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User:Andrzejbanas/Miner2049er

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Miner 2049er
Developer(s)Big Five Software
Publisher(s)Big Five Software
Programmer(s)Bill Hogue[1]
Platform(s)Atari 8-bit family, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Colecovision, Super Cassette Vision, Commodore 64[2], TI-99/4A, IBM PC, Apple II
Release
December 1982
  • Atari 400/800
  • December 1982
  • Atari 2600
  • May 1983
  • Atari 5200
  • July 1983
  • TI-99/4A
  • October 1983
  • IBM PC
  • November 1983
Genre(s)Platform game

Gameplay

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Miner 2049er features Bounty Bob who has chased an evil miner into a series of uranium mines. To complete a stage, Bob must survey the mine by moving left or right across every part of the floor of each level. The levels are full of hazards ranging from gaps in platforms, slides, radioactive waste and mutants. The mutants can kill Bob when he interacts with them. They can be defeated by collecting items representing pick up some prospecting gear such as candles and drills and then having Bob interact with them.[2] Other elements in the game allow Bob to traverse within the stages are by jumping onto platforms, lifts which allow you to rise to certain parts of the stage, and cannons which can fire you into different stages.[1]

Various versions of the game had different amount of levels. The original and Atari 5200 version of the game had 10, the Atari 2600 version has 3, the ColecoVision had 11 and the TI-99/4A featured eight.[3][4][5]

Production

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Miner 2049er was made programmed by Bill Hogue of Big Five Software of Van Nuys, California.[6][7] The game was Hogue's first program for Atari computers following making games for the black and white TRS-80 computers.[8] They chose to develop for the system as they felt it was the best combination of graphics and sound.[9] The graphics and audio in the game are credited to Curtis A. Mikolyski, Jeff Konyu, Kelly Bakst and Hogue.[1] It was the groups first color computer game.[9] Hogue stated he wanted obsessed with the color capabilities of the Atari computers, 15 different colors on the screen at any one time.[10] A version was developed black and white TRS-80 computers but it was never released.[9] The game released on a 16 kilobyte ROM cartridge. A very large amount at the time with other games for the Atari 400 and 800 computers such as Star Raiders and Missile Command being made with 8K ROMs.[11] The group designed their own circuit boards to hold the game for this size.[9] The game was written in assembly language on the Atari computer itself.[9]

Mike Livesay designed the adaptations of the game for the Apple computer and ColecoVision.[12] Livesay approached Micro Fun about adapting the game for Colecovision but was turned down by the company stating that they did not want third-party games. Despite this, Livesy reverse engineered the Colecovision and developed his own kit for it based on the Apple II. Livesay eventually got Micro Fun to agree to do the Colecovision version fo the game, allowing him time to make more levels for it. He later recalled that "six months later I was making $15,000 a month in royalties, which was a huge amount for a single, 24-year-old kid in the early '80s."[13] Some versions of the game have lost a music theme of "Clementine" such as the Colecovision and Atari 5200 while others are missing it.[3][5]

Release

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Cynthia Rothrock in 2018
ColecoVision
Michelle Yeoh in 2007
Atari 5200
Miner2049er was the first independently produced games released for the ColecoVision (left) and Atari 5200 (right).

Miner 2049er was released for the Atari computers in December 1982. This version of the game sold well, with one review stating it sold on similar levels to the highly publicized Ultima II.[14] In 1983, the game was released for various systems such as the Atari 2600 in May, the Atari 5200 in July, and the Colecovision in August, TI-99/4A for October and the IBM PC by November.[15][16][17][18][19] The game was the first independently produced game released for the Atari 5200 and ColecoVision.[3][5] The game would be released in Japan for systems like the Super Cassette Vision.[20]

Magmic released the game for mobile devices in 2007.[2] Both the Atari 800 and Atari 2600 versions of Miner2049er were included as part of the Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration (2022) compilation for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Steam, and Xbox One.[21]

Joaquin Boaz of InfoWorld declared in InfoWorld that Miner 2049er was "selling like crazy."[6] Computer Entertainer stated that the ColecoVision version of the game by Microfun was the #1 selling video game of the year.[22] In Video's Arkie Awards from January 1984, the game was described as "the most widely played home electronic game of all time", and that "no home-arcade title has had the impact" that the game had.[23] In a 2007 interview, Hogue reflected on the popularity of the game stating it was "a simple game and it's clear at first glance what needs to be done to finish a level. But as you're playing along you discover it wasn't quite as easy as you thought."[13]

