This PC remake of the classic ZX Spectrum game, Tranz Am, was first released in 2008 by Retrospec. It is a reasonably faithful, “enhanced” conversion of the overhead racing game originally published by Ultimate Play the Game in 1983.
Category Archives: Homebrew
Video games that are created at home by enthusiasts.
Pssst Retrospec Remake, PC
A twenty one year-old remake of a thirty eight year-old game… John Dow‘s Pssst PC conversion was originally released in 2000 for MS-DOS and it’s not a bad effort, with decent enough graphics and responsive controls. The game was later ported to work in Windows, but there is a problem with that (see below).
Cookie Retrospec Remake, PC
This remake of Ultimate Play the Game‘s ZX Spectrum classic, Cookie, is unfortunately completely unplayable on modern PCs. It just runs way too fast to be playable and the only way to slow it down is by using a throttling app, like Advanced Game Launcher. But even then it’s still not very playable, so is a bit of a lost cause. Your only option would be to play it on very old, slow hardware to get it going at the right speed.
Jetpak Solar Crisis, PC
Jetpak Solar Crisis is a homebrew remake of Ultimate Play the Game‘s classic Jet Pac, made by Retrospec and released for free in 2004. While not all Retrospec remakes are good games, this one is actually pretty decent.
Pentagram, Commodore 64
Ultimate Play the Game‘s isometric platform adventure, Pentagram, was never officially released for the Commodore 64, so fans took it upon themselves to convert it themselves, some thirty years after its original release. This port was released in 2017 by Rod & Emu.
Gunfright, Commodore 64
This C64 homebrew conversion of Ultimate‘s 1986 ZX Spectrum hit Gunfright was developed by Rod & Emu and released in 2017, and it’s another decent modern port of a thirty year-old game.
Alien 8 MSX2 Remake, MSX
This 2009 homebrew remake of Ultimate Play the Game‘s classic Alien 8 was created for the MSX2 by Manuel Pazos and Daniel Celemin. The graphics have obviously had a serious make-over and look beautiful, but the gameplay seems to be the same as the original, with noticeable (some might say “game-crippling”) slowdown.
Alien 8, Atari 8-bit
This Atari 8-bit homebrew conversion of Ultimate Play the Game‘s Alien 8 was created by Fandal, Miker, and Emkay in 2013. It wasn’t written from scratch, though; it was ported from the BBC Micro version (according to various sources online), but unfortunately it doesn’t play as well as the Beeb version. It has a fundamental flaw that completely ruins the game…
Alien 8, Commodore 64
This homebrew conversion of Ultimate‘s classic Alien 8 was released for the Commodore 64 in 2020. The original game was only ever officially released for the ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, MSX, and Amstrad CPC, but never for the C64. And the ironic thing is that this conversion is arguably the best version of Alien 8 out there.
Knight Lore, Commodore 64
This 2019 Commodore 64 homebrew conversion of the classic Knight Lore is arguably even better than the brilliant ZX Spectrum original. Spectrum owners will not want to hear that, but – being objective – this port does make the game more enjoyable to play. I also managed to get further into the game than I ever managed on the Spectrum, although I did use quick saves (but no cheats).
The King of Grabs 