THE SPECTRUM GAME DATABASE

MANIC MINER

PUBLISHER
It was published by both Bug Byte and Software Projects.

AUTHOR
Matthew Smith.

YEAR
1983.

DESCRIPTION
Manic Miner is a single screen platform game.


CONTROLS:
Alternating keys on Q to P row = left/right.
A-G = Pause; H-Enter = Tune on/off.
Bottom row = Jump.


INSTRUCTIONS
Using the keys, the idea of all the levels is to collect all the
flashing objects and then make your way to the flashing potato
waffle.


CHEATS
The Bug-Byte version - Type in "6031769"
The Software Projects version - Type in "WRITETYPER"

Both of these allow you to flick between rooms by holding down
various combinations of numbers.  Use 6 + combinations of 1 to
5.  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 revel its secret so that people couldn't cheat at the
competition. (I think the competition thing was a fish and a
dagger, which appeared when you jumped into the exit in The Final
Barrier.  The answer might have been swordfish.)

You can also POKE 35136,0 for infinite lives.


SEQUELS
The main follow up to Manic Miner was Jet Set Willy.
A prequel came in the form of Miner 2049'er, on the TRS-80.


SCORES RECEIVED
Unknown by me, but probably nowhere near as high as they should
have been.


URL
ftp://ftp.dcc.uchile.cl/pub/OS/sinclair/snapshots/m/manicmin.zip

GENERAL FACTS
This was the first game with in-game music, namely "In the Hall
of the Mountain King" by Peer Gynt and Edvard Grieg.

This game was originally released by Bug-Byte.  The reason for
this is that Bug-Byte originally only had a contract to sell
Manic Miner, they did not actually own it.  So when Matthew Smith
moved across to Software Projects, he took Manic Miner with him.

There are some differences.  Obviously the scroll-text at the
start changes slightly to reflect the different copyright in the
Software Projects version.  However, there are two subtle but
interesting changes.

1. In Amoebatrons' Revenge, the amoebatrons look different
between the two versions. The originals look like Octopuses, with
tentacles hanging down, whereas the Software Projects ones look
like sort of beetles, with little legs up their sides.

2. In The Warehouse, the original game has threshers travelling
up and down the vertical slots, rotating about the screens
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.

It used flashing attributes to provide an animated "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.

For those who are interested (everybody!) the names of the rooms
are as follows:

1: Central Cavern
2: The Cold Room
3: The Menagerie
4: Abandoned Uranium Workings
5: Eugene's Lair
6: Processing Plant
7: The Vat
8: Miner Willy meets the Kong Beast
9: Wacky Amoebatrons
10:The Endorian Forest
11:Attack of the Mutant Telephones
12:Return of the Alien Kong Beast
13:Ore Refinery
14:Skylab Landing Bay
15:The Bank
16:The Sixteenth Cavern
17:The Warehouse
18:Amoebatrons' Revenge
19:Solar Power Generator
20:The Final Barrier


NOTES
One of the most legendary spectrum games ever.