From Manic Miner to Jet Set Willy: The Story and Games of Matthew Smith | Kim Justice

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
  • #retrogaming #zxspectrum #documentary
    Today we're covering Matthew Smith -- the man responsible for two of the most iconic ZX Spectrum games, Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy. One of the great bedroom coders, he had the UK software world at his feet in the early '80s, but was out of the industry only a few years later. What happened? Let's find out.
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ความคิดเห็น • 545

  • @Kim_Justice
    @Kim_Justice  5 ปีที่แล้ว +62

    If you liked this then think about having a gander through my social media, and get yourself on my Patreon: www.patreon.com/KimbleJustice

    • @raafmaat
      @raafmaat 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      EDIT ah you talk about his time in Holland, although you state it was a few months, while it was more like 2 years, he found jobs here in holland like in food processing factories and the like, he says he lived in a commune but there was an article i read once that talked about him living in a Anti-squatting arrangement, which is basically when a housing agency rents out a disused property so that it wont get squatted, its very cheap but you can get kicked out without any rights and only 1 week of notice. but then again who knows, in his interviews he never went in-depth..

    • @yehbytheway2297
      @yehbytheway2297 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      When a set of stamps was released in tribute to British computer games they chose dizzy over manic miner. Shocker!

    • @j0nnyism
      @j0nnyism 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      I hope Matty doesn’t watch the second part of this vid. He’s a kindly soul but it’ll stress him out. Thankyou for remembering him. It still means a lot that he has so many fans about

    • @CoLD.SToRAGE
      @CoLD.SToRAGE 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      No mention of Jester Interactive and their mobile phone (JAVA) and Gameboy versions of Matthew's games? Probably for the best, as it wasn't exactly a fun period either. But here's a video: th-cam.com/video/m7cJyUGgou0/w-d-xo.html

    • @zamiadams4343
      @zamiadams4343 ปีที่แล้ว

      Absolutely brilliant documentary Kim, bravo sir!

  • @happysunshinydays6349
    @happysunshinydays6349 5 ปีที่แล้ว +43

    To Matthew Smith,
    As kids of the 80's we loved Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy. God only knows how many nights were spent gaming into the early hours.
    Many thanks for the memories : )

    • @crazytrain7721
      @crazytrain7721 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Exactly. I hope he knows how much happiness he brought to people like me.

  • @simongrantham2230
    @simongrantham2230 2 ปีที่แล้ว +16

    Back in the early 80s, anyone at my school who could actually complete Manic Miner was treated with awe and reverence (and rightly so). Personally, I never got past Skylab Landing Bay. Of all the games in existence, this is the one that I remember most fondly.

    • @MC-kz9we
      @MC-kz9we 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I'd love to know how many actually completely Manic Miner (original release, no cheats).... I remember it being insanely hard..... my mate had it so didn't spend much time myself..... seem to remember him doing a couple of levels only

  • @colonelclaw
    @colonelclaw 4 ปีที่แล้ว +31

    Jet Set Willy was THE game that defined my childhood. Thank-you, Matthew Smith.

  • @vespasian606
    @vespasian606 5 ปีที่แล้ว +116

    As a wannabee from the same era I remember taking his Z80 code apart to see what made his games tick. I was not disappointed. Every operation consumes clock cycles and while 3.5 million cycles per second might sound like a lot you have to divide that by your desired frame rate which could put you as low as 70,000 if you were going for 50 fps. He had the knack of using instructions with a low cycle count and applying them in such a way they replaced their higher cycle count cousins. So SET would be used to adjust pointers and addresses rather than loading a whole value. Four clock cycles doing the work of fifteen and he repeated this trick again and again. While he could be downright wasteful in the way he used memory it inevitably served one goal. Speed. Which translated to being able to have multiple animations on screen at the same time complete with a looping soundtrack, collision detection and keyboard input. I never saw faster Z80 code and I doubt I ever will.

    • @ScoopDogg
      @ScoopDogg 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Thankgod we have unity : )

    • @pigknickers2975
      @pigknickers2975 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      great comment, those were the days!

    • @KaitainCPS
      @KaitainCPS 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Interesting. As a non-assembler coder (it had been superseded by C by the time I started programming seriously), can you give an example of the pointers vs value assignment trick, of how it would be used in practice?

