The Most Played ZX Spectrum Games in 2021

By Epsilon Infographics 0 Comments

As usual at the end of each year viva-games.ru website offers a rating of “the most played” ZX Spectrum games. Since it’s impossible to calculate this information for “hardware” ZX Spectrum machines, statistics are calculated on basis of online versions of games (which don’t differ at all, because they are classic games, just run in the emulator).

How is this rating calculated?

Each time when a user of viva-games.ru starts the game it begins to register the statistics: how long the game was running, for how long a person played it (the only active time when some buttons were pressed or the mouse was moved), and how many people played the game during the year are registered. In this rating, only classic games for ZX Spectrum and also those which were released before 2010 are taken into account.

Why do you need this rating?

If you are planning to develop something for ZX Spectrum and want it to be something popular, use these games as an example to follow. Or maybe you’re just looking for something to play on New Year’s vacations?

And in spite of the fact that 70% of the viva-games.ru audience consists of the Russians and nearest foreigners, we can interpolate the information in this rating all over the world, because there are not so many Russian-speaking games in the list, while ZX Spectrum players are very similar all over the world.

And here are the tables themselves. The total number of games that were launched at least once in 2021 is 3714 (from a collection of more than 25000 games).

Ranking of the top 100 the most played games of 2021 by the amount of active time spent playing

#	Game Title	Total Play Time, hrs	Users Played
1	Multi-Player Soccer Manager	3494.07	618
2	Last Battle	2011.67	127
3	Tetris 2	1359.02	273
4	Nether Earth	1128.48	455
5	Exolon	876.32	437
6	Stalingrad	634.49	71
7	Saboteur II	516.09	194
8	Zynaps	507.75	136
9	Spellbound Dizzy	436.19	150
10	Lode Runner	412.34	244
11	Boulder Dash	408.08	319
12	Elite	408.05	176
13	Kingdom of Grain	387.47	269
14	Gothik	341.38	5
15	Tapper	329.61	65
16	R-Type	307.79	325
17	Fantasy World Dizzy	279.76	159
18	Battle Ships	269.85	60
19	Advanced Soccer Simulator	257.15	56
20	Rebelstar 2	247.74	64
21	Zulu Wars	246.78	87
22	Batty	224.72	301
23	Krakout	208.45	124
24	Quazatron	199.81	130
25	Wonderful Dizzy	195.44	37
26	Dizzy	191.88	168
27	Renegade	181.31	268
28	President +	171.51	92
29	Preliminary Monty	164.43	150
30	Dizzy XII: Underground	151.04	35
31	Magicland Dizzy	150.59	122
32	Target: Renegade	148.77	263
33	Dictator	140.97	188
34	Dizzy, Prince of the YolkFolk	138.04	87
35	Saboteur!	135.38	156
36	Chuckie Egg	133.99	17
37	Down to Earth	133.24	85
38	Boulder Dash II: Rockford's Riot	129.64	100
39	Crystal Kingdom Dizzy (2017 Edition)	129.50	71
40	Formula One	125.93	26
41	President	122.76	36
42	West Bank	121.60	50
43	Laser Squad - Remix	118.94	59
44	Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future	113.94	61
45	Dizzy and the Mystical Letter	113.28	67
46	Legions of Death	111.14	48
47	Elite III	110.08	25
48	Robin of the Wood	103.86	99
49	Fire 'n Ice	100.89	19
50	Hunt the Wumpus	100.27	4
51	Into the Eagle's Nest	99.45	120
52	Bruce Lee	99.35	197
53	River Raid	97.73	188
54	48K/128K BREAK and ERROR Trapper	97.23	1
55	Batman: The Movie	93.43	42
56	Full Throttle	93.39	7
57	Rebelstar	93.21	40
58	Klad: Chast' 1	93.19	5
59	Treasure Island Dizzy	93.14	83
60	New Dizzy	91.84	26
61	Bomb Jack	88.77	107
62	I, Ball	83.20	8
63	Zybex	78.55	97
64	Nifty Lifty	77.21	13
65	Home Iceland Dizzy	74.91	40
66	Flying Shark	71.56	101
67	Диззи Y: Возвращение в Россию	71.15	35
68	Sir Fred	70.87	27
69	Euro Boss	70.70	4
70	Poseidon: Planet Eleven	70.34	4
71	War Game, The	68.53	33
72	On the Bench	68.25	3
73	Metal Man Reloaded	64.09	28
74	Sinclair-Basic	64.03	5
75	Joe Blade III	63.30	65
76	Laser Squad	63.01	88
77	Star Raiders II	61.52	86
78	Freddy Hardest	60.92	49
79	Soldier of Fortune	60.75	50
80	Biniax 2	60.33	15
81	Way of the Exploding Fist, The	59.92	80
82	Boulder Dash III	58.81	51
83	Nebulus	57.37	86
84	Pyjamarama	54.57	63
85	Диззи X: Путешествие в Россию	54.16	43
86	Wham! The Music Box	53.20	9
87	Johnny Reb II	52.74	28
88	Green Beret	52.52	41
89	Deathchase	51.95	13
90	Bomber	50.18	10
91	HiSoft Devpac	48.68	8
92	Square Head	48.64	25
93	Chuckie Egg 2	48.59	25
94	Specventure	48.54	2
95	Crystal Kingdom Dizzy	48.22	49
96	Video Pool	47.22	83
97	Приключения Буратино	46.62	56
98	Elite 3	46.43	47
99	Dirty Dozer	46.40	47
100	Неожиданное путешествие	45.81	25

Click to show other 90 rows.

