MEGAGAME
A Space Oddity
We boldly go where no man's been before - inside Ultimate's new space epic Alien 8. Ross Holman, Chris Wood and Dave Nicholls.
FREE LISTINGS
Program Power
Lay your cards on the table - try our Patience! Or play our jet-propelled program, Powerman. A M Grant and B Hobson.
REVIEWS
Speed Trials
It's a race against time! We road test four fast-loaders. Clock it! S Q Factor.
Joystick Jury
Our joystick jurors pass sentence on 15 new games. What's the verdict? Dave Nicholls, Roger Willis and Ross Holman.
Your Spectrum

YR.14 cover - Click for the BIG picture

Issue 14, May 1985
- contents -
PROGRAMMING
It's a Cracker
Codebustin' brought bang up to date. You'd be crackers to miss it! Terry Bulfib.
Patching Up the Drives
Carry out all your running repairs with the long-awaited sequel to our Microdrive repair kit. Andrew Pennell.
GAMES
  • YS Soft Wares
  • Top 20
  • Spectrum Adventures
COMPETITION
  • Print 'n' Plotter Compo
REGULARS
  • Frontlines
  • Forum
  • Input/Output
  • Circe
  • Subscriptions
  • Back Issues
SPECIAL OFFERS
  • YS MegaBasic
  • Modem Offer

Home

Click on a highlighted entry to view the full article
SECTION PAGE SUBJECTS
Frontlines 3 Hold the front page! All the news, plus Hacking Away, Hard Facts and From the Hip. Discover the latest in disk drives. Boogy on down to the Hippodrome with our compo winners. Is Hewson's new game all torc? Have you walked off with a Wafadrive? Find out first ... in Frontlines!
Hardware
Discovery 1 disk drive (Opus Supplies)
Lazer keyboard (Micro Board)
Microframe interface (Gordon Micro)
Software
Gyron (Firebird)
Hisoft C v1.1 (Hisoft)
Miscellaneous
Avalon completed (Hewson Consultants)
Fuller keyboard for Mrs Spring
Hippodrome competition winners' night out
Malan complains about Herpes or Bust comments
Nordic says they're still in business
Sherlock completed
Wafadrive competition winners
ZX Microfair feature
Advice 6 From the Hip
Transferring games to Microdrive, YS MegaBasic questions, Tuning Up correction (YR.12), Printing on bottom two screen lines, Ghostbusters Hacker's Guide problems (YR.12).
11 Hacking Away
The column with the infinite POKEs. Send your hacking hints to Andrew Pennell ... Pyjamarama, Sky Ranger, River Rescue, Zaxxon, Sir Lancelot, Zombie Zombie, Manic Miner.
12 Hard Facts
When it comes to hardware Stephen Adams is an old hand - contact him at Hard Facts ... "Microdrive not present" errors, Green TV picture from Spectrum, Composite video monitor display fault, Connecting to a TV camera, Compusound beep amplifier.
Software Reviews 43 Joystick Jury
Up before the beaks - Dave Nicholls, Roger Willis and Ross Holman - comes all the new games software, from the greatest to the grottiest.
Attack of the Empire(Chibur)13%
Bruce Lee(US Gold)50%
Halaga(Interceptor Software)33%
Moon Cresta(Incentive Software)50%
Project Future(Micromania)60%
Psychedelia(Llamasoft)33%
Raid over Moscow(US Gold)93%
Sam Stoat(Gremlin Graphics)40%
Stay Kool(Bug-Byte)36%
Subterranean Stryker(Insight)63%
Technician Ted(Hewson Consultants)70%
Toy Bizarre(Activision)40%
Viking Raiders(Firebird)30%
Wizard's Lair(Bubble Bus)36%
Wriggler(Romantic Robot)43%
33 Spectrum Adventures
Two top reviews and a great adventure routine. There's an eerie tapping in the hollow halls of Castle Rathbone. It's the Green Goblin, Peter Shaw moving from room to room ...
Confidential (Radar Games)
Emerald Isle (Level 9)
The Illustrator (Gilsoft)
Talisman (Games Workshop)
Software Features 36 A Space Oddity
Yes, Alien 8 has arrived, the new megagame from Ultimate, and shock, horror, it looks almost identical to the last megagame from Ultimate, Knight Lore - the same number of rooms, the same 3D graphics, just substitute a dinky robot for Sabreman and the Werewulf. But first impressions aren't always best as Ross Holman and Chris Wood found out when they started playing ...
38 Hacker's Guide
We have lift off ... Dave Nicholls and Chris Wood blast their way into the hackers' hyperspace of Ultimate's Alien 8.
Hardware Features 22 Patching Up the 'Drives
Faulty files are now a thing of the past! Using this second instalment of code, Andrew Pennell shows you how to recover unloadable files from that Microdrive cartridge that's giving you hassle. Take it away, Andrew ...
28 Speed Trials
What's slower than the C5? Loading software into the Spectrum, of course. So, speed freak, S Q Factor has stuck the go-faster stripes on his Speccy, and taken it out for a spin. But instead of aerodynamic spoilers he's gone for four fast tape loading systems.
Kwikload
Sprint (Challenge Research)
Microdrive (Sinclair Research)
Wafadrive (Rotronics)

(letter)
Programming 40 It's a Cracker
The true hacker enjoys the battle of wits with the protective programmer. Terry Bulfib tips the scales your way.
Reader's Programs 59 Program Power
Have we got a great deal for you! You can place a safe bet on A M Grant's version of Patience and B Hobson's Powerman won't be shuffling off just yet!
(letter), (letter)
Books 6 Frontlines
Book of Computers and Simple Programming (Capital Radio)
11 Paperdata
The Spectrum Operating System (Micro Press)
Interviews 72 Tim Hartnell (Interface Publications)
Sue Denham goes face to face with Tim Hartnell, the man from Interface. Publisher, journalist and author of over 50 computing books, Tim Hartnell reckons he owes it all to Uncle Clive. Sue Denham finds out why ...
Competitions 52 Print 'n' Plotter Compo - Nothing Ventured ...
Have a go at this month's megacompo - there's £250 cash and 100 Adventure Planners up for grabs. Nothing Ventured ... nothing gained. But solve the mystery hidden deep within the walls of Castle Rathbone and you could carry off £250 cash or one of 100 Adventure Planners, all courtesy of Print 'n' Plotter Products.
Odds & Ends 14 YS Soft Wares
£££s off selected software in our special readers offer!
15 The YS Top 20
Find out how your fave games fared in the hottest chart around.
(letter)
17 Forum
The postbag's produced some goodies this month. Read on! Write to us - there's a bundle of free Spectrum software for this month's Star Letter!
North of Watford?
(letter)
(Roland Lumby)
Time for Bed(Martin Green)
Dumping the Gemini(A N Key)
Lowering the Tone(J Sonander)
Megabugfix(Mike Leaman)
Mac Hack(D W Arthur)
Megaboard(Peter Walsh)
The YS Trainspotter Award(Terribly Disappointed)
20 YS MegaBasic Special Offer
Last chance to nab a copy of YS MegaBasic at our special discount price of £7.95.
32 Modem Offer
Connect up with our special modem offer. (Prism VTX5000)
54 Input/Output
Whatever you're after you'll find it in YS's free classified ad service.
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