    • @Etcher
      @Etcher 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@KaitainCPS Yes I would be very interested in this also.

    • @Etcher
      @Etcher 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Interesting comment! thanks!

  • @SVpedro68
    @SVpedro68 2 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    Matthew Smith was a former pupil of The Mosslands School in Wallasey and was 2 years above me in said school. "Dr Jones" (immortalised in JSW) was my maths teacher! I also believe that the many penguins you would see around MM and JSW were a "nod" to Mr Scudamore (former geography teacher who went on to become deputy headmaster). He walked a little bit like a penguin because he had a problem with his foot. I'm sure there are more. I eventually managed to complete 2.5 circuits of MM and it was playing that and other games that gave me an appetite to learn Z80 and to try and write my own games. I was beaten to it by a classmate called Clem Pryke who wrote Quackshot! Then me and a friend sat down to start story-boarding a game based on driving a car around a city, and then Lotus Turbo Esprit came out and we knew we'd missed the boat. By that stage, games were being churned out by the likes of Ocean, Ultimate, Psygnosis, etc. and the "bedroom coders" were becoming the exception. Great times though!

    • @EgoShredder
      @EgoShredder 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Brilliant stories, thank you for sharing them with everyone.

  • @TomekSamcik69
    @TomekSamcik69 5 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    Jet Set Willy and Manic Miner were two most memorable games from my early childhood. Matthew Smith, I salute you.....

  • @Nautilus1972
    @Nautilus1972 5 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    Matthew Smith. Legend to the era of spotty young Adrian Moles. Chewed up and spat out but the time he was twenty. Fucking legend. Well worth his own feature length Doc. Nice one, Kim.

  • @realmchat6665
    @realmchat6665 5 ปีที่แล้ว +70

    These deep dives into the bedroom devs are inspiring, your presentation, editing and production are top notch - well done.

  • @danielhumphries2026
    @danielhumphries2026 5 ปีที่แล้ว +77

    "20 Years later and I'm a legend".
    Beautiful.

  • @littleNorwegians
    @littleNorwegians 5 ปีที่แล้ว +39

    Solo game-dev me and this feels like a cautionary tale that leaves me with a slight feeling of dread.
    Excellent documentary, Kim

    • @handsomebrick
      @handsomebrick 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      His story reminded me a lot of guys like David Crane and Derek Yu, who are much more positive examples.

    • @sheepthehack
      @sheepthehack 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I think you might be putting the cart before the horse here.. you have to make a game people WANT first :) Plus.. distribution is so different today.

  • @kodoyama
    @kodoyama 5 ปีที่แล้ว +29

    Great work as always. Matt is truly a legend from the golden age of British game development. A fascinating and enigmatic character. I always regarded him as the coding equivalent of Syd Barrett and I wasn't surprised to see you draw the same parallel. There were so many amazing characters in the scene back then. The games they made were so packed with personality and creativity. The good old days before it all went so corporate.

  • @happysunshinydays6349
    @happysunshinydays6349 5 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    Matthew Smith, many thanks for the hours my friends and I enjoyed in the 80s playing Jet Set Willy & Manic Miner into the early hours, especially during the school holidays.

  • @johnwilliams7999
    @johnwilliams7999 4 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    I completed manic miner as a kid, I loved that game. I can still remember the day when I completed it. Great documentary such a shame he went off the rails. Hope he is OK.

  • @LasRozasDeMadrid
    @LasRozasDeMadrid 5 ปีที่แล้ว +16

    The idea of programming on a TRS-80 and sending the program with a cable to the Spectrum for testing was pretty intelligent.

    • @jamiegwhite30
      @jamiegwhite30 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      an amazing thing really, I still am amazed...

    • @factorylad5071
      @factorylad5071 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I tried connecting a daisy typewriter to a teletext tv with a piece of string , how's that?

    • @LasRozasDeMadrid
      @LasRozasDeMadrid 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@factorylad5071 Google about 1973 Don Lancaster's TV Typewriter

    • @nebularain3338
      @nebularain3338 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      A custom piece of electronics hardware built by a teenager in the early 80s with no internet to help. That's fucking impressive!

