The Spectrum Mini will let you relive the colorful classic microcomputer

Initially spotted by The Retro Asylum, Retro Games Ltd has revealed the next in their lineup of mini replicas of classic microcomputers, “The Spectrum.” I put that in quotation marks because the “The” is part of the name.

Retro Games Ltd has been creating mini consoles based on microcomputers for a while now and has released The C64 Mini (Commodore 64), The A500 Mini (Commodore Amiga), and The 400 Mini (Atari 400). This time around, they’re resurrecting Sinclair’s ZX Spectrum, which is, in my opinion, one of the coolest 8-bit home computers. It’s the distinctive color palette that makes it for me.

The ZX Spectrum was released in 1982, well past the 1977 microcomputer trinity (Commodore PET, Apple II, and TRS-80) that helped bring computers into the home. The rush was on to get a cheap enough computer that would convince families who weren’t sure about the new technology to try it out. They had already found some success with the ZX80 and ZX81, but those were kind of crappy. The ZX Spectrum introduced an exciting feature that made it worth its (slightly) higher price tag: color.

The ZX Spectrum technically didn’t come out in North America. Timex created a clone, the Timex Sinclair 2068, but it’s largely incompatible with ZX Spectrum software. As such, it’s a unique mystery to me, but it was beloved in the UK and host to several classic games.

The Spectrum will come with 48 built-in games. This interestingly includes licensed games like The Hobbit and homebrew titles like Alien Girl: Skirmish Edition. That’s an interesting extra mile to take, since you can also just boot your own ROMs via USB thumbdrive. The Spectrum can run in 48 or 128 mode and outputs at 720p. The keyboard even works! That’s usually not the case with these replicas.

I’ll definitely be looking to get my hands on one. I nearly bought a ZX Spectrum back in my early days of collecting when the hobby was more affordable. That didn’t happen, but I’ve still been interested. There have been other attempts to recreate the system, but they haven’t really appealed to me. Well, the Spectrum Next definitely does appeal, but I can’t justify dropping that much money on one. The Spectrum definitely seems like a better option to a dilettante like me.

The Spectrum launches November 22nd, 2024. Hopefully, we’ll see it in North America.