Jester Interactive‘s 2002 remake of Manic Miner must surely rate as the best version of Manic Miner available (excepting maybe the Spectrum original), although it might play too quickly for some.
Monthly Archives: May 2019
Manic Miner, MSX
The MSX version of Manic Miner was produced by Software Projects in 1984. It’s a rare British MSX title, written by Cameron Else. It’s also fast and beautifully playable.
Manic Miner, Amstrad CPC
The excellent Amstrad CPC version of Manic Miner was first released by Software Projects in 1984.
It is very close to the ZX Spectrum original in almost every respect, barring the fact that the colours are slightly less vivid and the play window is slightly smaller. Oh, and the last level is different – like an expanded (and more difficult) version of the last screen in the Speccy original.
Manic Miner, BBC Micro
BBC Manic Miner was released by Software Projects in 1984.
Compared to the Spectrum original it is slow and flickery, and isn’t quite as colourful, although it plays pretty much identically so isn’t too bad.
Manic Miner, Dragon 32
“How to ruin a great game with bad collision detection…” That’s the overriding thought in my head when playing Manic Miner on the Dragon 32.
Manic Miner, Amiga
I would love to say that the 1990 Amiga conversion of Manic Miner is perfect, but it isn’t.
Manic Miner, SAM Coupé
Matthew Smith‘s famous Manic Miner was released for the SAM Coupé in 1992 by Revelation Software. I’m not sure if it’s an official conversion or not.
Actually, there are two versions of Manic Miner that I’ve found for the SAM Coupé. One contains levels that are different to the original (except for the first level), and the other contains three different versions of Manic Miner, including the original levels (three sets of 20 levels, totalling 60).
Manic Miner, Commodore 64
Manic Miner on the Commodore 64 is very close to the ZX Spectrum original, which is fine in my book although at the time I remember magazine critics not liking it because it looked like a Spectrum game. Which I always thought was ridiculous…
Arx Fatalis, PC
Arx Fatalis is a 3D Role-Playing Game developed by French company Arkane Studios and first published by JoWooD Productions in 2002.
Chuckie Egg, Dragon 32
The Dragon 32 version of A&F Software‘s classic Chuckie Egg was released in 1983. And – like all Dragon games – it is decidedly green.
The King of Grabs 