It’s not often we see new 8-bit micros appear, especially in 2025, but right now it almost feels like the mid-80s again.
We just had two major FPGA projects land: the Commodore 64 Ultimate and the ZX Spectrum Next Issue 3.
Both machines go far beyond the originals while staying true to them. They come in proper injection-molded cases with decent keyboards, use FPGA to recreate the hardware accurately, and include modern conveniences such as HDMI output, flash storage, and stable power supplies. They are, in many ways, the best possible replacements for the classics they emulate.
The Spectrum Next has already been through two highly successful Kickstarters.
This third (and final?) campaign broke records again. It passed the first Kickstarter total in three hours and the second’s day-one performance in just five hours.
With over 10,000 units already in circulation, while there are still moneys to be collected, the Issue 3 seems ready to almost double that number. Certainly it will add juice to the third-party market with compatible machines such as the N-GO and the XBerry Pi.
And, yeah, I backed it this time (more on that later)
This revision isn’t just a re-run. There are some interesting updates and upgrades.
One of the more surprising features is that the Spectrum Next Issue 3 ships with a licensed Commodore 64 core and official ROMs. This means it will run straight out of the box with no ROM file hunting or fiddling.
That said, there are limitations compared to something like Gideon’s Ultimate 64:
For most users, it’s a bonus rather than a full replacement for a dedicated C64 solution. I don't think people backing a Speccy are going to mind, though!
The Kickstarter stretch goals includes games, cores, and other cool stuff:
I backed "board only", meaning I get a PCB (not even an SD card, I will need to download everything).
For anyone who missed out on earlier runs, the Issue 3 was compelling - it is the most capable version yet.
Even for people who have the first two, there was an upgrade available.
Issue 3 offers everything the Spectrum community could want, including some enhancements over using original hardware or emulation, for people who are not purists.
For me, even though I now have TheSpectrum and original machines, the Next is really interesting as a retro programming target, plus the addition of potentially real hardware support similar to my Ultimate C64 board is nice to have.
