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From: Richard@hallas.demon.co.uk (Richard G. Hallas)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sinclair
Subject: Miner differences
Date: Tue, 09 Apr 1996 15:50:35 GMT
Organization: KeyNote Music Typesetting
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I've recently been playing Manic Miner on my BBC Micro emulator, and
it's struck me that it's probably one of the most 'variable' games
I've seen between different formats.

Consider:

1. The original Bug-Byte release on the Spectrum featured 'threshers'
   in the Warehouse.

2. The second Software Projects release on the Spectrum replaced the
   threshers with rotating Sofware Projects logos ('impossible'
   triangles), and there were other minor changes: the deadly bush
   in the Processing Plant became a ghost, the Amoebatrons in
   Amoebatrons' Revenge were different sprites, and I think some
   sprites changed in the Sixteenth Cavern too.

3. The BBC Micro version doesn't have the Solar Power Generator!
   Instead, it's got a completely different room called "The Meteor
   Shower". This has the "reflecting machines" from the Solar Power
   Generator but there's 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. Then, the last screen (which is still
   called The Final Barrier) is very tricky (unlike the Spectrum
   version which was easy) and has a completely different layout.
   It also features the blinking forcefields.

4. The Amstrad version is effectively the same as the Spectrum
   version by Software Projects, except that (a) Eugene's Lair has
   been renamed "Eugene Was Here" for some reason, and the layout
   of The Final Barrier is again completely different (but it's
   more similar to the Spectrum version than the BBC version, which
   has nothing in common with the Spectrum version at all).

5. The Acorn RISC OS version of Manic Miner has a couple of extra
   screens after The Final Barrier, but that's not an official
   release by Software Projects (just something someone created as
   a public domain release) so it doesn't really count.

6. I heard that the Dragon 32 version had a couple of extra rooms at
   the end (i.e. 22 altogether), but I don't know if that's true.
   I believe, though, that the two extra rooms in the RISC OS version
   are copied from it (though I can't now find evidence of this).

7. With the above in mind, I'm sure the Commodore 64 version must have
   had some differences too! I never saw it, though, and don't yet
   have access to a C64 emulator, so I can't check at the moment.

Were there any other versions for other machines? (MSX, perhaps?)
Does anyone know anything about the C64 version, or any other versions
(official or otherwise) that I've missed above? We should be told!

Perhaps there should be a Manic Miner FAQ! :-)

-- 
Richard
-=-=-=-
Richard G. Hallas          -oOo-          Editor of RISC User magazine
Proprietor of KeyNote:  Music Typesetting & General Desktop Publishing
E-mail: Richard@hallas.demon.co.uk * Telephone/Facsimile: 01484 460280