THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABSE



MANIC MINER



PUBLISHER

Bug Byte and Software Projects



AUTHOR

Matthew Smith



YEAR

1983



CATEGORIES

Plaform



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.



Since this game was released by two publishers, there are two

different sets of inlay card text.  Below is both of them

starting off with the Bug Byte version, and then the Software

Projects version.



ORIGINAL INLAY CARD TEXT



INSTRUCTIONS



The program "MANIC MINER" its documentation and artwork are

strictly the copyright of Bug-Byte. It is illegal to make a copy

of MANIC MINER without authorisation from Bug-Byte and legal

action will be taken against anyone found doing so. It is also

illegal, and expressly forbidden, to lend or hire out the program

by way of trade.



MANIC MINER will run on any 48K Spectrum

To load MANIC MINER, simply enter:

LOAD ""

- then hit the ENTER key and follow the computer's prompts. Leave

the tape running until the game starts up automatically.



THE GAME

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 automatons to dig beep 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 hugh 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.

Can YOU take the challenge and guide Willy through the

undergraound caverns to the surface and riches. In order to move

to the next chamber, you must collect all the flashing keys in

the room while avoiding nasties like POISONOUS PANSIES and

SPIDERS and SLIME and worst of all, MANIC MINING ROBOTS. When you

have all the keys, you can enter the portal which will now be

flashing. The game ends when you have been 'got' or fallen

heavily three times.



GAME CONTROL

Three keys are used to control the game:

Q,E,T,U or O          - Move left

W,R,Y,I or P          - Move right

Shift to space        - Jump



--------------------------------------------------------------



SPECTRUM MANIC MINER (SECOND EDITION)



LOADING INSTRUCTIONS

1. Connect lead to ear socket of Spectrum

   from ear socket on recorder.

2. Rewind tape to beginning.

3. Set Volume Control to the required level.

4. Type LOAD "" or LOAD "MANICMINER".

5. Press key marked enter on your Spectrum.

6. Press play on your cassette recorder.

7. Your Program will now load.



If the program does not load first time, repeat instructions but

try a different volume setting.





TO MOVE USE KEYS:



Q, E, T, U, or O   = MOVE LEFT

W, R, Y, I or P    = MOVE RIGHT

SHIFT TO SPACE     = JUMP



MANIC MINER CAN ALSO BE USED WITH KEMPSTON, AGF AND PROTEK

JOTSTICK INTERFACES AND IS ALSO COMPATIBLE WITH INTERFACE II



Author: MATTHEW SMITH



MANIC MINER



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 automatons 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 byfinding the underground store.



In order to move to the next chamber, you must collect all the

flashing keys in the room while avoiding nasties like POISONOUS

PANSIES and SPIDERS and SLIME and worst of all, MANIC MINING

ROBOTS. When you have all the keys, you can enter the portal

which will now be flashing. The game ends when you have been

'got' or fallen heavily three times.



Software Projects are always looking for new and original games.

If you have written one then why not send it into us for free

evaluation with no obligation by either party.  We pay good

royalties or you have the option of an outright payment,

whichever suits you.  Interested? Send a sample of your game

or 'phone.



Software Projects

Bear Brand Complex

Allerton Road

Woolton

Liverpool L25 7SF       051-428 7990





SEQUELS/PREQUELS

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.  This was by

a different author.  However, at the top end of the code in the 

original Manic Miner game, is a command set for the TRS-DOS,

which Matthew Smith used to develop JSW on.



SCORES RECEIVED:

Unknown by me, but probably nowhere near as high as they should

have been.



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 key 9 (for the SP version)

or 6 (for the BB version) + combinations of 1 to 5, which 

actually correspond to the binary code of the room number.  

00001 [1] = The Central Cavern, 10010 [17] = The Warehouse 

etc...  Be careful though as this gives more combinations than 

there is actual rooms, so if you use a combination that does not 

exist then it crashes the game.



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.



You can also POKE 35136,0 for infinite lives.





COMPLETING THE GAME

When you jump into the exit of The Final Barrier (and you haven't

used the 6031769 cheat) the door changes from an omega sign to

a fish and dagger, one above the other, the answer being

Swordfish.  You were supposed to quote this in the competition

(i.e. the first person to quote what happened at the end

correctly must have won, though I don't remember ever seeing who

did it, if anyone).  Then the game then starts again from the

beginning - in the true tradition of Spectrum Games.





GENERAL FACTS:

This was the first game with in-game music, namely In the Hall

of the Mountain King from the play Peer Gynt by Edvard Grieg.

The music that plays during the title screen is "The Waltz of

The Blue Danube" by Strauss



This game was originally released by Bug-Byte, and then

re-released by Software Projects.  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 between the two versions.  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





Eugenes Lair is a jibe at one of Matthew Smith's fellow

programmers (Eugene Jarvis?).  Miner Willy meets the Kong Beast

is a parody of the old Donkey Kong games.  Presumably The

Endorian Forest is from Star Wars.



This is how to complete what is generally regarded as the most

difficult screen in Manic Miner, The Warehouse:  As soon as the

level starts, walk right, until you're past the blue killer. 

Fall through quicksand until you can walk under the plant.  Turn

around and face the blue cat-track, falling through the sand as

you go.  Once you've fallen through the seventh quicksand, jump

straight up twice, (which brings you into time with the

cat-track,) then jump left, collecting the object, and go back

up through the quicksand to the start platform.  (This is a bit

close, but you should make it!)  Stand on the very edge of the

start platform.  Wait until both yellow and white cat-tracks have

reached the top of the screen, and are moving down again - let

the yellow one touch the bush.  (This happens almost straight

away.  If you're not quick enough on the keys, wait a revolution

before the cat-tracks align again.)  Jump right, and fall through

five blocks of quicksand.  Jump right again, which should place

you on the level so that you can either walk through the

travelator, or on it.  (If you do jump onto the travelator. 

Panic not.  Keep on truckin'.)  *Without pausing!* Walk right,

collect the object as you go and fall into the pit that the white

cat-track uses.  Fall through one section, collecting the object. 

Jump right again, which will place you underneath the next

object, and wait until you fall through a section of quicksand

before jumping to collect the object.  (Otherwise you clout

yourself on the bush...  Not nice!)  Now just fall through the

quicksand, collecting the final object as you go, until you land

on the floor, go right, and jump up through the quicksand, until

you reach the portal.  Easy when you know how!



Regarding different version across different computers, the 

following may be interesting:



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).



The significance of the number in the "6031769" cheat is that it was

Matthew Smith's number at the time he wrote the game.  Please do not

phone it any mopre however, since the owners of this number are fed

up of people phoning them.





NOTES:

Probably the most legendary Spectrum game ever.  Even today

programmers have trouble matching the devious design and

incredible variety of imagination in the levels.

