MtM

Merry Christmas all, and to all a good night!
 

Merry Christmas all, and to all a good night!
 

Merry Christmas all, and to all a good night!
 

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the publication of the first videos—starting with walkthroughs of Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy and Jet Set Willy II—on the JSW Central YouTube channel, initially launched as a companion to my JSW Central website.
Five years after that modest beginning, the channel now showcases more than 200 videos with walkthroughs of MM and JSW games and variants. As of now, walkthroughs of *all* MM and JSW games for the ZX Spectrum released until June 2025 have been presented on the channel, as well as walkthroughs of the most visually interesting entries among what I classify as “versions and minor mods” of the original MM and JSW.
A big thank you to everyone who has subscribed to the JSW Central YouTube channel (close to 500 people now—amazing! 😁).
As mentioned in my previous post (sorry for the repetition!) all videos are listed in the “JSW Central videos” section of JSW Central. For each entry, two links are provided: one leading to the YouTube upload, and another to the Internet Archive, where the video can be downloaded in its original Full HD quality or in an AI-upscaled 4K version. These links are also included on each game’s individual page, where the YouTube videos are embedded.
While the content of the walkthroughs is the same as in the YouTube uploads, the downloadable versions may include minor refinements, such as adjusted title screens or improved audio synchronisation. Therefore, if you wish to download a JSW Central video, I strongly recommend obtaining the final version from the Internet Archive rather than from YouTube. You can see the whole collection at a glance here.
My plans for further development of the JSW Central YouTube channel and of the Internet Archive video collection are as follows:
– presenting new MM/JSW games a few months after each release (these will, of course, be very rare, as new games don’t appear that often);
– presenting the remaining “versions and minor mods” of the original MM and JSW (from time to time, as showcasing various nearly identical versions in a row wouldn’t be very exciting);
– presenting ZX Spectrum platform games that may be of interest to MM/JSW fans (I started with Monty on the Run, as it’s one of my non-MM/JSW favourites).
In the future, the presentations on this channel *might* also include MM/JSW and related games for platforms other than the ZX Spectrum, but I’m *not* making a firm promise at this point.
And again, to repeat what I posted very recently: I hope this growing collection of videos—based on my RZX walkthroughs, which are also available for download on each game’s page on JSW Central—will serve as a valuable resource for any fans of MM/JSW who are struggling with a game or simply want to see how it can be completed. I also hope it will help promote Miner Willy’s multiple universes to a wider audience 🙂 .

Merry Christmas also! Hope everyone has a good one

The topic says it all! 

I am thrilled to announce that a complete archive of the messages once posted on the defunct Manic Miner & Jet Set Willy Yahoo! Group is now available on JSW Central.
The Manic Miner & Jet Set Willy Yahoo! Group was founded by Dr Andrew Broad on 20 December 1999 (initially as the Yahoo! MM/JSW Club until March 2002). It existed for over 20 years until 15 December 2020, when Yahoo! shut down all Yahoo! Groups.
The Group, which offered a message board, picture galleries and file hosting, quickly became a focal point for the MM/JSW community. Over the years nearly 7,300 messages were posted and by the end of its existence the Group had 742 members. Dr Andrew Broad remained its Owner throughout its entire lifespan.
The early 2000s marked the heyday of the Group’s activity while the number of messages declined sharply after 2010. Following a period of near-inactivity in 2013–2014 the Group experienced a modest revival. However Yahoo! first deleted user-created content from its Groups in December 2019 and then closed the service entirely in 2020.
The Group’s messages form an important part of the history of the development of MM and JSW games for the ZX Spectrum. They contain insights and information that remain useful even today for those interested in creating such games. For this reason the complete archive of the Group’s messages is preserved on JSW Central.
The messages, archived before the Group’s closure, were converted into HTML format for presentation on JSW Central by Michał Gromann. I am very grateful for his assistance in this endeavour 🙏.
The archive contains all 7,186 messages that still existed when the Group went offline (the last message visible online was #7256; in total 70 earlier messages had been deleted either by their authors or by the Owner while the Group was still active). In addition the archive includes 37 messages (#7257-#7293) that were never published online and existed only as emails sent to members after December 2019 but before Yahoo! terminated its Groups altogether in December 2020. Some edits were made to this final batch to protect email addresses and conceal certain restricted content.
This archive does not preserve the original message threads. Nor does it preserve emoticons (with the exception of the last 37 messages), which appear only as missing image placeholders.
You can browse the archive by moving from message to message or by entering a specific message number. Errors will appear if you input a number outside the 0–7293 range, a non-numerical character or the number of a message deleted while the Group was still active.
I will be grateful for feedback if you discover any problems such as messages cut off prematurely. I do know that a lot of links in the older messages are messed up (I believe that's due to the original HTML code) and I will correct these progressively. However, if you discover anything else that needs correcting, please let me know here or by email.

