Raspberry Pi Guide to Retro Gaming

The Raspberry Pi Guide to Retro Gaming shows you how to play classic games from home computers and retro consoles on today's Raspberry Pi devices.

The book was written by Rob Zwetsloot, K.G. Orphanides, Brian Jepson, and Sean McManus. It was published by Raspberry Pi Press in 2026.

I contributed the chapter on ZX Spectrum BASIC programming. The limitations inspire creativity, and it’s easy it is to get started. Whether you’re an experienced programmer curious about the oddities of Sinclair BASIC or someone who typed in listings in the 80s without really understanding them, this is for you. If you're familiar with other BASIC variants, such as Amstrad BASIC, you'll discover some of the quirks of Spectrum BASIC too.

The tutorial was written for Raspberry Pi users but applies equally whether you're using an emulator, original Spectrum or modern Spectrum-compatible hardware.

The chapter covers:

• Setting up Recalbox on Raspberry Pi for programming in Sinclair BASIC
• Playing a simple tune with the Spectrum 128's PLAY command
• Displaying the colour palette
• Using the drawing commands
• Handling strings and arrays, with the example of an anagrams game
• Creating User Defined Graphics (UDGs)
• Making a Snake game, including tips for speeding up the performance of Spectrum BASIC

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Download the demo files

You can download all the programs from this tutorial as .TAP files and text files, as well as an empty BASIC image to set up Recalbox for programming.

Download ZX Spectrum BASIC programming tutorial files

If you download a tape file (.TAP) and copy it to the ZX Spectrum ROMS folder on your Recalbox microSD card, Recalbox will load the first program on the tape when you select it. Press a letter key and choose 128 BASIC from the menu to see your listing. Enter RUN to start it. From BASIC, you can load a program using LOAD”filename”.

Use the online UDG definer to design your own 8x8 pixel characters

How to program Sinclair BASIC on Recalbox on Raspberry Pi

Recalbox is set up for playing games, but it uses a full Spectrum emulator and will open any snapshot or tape file you give it. Follow these steps to set it up for programming:

1. Use Raspberry Pi Imager to copy Recalbox to your microSD card, if you haven’t already.
2. Then boot Raspberry Pi with that microSD card in to complete the setup.
3. Next, switch off and take the microSD card back to a desktop computer to copy BASIC.szx (from my zip file mentioned above) into the Spectrum ROMs folder.
4. Connect a keyboard to Raspberry Pi and boot Recalbox. Keep your game controller connected: you’ll need it to access the menus.
5. You’ll see BASIC as one of the available Spectrum games.
6. Select it and start programming!

You can save your programs using Recalbox states, the same way you save a game you are playing. Use your HotKey+B to access the menu.

Don’t try to keep programs using the SAVE command. It looks like it works, but it doesn’t: During the session, you can load a different program from the tape and reload your program but the virtual tape resets when you exit the emulator.

For a full guide to using Recalbox for playing games on Raspberry Pi, see the book.

Related resources

• Raspberry Pi Official Magazine
• Retro Compendium - a free ebook of listings and articles about retro computers
• Coding Compendium - A free ebook packed with tutorials for Scratch, Python, and electronics on Raspberry Pi.
• My Raspberry Pi and Python coding tutorials - including my ArtEvolver, Raspberry Radio and Lego Retro Radio projects
• The BASIC Idea: My Amstrad CPC BASIC programming tutorial and resources
• Review of the Picade for Raspberry Pi - Turn your Raspberry Pi device into a mini arcade machine
• Mission Python - Build a space adventure game with Python
• Scratch Programming in Easy Steps - Learn the beginner-friendly programming language widely used in education

Play my Amstrad games in your browser

• Play The Further Adventures of Fred
• Play Anaglyph Aliens (an Amtix CPC type-in)
• Play BAS Invaders (an Amstrad Addict type-in)
• Play Alien Intervention (an Amstrad Action type-in)
• Play Gribbet (an Amstrad Action type-in)
• Play Wallbuster (an Amstrad Computer User type-in)
• Watch Fishtank (an Amstrad Computer User type-in)
• Play Misfit (from my book The Basic Idea)
• Play Paclone (an Amstrad Computer User type-in)
• Play Chords Tutor (an Amstrad Computer User type-in)
• Play 3D Mapper (an Amstrad Computer User type-in)