This retro gaming console was built with two categories of people in mind: gamers who enjoy retro titles (obviously!) and owners of the original ZX Spectrum who want to see a more modern iteration of that classic computer.
What better way to test people’s interest for a product than featuring it on a crowdfunding site? That’s exactly what Retro Computers Ltd must have thought when they got their product on Indiegogo, where they’re asking £100 for a bit of retro gaming. The company must have hit some right notes, as the campaign has met its funding goal in one day, and it looks like it will raise much more until January 30, when it will end.
This is how the developers of the retro game console described their product on Indiegogo:
“The Vega has been developed by Chris Smith, a former ZX Spectrum games developer who is the world’s leading expert on Sinclair Spectrum technology and author of the definitive technical book The ZX Spectrum ULA: How to design a microcomputer.
Retro Computers Ltd is making arrangements with the owners of the software rights to Spectrum games to donate a combined software royalty to a charity – Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. The company’s Chairman, Dr David Levy, had his life saved by the hospital when he was diagnosed with meningitis as a 3-year-old.
This Indiegogo campaign is to raise funds to manufacture the first 1,000 units of the Vega within the UK and to prepare us for the second production run.”
It seems to have become a trend nowadays to bring old consoles back from the dead. Particularly Nintendo’s Game Boy has been getting a lot of love from nostalgics who want to resurrect it in various ways, and now the ZX Spectrum is making an appearance in a slightly more modern form. There’s nothing wrong about that, as the newer generations should learn about old consoles, as well, and it’s probably a lot cheaper to get a ZX Spectrum Vega then looking for the original one on eBay. Jump in the bandwagon if you want to replay Manic Miner, JetPac, Fred, or if you simply are curious about how those old games looked. Besides, the manufacturer will help a children’s charity for every ZX Spectrum Vega sold, so you also get the chance of giving a hand.
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