Poll: Manic Miner vs Jet Set Willy

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Manic Miner or Jet Set Willy

Manic Miner
21
60%
Jet Set Willy
14
40%
 
Total votes: 35

Ralf
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Re: Poll: Manic Miner vs Jet Set Willy

Post by Ralf »

I was crap at both. Eugene's Lair was usually the end for me in Manic Miner ;)

But I prefer Manic Miner as it's smaller and you have this feeling of achievement when you completed some screens. In Jet Set Willy I had a walk through few locations and turned it off with feeling that I achieved nothing. It was a too hardcore game for me in the 80s and is even more hardcore for me now.
AndyC
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Re: Poll: Manic Miner vs Jet Set Willy

Post by AndyC »

Has to be Jet Set Willy, it was probably the first exposure to truly "open world" games and provided endless fascination just wandering off to find new rooms - trying to actually complete it wasn't even part of why I played it back in the day (though I have done since). Not until the likes of Knightlore and Head Over Heels did anything else quite meet that glorious ability to just roam around.
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Joefish
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Re: Poll: Manic Miner vs Jet Set Willy

Post by Joefish »

I loved exploring in Jet Set Willy when I got it, but the problem was that once you'd seen all the screens - and the ones 'under the drive' were ridiculously hard to reach - you realised there was no way in hell you'd be able to do all that and collect the objects along the way. A few of the screens you had to get through were far, far harder than anything in Manic Miner so playing it any further just seemed like a lost cause.

Manic Miner had a much better design, with the levels getting tougher as you progress but rewarding once you master them. I can now complete it. 'The Warehouse' needs a particular path to complete it, like 'The Bank' but all in one go without stopping. Same with 'Skylab landing bay', although that has a few safe spots. 'Amoebatron's Revenge' is a tough one for hitting your head on things above, and 'Solar Power Generator' is just about flat-out speed.

Also, if you do lose all your lives and need to start again, it's not as much of your life down the drain as if you've done a load of JSW and then die.
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Morkin
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Re: Poll: Manic Miner vs Jet Set Willy

Post by Morkin »

Went for MM.

Liked the exploration side of JSW but the 'next screen!' enthusiasm in MM had me gripped.

Difficult choice though, ask me a different year and I'd probably change my mind.
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Rorthron
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Re: Poll: Manic Miner vs Jet Set Willy

Post by Rorthron »

Dark wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2017 10:05 am Back in the day I preferred JSW, seemed so much more to it and each game could be different, depending on where you go. Nowadays I am quite likely to play MM, as I can have a quick game and see how many screens I can complete before moving on to something else. JSW just seems a bit to open ended for my lifestyle at the moment.
I'm the same. Went for MM, but the much younger me would have chosen JSW.
Wall_Axe
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Re: Poll: Manic Miner vs Jet Set Willy

Post by Wall_Axe »

Would anyone say MM 'saved' the spectrum?
ie
it was the first game that wasn't a bit crap, and had that long term playability.
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Joefish
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Re: Poll: Manic Miner vs Jet Set Willy

Post by Joefish »

I wouldn't say it 'saved' it - it wasn't really in any trouble from anything else. It did shift the goalposts for other game developers though, meaning they all had to try a bit harder - but mainly just in the field of platform games. Ultimate's early games like Cookie and Atic Atac were just as influential in showing a level of quality well above the norm.
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Rorthron
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Re: Poll: Manic Miner vs Jet Set Willy

Post by Rorthron »

Wall_Axe wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2017 2:22 pm Would anyone say MM 'saved' the spectrum?
I wouldn't. The Spectrum was already the best-selling home computer in the UK. As Joefish said, there were plenty of good games emerging (Ant Attack is another one). I think MM amd JSW's biggest influence was to give us a flood of platform clones.
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bob_fossil
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Re: Poll: Manic Miner vs Jet Set Willy

Post by bob_fossil »

Jet Set Willy. Was one of the first games I had bought for me after I got my Spectrum Plus in 1984. My Dad got it on a shopping trip to Asda - they used to sell computer cassettes in a metal rack there. The cover art must have swung it. :) My brother and I played it constantly. The mansion seemed alive and if you couldn't do a room, you could move on to another one or explore another part of the mansion. People would discuss it non stop at school - reports of rooms went round the playground, some real (The Bridge, The Watchtower) some false (the boat sailing away at a given time). It had it's own lore and spawned a mod scene that's still going today. I played Manic Miner some years after and while the loading screen, title screen and music are better, the gameplay where you can get stuck at a certain cave until you got better didn't appeal after the freedom of the mansion.
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ramsrc
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Re: Poll: Manic Miner vs Jet Set Willy

Post by ramsrc »

Wall_Axe wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2017 2:22 pm Would anyone say MM 'saved' the spectrum?
I think, if anything, time saved the Spectrum.

As time progressed, programmers found out more ways to coax performance and graphics out of the Spectrum - and games improved as a result. If the Spectrum had been replaced with a new model sooner, then the quality of the games probably wouldn't be as good.

If you look at the quality of games for the ZX81 - which had a relatively short production life, compared to the Spectrum and you'll see what I am trying to get at. As the years have passed, the ZX81 hobbyists have managed to do things that would have been thought impossible BITD.
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ramsrc
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Re: Poll: Manic Miner vs Jet Set Willy

Post by ramsrc »

bob_fossil wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2017 11:08 pm some false (the boat sailing away at a given time). It had it's own lore and spawned a mod scene that's still going today.
I heard that one too!

Plus that flaming trailer in Lunar Jetman. I must have spent hours looking for that! :lol:
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Morkin
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Re: Poll: Manic Miner vs Jet Set Willy

Post by Morkin »

Wasn't the island an April Fools thing in Crash?

And I think the Lunar Jetman trailer mockup appeared in that mag too.
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Rorthron
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Re: Poll: Manic Miner vs Jet Set Willy

Post by Rorthron »

Morkin wrote: Fri Dec 01, 2017 9:07 am Wasn't the island an April Fools thing in Crash?

And I think the Lunar Jetman trailer mockup appeared in that mag too.
Next you'll be telling me Lloyd Mangram didn't exist.
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