ZX81 vs Retro

Welcome to a taste of early 1980s home computing. This app focuses on the Sinclair ZX81 experience and is loaded with example software. A streamlined watchOS app is included, offering saved session syncing with the iOS app on the paired iPhone. Background: In 1980 the British company Science of Cambridge (later renamed Sinclair Research) released the Sinclair ZX80 home computer. The computer was developed with another technology company, Nine Tiles, and manufactured in a Timex Corporation factory in Dundee, Scotland. Followed in March 1981 by the even more popular successor, the Sinclair ZX81, both models had a profound impact on home and hobbyist computing in the UK and many other countries. Timex Corporation and Sinclair Research continued their joint venture and released the Timex Sinclair 1000 (TS1000) and 1500 (TS1500) variants of the ZX81 for the US market in July 1982 and July 1983 respectively. Meanwhile, another iconic British home computer, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, was under development and hit the market in April 1982... but that's another story. Special thanks to Nine Tiles for granting permission to include the ROM code, to which they retain the intellectual property rights after all these years. Additionally, many thanks to all the developers of the loaded ZX81 software who have all granted permission to include their titles in the app. We hope this list of software will continue to grow in future updates.

Escape from the pyramid and discover its treasures. Find the exit at the top level of the maze while avoiding deadly creatures and collecting objects. You can shoot your gun to scare ghosts away, make mummies disappear and kill vampires and skeletons. Press back to access the in-game menu and enable helpful cheats (POKEs). Fred was originally developed for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum in 1983 by Fernando Rada, Paco Menéndez and Carlos Granados and distributed by Indescomp. It was licensed, together with Bugaboo (The Flea) by Quicksilva near the end of 1983. It was initially published in the United Kingdom, and shortly after in Spain by Investrónica. Retro-Fred is a modern port of Fred. It aims to replicate the original game as closely as possible. A version developed in Scratch is also available. Retro-Fred is free software, distributed under the GNU General Public License. It is available for free. It does not store any user data and it does not need any usage permissions. Visit https://www.8bitfred.com and https://github.com/8bitfred/retro-fred for more information. The game The objective of the game is to reach the exit of the pyramid, located in the top level. The game has 6 levels of increasing difficulty. Each level has more and more difficult enemies: * Ghosts: they can go through the maze walls. They cannot be killed, but when they are shot they change the direction of movement. * Rats: they move laterally. Fred must jump vertically to avoid them. They cannot be killed. * Acid drops: run quickly to avoid getting hit by them. * Mummies: they walk slowly on the horizontal passages and fall quicky down the vertical corridors. They disappear when they get hit by a bullet, and reappear in a different location. * Chameleons: they walk on the side of the vertical corridors and jump from one side to the other. * Vampires: they fly in the maze and change directions randomly. They can be killed by shooting them. * Skeletons: they walk on the horizontal corridors and climb up and down the ropes, trying to follow Fred. They die when hit by a bullet. Objects There are different types of objects that Fred can collect inside the maze: * Treasures: they are worth 500 to 1500 points, plus extra bonuses when you reach the exit. * Power-up: increases the power level. * Ammo-up: recharges the number of bullets to the maximum level. * Map: shows a map of the section of the map near Fred. The corridors are shown in white and the walls in blue. After finishing a level you will get 5000 points, and 1000 bonus point for each treasure collected during the game.