How good is REZSPEC at running Spectrum games?
The Speculator product was originally developed for the Memotech MTX and first tape with 20 games was included, referred to here as M1. Then a product for the Tatung Einstein was developed, and this had three tapes, E1 (almost the same as M1), E2, and E3.
This Spectrum Emulator page lists what games E1,E2 and E3 had. Despite the page, it seems unlikely there was a Speculator disk which could play any game, unless it essentially worked the same way that REZSPEC does, and even then some things work better than others.
I don't have .TAP or .SNA files of every game
that Speculator supported, and do I have a few it never did.
Some games that don't work in REZSPEC also don't when restored from a snapshot into Speculator running on MEMU. Its not particularly easy to determine where the fault lies: quality of REMEMOrizer hardware, REZSPEC software, MEMU's emulation of Speculator, or the game media or version itself.
| Game | .TAP loadable | .SNA restorable | Speculator tape | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 180 Darts | - | - | E2 | |
| Ad Astra | Yes | - | E2 | |
| Androids | Yes | - | E3 | remember to LOAD "" CODE |
| Ant Attack | Yes | - | - | |
| Arcadia | Yes | Yes | M1,E1 | |
| Astronut | Yes | Yes | M1,E1 | |
| Atic Atac | Yes | - | M1,E1 | distribution denied |
| Blobbo | Yes | Yes | - | |
| Blood 'n' Guts | Yes | - | E3 | |
| Bomber Jack | Yes | Yes | - | crashes during gameplay
also crashes when restored into Speculator on MEMU |
| Chess (Psion) | Yes | - | E3 | |
| Chuckie Egg | Yes | - | - | |
| Countdown | Yes | - | E3 | |
| Danger Mouse in Double Trouble | Yes | - | E2? | |
| Danger Mouse in Making Whoopie | Yes | - | E2? | |
| Decathlon | No | Yes | M1,E1 | too large to load from .TAP
|
| Desert Rats 48K | Yes | - | E2 | |
| Elite 48K (patched) | No | Yes | - | original has a bad block length
crashes during loading if restore instead, it crashes trying to play it also crashes when restored into Speculator on MEMU |
| Feud | Yes | - | E2 | |
| Finders Keepers | Yes | - | E3 | |
| Firebirds | Yes | - | E3 | |
| Flight Simulator | Yes | - | M1,E1 | |
| Galaxians | - | Yes | M1 | |
| Gremlins | - | - | E2 | |
| Grid Runner | Yes | - | M1,E1 | |
| Gyroscope | Yes | - | - | occasional crashes |
| Hobbit 1.0 | Yes | - | E1 | |
| Hobbit 1.2 | Yes | - | - | |
| Humpty Dumpty | Yes | - | M1,E1 | |
| Hunchback | Yes | - | M1,E1 | |
| Hungry Horace | Yes | - | E3 | |
| Jetpac | Yes | - | M1,E1 | distribution denied |
| Jet Set Willy | Yes | - | - | |
| Jump Challenge | Yes | - | M1,E1 | |
| Knight Lore | - | Yes | - | crashes during gameplay
also crashes when restored into Speculator on MEMU |
| Knot in 3D | Yes | - | - | |
| Laserwarp | No | Yes | M1,E1 | hangs at loading screen
different version to that expected by Speculator |
| Lazer Zone | Yes | - | E3 | |
| Lords of Midnight | Yes | - | E2 | |
| Lunar Jetman | - | - | E2 | |
| Manic Miner | Yes | Yes | - | |
| Master of Magic | Yes | - | E2 | |
| Micromuse | - | - | E3 | |
| Mugsy | Yes | - | E3 | |
| Nifty Lifty | Yes | - | E3 | |
| Nonterilaqueos | Yes | - | E2 | |
| Penetrator | Yes | - | E3 | |
| Percy The Potty Pigeon (patched) | Yes | Yes | M1,E1 | original has a tape block which is too short
different version to that expected by Speculator |
| Pheenix | Yes | - | - | |
| Project Future | Yes | - | M1,E1 | |
| Push Off | Yes | - | E3 | crashes during gameplay |
| Rasterscan | Yes | - | E2 | |
| Rentakill Rita | Yes | - | E2 | |
| Rescue | Yes | - | E2 | |
| Robin of Sherwood | - | - | E2 | |
| Scrabble (Deluxe) | No | - | E3? | too large to load from .TAP
|
| Scrabble (Spectrum) | Yes | - | E3? | |
| Sentinel | Yes | - | - | |
| Sim City | Yes | - | - | prints tape header names to printer as it loads |
| Sorcerer Lord | Yes | - | E3 | |
| Space Shuttle | Yes | - | - | by Tony Brewer |
| Spectipede | Yes | Yes | M1,E1 | |
| Spitfire 40 | Yes | - | E2 | |
| Starion | Yes | Yes | M1,E1 | uses IM2 |
| Starion (patched) | Yes | Yes | - | uses IM2
includes the patch allowing the game to be completed |
| Sweenos World | - | - | E2 | |
| Stop The Express | Yes | Yes | M1,E1 | |
| Terminus | Yes | - | E2 | |
| The Train Game (track A) | Yes | - | - | |
| The Train Game (track B) | Yes | - | - | |
| Tornado Low Level | Yes | - | M1,E1 | uses immediate NMI mode
crashes during gameplay |
| Traxx | Yes | - | M1,E1 | |
| Turbo ESP | Yes | - | - | crashes during gameplay |
| Twin Kingdom Valley | Yes | - | M1,E1 | |
| Uchi Mata | Yes | - | E3 | crashes during gameplay |
| Way of the Exploding Fist | Yes | - | E2 | |
| Quazatron | Yes | - | - |
It can also restore snapshots made by other emulators,
Speculator under MEMU, and made by REZSPEC itself.