The retro revival has been running on familiar fuel for years now – mini consoles, pixel art indies, the same SNES and Mega Drive greatest hits doing the rounds – but something slightly left-field is starting to happen, and it doesn’t come from the living room console wars, the battle of Sega and Nintendo, but from somewhere old, and little UK-centric, it’s the even deeper contest betwee the clacky, beige keyboards and rubber keys of two of the 1980s most-loved home computers.
The reveal of the new THEC64 Handheld and Spectrum Handheld from Blaze Entertainment’s HyperMegaTech! brand – that makes the impressive and fun Super Pocket handhelds – feels like stoking a fire between Speccy fans and Commodore enthusiasts that has been smouldering for 44 years (grudges are long held). But more so, this is a tipping point as retro gaming finds new avenues of games and hardware to recreate and in new ways, whether that’s the recent NEOGEO AES+ or these Game Boy DS-like retro takes on two 1980s home computers.
Each device comes pre-loaded with 25 games, which on paper sounds like the usual nostalgia bundle, but the lists here lean into cult classics and deeper cuts, with games like Boulder Dash, Speedball 2, and X-Out impressing on THEC64 and Head Over Heels, Manic Miner and Skool Daze a reminder that the Spectrum Handheld can hold its own. For me, it's a no-brainer, but for anyone who grew up with Nintendo and Sega, this is a treasure trove of weird, inventive, and curious retro games where experimentation trumped iterative mascot re-runs.
What really pushes this beyond another plug-and-play throwback, though, is how much these handhelds tap into each one’s computer heritage. There’s a MicroSD slot so you can load your own games, a rear USB-A port for plugging in a keyboard or joystick, and a surprising amount of system-level tinkering. For example, you can switch between PAL and NTSC modes, jump across different hardware variants, and even mess with CPU speeds on the Spectrum side.
The hardware itself looks solid. Each retro handheld features a 4.3-inch IPS screen at 800x480, and there’s a modern D-pad and face buttons with four extra function keys that echo the original machines and offer a solution to games that would rely on keyboard commands. On the THEC64, the keys are hard plastic, while on the Spectrum, they're rubber, naturally, for that authentic Speccy experience. As is the case with modern retro hardware, save states, display options, and clean UI overlays are on offer to those who want to play old games in modern comfort.
It can feel right now that console nostalgia has been strip-mined, with some cult machines left to explore, such as the mentioned NEOGEO AES+, but also the often rumoured Dreamcast remake, but 1980s home computers are a different take entirely, as these often feature ambitious ideas that didn’t always land but veered away from simple arcade mechanics found on the consoles of the era. For players, developers, and, in fact, anyone curious about where a lot of today’s design language actually came from, both THEC64 Handheld and Spectrum Handheld are important to remember and replay. Me? I’m just a lifelong Speccy fan who’ll play anything with rubber keys.
Pre-orders are open on the THEC64 Handheld, and the Spectrum Handheld will cost $129.99 / £109.99. Collector's Editions are limited to 2000 units, come with a free replica magazine (Zzap Magazine or Crash Magazine), and cost $149.99 / £129.99.