All Done ‼️🕹️
Tested all the way through in emulation and real hardware, everything working 🖕
When you start the game you can choose where you want to start;

Going Left to the yellow teleport will take you to the original game.
Right and up the ladder and across will take you to the 17 new levels. Either way you need to get past the level 1 Guardian to get to the teleporter.
Each game has an ending screen;
   
This will then transport you back to the Choose screen, but you need to complete both games to finish and get to And Finally.
It is available in Downloads 
Enjoy it 😎
All the best,
Byron
 

And to take all the work out of modification... The data needed is in my "INVISIBLE TAP" file

This is the minimum change needed  to interact with willy - NOTE this omits the other changes I added 
 
; to get this data look at these addresses in "INVISIBLE.TAP"-

; modification at start of rope draw - draw Willy to screen
at #92a4
    call    willy_draw_on (3 BYTES)
    nop                            (1 BYTE)
old
     LD IY,ytable             (4 BYTES)          

; with xor ??? if willy is present then no change here - leave to indicate looked at and aware of check
at #92c9
    and    (hl)
old    (no change - read comment)
        AND (HL)              

; the rope pixel changes from {or} to {xor}
at #9311
    xor    (hl)    (1 BYTE)
old
     OR (HL)   (1 BYTE)        

; the final rope mode modification - get rid of Willy
at #935e
    call    willy_draw_off (3 BYTES)
old
    LD A,(rope_status)    (3 BYTES)   
; Original Willy draw - now just saves data positions
at    #9660
    jp save_willy    (3 BYTES)      
old --- note 3 bytes which is the first instruction plus 1 byte from the next
    LD B,#10               (2 BYTES)
        LD A,(willy_att)  (3 BYTES- ONLY FIRST BYTE NEEDS TO BE CHANGED)   
 
; the code that is being called - 
    org #9f00
screen_pos    dw    0 
screen_def    dw    0

save_willy:
    ld    a,(willy_att)
    and    #1f
    or    (ix+0)        ; the x position
    ld    L,a
    ld    h,(ix+1)
    ld    (screen_pos),HL
    ld    (screen_def),de
    ret
willy_pause:
    ld    hl,(screen_pos)
; shift from #60 to #40
    res    5,h
    call    willy_xor1
    LD      DE,#0000         
    ret
willy_draw_on:
    call    willy_xor
    LD     IY,ytable
    ret
willy_draw_off
    call    willy_xor
    LD     A,(rope_status)     
    ret

willy_xor:
    ld    hl,(screen_pos)
willy_xor1:
    ld    de,(screen_def)
draw_xor:
    ld    b,#10
loop_xor:
    ld    a,(de)
    xor    (hl)
    ld    (hl),a
    inc    de
    inc    L
    ld    a,(de)
    xor    (hl)
    ld    (hl),a
    inc    de
    dec    L
    inc    h
    ld    a,h
    and    7
    jr    nz,legal_val
    ld    a,L
    add    a,#20
    ld    L,a
    jr    c,legal_val
    ld    a,h
    sub    8
    ld    h,a
legal_val:
    djnz    loop_xor
    ret
 
--------------------- PLUS
Stop dancing willy routine - delete call
remove Willy on plinth in death routine - delete call

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

A lot of effort for something I am not doing --- 


 
 

This opinion has been raised before, it is valid, Next games can often look like Amiga games (but not quite as good imo) however it does not mean you have to make them look that way, you can use original Spectrum palettes etc, and could realise a MM / JSW game but just using a few more colours, which would be a real benefit I think, a multicolour Miner Willy, and nasties too. The palette used in Melchior's Mansion is an example of keeping the original Spectrum look but using the new HW.
 
I have backed all 3 KS for the Next, it's a great machine and worth supporting, as are the team behind it, in truth, it does lack some good games I think, there are quite a few games now, but few real quality games imo for it. It is improving though. It would be incredible if a new MM / JSW came out for the Next, and would likely capture the imagination of a lot of people. I have touted the idea of a crowdfunded version of MM / JSW for the Next - imagine if MS could be recruited, and paid, to work on it? Or even NS for that matter! We can but dream ...

Don't know if anyone else has seen this, apologies if so, saw it on the Spectrum Discord group.
 
 

Don't know if anyone else has seen this, apologies if so, saw it on the Spectrum Discord group.
 