    • @SerBallister
      @SerBallister 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@nebularain3338 Its rare enough to find a talented coder at that age, let alone a hardware engineer on top of that. That is god tier talent.

  • @speedbird737
    @speedbird737 5 ปีที่แล้ว +74

    number of subscribers at time of watching - 48K ;-)

    • @pbarratt73
      @pbarratt73 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      Well spotted mate 🤟🏻🕹

    • @syrus3k
      @syrus3k 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      Ok that's weird

    • @stefanavic6630
      @stefanavic6630 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      Took me two goes to get it, I'll admit that. My excuse is that Commodore was more the go here in Australia. Piss poor excuse from a confessed computer nerd, but there you go :)

    • @DodderingOldMan
      @DodderingOldMan 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      One the one hand, amusing. On the other hand... that's still a shockingly low number of subscribers for what is one of the best channels on TH-cam.

    • @Jayce_Alexander
      @Jayce_Alexander 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@DodderingOldMan hi there. I'm from the future. Over the past ten months Kim has gained about 11k subscribers. Still way too low for a channel of this quality, but that's steady growth.

  • @danmann9116
    @danmann9116 5 ปีที่แล้ว +40

    Wow. I actually suggested you do a docu on Matty Smith a few months back. My wish has been granted. Totally blown away. Fantastic work. Thanks kim

  • @cronosoft
    @cronosoft 5 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Another superb documentary. A great way to spend a bank holiday morning.
    Matthew Smith's story is always one tinged with sadness. When we had a stall at the first CGE in Croydon in 2004, (where the stand up interview you showed was filmed), we spent a fair amount of time with him the night before at Pizza Hut. Seemed such an alert and sharp minded kind of guy, very knowledgable, and above all, a really happy and easy person to get on with, despite not having the easiest of lives, and having been exploited and ripped off in the past. Seems a little bit distant these days from the Manchester footage. Was in contact with him briefly 6 months ago over gaining permission to release the newly written Vic 20 version of Manic Miner, but unfortunately couldn't happen (at least at the moment).

  • @ArtistontheBorder
    @ArtistontheBorder 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    "The Syd Barrett of computer gaming". Pure poetry. Besides if I may nerd a bit. That black and white image of Matthew by the computer (top down) is eerily to some of Mick Rocks images of Syd.

  • @KhalOisha78
    @KhalOisha78 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    From 24:24 to 24:50 is a pure work of art. Thank you very much Kim for this wonderful content you always drop.
    EDIT: As an italian I'm stumped by the connection of Matthew coming to Italy and being inspired by Florence to design tiles, and also Sorrentino did a short movie about him :O

  • @Saavik256
    @Saavik256 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    My sister (born 1975) and I (born 1985) played so many hours of Manic Miner on our ZX! I don't think we ever managed to finish it, but it gave us so many hours of fun!

  • @CatWeazle21
    @CatWeazle21 5 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    Brilliant, thanks KJ! Quite the definitive subject this, and you've done a stellar job - am about to rewind and watch it again :)

  • @virusfr33
    @virusfr33 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    As always, another amazing doc. Nobody does this as easily or as well as you do, Kim!

  • @gregskuza7166
    @gregskuza7166 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    If Mathew ever makes another game for speccy I’ll buy it and I got a feeling that a lot of people would too. So Mathew, we are waiting for one more, one last game!!!! Keep the legend alive!
    Ps: Finally Mathew got a decent documentary, I grew up with Manic and JetSet and every once a while when I turn my spectrum on I always have a go, it brings me back 35 years in a second, what an amazing feeling, thanks Mathew. Great documentary!

  • @HerneLiedel
    @HerneLiedel หลายเดือนก่อน

    I never grew up with this series, but I have a fascination for Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy.

  • @j0nnyism
    @j0nnyism 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Mathew has that rare talent. The ability to make a game that gave you that “one more go” feeling. It’s intangible in the most practical of art forms

  • @madTbonez
    @madTbonez 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Great vid. Just realised towards the end that playing manic miner on my sister’s msx is my first gaming memory, and how my preschool mind was marvelled by it.

