Manic Miner [Originals]
Original MM games for various platforms, including any bugs or issues present in the original releases
10 files
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Italian and Spanish versions of 'Manic Miner'
By jetsetdanny
Similarly to the Italian and Spanish versions of Jet Set Willy, Load 'n' Run released also Italian and Spanish versions of Manic Miner.
The Italian version, called 'La miniera' ('The Mine'), was released on the Italian Load 'n' Run tape 10 in November 1984.
The Spanish version, called 'Minero loco' ('Crazy Miner'), was released on the Spanish Load 'n' Run tape 1_04 in May 1985.
Both versions feature modified loading screens (in the original MM style), modified title screens and full translations throughout the game. The Spanish disk version features also an introductory screen with the following text (diacritical characters are not present in the text on the Spectrum, and the text is all capitalised):
"MINERO LOCO LOAD'N'RUN '85
Haz andar y saltar a nuestro minero protagonista por las veinte cavernas letales. Dentro de cada una de las cuales encontrarás: objetos animados e inanimados no destelleantes que deberás evitar, y objetos inanimados destelleantes que nuestro minero tendrá que ir recogiendo. A partir del momento en que ya no quede ninguno de estos, se iluminará la entrada hacia otra caverna a la que habrá que dirigirse rápidamente, puesto que el tiempo de permanencia en cada una de ellas, está limitado por las reservas de aire.
Pulsa una tecla para continuar"
which means:
"Make our miner protagonist walk and jump through the twenty lethal caverns. Within each of which you will find: animated and inanimate non-flashing objects that you must avoid, and inanimate flashing objects that our miner will have to collect. From the moment when none of these is left, the entrance to another cavern will light up which you will have to go to quickly, since the time of permanence in each of them is limited by the air supply.
Press a key to continue"
It is followed by another screen which says:
"Cuántos mineros quieres? (Max 32)
Si no tienes suficientes, pon 0 y serás inmortal!
Cuántos mineros? (Max. 32)"
which means:
"How many miners do you want? (Max 32)
If you don't have enough, press 0 and you will be immortal!
How many miners? (Max. 32)"
The Load 'n' Run tapes and disks can be downloaded from a website dedicated exclusively to these releases.
The Spanish version on the tape appears to be buggy. It features an additional screen which says, "Loading .Z80 emulator snapshot" and this is probably the cause of the problem. After loading, the game doesn't go to the title screen, but to the first cavern, where Willy jumps repeatedly without the player being able to control it (apart from turning right and left). As far as I can tell, this is because the Kempston joystick indicator at #8459 is turned on. It can be turned off by inserting POKE 8459,00 (33881,0), or by quitting the game by pressing SHIFT and SPACE together. The game still won't run quite as it should, though, because it displays 8 spare lives and has inifinite lives turned on.
The disk version works well. The TAP file of the 'disk version' made available for download here was probably converted from it. It is the same file that Andrew Broad used to host on his website (it is still available for download on its archival version), which he received from Philip Bee (as explained on his list of MM/JSW games), who must be the author of the convertion to TAP format.
There is also another Italian version of Manic Miner, apparently older than the one by Load 'n' Run, because going back to 1983 (according to the information given in the game file itself). It is called 'Miniera magica' ('Magic Mine') and it is by Nuova NEWEL di F.M. & A.Gnesutta. It also features a modifed loading screen (MM-style), a modified title screen and Italian translations throughout the game. The room names are different from the ones in 'La miniera'. The name of the protagonist is also different: while in 'La miniera' it is 'Jack il Curioso', in 'Miniera magica' it is 'Pippo il Minatore'.
'Miniera magica' features an additional introductory screen which reads (all text is capitalised on the Spectrum, apart from the question on the bottom of the screen),
'Inserisci un numero che corrisponde agli omini che avrai a disposizione. Attenzione che il numero non deve superare 32. Nel caso 32 omini non ti bastino scrivi "0" e sarai inmortale!
Nel caso tu voglia accedere alle caverne successive alla prima premi nell' ordine i numeri :
6 0 3 1 7 6 9.
Premi poi un po' di tasti a caso
Quanti omini vuoi? (MAX. 32)"
which means:
"Enter a number that matches the men you will have available. Be careful that the number must not exceed 32. In case 32 men are not enough, write "0" and you will be immortal!
In case you want to access the successive caverns at once, then input the numbers:
6 0 3 1 7 6 9.
Then press a few random keys
How many men do you want? (MAX 32)"
Choosing more than 16 "men" messes up the lower part of the spare-lives display, of course.
It should be noted that back in 2004 Darkman (aka Nigel Bland) compiled a set of six Italian variants of JSW and MM, including 'La miniera' and 'Miniera magica', and sent them to Andrew Broad, who made them available for download (along with two other non-Italian files) on his website. Darkman retrieved them from the Italian Project on the Tipshop site.
Eight files are available for download here, including TAP and TZX versions of all variants. Enjoy!
449 downloads
Updated
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Manic Miner C16
By Spider
Manic Miner for the Commodore C16, published by Software Projects in 1986.
