Out of the blue, Toby Lobster has announced the release of an updated Manic Miner for the BBC micro.

The original version back in the eighties had a number of deficiencies compared to the original ZX Spectrum version on which it was based.

The new version runs faster (the old one was much slower than the Spectrum version) and the graphics are now flicker free.

There are also fixes to the various cavern layouts and the BBCs colours (only four are available to the Beeb in this resolution) are much better used, with a palette swap at the bottom for the newly placed ‘Air’ bar.

As well as the graphical improvements, there are a host of other detail changes such as better collision detection, better jump movement, new music and this new version is compatible with the BBC Master as well.

Some of the differences are subtle, some less so. Put them together and it feels like different, more polished and much nicer game.

Read about Tobys updates and download the game from its page on Github.