128 – 4 Pack by Tynesoft contains four games (unsurprisingly) on a single jewel case that I am sure would have attracted no-one to actually but the thing when it was released in 1987!
The front cover uses the individual game cover art, but shrunk down to be almost impossible to read. The other 50% of the cover is just stripes on a white background and this package seems like the kind of thing a designer would do at 5 to 5 on a Friday afternoon.
The spine proudly declares the package name, but no where at all on the packaging is the word Spectrum used, go god help anyone who bought it thinking it was for the Commodore 128! The tape also doesn’t list the game names so don’t lose that inlay. While you are at it, don’t lose flimsy instruction sheet that has been included for Blizzard Pass either as it has special loading instructions for that game. Most games on the Spectrum 128 just require you to press Enter twice to load them, but this needs you to go into 128 Basic and type in an OUT command.
I haven’t had chance to play the games yet and information on this release seems sparse, so I will update when I can find out more. Was it a pack in? Was it mail order? Or is it just lazy packaging design? If you know any more about it do let me know at [email protected]
There is a follow up, imaginatively called 128 – 6 Pack which I am on the look out for and that looks to have a much better design so maybe Tynesoft did learn a lesson?