Spectrum Legend Passes Away
Joffa in typical off-the-wall mode
It’s with a heavy heart that we must announce that famed Spectrum coder, Jonathan ‘Joffa’ Smith passed away at 10.30 on Saturday 26 June at the age of 43.
Although Jonathan was something of a recluse – his last public appearance was at last year’s Byte Back event – he was a regular on certain forums like World of Spectrum where he was affectionately known as Frobrush.
Famed for his technical coding, he was behind some truly impressive Spectrum conversions including, Green Beret, Hyper Sports, Terra Cresta and Ping Pong. He was also a dab hand a creating brand new games, many of which featured his trademark slickness and still remain popular with Spectrum fans everywhere. Cobra, Daley Thompson’s Supertest and Firefly were all excellent examples of his 8-bit work, while the likes of Midnight Resistance, Red Heat and the highly underated Hudson Hawk represented his 16-bit work.
Famed for his off-the-wall humour he was a staunch member of the Spectrum community and was actually working on a new game called Saucer.
Farewell Joffa, you will be sadly missed.
June 28th, 2010 at 8:55 pm
R.I.P Joffa
Talented guy with a wicked sense of humour
July 2nd, 2010 at 1:01 pm
For sure he will be missed. He was my coding hero as kid and generally really top bloke.
Just one small point… “he was a regular on certain forums like World of Spectrum where he was affectionately known as Frobrush.”
He was known as Frobush, not Frobrush.
July 31st, 2010 at 11:31 am
Sad news – but some truly worthwhile work left behind.
December 6th, 2010 at 11:03 pm
Although I didn’t know of Jonathan, I certainly knew his work and played many of his games. I am very sad to hear this news as people like this devoted their lives to giving other people enjoyment and stuck a big middle finger up to the corporate world. Rest in peace.
Phil