Game Review: Manic Miner (ZX Spectrum, Mastertronic)

“The Special One”

As the number 48 is such a cherished number for any devoted ZX Spectrum owner, I was asked which game I’d like to write as the 48th Spectrum game review for the website.  There was no doubt whatsoever, it just had to be the absolute classic platforming game, Manic Miner.

With that in mind, for anyone new to Spectrum retro-gaming or has not played this before, then it really is a very special honour and pleasure to introduce you to this legend of a game.

Just for clarification, this Mastertronic re-release by is the Software Projects version of the Manic Miner.

Presentation

Within the first 20 seconds whilst loading the game, you see something very special happen.  It is an animated loading screen.  Firstly, it displays in capital letters, Manic, followed a second or so later with the word Miner.  Each letter being in colour, alternating whilst the rest of the game continued to load.  This also loaded much faster than a standard loading screen.

Once the game has loaded, straight away, it’s amazing what you’ll see and hear.  Instantly you will hear a screechy (and unforgettable – in a good way!) version of The Blue Danube.  The piano keys in the lower part of screen highlight the notes being played in red and cyan.  On this opening screen, there is part of the 20th cavern (The Final Barrier).  It is the surface where Miner Willy lives with a sunrise (or sunset?), water, slight cloud, his house, neat fence and his car.

Once the Blue Danube has played through once, a scrolling message will give a description of the game, keys and Miner Willy is animated changing direction.  If you think of how 24-hour news channels display scrolling messages nowadays, maybe they were inspired to do so by this?  Personally, I wouldn’t rule it out, but anyway, I digress so back to the review!

After that, provided you haven’t started playing, you’ll see a 5 second preview of each cavern.  Being it can be quite a tough game for beginners, it gives you that “I want to get to that screen feeling!”

Playing The Game

The aim of the game is to escape the 20 lethal caverns by collecting the flashing items (such as keys and gold bars to name just a few).  Once you have collected them all, a portal will flash.  Enter the portal and you’ll transport onto the next cavern.

You start the game with three lives and the number of lives you have remaining are show in the bottom-left hand corner as they are animated versions of Miner Willy marching (face right).  If the music isn’t playing, he they don’t move.  For every 10000 points you get an extra life.  I would say is set at the right-level.  Points being scored by collecting the flashing items and remaining air supply at the end of a screen.

Being a platform game, you walk and jump over various platforms, brick walls and through slime.  Standing on the slime will make it start to slowly disappear and staying on it for too long make it disappear and creating a gap underneath you.  Some platform ledges will require some precision jumping.  Fortunately, there are 3 frames of animation when facing left or right and Miner Willy is as his widest, that is the time to jump.

There are some conveyor belts where on some levels too, just to make things more awkward.  Generally, you will go in the same direction that they travel but it is possible to walk the opposite direction, provided you keep moving.

Over time, you will get better and improve with some determination and was a game which I did complete quite a few times without cheating.

Playability

The jumping motion of Miner Willy is a beautifully animated arc.  Knowing how precise this is really great and the only thing stopping that is if you just into a wall and move downwards or miss a platform and fall downwards.  Fall to far and you lose a life.

The collision detection is perfect.  If you make a mistake walking or jumping into something dangerous, it’ll be down to your timing and not because of some dodgy programming.  The keys to play and joysticks respond instantly too.

Graphics

The game characters and animation are drawn to perfection and there is no flicker or jerkiness whatsoever.  There is very minimal colour clash and it’s more a blending into the background for brief moments, but you never lose sight of where you are on the screen.

The graphics really do work extremely well and just shows the level of imagination that must have gone into creating them.  So much variety and slickness to evident here.

Music and Sound Effects

As mentioned earlier on, the Blue Danube plays at the very beginning once the game has loaded.  Unlike most other 48K Spectrum games though, the game also has in-game music whilst you play it!  The tune is “In Hall of The Mountain King” which does repeat every 11 seconds or so.  This can be switched off for sound effects only (and if you do that, the game does run ever so slightly quicker!)

The sound effects are also there when you jump, start to fall or collide with an enemy robot or pansy.  When you enter a flashing portal, there is a whizzing pitched noise whilst the completed cavern flashes.  The more of air you had, the longer the sound (plus bonus points!)

British Humour Meets Game Over!

It is clear and obvious here (unlike V.A.R. should be in football!) that readers above the age of 50 in the United Kingdom, will see an animation very much based on Monty Python!

When you have lost all your lives, a foot from an extending leg, starts moving downwards towards Miner Willy on a pedestal.  The screen flashes different colours rapidly, (with a high-pitched descending sound), and then compacted.

So even the quirky Game Over sequence is entertaining too.  Don’t worry, though if you are squeamish, there are no blood and guts!

The Instructions Inlay Card

If you want to know how Miner Willy found himself in the ancient long forgotten mineshaft, then the inlay card is worth a quick read.

Cavern Screen Names

Each cavern is named, and the titles tend to match what is on the screen.  There is clearly some wild imagination here.  Below, I’ll name all twenty and put what difficulty rating I’d say they are to complete each one. (Easy / Medium / Hard).

