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A comment on ZX Spectrum at 40: a look back. Parent comment

Re:ZX Spectrum at 40: a look back by robotresearcher on Saturday February 19, 2022 @12:56PM (#30398992)
Very similar. The C64 hardware was better, with a dedicated audio chip, better color and (IIRC) hardware blit support for sprites. Much better keyboard, too.

But it was double the price, putting it out of reach for many more families than the Spectrum. This made a kind of critical mass that lead to a huge community around the spectrum in the UK. And a fantastic burst of creativity as the barrier to entry to writing video games dropped as low as it would ever get.

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Re:ZX Spectrum at 40: a look back by egypturnash on Saturday February 19, 2022 @02:57PM (#30399991)
The c64's sprites were not blitted, they were rendered entirely by the video chip in a separate path from the character/bitmap display.
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Re:ZX Spectrum at 40: a look back by robotresearcher on Saturday February 19, 2022 @06:19PM (#30401494)
Even better, with no need to undraw them, and dedicated support for collision detection. Nice.
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Re:ZX Spectrum at 40: a look back by ShoveItHN on Saturday February 19, 2022 @06:45PM (#30401673)
Similar to the Atari's. And they both offered redefinable character sets and fine scrolling, which allowed you to create giant scrolling maps and backgrounds as screenfuls of characters requiring very little memory.
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