Miner 2049er

Miner 2049er is a platform video game created by Bill Hogue that was released in 1982 by Big Five Software. It was developed for the Atari 8-bit family and widely ported to other systems. The game was licensed in conjunction with International Computer Group. At the time of its release, Miner 2049er was notable for having ten different screens, which was a large number for a platform game. For comparison, the Donkey Kong arcade game had four screens, and many home ports didn't include all of them. The title "Miner 2049er" evoked a 21st-century take on the California Gold Rush of around 1849, in which the gold miners and prospectors were nicknamed "49ers."

Unlike most of the home computer versions, Miner 2049er for the Atari 8-bit family was released on 16K ROM cartridge with the high price, for 1982, of US$49.95 ($122 today).

Development

Under the name Big Five Software, Bill Hogue programmed commercial computer games in the late 1970s for Radio Shack's TRS-80 Model I 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.