . At least the Vega can load any Spectrum games that you have in TAP or z80 format.
I find the Recreated Spectrum site rather misleading.
Taking way too long to come out.
I'd go for the Vega but I'm really not keen on the keyboard style.
http://www.unboxfresh.com/gaming/sinclair-zx-spectrum-vega/