Nick

Nick landed on the 4th of June 2026, which makes it one of the freshest ZX Spectrum releases out there right now, and today we are playing it on the MiSTer FPGA with full gameplay and commentary. If this is your first time on the channel, welcome. Stick around, there is plenty more where this came from.

The game was developed by David Programa, the same developer behind SkillTeam and several other well-crafted Spectrum puzzle titles. Nick is a road connection puzzle game remade specifically for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K, though it also runs on all larger Spectrum models. The original version of the game was designed by LukaszM and first appeared on the Fancade mobile platform. David Programa rebuilt it from the ground up for the Spectrum.

The setup is straightforward. A hurricane has torn through and scrambled all the road pieces. Your job is to move the cursor around the screen, select road tiles, and rearrange them so that every road connects up correctly. It sounds simple until the levels start stacking difficulty on top of each other, and with 50 levels that escalate steadily in challenge, this one gets your brain working fast.

The game was coded using the Z88DK compiler suite, with pixel art handled in Aseprite and sound effects created with BeepFX by Shiru. Level prototyping used a custom web editor, with compression handled by the ZX0 compressor. It runs from a TAP file, a DSK file, or a WAV file for real hardware loading, and supports keyboard, joystick, and gamepad input. Controls are fully remappable. There is also a session code system on the right side of the screen so you can pick up where you left off without losing your progress.

If you get completely stuck on a level, you can skip it, though you only get three skips total across the whole game, so use them wisely.

This is a free release on itch.io and the fact that it came out yesterday and we are already playing it on MiSTer FPGA tells you everything about what this channel is here for. If you want to see more new Spectrum games, retro hardware, and honest commentary, hit subscribe and join the community.

Available from https://davidprograma.itch.io/nick-zx