Don't Buy This

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Don't Buy This
Don't Buy This ZX Spectrum cassette inlay.png
Cover art of Don't Buy This, depicting a screenshot from Fido 2: Puppy Power
Developer(s) Various
Publisher(s) Firebird
Platform(s) ZX Spectrum
Release1 April 1985
Genre(s) Various
Mode(s) Single-player

Don't Buy This (also known as Don't Buy This: Five of the Worst Games Ever) is a compilation of video games for the ZX Spectrum released on 1 April 1985. As described on the box, it contains five of the poorest games submitted to publisher Firebird. Instead of rejecting the submissions, they decided to mock the original developers by releasing them together and publicly brand it as "unoriginal" and "awful". Firebird even disowned all their copyright to the game and encouraged buyers to pirate it at will. [1]

Contents

Reviews for the game were universally negative, with critics questioning how to critique the game due to its publicity being based on it being a collection of bad games. Despite the negative reception, the game was a commercial success.

Games

Clockwise: Fido 1, Weasel Willy, Race Ace, and Fruit Machine. Collage of Don't Buy This.png
Clockwise: Fido 1, Weasel Willy, Race Ace, and Fruit Machine.

Release

The package contains a selection of the worst Spectrum games ever published in the world!

James Leavey, Firebird's marketing manager on Don't Buy This. [4]

Don't Buy This was published by Telecomsoft under the Firebird label. Firebird disowned the game upon release, with Firebird's marketing manager James Leavey claiming that the game "wasn't released — it just escaped!" [5] The publisher also encouraged copying the game, offering a chance to win a sticker or badge for people who wrote to the company about the game. [6] It was released on 1 April 1985 under Firebird's Silver Range for £2.50. [7] A sequel was in consideration, with the working titles of either Don't Buy This 2, Don't Buy This Again, or Don't Buy This Either. [8]

Reception

Your Spectrum wrote: "The games aren't that bad as do-it-yourself games but, they won't provide that much fun." [11] Sinclair User said it contained "five of the most uninspired games ever to disgrace the Spectrum." [9]

A reviewer for Computer and Video Games noted that the game was difficult to give a score due to it being publicised as being a collection of bad games, but declared it to be "good for a laugh". [12]

John Szczepaniak from Hardcore Gaming 101 featured the game as part of their "Your Weekly Kusoge" column. Szczepaniak, while describing the games as "uninspired, dull and lazy", he did not consider them to be the worst games on the ZX Spectrum. [6] Despite the negative criticism towards the game, Retro Gamer in 2005 reported that it was a commercial success. [7]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The review gives the score in brackets, leaving the reader to decide whether they should be interpreted as accounting brackets, i.e. a negative score.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Don't Buy This instructions at World of Spectrum
  2. ↑ "Don't Buy This". 7 September 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Reviews". Crash . No. 17. Newsfield. June 1985. pp.  46-47.
  4. ↑ "Should You Buy This?". Sinclair Programs . No. 32. June 1985. p.  11.
  5. ↑ "Software Update". Home Computing Weekly. No. 112. 14 May 1985. p. 6.
  6. 1 2 Szczepaniak, John (12 May 2011). "Your Weekly Kusoge: Don't Buy This". Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  7. 1 2 "Back to the Eighties". Retro Gamer . No. 15. Imagine Publishing. April 2005. pp. 8–9.
  8. ↑ "Don't Buy This". 7 September 2016.
  9. 1 2 Edgeley, Claire (July 1985). "Spectrum Software Scene". Sinclair User . No. 40. p.  26.
  10. ↑ "Soft Focus". Sinclair Programs . No. 34. August 1985. p. 17.
  11. 1 2 Dave; Ross; Roger (August 1985). "Joystick Jury". Your Spectrum . No. 17. Sportscene Specialist Press. p.  42.
  12. ↑ "Don't Buy This". Computer and Video Games . No. 45. Future plc. July 1985. p.  94.
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