JSW Central - Resource Centre for ZX Spectrum games based on Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines

Resource centre for ZX Spectrum games
using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines

I. Manic Miner (MM)

Games using Matthew Smith's original Manic Miner game engine for the 48K Spectrum

20. Manic Mixup

Also known as: Manic Mixup: The 2018 Manic Miner Remix

Authors: Andy Ford and Ian Rushforth

Publisher: JSWMM.co.uk Team

Year: 2018

Language: English

Manic Mixup is a remake of MM by Andy Ford and Ian Rushforth. The starting point for it was an amalgamation of two projects by Andrew Broad: reniM cinaM (MirrorMM) - his laterally-inverted version of Manic Miner, and his Manic Miner: Matthew Smith 2008 Remix. Thematically, Manic Mixup is a sequel to the authors' previous game Jet Set Mini. It was gamma-released in October 2018.

The story: Times are tough for poor old Willy. Decades of excessive partying have taken their toll on his finances. Despite already having downsized his mansion in "Jet Set Mini", he is finding it increasingly difficult to afford the cost of maintaining his home, and keeping his formidable housekeeper Maria in the style to which she has become accustomed. And so, after dusting down his trusty hard hat, Miner Willy descends back into the subterranean realm where he first made his fortune 35 years ago. Emerging into the Central Cavern, he soon notices that things have changed somewhat since the last time he ventured down here...

The game engine operates at two speeds: slow or fast. The player has to choose the speed at the end of the loading process. The game engine speed is then implemented by the BASIC loader and is subsequently fixed for the duration of play (to change it, the game file needs to be reloaded).

The game features twenty caverns, each with two variants: an Easy and a Hard version. Once Willy has made his way through all twenty caverns the first time around, in Easy Mode, the game code is modified to increase the difficulty level to Hard, which is maintained through subsequent sets of caverns. Consequently, to complete Manic Mixup, players need to work their way through all twenty caverns twice during the same game, completing both Easy and Hard versions of each cavern.

All of the original caverns have had an overhaul in Manic Mixup and the in-game music has been significantly enhanced. Furthermore, nearly all of the routines in the MM game engine have been rewritten or redesigned for this project by Ian Rushforth, with some contributions from Norman Sword. The rewrite was done for various reasons: to provide additional functionality (such as new sound and visual effects, and additional gameplay elements - including putting Willy's hard hat to good use!), to increase the efficiency of the code and to fix various bugs in the original game engine.

Unlike in the original MM, extra lives are not awarded for each 10000 points accrued. Instead, Willy is allocated a variable number of lives for each cavern (commensurate with the difficulty level of the cavern). Furthermore, there is a penalty for using the teleport feature (which can be activated with the numbers '9671306') - after using it, Willy will be left with no spare lives in the destination cavern, although if the player manages to complete that cavern and reach the next one, then normal service will resume with a number of spare lives allocated according to the degree of difficulty of the cavern.

The ZIP with the official release includes also the Special Edition of Jet Set Mini.

Number of rooms: 20

Highest documented score achieved while playing at the slow speed of the game engine:

- upon reaching the swordfish sign: 42,957 points;

- upon first re-entry into the first cavern: 44,142 points;

- upon second re-entry into the first cavern (i.e. upon completing both Easy and Hard versions of each cavern): 72,252 points.

Highest documented score achieved while playing at the fast speed of the game engine:

- upon reaching the swordfish sign: 43,051 points;

- upon first re-entry into the first cavern: 44,235 points;

- upon second re-entry into the first cavern (i.e. upon completing both Easy and Hard versions of each cavern): 72,396 points.

Download links

Homepage	The game's homepage on JetSet Willy & Manic Miner Community

Original release	Game file in TAP format, along with the Readme and Vega support files

Direct game download	Game file in TAP and TZX formats

Spectrum Computing	The game's page on Spectrum Computing

RZX Archive	RZX walkthrough of the game