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Miner 2049er
Developer(s)	Big Five Software
Publisher(s)	Big Five Software
Designer(s)	Bill Hogue
Platform(s)	Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, ColecoVision, PC Booter, Sharp X1, Thomson MO5, TI-99/4A, Super Cassette Vision, MIDP, BlackBerry
Release date(s)	1982, 2007 (mobile version)
Genre(s)	Platform
Mode(s)	Single Player
Rating(s)	n/a
Media	Cartridge (for non-mobile versions)
Input methods	Joystick (for non-mobile versions)

Miner 2049er is a video game created by Bill Hogue and released in 1982 by Big Five Software. The game was licensed in conjunction with International Computer Group (ICG).

Overview

Under the name Big Five Software, Bill Hogue programmed commercial computer games in the late 1970s for Radio Shack's TRS-80 home computer. He created several games patterned after actual arcade games, such as Super Nova (Asteroids), Attack Force (Targ), Cosmic Fighter (Astro Fighter), Galaxy Invasion (Galaxian), Meteor Mission II (Lunar Rescue), Robot Attack (Berzerk), and Defense Command (Missile Command). Robot Attack was the first commercial game for the TRS-80 to feature digitized voice.

By 1982, the TRS-80, with its low resolution monochrome graphics, was reaching the end of its lifespan, so Hogue wrote Miner 2049er for the Atari 800. Due to a production delay, the game was first released on the Apple II. It was widely licensed, distributed, and ported to many home systems.

After a false start in 1984 with the release of the sequel Scraper Caper, Hogue finally released in 1985 the official sequel, Bounty Bob Strikes Back. However, it never achieved the same level of success as its predecessor.

Miner 2049er made a comeback in the mobile gaming market with a re-release in 2007 by Magmic Games. This version contains two forms of the game. One is a faithful recreation of Hogue's Atari 800 original; the second a modernized version with new graphics and ten new levels. The remake received an IGN Editor's Choice Award and won the Best Revival category in the Best Of 2007 IGN awards.^[1][2]

Story

Bounty Bob is a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on a mission to search through all of Nuclear Ned's abandoned uranium mines for the treacherous Yukon Yohan. Bob must claim each section of each mine by running over it. There are a wide variety of futuristic obstacles that he must deal with such as matter transporters, hydraulic scaffolds, and jet-speed floaters and he must also avoid radioactive creatures that have been left behind in the mines.

Gameplay

As Bounty Bob, the player's goal is to inspect every section of each mine in search of the evil Yukon Yohan while avoiding the various radioactive creatures that inhabit the mine. As Bounty Bob walks over a section of flooring, it fills with color. To complete the level, every section of flooring must be colored. There are ten mines in total (eleven in the ColecoVision port).

Along the way, Bob encounters many objects left behind by past miners. By collecting these, bonus points are achieved and the radioactive creatures smile and turn green. While in this state, Bob can collect them and earn extra points.

Various obstacles in each mine aid and hinder Bob's progress. Ladders allow him to climb up or down to the next platform, Matter transporters teleport him to other matter transporters in that mine, chutes slide Bob off a platform (often against his will), and pulverizers crush Bob if he gets in their way.

Most levels contain some custom element, which varies from level to level. Pressing the space bar for several seconds skips a level. On the Atari 800, the player can key in the phone number on the title screen, followed by a level number to skip to that level.

Ports

C64 port

Mobile port (classic)

Mobile port (modern)

Legacy

The game has been cited as the inspiration behind the Miner Willy series of games produced by Bug-Byte Software.^[3]

References

External links

• Magmic Games Miner 2049er website (bountybob.com)
• Miner 2049er at MobyGames
• Miner 2049er guide at StrategyWiki
• ClassicGaming.com entry on Miner 2049er
• Big Five Software's official web site
• Complete video from the C64 Version on archive.org

From StrategyWiki, the free strategy guide and walkthrough wiki

Miner 2049er
Developer(s)	Big Five Software
Publisher(s)	Big Five Software, Microfun, Tigervision, Reston Software
Release date(s)	1982
Genre(s)	Action
System(s)	Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, Apple II, ColecoVision, Commodore 64/128, Commodore VIC-20, TI-99/4A
Players	1/2

Miner 2049er was created by Bill Hogue of Big Five Software. It was a breakthrough game for the time not only because it featured 10 screens of challenging puzzles and arcade quality graphics and sound but also because of the innovative marketing campaign by ICG (International Computer Group) that saw it licensed to just about every system around at the time.

The Atari 400/800/1200 version became the template version that all the others were modelled on. Due to the programming skills of Bill Hogue and the advanced audio visual hardware of the Atari home computers, it is generally regarded as the best version very closely followed by the Commodore 64. Miner 2049er remains a popular cartridge for collectors and have seen complete packages sell for around $100US on ebay.

The Atari 2600 version was released by Tigervision as two volumes, each containing three stages. Volume 1 contains The Slides, The Teleporters, and The Cannon. Volume 2 contains The Lift, The Pulverizers, and The Radioactive Waste.

Story

Bounty Bob is a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He is on a mission to search through all of Nuclear Ned's abandoned uranium mines for the treacherous Yukon Yohan. Bob must claim each section of each mine by running over it. There are a wide variety of futuristic obstacles that he must deal with such as matter transporters, hydraulic scaffolds and jet-speed floaters as well as avoiding the radioactive creatures that have been left behind.

Table of Contents

Title Screen

Highscore Screen

From Wikia Gaming, your source for walkthroughs, games, guides, and more!

Miner 2049er
Developer(s)	Big Five Software
Publisher(s)	Tigervision Atari 2600 TI-99/4A Big Five Software Atari 5200 Atari 8-bit Micro Fun Apple II IBM PC ColecoVision Reston Software VIC 20 Commodore 64 Mindscape Game Boy
Designer(s)	Bill Hogue
Release date	Atari 2600: 1982 (NA)
Genre	2D platformer
Mode(s)	Single player
Age rating(s)	N/A Atari 2600
Platform(s)	Atari 2600 Atari 8 Bit Atari 5200 ColecoVision Game Boy
Input	Atari 2600 Joystick
Credits | Soundtrack | Codes | Walkthrough

Miner 2049er is a game originally released on home computers and then later ported to the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, ColecoVision, and Gameboy. The Atari 2600 version had only three screens of the original version's ten, and was followed by Miner 2049er Part II which had three more screens from the original. The ColecoVision version would have one additional screen after the final one. On the Apple II, it was followed by a different version of Miner 2049er II; on the Atari 8-bit home computers and the Atari 5200, it was followed by Bounty Bob Strikes Back.

Gameplay

The player guides Bounty Bob through ten dangerous mazes filled with radioactive mutants and all sorts of contraptions set up by the evil Yukon Yohan to do our hero in. Bob must walk over all platforms in the mazes to "claim" them, but be careful to look where he leaps, because a leap too far can kill him. Have him use various prizes located in the mazes to destroy the radioactive mutants.

The ten levels in the original version of the game are:

1. Introduction
2. Sliding
3. Transporters
4. Jumping
5. Moving Pieces
6. Radioactive Waste
7. More Transporters
8. The Hydraulic Lift
9. Pulverizers
10. The Cannon

The Atari 2600 version of the game features only screens 2, 3, and 10, with Miner 2049er Part II featuring screens 8, 9, and 6 (in that order).

Notes

The original designer of this game intended to follow this game with Scraper Caper, where Bounty Bob plays a fireman instead of a spelunker, but it was never completed or released.