 

This opinion has been raised before, it is valid, Next games can often look like Amiga games (but not quite as good imo) however it does not mean you have to make them look that way, you can use original Spectrum palettes etc, and could realise a MM / JSW game but just using a few more colours, which would be a real benefit I think, a multicolour Miner Willy, and nasties too. The palette used in Melchior's Mansion is an example of keeping the original Spectrum look but using the new HW.
 
I have backed all 3 KS for the Next, it's a great machine and worth supporting, as are the team behind it, in truth, it does lack some good games I think, there are quite a few games now, but few real quality games imo for it. It is improving though. It would be incredible if a new MM / JSW came out for the Next, and would likely capture the imagination of a lot of people. I have touted the idea of a crowdfunded version of MM / JSW for the Next - imagine if MS could be recruited, and paid, to work on it? Or even NS for that matter! We can but dream ...

Yes, Absolutely, although you could enhance it, it does not mean you have to. That said, I think the expectation would still be there from most Next users to have enhancements. As you mention, Melchior's Mansion did a fantastic job of blending the ZX feel with hardware enhancements, they totally nailed it.
I feel that most of the Next crowd are in it for the games nostalgia, and I really hope the KS3 gains more development traction in the coming years. Maybe one day MS could be lured back to write a sequel, I'm sure we'd all chip in and get him a TRS-80 to get cracking.

This opinion has been raised before, it is valid, Next games can often look like Amiga games (but not quite as good imo) however it does not mean you have to make them look that way, you can use original Spectrum palettes etc, and could realise a MM / JSW game but just using a few more colours, which would be a real benefit I think, a multicolour Miner Willy, and nasties too. The palette used in Melchior's Mansion is an example of keeping the original Spectrum look but using the new HW.
 
I have backed all 3 KS for the Next, it's a great machine and worth supporting, as are the team behind it, in truth, it does lack some good games I think, there are quite a few games now, but few real quality games imo for it. It is improving though. It would be incredible if a new MM / JSW came out for the Next, and would likely capture the imagination of a lot of people. I have touted the idea of a crowdfunded version of MM / JSW for the Next - imagine if MS could be recruited, and paid, to work on it? Or even NS for that matter! We can but dream ...

I've checked out some of the new games for the Spectrum Next and to be honest, they don't really feel like a Spectrum anymore. With 256 colour palettes and AY sound they feel more like Atari ST, Amiga or even SNES games.
For me personally, this takes away some of the magic and simplicity of the original machine.

All Done !! (well playable 👍)

Now a lot of refining the layouts, guardians and portals.
Main thing is that the guardians can't pass over other items on the level. So "Cosmic Causeway", "Logo of the Year" and "The Final Conflict" had to be modified to avoid this but try and stay true to the original gameplay.
Also updated the loading screen;

Once all the levels have been checked over, test play everything, add everything to the documentation 😵‍💫
Then unless there are any objections release it into the Wild ‼️
All the best,
Byron

Progress so far 👍
So the first 5 levels of "WillyWood" are basically done, in that they are playable, all the keys can be collected and you can exit to the next level. The next step is to refine all the Room Graphics, tyring to get them to give the same game play as the NDS within the limitations of a 128K Spectrum.
The first level is pretty close;
  
 
One major restriction is that the Spectrum play area is 2 rows shorter than the DS so with a level that uses the full screen a little careful tinkering is needed;
  
So this is the 3rd level 18 rows high on the DS and now 16 rows high on the Spectrum. At the moment the guardians are just being used to check the gameplay.
 
Next step is to take a colour sprite and convert it to monochrome;

Then repeat for every frame of the animation.
So a lot more to do but it is definitely getting there 😁
All the best,
Byron 

This is just a quick update on the Lost Levels 128K, version 1.2 is out with the help of Daniel from JSW Central fixing the ending.
When putting this together I went back to the Original DS version as originally I used low res screen grabs from the intro video. Now I have RetroPie and have a full DS emulator and the NDS ManicMinerLL ROM files, as you play through the Lost Levels it unlocks an additional 20 Bonus levels. Once you have completed the Lost Levels it unlocks a new game "WillyWood" with another 10 levels.
Most of the Bonus Levels are either from the Original MM or the Sam Coupé port but there are some new ones.
HORACE IN THE MYSTIC WOODS
BLAGGER COULD SMELL A ‘RATT’
COSMIC CAUSEWAY
LOGO OF THE YEAR
THE FINAL CONFLICT
IT'S CHRISTMAS, CHARLIE BROWN!
JUMP FOR JOY
Here some screen shots;
       
