The Speccy 128k +2 was another one of my childhood computers that I inherited from my brother. It was a great upgrade from the 48k Spectrum mainly because of its additional sound capabilities. Sporting the AY-3-8912 sound chip, the Spectrum 128k was able to kick out some seriously awesome chiptunes. To this day if I sit in silence, what I actually hear is the theme tune to Treasure Island Dizzy playing on loop in my head!
A lot of people have a dislike for the +2 as it was the first Spectrum to manufactured by Amstrad rather than Sinclair. I for one actually liked the design of the +2 and found it incredibly handy having the cassette recorder built into the unit rather than having an external one connected. The only issue I ever had with mine was that the play button eventually snapped and I spent quite a while having to jam a screwdriver inside of it the push the play mechanism (I’m sure many +2 owners can relate to this issue!). Eventually, we managed to source a replacement button but they didn’t have a play button in stock so my original +2 to this day has two record buttons :).
Fast forward to today and I managed to pick up an additional +2 in perfect condition with all its original box, joystick (Terrible joystick!) and the selection of games that were shipped with the unit. Being forced to play these games seemed like a right of passage for any new +2 owner back in the day until they could get to their nearest computer shop and buy some good games.
There were plenty of good games to be found on the spectrum. I for one am a huge fan of the Dizzy series of platform/puzzle games. I also loved other games such as Chaos which was a turn-based wizard game where you had to cast spells to kill the other others. Feud was another one I used to love playing, in this game you had to collect herbs and flowers to make potions which you could then use to kill your evil brother (Who growing up always got the better computer and I received the hand me downs lol). Ok, so I don’t think that was the actual back story to the game but was probably why I enjoyed it so much.
So now my +2 sits in my bedroom the same as it did during my childhood. But these days it has a nice little addition plugged into the back of it in the form of the DivMMC Future. This interface acts as a joystick interface but also takes an SD card which can be loaded up with all your classic Spectrum games. So rather than waiting 5 minutes for each cassette to load and then inevitably fail with the R-Tape Loading Error message (Who could forget that?) then games can be loaded instantly from the SD Card. This device is a must-have for any current day Spectrum owner.
I purchased my device from here and can be purchased for around £60-£70 and I must say the device is worth every penny.
So what were your fondest memories of the +2? or were you one of the lucky ones who got a +3 with its 3-inch Floppy Drive? Let me know in the comments below 🙂
Catalog Information
| Number in collection | 2 |
| Hardware Condition | Excellent/Fair |
| Box Condition | Good/NA |
| Modifications and Accessories | DivMMC Future |
| Comments |
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