Kim recommends...Trashman (ZX Spectrum, 1984)
With the ZX Spectrum Next Kickstarter campaign coming to an end after making £723,390 and hitting all stretch goals, it's a good time to look at some of the Speccy's more memorable titles. Over 24,000 games came out for the system, so there's certainly a fair bit of memorable material -- but more than that, there's some games with premises and gameplay concepts you just don't seem to get anywhere else. When you consider that a lot of Speccy games in the early '80s were usually made in their entirety by just one (usually quite young) guy in their bedroom, the amount of weirdness there is on the Spectrum isn't that surprising...what's great though is when that weirdness is combined with an actual good game -- something like Trashman from 1984, made by Malcolm Evans for New Generation Software.
Trashman is an extended look into the world of garbage disposal -- something that, as it turns out, is very freaking dangerous indeed. You play as the titular trashman of the title, and you have to collect bins from each house and empty them into the dustcart as it slowly moves down the road -- naturally you've got to put the bins back too, don't go thinking that part would be left out. You've also got to do this pretty fast -- waste no movement, and for heaven's sake keep off of the grass! If you're on the grass, that means that you're stepping all over Betty Swollocks' geraniums (you clumsy oaf) and you'll lose your time and your bonus. Just because you're going fast however, doesn't mean that you should avoid any requests that people make of you as that would be rude -- if a kid wants to show you his new computer game then indulge them, as that will increase your time and bonus. Do this for every house on the street and you can consider the job to be a thoroughly good 'un.
Sounds basic enough, but Trashman is on a dangerous mission. He's going to have to cross the road quite a few times in order to complete this task, and this is a busy street packed full of cars that like to drive really fast. Most trashmen don't even last one day on the job -- they're assigned to Montague Road on their first day, they unsuspectingly walk in front of an automobile driven by a raving maniac, and the next thing you know they're the ones being put in the trash compactor -- for in this dangerous vision of the world, too many trashmen die for them to be given a proper burial. Cars aren't the only menace out there -- sometimes a dog will speed out of a house with its eyes, mouth and teeth trained on the trashman's scrotal sack. Even the pavement isn't safe, with clueless bikers speeding down it and taking out unsuspecting targets -- and while dogs and bikes will only leave you with a limp, that'll make you an easy target for those damn cars because no matter what injuries you might have, the work's still got to be done...seriously, I think it might be in these guys' best interest to form a union.
Trashman is a strange little game that, as a lot of classics do, spins gold out of menial labour -- And yet it's too slow and even a little grounded in reality (somewhat anyway) to be considered an arcade game. It's more like a dad explaining to their wide-eyed kid what they did today on the road, complete with exaggerated details and good old fashioned British humour - of which Trashman has quite a bit when you're asked to go into people's houses and the like, or if you go and visit the caff and pub for a much needed Full English/booze break. It's often requested on my streams - partly because it's weird and people like it a lot, but I think that in the main it's requested because it's quaint and charming. 24,000+ Spectrum games can be a big number for folks to get their head around, but this is undoubtedly 1 that you ought to play if you wish to understand the evergreen appeal of the machine.
