For video game fans of a certain age, Matthew Smith needs no introduction. The British-born bedroom programmer tore up the early days of the ZX Spectrum with a series of wild, compelling, and somewhat anarchic titles, games which were emboldened with working-class spirit and emblazoned with some of the weirdest, most abstract box art in the medium's history.

Receiving the rarely-seen TRS-80 computer as a gift in 1979, Smith took to programming as a prodigy, coding and releasing commercial games for the TRS-80 and the VIC-20 within just a few years. Noticing this burgeoning talent, Smith was afforded a ZX Spectrum by publisher Bug-Byte Software, who contracted the 17-year-old to produce three titles for the platform.

Smith first produced maze-runner Styx (1983), before coding the two platformers that would cement his place in gaming history: Manic Miner (1983) and its sequel, Jet Set Willy (1984).

The latter two titles were a phenomenal commercial success, pulling in a metric ton of sales with their lurid artwork, inquisitive names, and colourful, challenging platform action - backed by classical renditions that sounded like art-noise - both then and now. Ported to a plethora of platforms, Jet Set Willy would sell over a million copies in its lifetime, while Manic Miner is considered one of the grandfathers of the entire platform gaming genre.

And so, following the introduction I said nobody needed, I can inform you that publisher Pixel Jockey is releasing a limited-edition compendium celebrating Matthew Smith's legendary foray into 1980s coding. The Matthew Smith Collection includes newly produced copies of Styx, Manic Miner, and Jet Set Willy for the ZX Spectrum.

The standard version of The Matthew Smith Collection (starting at £39) features the three games housed in slick slipcase packaging, emblazoned with some of the many heroic and villainous sprites from Smith's oeuvre. Each game is individually cased, with fresh artwork recreated by former Tynesoft artist Trevor Storey, whose work you might remember from Crash! and Zzap! magazine - again, certain age, etc.

For those looking to splurge a little more, "The Full Set" (starting at £74) includes the boxset of games, along with "Mining for Success", a 200-page, hardback A5 book telling Smith's story - from his early days, through his introduction to coding, and the development of his iconic Spectrum releases.

This edition also includes enamel pins of the Styx, Manic Miner, and Jet Set Willy logos. And - receiving its first-ever cassette release - is Andre's Night Off, a game coded by Smith for C&VG Magazine that never had a standalone retail run.

Also available is a set of A5 prints of the collection's new artwork, signed by Smith (£99). For those interested in specific extras, the option to customise your own package of goodies is also available.

The Matthew Smith Collection is now available to order from Pixel Jockey via Kickstarter. The sets are currently scheduled to ship in February 2027.