  • @absinthedude
    @absinthedude 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I had the and honour of exchanging a few emails with Matthew when he first re-emerged in the early 2000's. I'd been showing kids at the school where I worked Manic Miner on an emulator, and they got into playing it themselves. He seemed thrilled that children still enjoyed his games. Legend. And if Brian Wilson could complete SMiLE (spoiler, he did), then maybe Matt can deliver another game. But whatever he does, I hope he's happy. Matt, if you read this....just know that you inspired thousands if not millions of people.

  • @heyhonpuds
    @heyhonpuds 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Matt From Earth is a legend. Thanks Kim.

  • @vapourmile
    @vapourmile 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    That was really well researched, well written and well thought out. You did a good job of extracting the positives from the story too.
    All it left me wanting is something really nobody has yet achieved which is to do far more to fill in that blank during his "wilderness years". He looked for odd jobs and found his way onto a commune is only a few words for such a long fallow period.
    His drug taking past is really only ever insinuated rather than dealt with directly. It seems as if people have accepted or assumed drugs were involved without being able to say much about it.
    He still has a dark history which took him from being the Matt Smith of the black and white pictures and the Matt Smith after he reemerged, and so little is still known about that transitional period. I'd love to know much more. Hopefully people will ask and he'll feel free to answer at length!

  • @pow1983
    @pow1983 5 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    48:54 oh look at that, 2ltr Coke at 69p we'll never see that again :-(

    • @lwaves
      @lwaves 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I spotted that too. Happy I wasn't the only one. You can't get a standard can at regular price for 69p these days.

    • @kduhtdkzrt
      @kduhtdkzrt 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Good.

    • @sperrin
      @sperrin 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      You can see it as many times s you like, just keep re-watching that bit.

    • @user-vg5rv5xf4u
      @user-vg5rv5xf4u 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Matt looks like a pretty girl there 😂

    • @danielhines6728
      @danielhines6728 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      (warning, boring comment) Well, you can get 2l ASDA cola for 41p

  • @waitthatsgoingtocostyouext5450
    @waitthatsgoingtocostyouext5450 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    What a absolutely fantastic video. As a gamer who is now in his mid 40's and grew up with the ZX spectrum, I remember those jet set and manic miner days, very well indeed. I hope that Mat Smith gets the recognition and rewards he so rightly deserves. Anyhoo, well done on a fascinating video (you also get bonus points for adding the theme music from Star glider. I played that music constantly!!). I have recently subscribed and I am now hooked on your videos. Informative and very witty indeed. I wish you and your channel, the very best for the future.😀👍👍

  • @Tossphate
    @Tossphate 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Just arrived at the lake District for a nice relaxing holiday, and this popped up. Awesome. I'll kick back and watch this later on with a glass. I owe Matthew Smith so much, he's responsible for many childhood happy memories and sense of adventure and wonder for me. Cheers Kim.

    • @John-lp5xh
      @John-lp5xh 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I'm a very well respected gentleman

  • @CountDrunkula
    @CountDrunkula 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Me and my mate used to just randomly put pokes in for games and one caused the end sequence of Jet Set Willy to happen. We saw him sprint to the toilet an ram his head in but of course had no idea how many bottles were needed.
    I really liked this piece. I think it has a gentle melancholy for some of us. Thanks.

  • @brothermaleuspraetor9505
    @brothermaleuspraetor9505 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    A delightful walk down memory lane, sir! I remember as a kid playing miner and willy on the Amstrad in the mid-late 80's. It was thanks to my Uncle, a fellow of the University of Manchester throughout that time. I guess I was lucky to be able to play it then. Really really fond memories, and it was great for kids. Oh boy it was hard too! An integral part of my childhood, Jet set willy got me started on my journey through computer gaming :) I'm SO glad I didn't get into gaming any later, because I can appreciate gaming, thanks to the past. (Millennials call us PC elitists, but I know who we really are).

  • @hastonian
    @hastonian 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    The most Willy I've seen for 30yrs. Fond memories

  • @andyw8988
    @andyw8988 5 ปีที่แล้ว +16

    Thankyou so much for this, cant wait to sit back and enjoy. Love your retro documentaries and loved Manic Miner and JSW so this will be an awsome watch! 😍

  • @MrKnightlore
    @MrKnightlore 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Aside from a few Grandstand built-in titles, this game is the first one that sticks in my head as a nipper (I was 5). Dripping with nostaligia for me. Thanks Matt, for making such a great game and Kim for a great documentary. All the best.

