Description

Curse of the Lost Miner is a simple platformer with features of a logic game for Atari 800XL or compatible computers and Atari 5200 console.

If you are a quick thinking person with nimble and practised fingers, Curse of the Lost Miner is a game exactly for you. Your goal is to guide the cursed miner through many dangerous caves, avoid deadly obstacles, and collect all diamonds in each cave.

This game was created for the Atariáda 2015 event, where it was also presented. A prequel game named “Caverns of the Lost Miner” was released in 2007.

Original Edition

In the original edition of the game, your task is to break the curse of the lost miner by completing all 13 deviously designed dangerous caves. You have only four lives, but you can start the game from any cave that you have previously reached.

Underground Madness Challenge (U.M.C.) Edition

This edition has a scoring system and 27 caves to play (a remix of existing caves). Your task is to get the highest score. To maximize your score, you must complete the caves quickly and within a time limit, leave intact as many broken rocks as possible, and avoid losing lives.

After completing each cave, a screen that displays your score is shown. Every remaining second, every remaining broken rock, and every remaining life matter.

Controls

The key to successful playing is mastering the controls and understanding the game physics. Use joystick to control the miner. The original edition of the game provides a training mode with full description of the controls and a simple training cave. Never underestimate difficulty of this game and get some training first.

The Atari 5200 version of the game has a variant with alternate controls specially designed for the Atari 5200 standard controller.

Downloads

Binaries for Instant Gaming

Atari 800 XL	Original Edition	U.M.C.
Segmented binary	culomin.xex	culomin_umc.xex
Monolithic packed binary	culomin_mp.xex	culomin_umc_mp.xex
Tape image	culomin.cas	culomin_umc.cas
Bootable disk image	culomin.atr	culomin_umc.atr
All Lost Miner games disk	flolomin.atr
Atari5200
Cartridge image	culomin.bin	culomin_umc.bin
Cartridge image (alt. controls)	culomin_alt.bin	culomin_umc_alt.bin

Source Code for Curious Players and Developers

The game is placed in Public Domain. You can download and modify the source code as you want. The game is written in the C programming language (CC65) with few assembler routines. You will need the CC65 toolkit to compile the source code.
Source code mega-package: culomin_src.zip

For Users of Data Recorders and Compact Cassettes

If you have an unmodified data recorder, download the tape images and boot with START+OPTION. If you have a data recorder with a turbo upgrade, download the monolithic packed binaries and convert them using TURGEN.