1. Central Cavern – A yellow robot with a trumpet walking back and forth along a conveyor belt. Avoid the pansies and icicles! Medium
2. The Cold Room – A couple of penguins and a sludgy ladder to slowly slide down through the sludge. A little tip, you don’t have to slide down each bit, just jump over the side straight down into the flashing portal and more points too! Easy
3. The Menagerie – Wild flapping birds to jump over with some sludge with some well time jumps being required. Easy
4. Abandoned Uranium Workings – A couple of seals balancing beach balls on their noses. A good room to practice jumping platforms ledges too. This jumping accuracy makes this slightly more difficult. If you know how to jump accurately, then it’s simple. Easy
5. Eugene’s Lair – Toilets with their lids opening and closing and poisonous pansies to jump over. There is also an eggheaded character called Eugene moving up and down in the middle of the screen. Timing is everything to escape this cavern as getting the last key at the right-time is crucial to your escape! Medium
6. Processing Plant – Pacman on springs and some tight areas. You’ll need to use the longest possible jump that you can reach the edge of the portal or fall to you doom. I remember getting very frustrated with that when I was younger, I can tell you! Medium
7. The Vat – Bouncing Kangaroos and half a screen of sludge to navigate your way through to collect the keys. Get this wrong and where the sludge disappears, you won’t be able to jump high enough will be stuck until the air supply expires! Medium
8. Miner Willy meets the Kong Beast – At the top centre is a Kong type character and flicking both levers and make him topple upside down, straight into the portal beneath! It’s not compulsory to do so to complete the level but it is fun! Medium
9. Wacky Amoebatrons – I’d describe this as screen based on biological type of jellyfish enemies. There are a couple of moving pumps to jump over. Medium
10. The Endorian Forest – Marching rabbits to leap over and collect the hanging fruit. Medium
11. Attack of the Mutant Telephones – Moving telephones handles wobble left and right with a couple of static style spiky spiders and collect the 10p coins. May I hasten to say, not a mobile phone in sight either! Hard
12. Return of the Alien Kong Beast – Yes, he’s back. If you get knocked down, get up again! The fiery barrel guarding the portal requires accurate timing to avoid. There is part of a vertical wall which is slightly longer on the right-hand side of the screen, you can’t just jump over it! Medium
13. Ore Refinery – Use the ladder on the left-hand side to gradually work your way across the screen to get the items. Avoid the opening and closing eye though. Medium
14. Skylab Landing Bay – A tough level as there are Skylab satellites crashing into bases (or the conveyor belt!). The satellites come in from the top of the screen at varying speeds some the platforms are near the top of the screen in some cases. Timing is everything or risk getting struck on the head. You’ve guessed it, that doesn’t make for a good combination, ouch! Hard
15. The Bank – Avoid the moving safes and bouncing cheque (that part is harder than it looks by the way!) Easy
16. The Sixteen Cavern – A few flag waving aliens and there is a devious trap. if you do this wrong once, you won’t do it again! I won’t say what it is, play it! Easy
17. The Warehouse – Mainly sludge to navigate through. Takes a bit of practice. Hard
18. Amoebatrons’ Revenge – Yes, just like the Kong Beast, they’ve returned but with a couple more pumps to jump over, no conveyor belt and a very slightly different layout. Medium
19. Solar Power Generator – A green background screen with a powerful yellow block ray of solar. If this ray beam touches one of the panels the light beam, will deflect across towards the screen. Fortunately, touching the beam doesn’t kill you outright, but it will deplete your air supply rather quickly until you get out of its path. This is the only level in my opinion where the amount of air supply is challenge. Medium
20. The Final Barrier – Tougher than it looks. Although there are just two moving robots, there are some vertical jumps required. Medium

Retro Gaming Museums and Shows

I can pretty much guarantee you that if you ever go to an 8-bit computer convention, Manic Miner will be one of the games running on a ZX Spectrum for all to play.  It’s fantastic to see people still attempting to complete the Central Cavern!

This always takes me back to when you’d go into a software store.  Manic Miner was usually the game running for people to play.  In that sense, time hasn’t changed when you visit shows.  Might I add, I like that!

Points of Interest

Whilst playing, you can type in the word typerwriter to be able to jump into any level.  If you do that though, you won’t see the full conclusion when you complete the game.

Manic Miner was originally released by Bug-Byte and then subsequently by Software Projects afterwards.  Just in case you are wondering, there are subtle differences between the Bug-Byte and Software Projects versions.  These being the scrolling message, some different sprites on a few of the caverns (such as a rotating Software Projects logo) and the cheat code to jump into different caverns.  Other than that, they play the same.  Incidentally, instead of typing TYPEWRITER in this version, the Bug-Byte version required 6031769.  That is the number plate on the front cover of the North American boxed PC version of Grand Theft Auto!

The sequel to Manic Miner was Jet Set Willy, which was released on the Ricochet label as a flippy side release for the Spectrum and Amstrad under catalogue number RAS 037.  Supposedly, even Sir Clive Sinclair even knew of Jet Set Willy!  I won’t add here what he allegedly said or that may possibly result in being my last review on this website and I don’t want to risk that.

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You know what we think but why not share your thoughts on this game! Let us know what you think of it in the comments below, or add your own score using the slider in the summary box at the top of the review!