The ZX Spectrum can boast some 15 thousand titles, which is about ten times more than what is currently available for either GBA or NDS alone. This is quite a lot of games to choose from. To put it into perspective, if you try out one title each day, it will keep you occupied for more than forty years. So, where do you start?
Fortunately there are many sites out there which list the best Spectrum games ever made. The only problem is that the rating often comes from people who played the games back in the day, which makes it somewhat biased and less relevant for users who have not even heard about the Spectrum before. Well, at least I honestly doubt that people today would really care to appreciate Deathchase, no matter if it is listed as number one in Your Sinclair's Top 100 list.
Therefore I have decided to create this little page, focusing on the games which might still appeal to ZXDS users today. The criteria judged here were mostly the quality of gameplay, decent graphics, ease of control, reasonable learning curve, and any suitable combination thereof. Of course, bear in mind that this is still all subject to my personal opinion, which means that everyone else is free to disagree with my selection. And while I think I have covered most of the must-see games, there are certainly hundreds of other excellent games out there which I have yet to discover myself. Still, the games listed here are usually the ones I can heartily recommend to anyone, and I hope it will help the newcomers to get some taste of the gaming of the past.
For your convenience, every reference and screenshot is linked to the corresponding World of Spectrum Classic page where you can download the games from and get further info. I particularly recommend reading the game instructions, otherwise you might have problems figuring out the controls and what you are actually supposed to do. However note that some of the games were denied from distribution, so you won't be able to get them from legal sites like WoS.
Finally, if you would prefer to see even more screenshots without my sidenotes, you can go here for an overwhelming amount of retrogaming goodness on one single page. Beware, though, it has been observed to have a strong emotional impact on some of the tested subjects.
: Released for both PS4 and PS5, this tower defense adaptation of the franchise is available on the PlayStation Store for approximately Core PS4 Metal Slug Catalog
| Issue | Present in v1.02+? | |-------|--------------------| | Slight input lag | ✅ Yes (better but not perfect) | | Sound crackling (rare) | ✅ In heavy action (MS6) | | Crashes on sleep mode | ❌ Fixed | | Save corruption | ❌ Very rare | | Slowdown (intentional arcade style) | ✅ Kept for authenticity | | Missing blood/effects (censored) | ❌ Not censored – original red blood | metal slug ps4 pkg updated
: Updates to map resources and prefab UI layouts for specialized modes like numerical PvP and club salary boxes. : Released for both PS4 and PS5, this
The series' impact extends beyond the gaming community, too. Metal Slug's characters and imagery have become part of popular culture, appearing in TV shows, music videos, and other forms of media. Metal Slug's characters and imagery have become part
Separately, exists as its own PS4 PKG with unique features:
This is the PS4 port of Metal Slug XX (originally on PSP). An for this title is highly sought after because the official release suffered from input lag. Scene-released v1.01 fixes several performance issues.
Metal Slug fans have several ways to experience the iconic "run-and-gun" series on modern hardware. While multiple versions exist, the and the standalone remaster of Metal Slug XX represent the most common "updated" PKG (PlayStation Package) files available for the PlayStation 4. 1. Metal Slug Anthology (PS4 Updated)
And that's about it. From there on, you are on your own.