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SPECCY EMULATORS FOR WINDOWS

This page last updated on 14 August 2001

[DOS] [Windows] [UNIX/Linux] [OS/2] [Mac] [Archie] [Amiga] [Psion 5] [Windows CE] [ST/TT] [Java] [Playstation] [Dreamcast] [QL] [Other Platforms]
[Benchmarks]

15 emulators listed:

[GLECK] [MultiMachine] [PASMulator] [SEM] [Speccyal] [SpecEmu] [SpecX] [vbSpec] [WinXZX] [WinZ80] [WSpecEm] [ZX] [ZX32] [ZX Plus] [ZX Spectrum Simulator]

As well as the emulators listed here, many of the emulators for DOS will run successfully under Windows.

[New!] GLECK v0.0.5 (Ignacio Burgueño)

  1. Emulates all the standard models, the Pentagon and the Scorpion.
  2. Loads .SNA (48K only), .SP and .Z80 snapshots, BLK, .TAP, .VOC and .TZX tape files and .TRD disk images (all optionally from .ZIP files).
  3. Saves .SNA (48K only) and .SP files.
  4. No real tape support.
  5. Requires?
  6. Speed?
  7. Freeware?
  8. Good points?
  9. Bad points?
  10. No other comments, other than I haven't tried this as I don't have a Windows machine.
  11. Available from GLECK Home Page or World of Spectrum.

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MultiMachine v1.3b (Paul A. Hodgson)

  1. Emulates 16/48/128K Spectrum, +2/+2A/+3 and the Timex TS2068.
  2. Loads .ACH, .PRG, .SNA (both 48K and 128K variants), .SNX, .SP, SLT (and LLT), .Z80 and .ZX snapshots, from Z80's and Warajevo's .TAP, .TZX and .VOC tapes and from .DSK disks.
  3. No saving yet.
  4. No real tape support.
  5. Requires Win95/NT and DirectX 5.0 (DirectX 5.0 is currently not available for WinNT though :-(); ports to other OSs are planned.
  6. Runs faster than a real Spectrum on this P100.
  7. Freeware.
  8. Good contended memory emulation, nice UI and generally well-polished.
  9. Incomplete Z80 emulation(?): some snaps cause a crash (eg Match Day II); no 'flash' loading of tapes, and loading of 128K .SNA snaps is broken.
  10. MultiMachine is so called because not only does it emulate all the main Speccy models, it also emulates the Amstrad CPC 464/664/6128/464+/6128+, the ZX80/ZX81/TS1000, the Jupiter Ace, the Elan Enterprise, with plans for the MSX, PCW 8000 and Tandy TRS-80 ranges!
  11. Available from the MultiMachine Homepage or World of Spectrum.

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PASMulator 0.22 (Paulo Sérgio Cardoso)

  1. Emulates 48K Spectrum/TK95 (Brazilian Spectrum clone), and a whole load of arcade machines.
  2. Loads .SNA files.
  3. No saving.
  4. No real tape support.
  5. Requires Win9x and DirectDraw.
  6. Speed?
  7. Freeware?
  8. Comes with a built in monitor/disassembler; source code (Delphi 2.0) also available.
  9. Spectrum emulation is pretty simplistic.
  10. No other comments.
  11. Available from the PASMulator Home Page.

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[Updated!] SEM v0.33 (Alexander Patrakov)

  1. Emulates the 48K Spectrum and all common joysticks.
  2. Loads from .SNA and .Z80 snapshots, .POK poke files. Incomplete support for .VOC tape files.
  3. Saves to .SNA, .Z80 and .POK files.
  4. No real tape support.
  5. Requires a 32-bit version of Windows.
  6. Runs at up to 400% on a P133 MMX, but can be slowed down.
  7. Freeware (but see below).
  8. Has an 'Undo' feature to go back 10 seconds.
  9. Possible problems with ISA sound cards.
  10. Runs much better under Windows NT.
  11. Not available at the author's request after problems caused by developing it on university machines.

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Speccyal v0.72b (Stephane Schmitz)

  1. Emulates 48K Spectrum and all common joysticks.
  2. Loads from .SNA and .Z80 snapshots, .TAP tape files and .SCR screenshots.
  3. Saves to .SNA snapshots, .TAP tape files and .SCR screenshots.
  4. No real tape support.
  5. Needs Windows 9x (or NT?) and DirectX.
  6. Speed?
  7. Freeware.
  8. Basic built-in debugger/monitor included.
  9. Bad points?
  10. No other comments.
  11. Available from the author's home page or World of Spectrum.

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[New!] SpecEmu v1.2 (Mark Woodmass)

  1. Emulates 48K, 128K, +2 and (partially) the +3, as well as the Multiface 128 and 3.
  2. Loads .SNA and .Z80 snapshots, .TAP and .TZX tapes and .DSK disks.
  3. Saves .Z80 snapshots, .TAP tapes and .DSK disks.
  4. No real tape support.
  5. Requires Windows 95/98 or ME.
  6. Tested by the author on a Celeron 266, but he doesn't say what the results were!
  7. Freeware?
  8. Good points?
  9. Bad points?
  10. Again, I haven't tested this as I don't have a Windows box.
  11. Available from World of Spectrum.