The game feels, looks and plays very well indeed. The game layout closely follows the Amstrad and Spectrum versions. Unfortunately I do not have any information on the author of this version.
Both a tape and disk (.tap and .prg) are provided, although the 'game code' is the same with them, merely the media format is different.
It is quite remarkable it fitted into the limited space available on this machine. There have been some compromises to do this however, the ones I have noted are:
1. There is no title screen as such, the game immediately starts upon loading and restarts upon life loss
2. There is very little sound. No in game tune and little effects
3. No animated lives counter, it is a simple "Lives: x" line
4. Some guardian shapes are recycled and used again and some types present in other versions are not used in this variant
5. Guardians lack much colour they are typically white
6. No extra lives are given upon reaching a certain score. Other versions this is typically one extra life per 10K points
7. The air supply is quite slow to drain generally. I do not think there is any differential between rooms on the initial 'starting supply' of air
8. In 'Solar Power Generator' the beam does not appear to decrease the air supply or if it does it happens very slowly
9. In the 'Alien Toilet' caverns that were 'Kong Beast' caverns, the switches are present but have no effect and the 'wall' is always open
Some rooms have been renamed too:
"Miner Willy meets the Kong Beast" is now "Miner Willy and the Toilet"
"Wacky Amoebatron's" is now "Wacky Triangles"
"Attack of the Mutant Telephones" is now "Spinning Thingy's"
"Return of the Alien Kong Beast" is now "Return of the Alien Toilet"
"Skylab Landing Bay" is now "Penguin Sick Bay"
"Amoebatron's Revenge" is now "Logo's Revenge"
Controls are joystick in P2 or the following keys:
Q,E,T,U = Left
W,R,Y,I = Right
Shift/Space = Jump
K = Pause
J = Resume
Enjoy! :)
54 downloads
Submitted
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Manic Miner (C64)
By Spider
Manic Miner for the Commodore64, written by Chris Lancaster & Kris Lancaster.
This is an original release minus any copy protection. Both disk and tape (.D64 and .T64) images are provided.
The game itself very closely mimics the Spectrum version, more so than the Amstrad version and plays very well and quite faithfully to the original.
Joystick (in P2) or keyboard to control:
Q,E,T,U,O = Left
W,R,Y,I,P = Right
Shift or Space = Jump
100 downloads
Submitted
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Manic Miner (Amstrad)
By Spider
Manic Miner for the Amstrad CPC range of machines.
Both disk (.dsk) and tape (.cdt) versions are present as well as the original Software Projects release and the Amsoft Re-Release
The scrolling message reads as follows:
Note in particular the original Software Projects release only tends to function properly on the 464 machine! It is recommended to use the Amsoft branded Re-Release if playing on this machine. On an emulator simply switch to use a 6128 instead. Manual pokes are available to rectify this if its a concern on a real machine however but the game code is practically identical between the original and the Re-Release, the only 'real' change is the loading screen itself.
The game plays just as well as the original Spectrum version and with the exception of the last cavern it is near identical to that version too. Why the last cavern is different remains a mystery as on the BBC Micro version as well the last cavern (and a few others) are different too.
127 downloads
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Manic Miner (Dragon)
By Spider
Manic Miner for the Dragon 32/64 range of machines.
Two tape files (.cas format) are included, the one badged as a 'Re-Release' is more compatible with other variants such as the Cole-Co.
The first release retains the keypad protection, the code card is included. The 'Re-Release' does not have this.
Cursor Left / Right = Left / Right
Shift or Space = Jump
P = Pause. Any other key while paused to resume
S = Sound On
Q = Sound Off
The Dragon version includes two extra screens not seen in other versions, these are "The Dragon Users Bonus" and "The End"
Similar to the Dragon version of JSW, there is a built in cheat mode...
51 downloads
Updated
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Manic Miner (Spectrum)
By Spider
Manic Miner for the Sinclair Spectrum.
The download includes the following 'officially released' versions:
[*]Bug Byte Ltd - The original first release [*]Software Projects - The 'later' original release [*]Ventamatic - Spanish language re-release [*]M.A.D - Mastertronic Added Dimension (Mastertronic152 downloads
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Manic Miner BBC Micro
By Spider
Manic Miner for the BBC Micro. The conversion was written by D.J.Coathupe.
The caverns mostly mirror other versions with a few exceptions:
1. There is no 'Solar Power Generator' instead there is a 'Meteor Showers' cavern. This is just as difficult as Skylabs, if not more so.
2. The Final Barrier is also completely different in its layout too.
The download includes the disc version, a tape version and the keypad code sheet too. This is required for the tape version. The disc version also features instructions during load too, these are not present on the original tape version mainly I suspect for a reduction in loading time.
43 downloads
Updated
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Manic Miner (Tatung Einstein Version)
By Spider
Disk image of Manic Miner for the Tatung Einstein
This includes the 'keypad' similar to the Acorn/BBC version of Manic Miner.
The scrolling message reads:
17 downloads
Updated
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Manic Miner (C64/C128)
By Spider
Disk image (.dsk) of Manic Miner for the C64/C128
The .zip also includes a .prg (tape file?) image too.
17 downloads
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