[File] Manic Miner Updated

[The Equalizer]

The "rubbish old game" thing actually comes from one of my kids who describes anything pre-Playstation as exactly that!  For him, these old games are a complete anathema.  Personally, I actually prefer MM to JSW (please don't shoot me!).

 

That article sounds really intriguing.  I can actually see that in practice with other old games and systems that I've let the kids play.  Half the time, I have to repeatedly explain why touching the screen doesn't 'work' or smile through gritted teeth while hearing for the umpteenth time "why do I keep dying at that bit?"!

 

Up until now, I've only taken in consoles as they're a bit more approachable and robust (in terms of simplicity) for the wee ones.  I just decided to try out a Speccy with a couple of the kids as they're pretty geeky (like me at that age) and I think they're probably ready to accept the idea of typing in commands and the like.  If all goes well, I'm hoping to get them to type in a BASIC game or two...

[Spider]

Preference is fine, each to their own.

 

For what it is worth (I don't think I've posted this before) I saw / played JSW at least a few months before I saw Manic Miner, so my 'starting experience' with it was not the right way around as such. :lol:

 

The article it was more a kind of short bit as I say, more or less 'modern' players do not expect such 'instant death' or if they do some kind of save point (we have snapshots these days in emulators) and 'back then' devices such as Multiface or Interface3 (if you could find one!) would save a snapshot to tape as well as the Disciple and +D interfaces which if memory serves could also save a snapshot but to disk too. These were quite expensive back in then though as you may recall.

 

Talking of robustness, cartridge based games fall into this category, as the code is read only they can't break it. Although the hardware itself is quite vulnerable to damage such as removing a cartridge while powered can cause damage. Only a small handful of official ones were released and they were all 16K games, they are very expensive now to obtain. Shame as I recall seeing them for about 14.99 back then. With this in mind its possible now to have larger games on a cartridge via a slightly different interface (instead of Interface 2 or Ram Turbo) and a different cartridge rom design although its potentially a DIY project.

 

I can provide details on any of the above if you want, I've purposely skimmed on said detail to keep the post readable. :D

 

Basic type ins, these days quite a lot are 'ready available' as tape files anyway thankfully. I do recall typing in quite a large number of them back then although ones that were full of hex data were something I avoided, it does (these days) seem quite odd to look at three or more pages of data and think "30 years ago I would of typed this in" :o :)

[The Equalizer]

Yeah, I always wished cartridges were more popular over here way back when.  I had quite a few for my VIC20 but that was mainly because the computer was old and the carts were super cheap!

 

I'm interested to try the kids patience a little.  I'm going to show them the ubiquitous "20 goto 10" and see how they respond.  After that, if all goes well, I think I'll dig out one of those Usborne Space Games books or something.  Those 'games' were usually fairly short listings... I'm under no illusion that any of the kids will be willing to type huge DATA statements! 

[Spider]

Yeah, I always wished cartridges were more popular over here way back when.  I had quite a few for my VIC20 but that was mainly because the computer was old and the carts were super cheap!

 

I'm interested to try the kids patience a little.  I'm going to show them the ubiquitous "20 goto 10" and see how they respond.  After that, if all goes well, I think I'll dig out one of those Usborne Space Games books or something.  Those 'games' were usually fairly short listings... I'm under no illusion that any of the kids will be willing to type huge DATA statements! 

 

Oh I know what you mean about the prices / popularity of them. Shame in a way really. I remember the Vic although I do not recall it having a cartridge slot :unsure: , unless I'm mixing it up with the CBM +4

 

Listings, yes its a bit daunting to look at even a short one these days and think "back then I'd of typed that in without thinking twice"

 

I do actually have a listing I want to use but its in a .pdf but as images and despite trying a few tools to 'extract' it as sensible text it does not want to play nice. :D But I need to look at this again with fresh tools I guess.

[jetsetdanny]

Andy, I think this part of the game's description:

 

5. To make the game a bit more initially friendly, Willy starts with seven lives instead of three however:

 

is incorrect.

 

I believe it should say, "Willy starts with eight lives instead of three", since there are seven spare lives, while normally there are only two spare lives. If you count the "currently used" life as one, altogether there are eight of them.

[Spider]

Andy, I think this part of the game's description:

 

5. To make the game a bit more initially friendly, Willy starts with seven lives instead of three however:

 

is incorrect.

 

I believe it should say, "Willy starts with eight lives instead of three", since there are seven spare lives, while normally there are only two spare lives. If you count the "currently used" life as one, altogether there are eight of them.

Good point! :)

 

Please feel free to update the descriptor to reflect this, or I can do it later today if needed.