Why I love... The Amstrad CPC 464

My very first computer was an Amstrad CPC 464. My dad, a plumber, did a job for a couple who couldn’t afford to pay him, so they offered him the Amstrad instead. My dad, being the kind hearted person he was, accepted and loaded up his car with the computer and boxes and boxes of games.

If only everything was as stylish!

When I think back to those days I can’t believe how much has changed. That was just over twenty years ago. Games took ten minutes to load! It was an excruciating wait. Today the most annoying thing about gaming is waiting for your game to download. Once downloaded though you can chop and change between games in an instant... ish. Back then playing games was an investment in time! I remember more than once putting a game in to load and disappearing off, maybe to get something to eat or to watch TV, only to come back two hours later to  the tuneless tones of Roland on the Ropes.

As far as I can remember the games were bloody hard. It might have been because i was only seven or eight but i often got stuck. I recall, very clearly, the exact point in Magic Land Dizzy i could never get past and i have never beaten it since. No saves back then! 

This game was so hard. Scared the crap out
of me as well! I was only seven.

The thing I remember most though is watching my brother play. I would spend hours sitting next to him in silence staring at the screen while he completed game after game. I remember I wanted to be as good as him, but could never get anywhere near the end of the games he'd completed; despite trying for hours and sometimes playing all night. Now though I can beat him at anything he would wish to name, despite what he might tell you! 

If only life was this easy.

My favourite game, however, was Wild Bunch, a western text adventure. At the start your character finds a dying man, he had been attacked by a member of the Wild Bunch. After giving a description of his attacker he dies in your arms, the sheriff arrives at that moment. The goal is to track down the real killer and prove your innocence while avoiding the sheriff. I don't know why it is my favourite or even why I remember it so well. I never really knew what was going on. You make money by playing poker in the saloon, but I didn't know the rules, I was seven years old. I did however figure out that a Royal Flush was the best hand. I would wait for this hand to turn up (much more than statistically probable) and bet as high as I could. Despite my ineptitude I would play time after time well into the night, once I even fell asleep at the computer. On another occasion i got quite far and had managed to identify the killer, i just had to find him. While searching the towns i bumped into another member of the Wild Bunch and challenged him to a duel (it was a good way to make money). We stepped into the baking midday sun and stared at each other through the heat haze. I waited for him to reach for his weapon and... SLAM... banged the space bar (fire button)... only nothing happened. Desperately i whacked it again. Still nothing. My opponent drew his weapon and following a pixelated flash from the mussle of his Colt .45 the screen turned red. Game Over. It turns out i had run out of bullets. I may have cried. 

This is what games looked like when they
announced Half Life 2: Episode 3

The Amstrad was the introduction of a life long hobby and i could never bring myself to get rid of it. It resides in my attic, still working even now. How many modern computers would be running smoothly after twenty years? I take it out from time to time and load up Wild Bunch. I still haven't completed it though!