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SpecX v1.12 (Robin Edwards and Andrew Murdoch)

  1. Emulates 48K Spectrum with Kempston and Cursor joysticks.
  2. Loads from .SNA snapshots and from .TAP, .RAW and .WAV tape files.
  3. Saves to .SNA snapshots.
  4. No real tape support.
  5. Needs Win95/98/NT4, DirectX and a 2Mb graphics card.
  6. Much faster than a real Spectrum on this P2-233, but can auto-adjust to real Spectrum speed. Author states that a P133 is required for true speed emulation.
  7. Shareware (£10); unregistered version times out after 10 minutes and cannot save emulator settings.
  8. Comes with 1x1, 2x2 and full screen modes with and without scanlines. Has a simple 'Poke memory' option for Multiface pokes.
  9. Nothing obviously wrong, but there are certainly emulators which more features available.
  10. This is basically a port of SPEC to the Windows environment.
  11. Available from World of Spectrum.

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vbSpec v1.20 (Chris Cowley)

  1. Emulates the 48K/128K/+2 Spectrums.
  2. Loads from .SNA and .Z80 snapshots.
  3. Saves to .SNA and .Z80 snapshots.
  4. No real tape support.
  5. Requires 32-bit Windows.
  6. According to the author, full speed on a 266 MHz PII.
  7. GPL.
  8. Good points?
  9. Bad points?
  10. Written entirely in Visual Basic!
  11. Available from vbSpec's Homepage.

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WinXZX v2.1.3 beta (Nick Savoiu, Razvan Surdulescu, Erik Kunze and Des Herriott)

  1. Emulates 48/128/+3 with Multiface 128, Interface 1 and Microdrive, Kempston Joystick.
  2. Loads .SNA, .Z80, .SLT (LLT also) snapshots and from .TAP, .MDR and .DSK files.
  3. Saves to .SNA, .Z80, .SLT, .TAP, .MDR and .DSK files.
  4. No real tape support.
  5. Requires MS Windows 9x or NT.
  6. Around 36% Spectrum speed on a P100; can reach 100% on a PII-233, but the automatic speed adjustment doesn't work properly.
  7. Freeware.
  8. Quick 1, 2 and 3 times normal screen scaling settings. Spectrum screen can be saved to SCR file or printed. Quite nice GUI.
  9. Slow. Fiddly to set up tape/disk/microdrives because these are buried in the options dialog. TAP routines seem buggy (many I tried didn't work or appeared to have no blocks within them).
  10. Lots of options to play with, including optional FLASH and border emulation. Multiface 128 ROM is not included due to copyright problems. Also available for Unix/Linux and BeOS. This version is has no new features over the previous one, but is no longer time expired.
  11. Available from the WinXZX Homepage or World of Spectrum.

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WinZ80 v4.00 (Gerton Lunter)

  1. Emulates 48K/128K with Interface I, SamRam (author's own ROM), Multiface 128, Currah microSpeech, SpecDRUM, various joysticks and the Kempston mouse.
  2. Loads .SNA, .Z80, and .SLT (LLT also) snapshots, from .TAP, .TZX, .RAW and .VOC tape files, from .MDR cartridge images, RS232 save files and .SCR and .GIF screenshots.
  3. Saves to all the above except .TZX files.
  4. Can sample from any Windows wave device.
  5. Requires Windows 3.x/9x/NT. Around a 486-33 needed for full speed emulation, depending on options chosen.
  6. Fast; easy to slow down to real Speccy speed though.
  7. Shareware. Shareware version has no real-tape support and is time-limited.
  8. Resizable windows, very good AY and flag emulation, a very nice monitor/debugger/assembler, and lots of features you won't find anywhere else.
  9. GUI perhaps not as polished as some other Windows emulators.
  10. Clearly the best Win 3.x emulator, and stands up very well on 9x/NT as well. A related (but not identical) DOS version also available. Can make a reasonable attempt at loading any .GIF file onto the Speccy's screen!
  11. Available from World of Spectrum (this file includes both the DOS and Windows versions).

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WSpecEm v1.31/v1.4b (Rui F. Ribeiro)

