Italian and Spanish versions of 'Manic Miner'

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!