  • @gerryh8367
    @gerryh8367 ปีที่แล้ว

    Spent many hours and hours on MM, JSW + JSWII
    Would just love to say thanks for many happy memories

  • @UltraSilver64
    @UltraSilver64 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Me and my brother were at that event in Manchester. He even answered my question about what inspired him to create the characters in the games! I felt deeply honoured...😌

  • @stevenixx3595
    @stevenixx3595 5 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    wtf, the timing of this - literally lastnight I was thinking it would be great if you did a video on Matt smith because I was re-watching some old retro stuff on here and he appeared. This is crazy.

    • @jamesheyworth3566
      @jamesheyworth3566 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      That will be your mobile phone listening to your thoughts. Tin foil hat time.
      Excellent upload.

  • @koko7682002
    @koko7682002 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    I remember early 80s asking my dad to get my 16k upgraded to a 48k spectrum when in London. I'm in Glasgow, he worked on the trains, back when British rail.. Jeez, the advent of the computer age, and society has gone to shit since.. Lol

    • @j0nnyism
      @j0nnyism 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Those fucking rubber keyboards were a nightmare for any wannabe coder anyone who was serious would use any other computer available at the time rather than write on the thing

  • @ZombiWorkshop
    @ZombiWorkshop 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Awesome as always, Kim. Biggest thing I took from this though was the whole "Most games were dark due to protecting CRT screens from imageburn". I always just assumed it was about the colours popping on a blank black background and detailed BG's weren't really a thing as yet.

  • @evelghostrider
    @evelghostrider 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    I believe my brother got this with our first speccy in 1983. I was 11 and thought compared to my atari 2600 manic miner was just another world apart. It and pitfall on atari were two games that set me up for life on platform type games.
    My thanks to the creator of the game, much respect and thanks for a life time of great memories sir 🙏 🙌 👍

  • @jamiestanton
    @jamiestanton 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Another magnificent and poignant video, thank you for the effort you put into these!

  • @wisteela
    @wisteela 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Excellent video.
    He was the reason there is a TRS-80 in the Tuckersoft office in Bandersnatch.
    I'd forgotten about Thumb Candy. I can only just about remember it.
    On the Amstrad Emailer it wasn't charged per minute to play the games, they were either purchased or rented.

  • @pbarratt73
    @pbarratt73 5 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Fantastic upload. Thoroughly enjoyed it start to finish.. The banyan tree still haunts me to this day 🤦🏻‍♂️

  • @colinatherton8402
    @colinatherton8402 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    This video is gold! Matthew smith created a legendary game(s). Thank you so much for making this. I miss those rubber keys

  • @YadonTheCat
    @YadonTheCat 5 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    That DIE MORTAL screen must have scared many kids shitless
    I'm amazed I've never seen anyone mention it anywhere, this is the first time I've seen it

    • @pauldavies2025
      @pauldavies2025 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Possibly the creepiest screen in computer games. Used to freak me right out when I was a young 'un! And an adult to be honest 😫

    • @paulpetroleum
      @paulpetroleum 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Scared the crap out of me as a kid yeh. First time a game had broken the fourth wall for me.

  • @nicholasaldridge4574
    @nicholasaldridge4574 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Yet another great, entertaining and in depth video! And thanks for mentioning my mod!

  • @rdvrdv8920
    @rdvrdv8920 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    I’m really enjoying your long play doccos. Very grateful I found you in my suggested videos. Keep up the great work Kim

  • @mUbase
    @mUbase 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great video about the living legend himself. It takes me back, MM and JSW. The strangeness of the atmosphere those games put you in and the never ending playability of them. Well put together as ever. Thanks Kim. :)

  • @mbe102
    @mbe102 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Minit and Downwell, damn those games are so good. This was really great Kim, I'm a Canadian, and was born in '87, so, none of this is much of anything I'm experienced with, but, its fascinating to learn about. Thanks for taking the time to put this all together!

  • @PATTHECATMCD
    @PATTHECATMCD 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Manic Miner was definitely the most fun for the least money I ever had on the Spectrum. And no, I never did quite beat that Solar Power Generator.

