I definitely had a spectrum version that didn't have the lenslok - think it was the 128k version as I remember playing in on the Speccy +2. Picked it up in Boots in either Great Yarmouth or Lowestoft when on holiday. I think it was also missing some of the ship types from the earlier Spectrum version too.
Yes it was the re-released Firebird Gold version that was made 128K compatible. I think the box was the same, perhaps just with a sticker saying it was compatible... will have to venture into the loft & dig it out!
I'd got it for Christmas and was initially completely panic struck to open it up and find the lenslock 'missing'. I'd been borrowing a mate's that did have a lenslock in the weeks before, and it looked like my Christmas was about become a disaster! Fortunately I decided to try loading it anyway and soon spotted that the loading screen was different...
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Not sure if the original had a turbo-load too but the re-release was just a standard speccy load that even overwrote the loading picture with the data file name! I don't think there were any ships missing, but the next thing I spotted was that the type face was the standard Sinclair font, which I was pretty disappointed about! Bad form Firebird!!!
Wasn't too impressed at the time, so I decided to make my own tape that had a new loader and POKE'd in an improved font and symbol graphics based from screenshots I had in "Your Spectrum" magazine!
Yep, I've always been a bit of a tinkerer!
Original 48k version ......................... 128k re-release .................................... My edit!
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The S/E and warning circle graphics weren't the same as the original release either. In fact the circle was wonky and flickered, so I'd fixed that too!
Original 48k version ......................... 128k re-release .................................... My edit!
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wasn't quite the same as the original 48k but much kinder on the eye than the bodged re-release!
