Robot
05-09-2010, 05:13 AM
From the Atari 2600 to the NES to the Sega Genesis, you thought you've experienced everything there is to know about retro. Don't get too cocky though, Americans! There's a whole other chapter of classic gaming you've likely missed. Pack your bags... 1UP is taking an extended trip to England to discover:
http://www.1up.com/media?id=3808346&type=lg
When you’re learning about gaming on the ZX Spectrum, Manic Miner is the only place to start. Created by Matthew Smith and released by Bug-Byte Software in 1983, this brutally difficult platformer quickly became the computer’s killer app and the poster child for the Spectrum experience. Manic Miner is as essential to classic gaming in the United Kingdom as Donkey Kong or Asteroids is here in the United States… it’s a cherished part of the childhoods of thirty-something gamers throughout Britain, and has inspired conversions for every electronic device under the sun. You can play Manic Miner on your modern day computer, take it on the go with the GameBoy Advance or Nintendo DS, jam out with a version of the game on the Zune music player, or even go prehistoric with a Manic Miner conversion designed for the ZX81, the wimpy monochrome computer that the Spectrum was designed to replaced!
http://www.1up.com/media?id=3809486&type=lgWhat kind of game would spark a British frenzy normally reserved for royalty and mop-topped musicians? Well, Manic Miner is a bit like Donkey Kong, with the lead character Miner Willy leaping over hazards in a variety of stages. However, instead of rescuing a beautiful woman held captive by a lovestruck ape, Willy has only self-preservation in mind. To keep from suffocating, he must collect a series of flashing keys in each cavernous level and use them to spring open a vault door leading to the next stage. While hunting for the keys, Willy is confronted by wind-up monsters, the world’s deadliest penguins, rogue Pac-Men on stilt legs, and animated toilet bowls. Contact with any of these creatures, or falling from steep heights, or running out of air, or tripping over weeds, will end Willy’s life. There's no way to turn the tables on these threats, making the lead character nearly as hapless as the death-prone star of Spelunker (http://imaginarygamenews.com/2010/01/spelunker-fan-killed-by-tissue/) and pushing the difficulty into the stratosphere. Hey, it just wouldn’t be a British game if you didn’t want to pull your hair out every ten minutes!
It’s hard to write a review of Manic Miner without it turning into a commentary on vintage British game design, because the game practically defined it. Everything players have come to expect from that style is here, from the peculiar characters (evident even with the graphic limitations of the Spectrum) to the sadistic levels which demand exact precision from the player. There are no continues, no save points, and just three lives, forcing the player to memorize each level of Manic Miner like the back of his controller-blistered hand and finish all twenty of them in one marathon session. If you thought beating Battletoads made you one macho hombre, know this… the legendarily brutal NES release is kids’ stuff next to the punishing games British developers like RARE were making for the Spectrum!
http://www.1up.com/media?id=3809487&type=lgIt won’t do much for your pride, but Manic Miner has held up surprisingly well over the last twenty-seven years. The color clash that beat most Spectrum games with an ugly stick isn’t much of an issue here, because designer Matthew Smith wisely chose to keep the graphics simple. Because the background objects are sharply drawn and easily identifiable, you’ll always know just how close Willy is to the edge of a platform, and which parts of a bridge will crumble under his feet. The animation is impressive for the time too, with toilet bowls flapping their lids and sea lions balancing beach balls on their noses as they patrol each stage. Most importantly, solid control means that the Manic Miner is always fair to the player… well, as fair as a game can be with twenty stages and no continues, anyway.
You should give the game a shot, even if you don't have a Spectrum handy and have to settle for one of the conversions, like the Flash port on the Darn Kitty (http://www.darnkitty.com/manic/) web site. It may not be to your personal taste, but at the very least, you’ll get some historical perspective out of the experience.
Special thanks to Wikipedia for the box artwork and some historical data.
http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9029567
http://www.1up.com/media?id=3808346&type=lg
When you’re learning about gaming on the ZX Spectrum, Manic Miner is the only place to start. Created by Matthew Smith and released by Bug-Byte Software in 1983, this brutally difficult platformer quickly became the computer’s killer app and the poster child for the Spectrum experience. Manic Miner is as essential to classic gaming in the United Kingdom as Donkey Kong or Asteroids is here in the United States… it’s a cherished part of the childhoods of thirty-something gamers throughout Britain, and has inspired conversions for every electronic device under the sun. You can play Manic Miner on your modern day computer, take it on the go with the GameBoy Advance or Nintendo DS, jam out with a version of the game on the Zune music player, or even go prehistoric with a Manic Miner conversion designed for the ZX81, the wimpy monochrome computer that the Spectrum was designed to replaced!
http://www.1up.com/media?id=3809486&type=lgWhat kind of game would spark a British frenzy normally reserved for royalty and mop-topped musicians? Well, Manic Miner is a bit like Donkey Kong, with the lead character Miner Willy leaping over hazards in a variety of stages. However, instead of rescuing a beautiful woman held captive by a lovestruck ape, Willy has only self-preservation in mind. To keep from suffocating, he must collect a series of flashing keys in each cavernous level and use them to spring open a vault door leading to the next stage. While hunting for the keys, Willy is confronted by wind-up monsters, the world’s deadliest penguins, rogue Pac-Men on stilt legs, and animated toilet bowls. Contact with any of these creatures, or falling from steep heights, or running out of air, or tripping over weeds, will end Willy’s life. There's no way to turn the tables on these threats, making the lead character nearly as hapless as the death-prone star of Spelunker (http://imaginarygamenews.com/2010/01/spelunker-fan-killed-by-tissue/) and pushing the difficulty into the stratosphere. Hey, it just wouldn’t be a British game if you didn’t want to pull your hair out every ten minutes!
It’s hard to write a review of Manic Miner without it turning into a commentary on vintage British game design, because the game practically defined it. Everything players have come to expect from that style is here, from the peculiar characters (evident even with the graphic limitations of the Spectrum) to the sadistic levels which demand exact precision from the player. There are no continues, no save points, and just three lives, forcing the player to memorize each level of Manic Miner like the back of his controller-blistered hand and finish all twenty of them in one marathon session. If you thought beating Battletoads made you one macho hombre, know this… the legendarily brutal NES release is kids’ stuff next to the punishing games British developers like RARE were making for the Spectrum!
http://www.1up.com/media?id=3809487&type=lgIt won’t do much for your pride, but Manic Miner has held up surprisingly well over the last twenty-seven years. The color clash that beat most Spectrum games with an ugly stick isn’t much of an issue here, because designer Matthew Smith wisely chose to keep the graphics simple. Because the background objects are sharply drawn and easily identifiable, you’ll always know just how close Willy is to the edge of a platform, and which parts of a bridge will crumble under his feet. The animation is impressive for the time too, with toilet bowls flapping their lids and sea lions balancing beach balls on their noses as they patrol each stage. Most importantly, solid control means that the Manic Miner is always fair to the player… well, as fair as a game can be with twenty stages and no continues, anyway.
You should give the game a shot, even if you don't have a Spectrum handy and have to settle for one of the conversions, like the Flash port on the Darn Kitty (http://www.darnkitty.com/manic/) web site. It may not be to your personal taste, but at the very least, you’ll get some historical perspective out of the experience.
Special thanks to Wikipedia for the box artwork and some historical data.
http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9029567