  • @mazonemayu
    @mazonemayu 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Awesome vid mate, one of your best yet. It brought back a lot of memories...when I was a lad in the 80's , I had this friend who's dad "worked" with computers, and he had a Spectrum+ at home, we played Manic Miner to death on it. So a year or so later, when I convinced my grandma that this was the future, she bought me a 48k Speccy with the rubber keys (somewhere around '86 or '87). needless to say she didn't know anything about it, so she gave the money to my friend's dad to get everything and set it up at her house. His "surprise" for me, was a copy of Manic Miner, which he hacked and he changed the loading screen into Speedy Mike (which is what they called me, for being a hyperactive child). Obviously I was very happy with it, but it also got me to think...if he could do it, then so could I. So I started reading everything there was to read on programming (which wasn't a lot ;) ) in our local library, and got to work. The first things I did was trying to combine different sets of code from those books, to see where it got me, when that appeared to be easy as pie, I finally decided to do something like my friend's dad. So I broke into Thro' The Wall, a Breakout clone that came with one of the Psion instruction tapes, and changed all the graphics: bricks turned into aliens, the paddle became a space ship, and the ball was a laser beam.ball of fire...it took me days to draw it all out on graph paper. Then started the tiresome process of adding it all to the game & I started testing it...I remember being so happy to see it running, and let all my mates play it, just to show off...I was 13 or 14 at the time, and was sure I'd become a programmer & was going to design videogames...it never happened though...still those were awesome times. :)

  • @VampireJack10
    @VampireJack10 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    We NEED Manic Miner the MOVIE.....
    I really hope that Mathew reads these comments and gets some solace for all the joy he brought many of us as young children during the 1980s. Great memories which I personally thank him for.

  • @jonathanadnitt7704
    @jonathanadnitt7704 5 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    Befor i`v even watched it, i gave it a like.

    • @higgins007
      @higgins007 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I think I liked it before Kim made it! :p

    • @mrtiff99
      @mrtiff99 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Yep you just know it's going to be good

  • @FuchsiaShocked
    @FuchsiaShocked 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Another really interesting look at gaming history. I do love when a new Kim Justice video comes out.

  • @manjx15
    @manjx15 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    What an amazing video.. many thanks for taking the time and researching something and someone who were truly influential in gaming and home computing in general. Brilliant.

  • @speedsterh
    @speedsterh 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    What a detective work to put that documentary out ! Very impressive.
    I didn't know Manic Miner's author was such a strong personnality. Now I will have a look at your other videos, they seem super interesting

  • @Thunderpuddle
    @Thunderpuddle 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Love your videos Kim. So good and interesting, especially for a UK lad who remembers these classic games and Mr Smith..

  • @videopdstudio
    @videopdstudio 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    JET SET WILLY - 40th ANNIVERSARY
    let's jump on the Banyan Tree!
    th-cam.com/video/FQgmk5TBS1U/w-d-xo.html

  • @KieronEdwards
    @KieronEdwards 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Superbly researched - thank you for this fascinating programme.

  • @DodderingOldMan
    @DodderingOldMan 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Jesus Christ, I got emotional at the end there. Very powerful words, Kim, and once again some of the best content on TH-cam.

    • @andrewsmail8307
      @andrewsmail8307 ปีที่แล้ว

      I been glued to it, gotta save last 20 mins for tomorrow as its getting too late lol.

  • @patrickfitzpatrick7245
    @patrickfitzpatrick7245 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Kim. As always a top quality video! The research is amazing! Thanks!

  • @B3tanTyronne
    @B3tanTyronne 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Many aspire too but Matthew is truly one of computing histories all time legends.

  • @ScoopDogg
    @ScoopDogg 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    FANTASTIC WORK Great documentary thanks, from a kid who remembers these days : )

  • @simongreaves210
    @simongreaves210 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Fab. Matty Smith was my Hero in the 80s. Made me enthused to take up coding, (Programming back then). A true Legend. Thanks Matthew. Hope you realise what a massive impact you had on us young hopefuls 🤣 I coded 'Star-Car' for the Spectrum when I was 12. It was an amazing time. That was what you would now call a PORT. I just re wrote it. (Moon-Buggy)
    Clones are good, if you're gonna make it available to more peeps.

