Bill Hogue looked to have a great time and must've made a mint. It's every computer programmer's dream: create a game that everyone loves and makes a ton of money. The game kind of stepped out from the rest of the games of the time. It wasn't a real twitch game - mostly it's all about timing and figuring out the levels - where to jump, what order to do things. A clean design!

Replayed it the other day on my Atari 800 emulator and thought about re-making it for the PC!

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-- MattWalsh - 07 Jan 2002

The box	Here's the Author, loving life (as he should be):
A sequel that never came out

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Links:

• http://www.bigfivesoftware.com/ -- Bill Hogue has created this great website including emulators for his games!
• http://www.classicgaming.com/miner2049er/index.html -- A Miner fan page:

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here's some hints for Miner 2049er and its sequel

Miner 2049er
     Programmed by Bill Hogue. Graphics and Audio Visual Displays 
     designed by Curtis Mikolyski and Bill Hogue with Jeff Konyu and 
     Kelly Bakst. Circuitry designed by Bill Hogue. Package Artwork 
     by Scott Ross.

     Start a zone.  Jump onto the first platform and position Bounty
     Bob so that no creatures will touch him (do NOT pause game).
     Hold the UPPER red fire button down while entering Big Five's
     phone number (2137826861) on the keypad.  You will know you did
     it right because it will immediately restart the zone again when
     you enter the last digit of the phone number.

     Congratulations, you now have a way to 'warp' to any zone or
     station in the game!

     HOW TO USE IT

     Push the reset button on the joystick and select 1-0 on the
     keypad for the zone you want to play.
     (1=zone 1, 2=zone 2, ... 0=zone 10).
     Now, hold the upper red button down while pressing 1-0 on the
     keypad.  This will allow you to select which station to play.
     You will immediately warp to the selected station!  The warping
     ability will work at *ANY* time during the game!  This is
     extremely useful for getting 'unlimited' lives. (HINT: If you
     die on a level and IMMEDIATELY warp Bounty Bob, the game will
     keep track of your score, but won't take away a life!)

     NOTES: Miner is great fun at the difficult levels.  Some levels
     are NOT clearable.  After lots of playing, the following levels
     have been found to be possible to clear.

     ZONE    STATION
     ----    -------
     1-8     ALL
     9       1-9
     10      1-4, 8, 9

     Zone 8/station 10 is the hardest, but IS possible.
     Zone 10/station 4 requires a lot of thinking/strategy to clear.
     Try it, it's fun!

     For some reason on Zone 10, Bounty Bob walks very fast and jumps
     a LOOONG way.  This makes certain levels difficult and others
     impossible.  However, on Zone 10/station 10, the creatures just
     move too fast to make it possible to clear.  It's a shame, we
     will always be left wondering what would happen if it had been
     cleared.
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Bounty Bob Strikes Back
     Designed and programmed by Bill Hogue, founder of Big 5 
     Software. Graphics designed by Curtis Mikolyski. A sequel 
     that's better than the original? You bet! A follow-up to Miner 
     2049'er that could be the most enjoyable game ever made. The 
     box for this game is extremely hard to come by, as is the full 
     color poster that was packed in.

     To transport to another screen, grab the item mentioned below,
     then press and hold the number (also stated below) then press
     start.  You will warp to the level mentioned.

1.   Bob's Morning      Flower pot / 1 / start = level 4
       Calisthenics
2.   Utility Hoist      Aliens / paint roller / 3 / start = level 22
3.   The Suction Tubes  Goblet / 4 / start = level 15
5.   Jumping 101        Coffee Pot / 8 / start = level 18
10.  The Gravity Lift   Pitch Fork / 5 / start = level 14
16.  Adv. Suction Tubes Tube 1 to left/ pie / 9 / start = level 19

26.  The End......
     'Congratulations, you are an expert!  For getting this far, you
     may start the game at any level you desire by setting special
     codes 1-25 in the Game Adjustment Screen and then pressing
     STA