Manic Miner in the Lost Levels v1.06
(c) Copyright 2009 Proteus Developments and Headsoft
Credits
Introduction
The tale of Miner Willy and his incredible adventures in the mines, and then the
mansions, of Surbiton is legend. But like all legends, it doesn't tell the whole
story.
Most people know Willy simply as a digger who got lucky and lived happily ever
after in decadent luxury. Far fewer know the secret - suppressed for quarter of
a century by the government - of how he also saved Planet Earth from alien
invasion.
It wasn't until an eccentric but dedicated historian writing a paper for a
renowned academic journal (Retro Gamer issue 63) pieced together the complete
saga of Willy's heroic exploits from fragments of scattered evidence - in the
form of obscure retellings of the 'Manic Miner' folk fable in ancient languages
readable only via long-obsolete machines - that the whole truth was finally
revealed.
Welcome to Manic Miner - The Lost Levels!
Installation
Copy the .NDS file to the root of your memory card. It's recommended to launch
the game directly from the card's normal menu, rather than through secondary
interfaces like Moonshell. The game will run on most cards, but if there are
problems, always try the card's latest firmware prior to posting a problem on
the forum. For example, with the DSTT you'll need at least firmware 1.17a07.
The latest DS card firmwares can be found
here
The game also runs well under emulation, and we recommend NO$GBA which offers a
good compromise between speed, compatibility, and audio, though you will need
the NDS BIOS ROMs. We cannot provide these, but Google should find them for you.
(The filenames should be BIOSNDS7.ROM and BIOSNDS9.ROM.) Better yet, use NOZ,
which is a "wrapper" for NO$GBA which also enables bigger display sizes. Also,
setting the 'GBA Mode' in options to 'Poppy Bright' will cure the washed out
palette (remember to save options).
DeSmuME is another decent emulator which runs MM:TLL nicely, and which doesn't
require the BIOS ROMs. At the time of writing it has a minor issue in that the
two screens are initially the wrong way round (the game is still fully playable
in this mode), but creating and then loading a save state seems to fix the
problem.
iDeaS will also run the game under emulation without requiring the ROMs, though
audio will be compromised.
(Please note - the emulators will NOT automatically save your progress, due to
unavoidable technical issues with DS emulation. However all three offer "save
states" which will do the same job - just create a save state from the File menu
whenever you're about to quit your play session.)
Remember - nothing beats playing the game on real DS hardware!
Controls
- D-pad left - move Willy left
- D-pad right - move Willy right
- A button - make Willy jump
- B button - make Willy jump
- Start button - pause
- R button - speed up text scrolling
- L button - slow down text scrolling; swap top and bottom screens
Gameplay
Collect all the flashing objects to open the door and escape each stage. Beware
enemies, conveyor belts, sharp objects, crumbling floors and long falls. Flip
switches to alter various aspects of the stage.
The game contains 50 levels, arranged in three sections.
- The Lost Levels -
The Lost Levels are 20 stages taken from genuine Manic Miner ports. They're
levels which didn't appear in the original ZX Spectrum version of the game, but
were added to subsequent official ports for such platforms as the Oric, BBC
Micro, Dragon 32, Amstrad CPC and Game Boy Advance, sometimes as additions to
existing levels and sometimes as replacements.
20 of these stages* were first compiled and ordered into a notional sequel by
Stuart Campbell (in 2004, on his website World Of Stuart), which eventually
became the subject of a feature in Retro Gamer magazine in 2009 before being
turned into the reality you're now reading about.
The Retro Gamer feature included a Game Boy Advance level ("Mummy Daddy") in
place of an Oric one ("The End Of The World") in order to enhance the feature's
visual appeal in the magazine, but the Oric level has been restored in MM:TLL to
retain the original vision of the game. ("Mummy Daddy" still appears in MM:TLL
in the form of a bonus stage - see below.)
(*There are in fact in total 68 completely original levels in official Manic
Miner ports, over and above the 20 of the Spectrum version.)
- Willywood -
Unlocked on completion of The Lost Levels, Willywood is a standalone 10-level
game featuring original stages designed by the authors of this game.
- Bonus Stages -
The 20 bonus stages are a mixture of original levels and classic levels from
both Manic Miner and other related games. They're played for speed rather than
points (each keeps a record of your fastest time), and are unlocked one at a
time, by finding secret areas in stages of The Lost Levels and Willywood.
If a level has a secret area to find, a small seal will appear at the top right
corner of the descriptive scroll which occupies the DS' second screen. On
finding the area (you'll know when you've done it) a new bonus level will be
unlocked. You don't have to complete the level after finding the secret area,
just getting there is enough.Notes
The save system works by saving game data either when a new level is found or
when a level is unlocked, and also on the game returning to the title screen, so
do not turn your DS off during these times.Version History
- v1.00 - First release
- v1.01 - Minor bug fix, 'Seal' display added to title
- v1.02 - Fix to 'Seal' display, 'poo' changed in gameover
- v1.03 - Several bug fixes, moved music to external file system
- v1.04 - Fix to minor title screen corruption when all modes are
unlocked.
- v1.05 - Tune added, Score modification for WillyWood, Small
tweaks.
- v1.06 - Fix to Save bug.
Miner Willy Softography
- 1983 - Manic Miner (ZX Spectrum)
- 1984 - Jet Set Willy (ZX Spectrum)
- 1984 - The Perils Of Willy (VIC-20)
- 1985 - Jet Set Willy 2 (ZX Spectrum)
Miner Willy was created by Matthew Smith, to whom we send love.
Download
Download
Thanks
Wintermute for devkitARM, Chishm for libfat, Martin Koth for DSTek & No$GBA,
Eris & Noda for EFS / NitroFS. Also thanks go to LiraNuna, Blasty, Cearn, Dovoto,
Joat, Dekutree, Elhobbs, Ruben, SimonB, DarkCloud and everyone on gbadev.org.
Contact
Visit the offical website for Manic Miner in the Lost Levels, our official
forums or contact us at:
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