  • @KaitainCPS
    @KaitainCPS 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Something I only realized looking back on this period from mid-adulthood:
    Games of the era were so locked into the amusement arcade model (three lives, average game time of around seven minutes, boot the customer off so someone else can put in the next 10p) that creators and publishers couldn't think outside of that box to realize that having a small number of lives was a TERRIBLE model for most original IP home video games. Manic Miner and JSW are good examples: to make the games fully playable, you really need infinite lives. This doesn't diminish the game-playing experience at all; it enhances it, because then you can actually get to see more than 20% of the game.
    Most games from the 80s effectively shipped in a broken state, although nobody at the time realized it. You had to use various loading cheats, peeks and pokes (infinite lives, or often 255 lives) to experience the games properly. Ultimate's arcade adventures are particularly good examples: something like "Entombed" or "Knight Lore" should never force you to restart the game from halfway through. If a game shipped with that functionality these days it would be deemed unacceptable.

  • @syrus3k
    @syrus3k 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Absolute gold as always Kim. I ought to pay to watch these.

  • @FireTripperJeff
    @FireTripperJeff 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Worked with Matt when he was at Runecraft, 20 years ago now. Really nice guy and quite a character :).

  • @JustWasted3HoursHere
    @JustWasted3HoursHere 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    It's really a shame how success destroys some people. History is littered with examples.

  • @RetroRelixRestorer
    @RetroRelixRestorer 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Another well written, produced and delivered hour of fact and entertainment; on someone who deserved so much more - but lost their way.

  • @FredSmith110
    @FredSmith110 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Fascinating. Thank you for making this documentary.

  • @evelghostrider
    @evelghostrider 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you sir for manic miner and almost 40 years of great memories ❤

  • @AcornElectron
    @AcornElectron 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Really, really enjoyed this Kimble x Jet Set Willy on Acorn Electron took up hours of my childhood. I didn’t know at the time that jsw2 wasn’t an actual sequel.

    • @theshamanarchist5441
      @theshamanarchist5441 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      That was the machine I used to play these games on also. A cheaper alternative to the BBC Model B.

  • @ShapeyFiend
    @ShapeyFiend 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    This is a brilliant, and sympathetic, recap of Matthews output. As there's a fairly obvious mental health component the tone of comments on the internet seem a bit insensitive sometimes, but hey, that's the internet I guess.

  • @colinthomson7518
    @colinthomson7518 ปีที่แล้ว

    brilliant video thanks. manic miner is my favourite game.

  • @Jamesharveycomics
    @Jamesharveycomics 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Good video, but as someone who has had two family members succumb to severe mental illness, I feel a bit queasy with regards to how Smith's mental illnesses are referred to only euphemistically ("demons") and with much coyness and tiptoeing. He's not "paying the price for hard living", or whatever you said- he's suffering from a very real and unfortunate condition that should be addressed with the frankness and clear-mindedness that such a condition warrants. Otherwise, we're just perpetuating stereotypes and ensuring that the UK remains in the dark ages in terms of its understanding of mental illness. This aside, it was a very enjoyable watch! Please keep making videos!

  • @mingtooter
    @mingtooter 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    As a life-long stoner, part time pillhead, and occasional astronaut, I can tell that is a man who has taken a LOT of drugs and had a few breakdowns. I feel bad for the guy honestly, he looks like he really did himself some damage. You can really f*ck yourself up if you push it too far. I'm glad he's still around and no matter what he's an icon and made a game I still love to this day. I hope he's doing okay x

  • @anactualmotherbear
    @anactualmotherbear 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Another great video. You do such an amazing job telling these stories.

  • @RowanDT
    @RowanDT 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Superb, especially love the old BBC Video opening

  • @smila007
    @smila007 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Superb as always Kim. cracking work ;)

  • @flyingcod14
    @flyingcod14 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I have aways said there is a film (or netflix series) about Matt and Willy's lives.

