The Amstrad GX4000

[Spector]

I bought an Amstrad GX4000 in 1991 in Dixons. It was on "sale" for £19.99, and I knew by that point the machine had commercially failed, but I just wanted to play Burnin' Rubber and maybe pick up another game or two on the cheap. Right away I noticed the AY chip from my Speccy 128, and the gameplay was basically Wec Le Mans from the year before. It stuck faithfully to the Amstrad tradition: more colour, less speed and the feeling you might have wasted your money. The Spectrum version of Le Mans actually played better; the only thing Burnin' Rubber had over it was the very attractive change from day to night made possible by the 4096 colour palette.

Most amusing for me was the picture on the side of the console box showing two children happily playing the GX4000. Closer inspection showed the cartridge in the photo had been superimposed onto the console slot, meaning    the kids weren't actually playing anything!! What a surprise!

There was an Amstrad helpline contained in the box, so I phoned them the day after buying the machine and screamed "Death to Sugar!" before hanging up. Then I destroyed the console with a hammer. All in all a good laugh for twenty quid.

[TL]

Liar! I reckon you sleep with it on your pillow every night! 

[Spector]

Liar! I reckon you sleep with it on your pillow every night! 

You're getting me mixed up with TMR and his Commodore 64!!

[TL]

Liar! I reckon you sleep with it on your pillow every night! 

You're getting me mixed up with TMR and his Commodore 64!!

Or possibly DreamcastRIP and his Wii U

[Katzkatz]

I've only really seen the game in magazines, but I did get to play on one at 'Geek Expo' in Margate.  I played 'Klax' on it.  It was okay, but rather like the Commodore 64GS it was a misfire for Amstrad.  When you have a console based on an already established computer(with a few exceptions - the CD32 did okay I believe) it doesn't seem to work. 

[DreamcastRIP]

Liar! I reckon you sleep with it on your pillow every night! 

You're getting me mixed up with TMR and his Commodore 64!!

Or possibly DreamcastRIP and his Wii U

Which one? I have the white Wii U 'Basic' model and both the white and the black 'Premium' models. Gotta collect 'em all...

[onthinice]

Cheers to DreamcastRIP. Single handly saving Nintendo one console purchase at a time.

[Tachi]

Gotta collect 'em all...

We will make a Pokemon fan out of you yet!

[Spector]

Gotta collect 'em all...

We will make a Pokemon fan out of you yet!

Oh no you won't!! 

[onthinice]

LOL

[Bobinator]

Why is it that all our threads seem to turn to Nintendo, eventually? I swear, you guys remind of that one anime trope. The girl who's always teasing and insulting the boy she likes because she's too afraid to tell him the truth. "Oh, Nintendo, how I love you. And yet I hate you! And yet I love you. And yet I hate you! And yet I LOVE you."

...Oh, right, we were talking about the Amstrad, weren't we? Well, since this is Amstrad we're dealing with here, I guess we can all go ahead and say that it probably wasn't very good. When Ocean is your best developer, you know you've got problems right from the get go.

[DreamcastRIP]

Well, since this is Amstrad we're dealing with here, I guess we can all go ahead and say that it probably wasn't very good.

Spot-on!

[zapiy]

I think 2013 is the year for me getting one of these.

[Spector]

I think 2013 is the year for me getting one of these.

Good luck! Let me know when you acquire one, so that I can look out for it on Ebay the following week.

[zapiy]

Lol i dont sell stuff once i get it.. Not often lol.