Resource centre for ZX Spectrum games
using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines
Versions and minor mods of the original Manic Miner
Manic Miner Presto
Author: Allan Turvey (Highrise)
Year: 2020
Language: English
An experimental, faster version of Manic Miner, with a considerable increase in speed (around 50%), released as a bonus to Allan Turvey's ZX Spectrum conversion of The Perils of Willy.
In the original Manic Miner, a copy of the empty cavern is copied to screen each time, and the sprites are then added. In Manic Miner Presto, when sprites are drawn, their start address is stored in a buffer. This is then used to restore the cavern to an "empty" state, so that instead of copying the whole screen back to reset, it clears the data that was changed. A similar technique is also applied to the items and conveyors.
In addition, the LDIR of 4096 bytes used to draw the data to the screen is replaced with 32 LDI commands looped 128 times, which also gives a little boost to the game's speed.
The air depletion routine is doubled in speed, and the in-game music doubles in speed when the air enters the red zone. The player is given two extra lives at the start of the game (starting with four spare lives altogether) to compensate for the increased difficulty level. There is also speed control - pressing "1" slows the game down, and pressing "2" speeds the game up.
The original loading screen is replaced with one featuring a screenshot of "The Central Cavern" (with two spare lives).
Allan Turvey has also released an alternate hack - Manic Miner Presto Drain - in which when Willy collides with a guardian, he does not get killed instantly, but air is drained instead. Touching Fire cells still causes instant death in this variant.
Manic Miner Presto is based on the Bug-Byte version of Manic Miner.
Number of rooms: 20
Highest documented score:
- upon reaching the swordfish sign: 46,386 points;
- upon first re-entry into the first cavern: 47,661 points.
Download links
|
The home page of The Perils of Willy on itch.io |
|
Both variants of the game in TZX and TAP formats |
|
RZX walkthrough of the game |
Screenshot gallery |
Loading screen
In-game screens (the game is not visually different from the original apart from the difference in the scores that can be achieved and the two extra spare lives to start with)
