Miner 2049er Starring Bounty Bob

Miner 2049er Starring Bounty Bob is one of the classic platformers of the golden era, which arrived on the Atari 5200 shortly after its debut on Atari's eight-bit computers, where it earned a reputation as one of the most demanding and elaborately designed platformers of its time. The player takes on the role of agent Bounty Bob, whose task is to explore ten levels of an abandoned mine and "clear" each platform by crossing it once - exactly the way a similarly conceived Q*bert would later make famous.

Along the way through the mine lurk various mutant enemies, which Bounty Bob must avoid by jumping, running across ladders, and using elevators, or temporarily paralyze with a special dose that can be picked up on a platform. Each of the ten levels has its own layout of platforms, stairs, and traps, so the game gradually increased the demands on route memorization and reflexes, becoming one of the more demanding platform titles of its time - finishing all ten levels without losing a life was a real challenge for skilled players and required thorough memorization of each level's layout. The color-coding of the individual levels also helped the player keep track of how far into the mine they had gotten.

The game was made by Bill Hogue's studio Big Five Software, which, thanks to its portable engine, managed to convert the game to a whole range of platforms of the time, from home computers to consoles. The Atari 5200 version made use of the console's full color palette and its analog controls, which set the game apart from the plainer home computer versions and brought it visually closer to the original, making it one of the visually most impressive available versions.

Why play it: Miner 2049er Starring Bounty Bob is one of the most elaborately designed platformers of the early 1980s, and on the Atari 5200 it offers a full-color version of this classic adventure.