Would You Buy a ZX Spectrum Mini?

Last Updated on August 22, 2023

It’s been over a year since Retro Games Ltd wished the ZX Spectrum a happy 40th anniversary while teasing a new mini system.

Naturally, everyone assumed that a ZX SPectrum Mini was on the cards.

But at the time of writing, 16 months later, nothing has happened. In fact, the ZX Spectrum hasn’t even had an Evercade cartridge, unlike the Commodore 64 and Amiga computers.

Not a whisper.

This is curious, not least because the ZX Spectrum has proved incredibly simple to emulate. Software called ZXBaremulator can run on the Raspberry Pi without Linux (this is known as “bare metal emulation”) as I demonstrated elsewhere.

(Mini retro systems typically rely on an ARM processor and a Linux operating system to run the emulation software required. This is always hidden behind some sort of simple user interface that is easy on the eye – the C64 Mini’s carousel, for example.)

The other retro minis

At this point in time, we have had THEC64 Mini, THEC64 (maxi), THEVIC20 (I mean, WTF?!) the NES Mini, the SNES Mini, the Mega Drive Mini, the Mega Drive Mini 2, a TurboGrafx-16 Mini, and of course THEA500 Mini.

Surley the time is right for a ZX Spectrum mini?! (Admittedly, it wouldn’t need to be much smaller than the original.)

Of course, it might be that I have misread the mood and no one actually wants a ZX Spectrum mini. To check, I’ve knocked up this simple poll: