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Message: 6782
Author: jetsetdanny
Date: 11/02/2015
Subject: "Stay Kool", "The Archaeologist" and "Subterranean Nightmare" - 1980
Hello Everyone,
I have recently come across three ZX Spectrum games from the 1980s which deserve to be on Andrew Broad’s list of MM/JSW games in the section "Other Games of MM/JSW Interest" (IF the list is ever updated again / resurrected). They are:
"Stay Kool" by Leigh Hugill (Bug-Byte Software Ltd, 1984 or 1985);
"The Archaeologist" by Paul K. Sneesby (Sneesby Software, published by Spectrum Computing 1985);
"Subterranean Nightmare" by James Closs (Americana Software Ltd, 1986).
I was made aware of their existence by the reviews on "Matty on Games" (https://mattyongames.wordpress.com/category/jet-set-clones/). The reviews are an interesting and informative read.
All three games can be downloaded from World of Spectrum (WoS). An RZX walkthrough of "Subterranean Nightmare", submitted by Albert Valls, is available on the RZX Archive, as well as my (brand new) recording of "Stay Kool". There is no RZX recording of "The Archaeologist" – I assume because it is both incompletable and too incomplete for an easy fix.
While browsing through the related materials on the Web, I had a strong impression that back in 1985 people felt there were already quite a lot of MM/JSW clones around. In a review of "Stay Kool" in the 14 May 1985 issue of "Your Spectrum" (http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jg27paw4/yr14/yr14_43.htm ) Dave wrote, "They just keep on coming, wave after wave of them, the Manic Miner clones." Another comment there said, "It's difficult at this late stage to say whether yet one more JSW copy is playable or not." The Personal Computer News review (issue 106, published on 13 April 1985) (http://www.personalcomputernews.co.uk/pcnb/html/106/personal_computer_news_106_gameplay_spectrum_stay_kool.html) begins with the words: "Manic Miner clones such as Stay Kool, the latest from Bug-Byte, are still being released even though there are almost more than enough already." Later on it says, "As with many of its predecessors, the locations have wacky names" and "Stay Kool is a competent, not too tricky, version of something you've probably played a hundred times."
It makes me wonder WHICH other games were considered by the authors of these comments as MM or JSW clones, and whether they have ever been mentioned on this forum. None of the three games I am discussing was included in Andrew Broad’s list of games. "Subterranean Nightmare" has never been mentioned in this Group’s posts AFAICT, there have been just two brief mentions of "Stay Kool and one of "The Archaeologist".
I will discuss the games in more detail in my following posts.
Daniel
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