  • @eib8412
    @eib8412 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    OMG Kim that was awesome, your best video yet. Very honest yet respectful. I still remember the sheer joy of discovering new levels of Manic Miner and JSW. I remember plotting, in pencil on graph paper, the map to JSW as I uncovered it in my grandparents' house. I didn't know you couldn't finish it, no chance of getting that far! So many good trivia points I never knew. I nostalgically and instantly recall some of those Crash covers I read to death as a kid but haven't seen for decades. I forgot that video games used to get rated on "Instructions"! Some of the imitators are so close to JSW but deemed as homage while people are worried about Nintendo suing for that warped alien Kong level - not even like they can claim the word "Kong"! Matt won't sue, he is just extremely flattered. The stark difference between bedroom enthusiasts and big corporations I guess. Matt if you are watching or reading this, I salute you sir. You are a massive part of my childhood.

  • @stupossibleify
    @stupossibleify 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    This might be the definitive account of the programmer all of us growing up in the 80s recognised

  • @poohbear01x48
    @poohbear01x48 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Another great documentary, as always. Very informative and extremely interesting

  • @TheVanillatech
    @TheVanillatech 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    My friends Dad killed the family Spectrum one night after what was probably his 1000th attempt to finish JSW. I was sleeping over at their house, and we heard a loud "SMASH" followed by an even louder "FUCK OFF!", before his Dad came up the stairs and told us he was sorry and he would replace the Spectrum at the weekend. That was an infuriating, captivating and magical game.
    I'd finish it in 2009 with a CPC emulator, about 40 ish saved states and two very long nights. I know it's cheating but after 20 years of failure, I needed to just see what happens when you finally complete the game. Back in the late 80's, on a good day I could make it to Space, collecting eveything on the way, before losing all my lives.
    Massive respect to Matthew Smith for making one of the best games of all time.

  • @julien2983
    @julien2983 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    What a lovely tribute, thanks for the awesome video Kim!

  • @fordprefect80
    @fordprefect80 4 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I didn't play Manic Miner but enjoyed the c64 knock off, Blagger. Jet Set Willy brings back a lot of fond memories for me even though I was never skilled enough to get far.

  • @neildhan
    @neildhan 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I had Jet Set Willy on the Commodore Plus 4, and found a cool bug. If you jumped off the edge of a screen, so that you landed just into the next one, you would skip that screen and appear in the one after. This was interesting when there wasn't one after, because you'd find yourself coming into another screen far away.

  • @guitarHero1885
    @guitarHero1885 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    nice one! love your vids kim :)

  • @chrisherbert9924
    @chrisherbert9924 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    This is a very interesting video, I love the manic miner game too.

  • @Jayce_Alexander
    @Jayce_Alexander 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    A new Kim Justice video on my birthday! Best present! :D

  • @namcos
    @namcos 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I had Henry's Hoard (and re-bought recently). It was a bastard of a game to load as most of the time it would crash after loading! But once you did get it to run properly (after reloading the game a couple of times) it was a difficult but fun game.

  • @theshamanarchist5441
    @theshamanarchist5441 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Mate. I'm less than 3 minutes into this. The guy hasn't even said a word and already you've framed him as a computing Sid Barrett.
    Give the guy a break!

    • @theshamanarchist5441
      @theshamanarchist5441 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      @Hash Lee Oh aiye yeah.

    • @theshamanarchist5441
      @theshamanarchist5441 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      @Hash Lee No worries bud. I appreciate your passion for the man. Have a good one.

  • @dansplain2393
    @dansplain2393 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I’m in heaven. Thank you for this beautiful retrospective, and thank you Matthew for your brilliance

  • @paulmorphy6187
    @paulmorphy6187 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Who else played Technician Ted and didn't have the first clue what they were meant to be doing?

    • @TheVerticalDave
      @TheVerticalDave 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      me. same with zoids, shadowfire and tir na nog

    • @kriszteblade
      @kriszteblade 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      30 years after playing ZX as a kid I managed to finish Manic Miner (no pokes) and be able to finish JSW (with infinite lives). But Technician Ted is still an impossible and simply a terrible game.

  • @crazytrain7721
    @crazytrain7721 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I am back to watch this again! Thank you Matt Smith, JSW is one of my fondest memories of childhood. Thanks for making this, brilliant!

  • @jamesroberts8971
    @jamesroberts8971 5 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    Great video, very informative :) I am also an indie developer these days (Ex games - Elite, NMS) so a lot of that rings true to me.

    • @bobhands578
      @bobhands578 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I worked at Runecraft while Matt was there. He was an enigma to say the least.