The Spectrum White Edition interview: ‘it smells the same as Christmas Day 1984′

The Spectrum has seen a ghost (Tim Green DP)

In 1980s Britain the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 were the most popular video game formats around and they’re making a comeback with new hardware and new games.

In order to have enjoyed 8-bit computers such as the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 when they first came out, you’d have to be pushing 50 at this point. The same is true of the NES, which came out only a year later, in 1983, and yet somehow it doesn’t seem quite so ancient, no doubt because many of its most famous franchises are still continuing today, with new entries and careful preservation of the originals.

That’s very much not the case for the Spectrum and C64 but there is still plenty of interest in the formats, at l...