 
From "WillyWood" they are all new and are based on popular films.
“I’M A DRUNKARD” SAID RICK
BRIGHT LIGHT, BRIGHT LIGHT
HELLO GUYS, I’M MR PERKINS
WE DON’T NEED ROADS!
WE’VE SUCH SIGHTS TO SHOW YOU!
HE SLIMED ME!!
BLONDES ARE SCARCE ROUND HERE
I’LL BE BACK
I HAD A HUNCH!
DO YOU KNOW HOW TO MADISON?
Here some screen shots;
   
So I would like to convert these 17 levels and add them to the Lost Levels 128K and just wanted some feedback to see who is interested.
I am planning to update this post with additional screen shots and Level conversions.
The only potential spanner in the works is that I have been unable to contact the DS game creator as I would like the OK to be able to put it out for Download.
If anyone in the community has any suggestions as who I could ask please let me know.
All the best,
Byron

Ah yes, silly mistake now fixed v0.3 uploaded. Thanks for testing.

Thank you for your comment 🙂 .
I coded the title-screen and in-game music.
Before the release, Carl wrote to me that he liked the title-screen music and it seemed to fit very well, but it was driving him crazy because he believed he had heard it before but couldn't identify it. He tried to I.D it and a track from "Harry Potter" came up which did sound similar.
Here's what I replied to Carl regarding the title screen tune: "I couldn't say with certainty what it is. The easiest answer would be that I composed it for "GhoST oF WiLLY", but that's probably not entirely accurate, or at least doesn't tell the whole story. And the story is this: It must be a tune that I heard somewhere at some point in the (possibly distant) past, or a modification of a tune I knew. It started sounding in my head when I was thinking about the title-screen music for "GhoST oF WiLLY" and so I coded it . As far as I can tell, it's very similar to a tune to which I once wrote some lyrics (a very long time ago, when I was 14 or something like that). This is how I identified it when it started sounding in my head. However, back then (at 14) I wouldn't have composed it, it was probably a tune I must have heard somewhere (no idea where). That was long before Harry Potter, though, and, in fact, I've never watched the Harry Potter movies yet (I intend to do it some day), so I exclude them as my source of inspiration".
That's as much as I can tell you about it 🙂 .

Only had a few quick goes so far, it is very hard, and you have a distinctive style, both visually, and sound wise, in fact the title music makes me think of That's the Spirit on the Spectrum, don't know if that was an influence to the game? Or maybe Danny if you did the music? I read how it's a series of mini tunes that play one after another.
 
Anyway, bravo for the effort! Thank you very much for doing it!
 
 

Only had a few quick goes so far, it is very hard, and you have a distinctive style, both visually, and sound wise, in fact the title music makes me think of That's the Spirit on the Spectrum, don't know if that was an influence to the game? Or maybe Danny if you did the music? I read how it's a series of mini tunes that play one after another.
 
Anyway, bravo for the effort! Thank you very much for doing it!
 
 

View File GhoST oF WiLLY
I am thrilled to announce the release of Carl Paterson's fourth Jet Set Willy game: "GhoST oF WiLLY" 🙂.   The plot of the game revolves — obviously — around Jet Set Willy, the legendary adventurer, who must come out of retirement after a curse originally meant for his descendant, Jet Set Junior, falls upon him. Stripped of his physical body and trapped in spirit form, Willy must return to his old mansion — now transformed into a surreal reflection of his own subconscious — to collect sacred relics and break the curse at Queen Maria’s altar. As he navigates twisted echoes of his past, the fate of the entire Jet Set family line hangs in the balance. The player must collect all the sacred relics — the Spirit Itemz — needed to reunite Willy’s mind with his body and lift the curse once and for all. The above is just my summary — please read the original plot in the Readme!
The game features:
- 61 newly designed rooms, created in Carl's distinct style, with many challenging jumps where a move in the wrong direction or a jump from an inadequate position will cost you a life;   - Mostly new and some modified guardian sprites; - A significant difficulty level - the use of some 'assistive tools' — such as saving/reloading snapshots, Rollback or the infinite lives POKE 35899,0 — is highly recommended;  
- A custom-made title screen, custom font (called "Dead Forest", designed by Damien Guard) and other enhancements;
- A new title-screen tune and a superlong in-game tune, 1,536 bytes long, i.e. 24 times as long as the tune in the original JSW, actually composed of a series of shorter tunes, never before used in a JSW game for the Spectrum, all in ternary time signatures, which is a first for JSW48 games;
- Something extra at the completion of the game.
The ZIP file includes the game in TAP and TZX format (v. 2 - this is the first public release), the Readme and info about the game's credits.
Please download and embark on another epic journey through these enchanting new parts of Willy's weird universe that Carl has created. And play the game to completion, but remember (hint, hint!) to save three spare lives before reaching the final rooms... 🙂
Submitter jetsetdanny Submitted 06/15/2025 Category Jet Set Willy [Remakes]