Reception

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Tom Hudson in ANALOG Computing had trouble believing that the game fit on a 16K cart and that it was "one of those rare games which looks as if it were designed, not just thrown together." noting that the mine and Bob in the game isn't "just one-color graphics, but detailed multicolor objects" and that "the game itself was not abandoned in favor of graphics".[11] Boaz declared the game to be "gourmet's delight that offers many, many levels of challenge" and applied "skillful use of colors" with its randomly generated palettes that broke up the monotony.[6] A reviewer credited as "MTY" in the magazine Softline found that despite being similar to Donkey Kong, Pac-Man and Apple Panic the game was original and that "unlike many arcade games, Miner doesn't require you to get faster as the pace picks up in order to attain the next level. It requires you to develop the different skills needed to survive." [14]

Computer Entertainer declared Bill Hogue the Designer of the year at their 1983 Awards listing.[22] Miner 2049er was awarded "1984 Electronic Game of the Year" at the 5th annual Arkie Awards.[23] Scott Mace listed as the "Best arcade-type computer game" of 1983 InfoWorld praised it's unique gameplay elements, action and humor stating that "you won't find anything like Miner in the arcades. That in itself is cause for celebration." noting that in a year of "endless adaptation of arcade games, some good, most bad." and that game "out-donkey-kongs" Donkey Kong."[26]

Reviewing the VIC-20 version, The Video Game Update found the game "addictive" while the graphics were "less than outstanding" and that "there are enough challenges in this game to keep the player busy for many, many hours of frustration and triumph."[27] The magazine expressed that the limitations of the Atari 2600 system made the graphics "sacrificed somewhat" and the game controlled "considerably slower and less fluid than in the original computer game, but this version is still a very good game in its own right."[28] The publisher declared the Intellvision version to be the "best climbing game yet" for the system.[3]

From retrospective reviews, Computer and Video Games gave the Coleco version a 82% rating in 1989 reccomending it for for fans of traditional platform games as it was one of the best on the system. [25] Brett Alan Weiss reviewed the Atari 5200 version, declaring it "one of the beast games of the early 1980s", noting that it was fast-paced, intricately designed and a very long and diverse game specifying that unlike Donkey Kong, that pathways were not obvious immediately and this made the game fun and more challenging.[24] Levi Buchanan of IGN declared the mobile version to be "a pixel-perfect recreation of the original" finding the controls responsive for a mobile game.[2] He found that the game was fun in 1984 and was fun in 2007 and that the game merited a new audience recommending it for fans of games like Donkey Kong and BurgerTime.[2]

Legacy

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"Wonder if kids today think of Miner like we do. Miner returns us to a simpler time and perhaps that's why people like to play it again."

— Miner 2049er programmer Bill Hogue in 2007[13]

Future games were directly influenced by Miner 2049er, such as Manic Miner with its underground setting and oxygen levels for a timer.[29] A follow-up titled Scraper Caper was announced in 1983, but was never released.[30] Hogue later claimed to have thrown away the disks and tapes containing Scraper Caper.[13]

Livesay was working on a game for Microfun titled Miner 2049er II, an unrelated title to Scraper Capper. It was set to be released for the Apple, Commodore 64, Colecovision and IBM PC.[31] It was released for the Apple II in the four quarter 1984.[32]

The next game in the series was Bounty Bob Strikes Back! released in 1985.[30][33] Hogue stated that following the video game crash of 1983 and the release of Bounty Bob Strikes Back, Big Five Software started scaling back their company operations until it was just run out of Hogue's home until he eventually closed the company.[34]

Richard Stanton, in his book A Brief History of Video Games (2015) stated that Miner 2049er popularized platforming games on systems like the ZX Spectrum. Following the release of Super Mario Bros. (1985), Stanton found that game was "forgotten" and that Nintendo's game made it "look like a fossil."[35]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Big Five Software.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Buchanan 2007.
  3. ^ a b c d "Critically Speaking..Atari 4/8/1200". The Video Game Update. Vol. 2, no. 2. June 1983. p. 62.
  4. ^ "Critically Speaking..Apple-Compatible". The Video Game Update includes Computer Entertainer. Vol. 2, no. 10. January 1984. p. 155.
  5. ^ a b c "Critically Speaking..Atari 5200-Compatible". The Video Game Update. Vol. 2, no. 2. June 1983. p. 39.
  6. ^ a b c Boaz 1983, p. 20.
  7. ^ Digital Eclipse (November 11, 2022). Atari 50 (Nintendo Switch). Atari. The Dawn of PCs: Miner 2049er: Another breakout hit for the 400/800 computers, Miner 2049er was a platform game created by Bill Hogue, which he published through his company Big Five Software. The recipient of Game of the Year in the 1984 Arkie Awards, Miner 2049er was one of the best-selling computer games of the era.
  8. ^ "A Seasonal Serving of ROM Cartridges for Your Atari 400/800". Compute!. Small System Services. November 1982. ISSN 0194-357X.
  9. ^ a b c d e "Miner 2049er History". Big Five Software. Archived from the original on February 2, 2004. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  10. ^ "Miner 2049er Technical Information". Big Five Software. Archived from the original on February 2, 2004. Retrieved June 15, 2023. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; February 23, 2004 suggested (help)
  11. ^ a b Hudson 1982, p. 14.
  12. ^ "Update on Scraper Caper". The Video Game Update includes Computer Entertainer. Vol. 2, no. 11. February 1984. p. 172.
  13. ^ a b c d Weiss 2014, p. 139.
  14. ^ a b MTY 1983, p. 36.
  15. ^ "Availability Update". The Video Game Update. Vol. 2, no. 2. June 1983. p. 48.
  16. ^ "Availability Update". The Video Game Update includes Computer Entertainer. Vol. 2, no. 5. August 1983. p. 80.
  17. ^ "Availability Update". The Video Game Update includes Computer Entertainer. Vol. 2, no. 6. September 1983. p. 96.
  18. ^ "In Brief...". The Video Game Update includes Computer Entertainer. Vol. 2, no. 8. November 1983. p. 119.
  19. ^ "Availability Guide". The Video Game Update includes Computer Entertainer. Vol. 2, no. 8. November 1983. p. 128.
  20. ^ "Miner 2049er Packages". Archived from the original on February 23, 2004. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  21. ^ Machkovech 2022.
  22. ^ a b Computer Entertainer - Master Index/Awards. 1989. p. 14. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  23. ^ a b Kunkel & Katz 1984.
  24. ^ a b Weiss.
  25. ^ a b "Complete Games Guide" (PDF). Computer and Video Games. No. Complete Guide to Consoles. United Kingdom. October 16, 1989. p. 61. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
  26. ^ Mace 1983, p. 55.
  27. ^ "Critically Speaking. . . VIC 20". The Video Game Update. Vol. 2, no. 2. May 1983.
  28. ^ "Critically Speaking..Atari 2600-Compatible". The Video Game Update. Vol. 2, no. 2. June 1983. p. 34.
  29. ^ McAlpine 2019, p. 50.
  30. ^ a b Digital Eclipse (November 11, 2022). Atari 50 (Nintendo Switch). Atari. The Dawn of PCs: Miner 2049er: Although it was touted in this November 1983 two-page advertisement spread, Bill Hogue's planned followup to Miner 2049er, called Scraper Caper, never actually came out. (Bounty Bob would make his return in a different game, called Bounty Bob Strikes Back!, in 1985.
  31. ^ "Lotsa Fun at MicroFun". Computer Entertainer. Vol. 3, no. 3. June 1984. p. 36.
  32. ^ "Availability Update". Computer Entertainer. Vol. 3, no. 10. January 1985. p. 36.
  33. ^ Digital Eclipse (November 11, 2022). Atari 50 (Nintendo Switch). Atari. The Dawn of PCs: Bounty Bob Strikes Back!: Bill Hogue followed up Miner 2049er with Bounty Bob Strikes Back! While the gameplay was similar to the original, the graphics now had an appealing pseudo-3D look.
  34. ^ Weiss 2014, p. 35.
  35. ^ Stanton 2015, p. 73.

Sources

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