From the Forum issue 99

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

This month I'd like to know why you love the Spectrum or the Commodore 64. Choose your favourite and tell us why it's the best.

[Scapegoat]

I love both because neither is the Amstrad

[necronom]

The C64 is my favourite by a long way. It has great graphics and sound, plus excellent hardware. The amount of games was vast, with a huge number of excellent games available across all genres.

Here is a list of why I like it more:

Proper keyboard instead of rubber buttons
Standard keyboard layout instead of " being on the P key, etc.
Normal typing mode instead of each key doing set commands and not allowing normal typing.
Double the number of colours - 16 instead of 8 standard and an additional 7 half bright versions.
Colours that are useful - Pink for skin, brown for earth etc.
More memory - 64 instead of 16 or 48k
Two joystick ports instead of none, therefore games used the joystick as standard.
One standard type of joystick used, instead of several competing standards with different interfaces.
Dedicated tape deck instead of having to buy your own non-standard one and guessing the volume/bass etc.
Higher max resolution - 320x200 instead of 256x192.
Multi-colour mode without colour clash at 160x200, which made games look colourful and impressive. No similar mode on the Spectrum.
More characters on screen. 40x25 instead of 32x22.
Smooth screen scrolling.
The SID chip with three channels of synthesised sound, instead of 1 channel of bleeps and clicking noises.
Eight hardware sprites, instead of none.
Proper 5.25 inch standard disks, instead of unreliable "looped-tape" micro-drives.
Loading music instead of screeching.
Proper printers, instead of very narrow silver thermal paper.
Function keys.
Cartridge port.
And, of course, the games were excellent because of many of these reasons.

[ipmarks]

I'm a Spectrum man... mainly because that's the machine my father bought home at Christmas 1983, and it was the computer I played on the majority of the mid-80's - the very machine is still here, set up and working on the desk in front of me as I write this.

Personally I have nothing against the C64 and see no point in restarting playground arguments of the 80's. Nowadays I do own a C64 and use it occasionally, it has some superb games that just wouldn't work on the Spectrum (which has its fair share of games that wouldn't work on the C64).

I assume if my father had brought a Commodore home that day instead I'd like the 64 best. Simple really.

[felgekarp]

When I was 10 years old and I got my first computer stats and attributes meant nothing to me, the only thing that did mean something was that I had a computer that played some cracking games, that computer was a Spectrum. The same can still be said today.

[DreamcastRIP]

Speccy all day long. I never much liked C-64's LEGOLAND graphics.

[thevulture]

C64 to the core.

SID chip, silky smooth scrolling, hardware sprites, if ever a home micro from the time was made for gaming this was it.

Took some flak for some of it's lower resolution graphics in games, but i'd only have to look at say C64 Last Ninja 2 or Platoon VS the Spectrum version, to know i'd made the right choice after software died a death on my beloved Atari 800XL.

Zzap 64 i personally found the better magazine over Crash as well.Also note to the speech in games:Beach Head 2, Solo Flight, Impossible Miss., Slimeys Mine, just superb.

[Mayhem]

C64 all the way... I had played on a Spectrum via the kid two doors down before we got a C64, and it was a bit of a surprise to see just how much better it was technically. Sure, some of the graphics were a bit fat, but programmers soon learned how to work around that with hi-res overlays and produce graphics that had the resolution of the Speccy, but with far more colours. And then there are the games, oh the games... and the music. And the proper, built-in joystick ports, none of this interface selection crap. And the disk drive offering up massive games.

I love both because neither is the Amstrad

I think that comment has won the thread

[fredghostmaster]

The Spectrum may have been technically inferior but it simply had better games. History has proved this.

[MattyC64c]

C64 for me! My older brother had one first. My dad thinks he spent about £200 for that one in 1984, so it wasn't the cheapest machine at the time either.

I got my own C64 machine in about 1988, the newer smarter looking C64c and I will always have fond memories of it. It was full colour, with a proper keyboard with great graphics and sound. The only real drawback compared to the Speccy and the Amstrad was its lower resolution. This didn't bother me at the time though, I was only 10 in 1988. Also two of my best primary school friends had C64's, so we used to visit each other and borrow one another's games pretty regularly, good times indeed.

[DigitalDuck]

The Spectrum may have been technically inferior but it simply had better games. History has proved this.

And this is why my vote lies with Spectrum too.

[Morkin]

The Spectrum because all my school chums had one as well. Not a single C64 to be seen. At all. I didn't even see a C64 running so I was very happy living in my Spectrum bubble, reading Crash & YS, playing anything & everything. And the benefit of being a Spectrum owner was the never ending supply of games circulating the classroom.

[markopoloman]

The Spectrum may have been technically inferior but it simply had better games. History has proved this.

Was that in a school lesson or something? The History teacher in our school was stupid too.

[boggyb68]

Both great machines but it's the C64 for me due to like ipmarks said it's what my dad bought me for Xmas 84.. was getting a Speccy, but about 2 weeks before he cam in and showed me an advert in the paper for the C64 and said "What about this one? Is it any good?" Only one kid at that time at school had a 64 and I had played it and loved it but thought it was a bit too pricey for my old man.. but he liked the look of it himself and as an upgrade from an Intellivision he was all for it.. so a 64 was under the tree that year.. I was as excited as when he had come home from work one day and took the Intellivoice module and B-17 Bomber cartridge out of his brief case.. I almost fainted!

I love it for all the reasons that everyone above has said.. nothing to really add to the comments..

I do have a soft spot for the Speccy though as some of my mates had them and I really enjoyed playing on them.. and vice versa they liked playing on my 64... we all had banter about which was best but we all really liked playing on both of them so it was just that.. banter..

We had the next round of this with the 16bits.. me with my Amiga and them with their ST's..

I really miss those days.. sigh..

B.

[ncf1]

It was just such a huge leap up from my Apple II's blips and beeps and phosphorous green monitor glow that burned permanent holes in my retinae; all this new colour and amazing sound from the '64 quite simply left me overjoyed, and the games were, on the whole, superior also.