Sports Management
From the origins of Kevin Toms’ Football Manager in 1982, sports management games were available in a plethora of styles on the ZX Spectrum. There are a lot that are written in Z80, but these are the more interesting ones. This is where your turbo mode on your emulator or 28Mhz mode on your Spectrum Next comes in handy :)
What’s in each download
Each download will contain the tape image/snapshot of the title plus a number of text files depending on how many parts there were for the title.
Sometimes the .TXT files included were the equivalent of MERGE “” to get at the code, others were a lot harder. For every one, I’ve used ZX Preview to get at the BASIC.
Not all of the titles on this, and the other pages, will use all the possibilities listed in the legend below. The easier ones to port to another language/system will be the ones that used the least of the ZX Spectrum’s functionality.
The majority of the TXT files with the source code will have one command per line – aka ‘Structured mode’ as ZX Preview calls it. This, to my mind, makes it easier to understand and read through if you’ve never seen a ZX BASIC code listing before. There might be some still using a normal list, but I’ll replace those as and when I find them.
Table Legend:
UDGs = Code uses UDGs within the Print statements. UDGs are either POKEd via BASIC, or loaded from tape.
Font = Uses a new font to replace the standard Sinclair font. BASIC will poke 23606 & 23607 with the new address.
Z80 = Uses Z80 machine code, either in separate files or in REM statements within the BASIC code.
MS = Uses Memory Savings (see this page) to save precious bytes for the target machine(s).
EC = Uses Embedded Colours (as well as, or instead of BORDER, PAPER & INK commands)
EG = Uses Extended Graphics (The little square shapes available in Extended Mode)
Sports Management Games
| Game Title/Year | Download | UDGs? | Font? | Z80? | CS? | EC? | EG? | Notes |
| Ashes (CCS, 1984) | Download | Y | N | N | ? | ? | ? | Cricket Management game. |
| Boxing Manager (Willysoft, 1987) | Download | N | N | N | Y | Y | ? | Boxing Manager simulator with built-in cheat routine. |
| Cricket Master (E&J Software, 1987) | Download | N | N | Y | Y | Y | ? | Has 1 x Z80 routine. Variable names are useful! |
| European Champions (E&J Software, 1990) | Download | N | N | N | Y | Y | ? | |
| Football Manager (Addictive Games, 1982) | Download | Y | N | N | ? | Y | ? | The OG of Football Strategy Games! Some BEEPs here and there. |
| The Boss (aka Soccer Boss) (Peaksoft, 1984) | Download | Y | N | N | Y | Y | ? | |
| Test Master (E&J Software,1988) | Download | Y | N | N | Y | Y | ? |
Sports Management Games by D&H Games / Cult Software
D & H Games usually released the full price version of certain management titles and Cult would re-release it. However, Cult also released their own range of budget sports management games as well.
| Game Title/Year | Download | UDGs? | Font? | Z80? | CS? | EC? | EG? | Notes |
| 2 Player Soccer Squad (1991) | Download | N | N | N | Y | Y | ? | Main program also MERGEs in extra commands / removes unwanted lines once setup. |
| The Boxer (1990) | Download | N | N | Y | Y | Y | ? | Uses 3 x Z80 routines in top of memory. |
| Boxing Manager (1988) | Download | N | N | Y | Y | Y | ? | Uses 3 x Z80 routines in top of memory. |
| The Footballer (1989) | Download | Y | N | N | Y | Y | ? | |
| On the Bench (1988) | Download | Y | N | N | ? | ? | ? | This game has multiple BASIC programs that are loaded / merged in one after the other. A list of the lines that are removed is included. |
| Striker Manager (1991) | Download | Y | N | N | Y | Y | ? |
To follow: E&J Software section