Manic Miner - Just a jump to the left..
It is time , dear reader, to come to one of the giants of the Spectrum gaming world. Let us enter the world of Manic Miner .
This is probably one of the most well known of the ZX Spectrum games, ( poor humble prospector Miner Willy falls down a long abandoned mine shaft and discovers untold riches, if only he can get out alive.) It was the first real platform game I played and had the novelty of music played through out the game and some wonderful music on the start up screen.
This is probably one of the most well known of the ZX Spectrum games, ( poor humble prospector Miner Willy falls down a long abandoned mine shaft and discovers untold riches, if only he can get out alive.) It was the first real platform game I played and had the novelty of music played through out the game and some wonderful music on the start up screen.
Let's start with that screen, it's colourful , it's bright , it just screams optimism and the clincher for me , it had a piano keyboard . Having learnt to play the electronic organ this drew me in. Plus the fact it was playing the Blue Danube , one of the tunes I could play. This was really starting to look good before the game even started. Now, by today's standards you might think the game play a little tame, just left, right and jump. Nothing to shoot, complete one screen and on to the next.
Wrong...Each screen had colour, humour and was fiendishly difficult in places and every screen had a time limit. The music playing through out also added to the experience, the cool little sound effect when you finished , that I can't in anyway replicate was unique. Each level was a mental aerobics session, you needed brain power and not just quick fingers to do this game. Sometimes it was just a jump to the left and then a step to the right....In fact.......that was just what this game was, you had to choreograph your moves.
It was a game about patterns, timings and rhythm. Three steps to the left, wait for the penguin to move, jump , land , two steps to the right. It was a dance and once you knew the steps for that level you could complete it.
For the 11 year old Julie this was fantastic, as young Julie danced a lot ( teen Julie danced quite a bit and older Julie still dances -just when no one is looking!) I even went to the trouble of writing these moves down and with practise you could repeat your performance time after time. You had to use patience , some moves couldn't be carried out until a kangaroo or a toilet seat had made their move first. In places it had to be timed to perfection, you found yourself counting under your breath , waiting for your turn to make Miner Willy bounce across the cavern floor.
There was something almost hypnotic about this game, having to watch the other characters on the screen drew your attention, locked you into the game. Corny as it sounds , you became one with the game, the dance went on....
It was a game about patterns, timings and rhythm. Three steps to the left, wait for the penguin to move, jump , land , two steps to the right. It was a dance and once you knew the steps for that level you could complete it.
For the 11 year old Julie this was fantastic, as young Julie danced a lot ( teen Julie danced quite a bit and older Julie still dances -just when no one is looking!) I even went to the trouble of writing these moves down and with practise you could repeat your performance time after time. You had to use patience , some moves couldn't be carried out until a kangaroo or a toilet seat had made their move first. In places it had to be timed to perfection, you found yourself counting under your breath , waiting for your turn to make Miner Willy bounce across the cavern floor.
There was something almost hypnotic about this game, having to watch the other characters on the screen drew your attention, locked you into the game. Corny as it sounds , you became one with the game, the dance went on....
While I was dancing my way across the screens , pirouetting around Penguins and Pac-men , my father also encountered this game. He became obsessed with it, long after I had gone to bed he would be sat on the floor , pounding the keyboard, jumping on bushes, bashing into penguins and swearing at a particular yellow robot. I often wondered why he persevered with the game ( my father has very limited 3D vision and lives in a mostly 2D world) . Other games that he had not managed to get the hang of were left by the wayside quite quickly, so why not Manic Miner?
Well, I think the clue was in the title, Dad had come from a mining family, although he had avoided the mines himself , his father had been a miner as had his father's father ( who had lost his life in a mining accident.) Just perhaps Miner Willy had been transported to the coal faces of Wales and was giving my father the chance to connect with his family history. Or possibly my father was just refusing to be beaten by the little black box.
Manic Miner had touched two generations, as all the best Spectrum games did. The father perhaps seeing a life he had avoided , imprinting the coal mines of Wales over the futuristic gamescape. And the daughter dancing and twirling her way into a future of platform game playing
Manic Miner had touched two generations, as all the best Spectrum games did. The father perhaps seeing a life he had avoided , imprinting the coal mines of Wales over the futuristic gamescape. And the daughter dancing and twirling her way into a future of platform game playing