Manic Miner

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Manic Miner is a classic platform game originally written for the ZX Spectrum by Matthew Smith and released by Bug-Byte in 1983 (later re-released by Software Projects). It is the first game in the Miner Willy series. The game is notable for being among the most important pioneers in platform game genre.

Contents

1 Gameplay

1.1 The plot
1.2 The objective
1.3 Cheats
1.4 The caverns
1.5 Version differences

2 Trivia
3 Ports

3.1 SAM Coupé
3.2 BBC Micro
3.3 Amstrad CPC
3.4 Dragon 32/64
3.5 Z88

4 Sequels
5 See also
6 External links

Gameplay

At the time, its stand-out features included in-game music and sound effects, excellent playability, and colourful graphics, which were well designed for the graphical limitations of the ZX Spectrum.

The plot

Miner Willy, while prospecting down Surbiton way, stumbles upon an ancient, long forgotten mine-shaft. On further exploration, he finds evidence of a lost civilisation far superior to our own, which used automata to dig deep into the Earth's core to supply the essential raw materials for their advanced industry. After centuries of peace and prosperity, the civilisation was torn apart by war, and lapsed into a long dark age, abandoning their industry and machines. Nobody, however, thought to tell the mine robots to stop working, and through countless aeons they had steadily accumulated a huge stockpile of valuable metals and minerals, and Miner Willy realises that he now has the opportunity to make his fortune by finding the underground store.

Manic Miner's first room, "Central Cavern".

The objective

In each of the twenty caverns are several flashing keys, which you must collect before your oxygen supply runs out. Once you have collected the keys in one cavern, you must then go to the now-flashing portal, which will take you to the next cavern. You must avoid enemies like Poisonous Pansies, Spiders, Slime, and Manic Mining Robots.

The game ends when you have been captured by an enemy or fallen heavily three times.

Cheats

The Bug-Byte version - Type in 6031769.
The Software Projects version - Type in TYPEWRITER.

Both of these allow you to flick between caverns by holding down various combinations of numbers. Use key 9 (for the Software Projects version) or 6 (for the Bug-Byte version) + combinations of 1 to 5, which actually correspond to the binary number of the cavern (Where [0] is the Central Cavern), e.g. 00001 [1] (i.e. 6 + 1) = The Cold Room, 10010 [18] (i.e. 6 + 5 + 2) = Solar Power Generator, etc.

Note that when the cheat is enabled, a boot appears next to the lives at the bottom of the screen, and The Final Barrier does not reveal its secret so that people couldn't cheat at the competition.

You can also POKE 35136,0 for infinite lives in the Bug-Byte version, or POKE 35142,0 in the Software Projects version.

The caverns

Central Cavern
The Cold Room
The Menagerie
Abandoned Uranium Workings
Eugene's Lair
Processing Plant
The Vat
Miner Willy meets the Kong Beast
Wacky Amoebatrons
The Endorian Forest
Attack of the Mutant Telephones
Return of the Alien Kong Beast
Ore Refinery
Skylab Landing Bay
The Bank
The Sixteenth Cavern
The Warehouse
Amoebatrons' Revenge
Solar Power Generator
The Final Barrier

Version differences

There are some differences between the Bug-Byte and Software Projects versions. Obviously the scroll-text at the start is slightly different to reflect the different copyright. However, there are three more subtle changes.

In Processing Plant, the enemy at the end of the conveyor belt is a bush in the original, whereas the Software Projects one looks different.
In Amoebatrons' Revenge, the amoebatrons in the original game look like alien octopuses, with tentacles hanging down, whereas the Software Projects ones resemble smiling beetles, with little legs up their sides.
In The Warehouse, the original game has threshers travelling up and down the vertical slots, rotating about the screen's X-axis. The Software Projects version has 'impossible triangle' sprites (i.e. the Software Projects logo) instead, which rotate about the screen's Z-axis.

Manic Miner's animated loading screen

Trivia

On the ZX Spectrum this was the first game with in-game music.
The in-game music is In the Hall of the Mountain King from Edvard Grieg's music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt. The music that plays during the title screen is An der schönen Blauen Donau (popularly known as The Blue Danube), a waltz by Johann Strauß. Both pieces were selected due to their royalty-free status.
On the ZX Spectrum flashing attributes were used to "animate" a Manic Miner logo while loading. Although there was nothing clever about this as such, it was nevertheless the first game ever to have an animated loading screen. A homage to this loading-screen appeared in one episode of the 2005 British sitcom Nathan Barley.
"Eugene's Lair" is a joke directed at one of Matthew Smith's fellow programmers, Eugene Evans, who went on to work at Imagine Software.
"Miner Willy meets the Kong Beast" is a parody of the Donkey Kong games.
Presumably The "Endorian Forest" is from Star Wars – the enemies on this level appear to be teddy bears.
The number of the "6031769" cheat is taken from Matthew Smith's phone number at the time he wrote the game.

Ports

Official ports exist for the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, Dragon 32/64, Commodore Amiga, Oric 1, Game Boy Advance, MSX and SAM Coupé and mobile phones [link]. Unofficial ports exist for the IBM PC, Apple Macintosh, Atari ST, ZX81, Nintendo 64, Neo Geo Pocket Color, Acorn Archimedes, Z88 and PMD 85.

SAM Coupé

The SAM Coupé version, programmed by Matthew Holt, was very faithful to the original ZX Spectrum version in that it required pixel-perfect timing, however both graphics and audio were greatly updated. In addition to the original twenty caverns, forty additional caverns were included in this release.

Levels were designed by David Ledbury, and winners of a competition run by SAM Computers Ltd.

BBC Micro

The BBC Micro version does not have the Solar Power Generator, instead containing a completely different room called "The Meteor Shower". This has the "reflecting machines" from the Solar Power Generator, but there is no beam of light. Instead, it has meteors which descend from the top of the screen and disintegrate when they hit platforms, like the Skylabs in Skylab Landing Bay. It also has forcefields which turn on and off, and the layout is completely different.

Also, the very last screen (which is still called The Final Barrier) is complex and difficult (unlike the Spectrum version, which is considered to be fairly easy) and has a completely different layout. It also features the blinking forcefields.

Amstrad CPC

The Amstrad version was effectively the same as the Spectrum version by Software Projects, except that Eugene's Lair was renamed "Eugene Was Here," and the layout of The Final Barrier was again completely different (but is more similar to the Spectrum version than the BBC version).

Dragon 32/64

Dragon version of Manic Miner (1984)

The Dragon 32 version, programmed by Roy Coates, had two extra rooms (i.e. 22 altogether). The Archimedes version was converted from the Dragon release.

Z88

The Z88 port has all the functionality (and cheats!) of Bug-Byte and Software Projects versions. The levels do not change, there is even some background music.

Sequels

The sequel to Manic Miner was Jet Set Willy.

Unofficial ZX81 version of the game

In addition quite a few unofficial sequels, remakes, homages and updates have been released, even up to this day, including a ZX81 version. There is also a full remake of the game, Ultimate Manic Miner, by Igor Makovsky based on the JSW64 engine by John Elliott.

External links

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