Manic Miner
| Developer: Steve McMaster | Graphics: |
 | |
| Publisher: Software Projects | Sound: |
| |
| Year: 1990 | Difficulty: |
 | |
| Genre: Platformer | Lastability: |
| |
| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
6/10 | |
An essential title on the ZX Spectrum, released in 1983 and inspired by the game Miner 2049er (Atari 8-bit, 1982). It features Miner Willy, the iconic little all-white, pixelated character, best known in the UK. He’ll later reappear in Jet Set Willy (ZX Spectrum, 1984), now wearing a bowler hat instead of a miner’s helmet.
Manic Miner is a seemingly very basic platformer, with no screen scrolling, but it’s particularly inventive (and difficult). You must collect all the keys in a level without being hit by enemies, and then make it to the exit within the time limit.
This Amiga version offers two versions: the “8-bit” one, visually faithful to the original; and a “high-resolution” version, completely redrawn (called Manic Miner 2). The sprites are larger, creating a higher zoom level and requiring screen scrolling to be implemented. However, the levels remain the same in both versions.
|