  1. Emulates 48K Spectrum with Kempston/Sinclair joystick.
  2. Loads from .SNA, .SNX, .Z80, .SIT, .SP, .RAW, .PRG, .ACH, .SLT (and LLT) snapshot files and from .TAP tape images.
  3. Saves to all the snap formats listed above apart from .SLT, but not to tape files.
  4. Real tape support provided via an extra program.
  5. Requires Windows 3.x/9x/NT and WinG.
  6. Around 25-30% Spectrum speed on a 486SX/25 @ 800x600 res, 64K colour Cirrus video card, 8MB machine. Runs at a bit over 100% speed on a P75 with otherwise identical setup. Note these speeds are for 1x1 scaled window, /3 frame rate. Larger sizes and full frame rate are slower. Runs at over 100% speed on this PII-233, but can be slowed down.
  7. Freeware - GPL; all the author wants is a postcard.
  8. Resizable window, with quick 1, 2 and 3 times normal size settings as well. Quick save/load function for saving a snapshot and reloading it without going through a file selector. Drag and drop snapshot loading. Saves Spectrum screen to SCR and PCX files. Now has a nice installation routine for Win95; though it registers a lot of extensions (for different snapshots) which may interfere with other registered extensions (e.g. SIT is also a type of archive file, PRG is an Atari TOS program, and so on).
  9. Doesn't save SLT snapshots yet.
  10. Currently two versions: v1.31 for Win 3.x and v1.4b for 9x/NT; v1.4b plays the beeper through your soundcard and sounds much better. No longer being updated.
  11. Available from author's old web page; v1.4b is available from World of Spectrum.

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ZX v0.51 Beta (Daniele Orro)

  1. Emulates 48K Spectrum.
  2. Loads from .SNA and .Z80 snapshot files, and from .TAP, .RAW and .WAV tape files.
  3. Saves to .SNA and .Z80 snapshot files.
  4. Real tape support via a SoundBlaster card.
  5. Requires Win 9x and DirectX. Didn't work on an NT machine I tried it on.
  6. Not that fast, but runs at full Speccy speed on my PII-233.
  7. May be freely distributed in its original archive.
  8. Nothing obviously wrong.
  9. Didn't run very well in a double size screen on my machine, but was fine running full-screen.
  10. No other comments.
  11. Available in English or Italian from World of Spectrum.

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ZX32 / Spectrum Emulator for Win95 v2.00.04.04 (Vaggelis Kapartzianis)

  1. Emulates 48K/+/128K/+2/+2A/+3/, Kempston/Sinclair/Cursor joysticks and the Multiface 128.
  2. Loads .SLT, .Z80, .SNA, .SP and .ZXS snapshots, from .TAP, .BLK, .TZX and .ZXT tape files, from .CPD, .DSK and .ZXD disk images and from .SCR screenshots. (The .ZX? formats are zx32's own format).
  3. Saves .Z80, .SNA and .ZXS snapshots, to .TAP, .TZX and .ZXT tapes, to .CPD, .DSK and .ZXD disks, and to .SCR screenshots.
  4. No real tape support.
  5. Requires DirectX, Windows 95 or NT (4.0 or higher), 486DX2/66, P75 recommended.
  6. Very fast on a P100 with 32Mb, Cirrus Logic 5446 PCI video card (sets itself to normal Speccy speed by default, speed adjustable).
  7. Freeware.
  8. Fast and very professionally done - help file, install/uninstall routines. Freely changeable window size, plus fullscreen mode (with rounded edges and scanline emulation), rainbowing and quite good AY emulation too, with selectable frequency/volume/noise masking. Can open snapshots/tapes from within ZIP files without you having to unzip them. Good contended memory emulation. Automatically starts/stops tape files as needed, and gives a pretty good approximation of loading noise if you want it.
  9. Bits 3 and 5 of the flags not perfectly emulated.
  10. One of the best Windows emulators currently available. Multiface 128 ROM is not supplied with the distributions. Latest beta versions support 24 and 32-bit colour modes.
  11. Version 1.03 available from the ZX32 homepage or World of Spectrum; the update to 2.00.04.04 (you need the main file first) is either on the ZX32 homepage or World of Spectrum.

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ZX Plus v0.23 (Mark Swinhoe and Justin Wood)

  1. Emulates the 48K and 128K Spectrums.
  2. Loads from .SNA and .Z80 snapshots.
  3. Saves to .SNA snapshots.
  4. No real tape support.
  5. Requires Win 9x and DirectX 7, but doesn't use the normal GUI. Screwed up the display of the NT machine I tried it on.
  6. Runs at true Speccy speed on this PII-233.
  7. Freeware?
  8. Good points?
  9. Feels buggy: a fair proportion of the snaps I tried (eg Manic Miner, Match Day II, Xeno, etc) didn't work correctly. Version 0.21 also confused the display I was running on, and didn't display anything sensible at all on the NT machine I tried this on.
  10. Above comments written for v0.22, as I don't have DirectX 7 on this machine.
  11. Available from the ZX Plus Home Page or World of Spectrum.

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ZX Spectrum Simulator v1.02 (Miklos Bartha)

  1. Emulates 48K Spectrum.
  2. Loads .SNA snapshots.
  3. Saves .SNA snapshots.
  4. No real tape support.
  5. Requires Windows 3.11 (with Win32s?) or Win95/NT.
  6. Selectable speed; can go much faster than a real Spectrum on this P100, but doesn't auto-adjust to real Spectrum speed (or give an indication of how fast it is going).
  7. Freeware?
  8. Good points? This version is certainly much better than v1.01.
  9. Bad points?
  10. I haven't had time to play around much with this version yet, so some of the above may be untrue.
  11. Available from SunSite Poland or World of Spectrum.

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