Ranking the top 100 the most played games of 2021 by the number of users spending at least 5 minutes in the game

#	Game Title	Users Played	Avg Time in Game, min
1	Multi-Player Soccer Manager	618	339.23
2	Nether Earth	455	148.81
3	Exolon	438	120.07
4	R-Type	325	56.82
5	Boulder Dash	319	76.76
6	Batty	301	44.79
7	Tetris 2	273	298.69
8	Kingdom of Grain	269	86.42
9	Renegade	268	40.59
10	Target: Renegade	263	33.94
11	Lode Runner	244	101.39
12	Bruce Lee	197	30.26
13	Saboteur II	194	159.62
14	Dictator	188	44.99
15	River Raid	188	31.19
16	Elite	176	139.11
17	Dizzy	168	68.53
18	Fantasy World Dizzy	159	105.57
19	Saboteur!	156	52.07
20	Spellbound Dizzy	150	174.48
21	Preliminary Monty	150	65.77
22	Zynaps	136	224.01
23	Quazatron	130	92.22
24	Last Battle	127	950.69
25	Krakout	124	100.90
26	Magicland Dizzy	122	74.06
27	Into the Eagle's Nest	120	49.73
28	Robocop	118	19.50
29	Bomb Jack	107	49.78
30	Flying Shark	101	42.51
31	Boulder Dash II: Rockford's Riot	100	77.78
32	Robin of the Wood	99	62.94
33	Zybex	97	48.59
34	President +	92	111.85
35	Laser Squad	88	42.96
36	Zulu Wars	87	170.19
37	Dizzy, Prince of the YolkFolk	87	95.20
38	Star Raiders II	86	42.92
39	Nebulus	86	40.02
40	Down to Earth	85	94.05
41	Treasure Island Dizzy	83	67.33
42	Video Pool	83	34.13
43	Way of the Exploding Fist, The	80	44.94
44	Log Cabin Dizzy (ZX Spectrum)	78	30.40
45	Stalingrad	71	536.19
46	Crystal Kingdom Dizzy (2017 Edition)	71	109.43
47	Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior	69	15.75
48	Rex	68	27.72
49	Dizzy and the Mystical Letter	67	101.44
50	Tapper	65	304.26
51	Joe Blade III	65	58.43
52	Rebelstar 2	64	232.25
53	Pyjamarama	63	51.97
54	Commando	62	31.74
55	Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future	61	112.07
56	Battle Ships	60	269.85
57	Laser Squad - Remix	59	120.95
58	Воины Икара	58	27.61
59	Advanced Soccer Simulator	56	275.52
60	Приключения Буратино	56	49.95
61	Eric & the Floaters	56	43.27
62	Boulder Dash III	51	69.19
63	Rick Dangerous	51	50.49
64	West Bank	50	145.93
65	Soldier of Fortune	50	72.90
66	Who Dares Wins II	50	39.12
67	Ms. Pac-Man	50	31.86
68	Freddy Hardest	49	74.59
69	Crystal Kingdom Dizzy	49	59.04
70	Harrier Attack!	49	32.96
71	Legions of Death	48	138.92
72	Myth: History in the Making	48	41.28
73	Dizzy 3 and a Half	48	11.89
74	Elite 3	47	59.27
75	Dirty Dozer	47	59.23
76	Chronos	45	21.39
77	Диззи X: Путешествие в Россию	43	75.58
78	Fred	43	39.26
79	Batman: The Movie	42	133.48
80	Green Beret	41	76.86
81	Rebelstar	40	139.81
82	Home Iceland Dizzy	40	112.37
83	Three Weeks in Paradise	38	35.03
84	Manic Miner	38	32.70
85	Wonderful Dizzy	37	316.93
86	Super Robin Hood	37	54.96
87	MASK III: VENOM Strikes Back	37	29.92
88	Star Inheritance: Black Cobra	37	28.82
89	President	36	204.60
90	Puzznic	36	68.17
91	Gunfright	36	16.91
92	Dizzy XII: Underground	35	258.93
93	Диззи Y: Возвращение в Россию	35	121.97
94	Chase H.Q.	35	53.83
95	Booty	35	52.00
96	Угадай мелодию	35	46.09
97	Battle City 4	35	20.86
98	Barbarian	34	61.36
99	War Game, The	33	124.61
100	Rex (Instructions)	33	29.52

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If you want to know what place your favorite game is in the ranking that isn’t on this list – ask in the comments.

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The Most Played ZX Spectrum Games in 2021