ZX Spectrum to return with Vega reboot

A company raised more than £150,000 to revive the extinct 1980s machine

The original ZX Spectrum was simple to plug into your TV and get playing on

With its rubber keys, BASIC code and games that took hours to load, the ZX Spectrum would offer no competition to the multimillion pound titles available at the touch of the button on modern games consoles.

But that hasn’t stopped a company from reviving the extinct 1980s machine after raising more than £150,000 in just 36 hours via a crowdfunding campaign.

Known as the Spectrum Vega, the modernised version of the hugely successful product has fewer buttons than the original, but will run thousands of games including, Hungry Horace, BMX Ninja and Bear Bovver.

The ZX Spectrum Vega features fewer keys than the original

Costing £100, like the original, users will be able to plug it into their TV and play. The company behind the comeback, Retro Computers, is chaired by the Spectrum’s maverick creator, Sir Clive Sinclair.

“We are going into production with the Vega in record time,” he said in a statement on the company’s website. “It’s only three months since we launched our crowdfunding appeal and we already have prototypes in the factory.”

Sir Clive Sinclair’s Retro Computers raised £150,000 in 36 hours to get the Vega project running (Getty)

The first consoles will be distributed at the end of this month to the 1,000 customers who ordered them. Another 3,000 will be distributed in June and the company said there are plans to produce another 10,000 in the autumn if demand takes off.

It is estimated that 11,000 games were written for the Spectrum and the Vega has “sufficient memory to allow the user to download other games that will be available from launch, for free”.