Emerald Mine

Developer: N/A	Graphics:
Publisher: Kingsoft	Sound:
Year: 1987	Difficulty:
Genre: Boulderdash	Replay value:
Number of players: 2 simultaneously	My overall rating:	10/10

Emerald Mine is one of the most famous mine games and probably my all time favorite (nostalgia speaking). The difficulty is average but more or less progressive, and the caves are particularly varied.

If Mega Man is my drug, then Emerald Mine is my religion! It is also one of the first games I played and were hooked with. Then, my Amiga passed away and, suddenly, it was goooone! I was no more lulled by the melodious voice of the yams or the sweet sound of clashing emeralds . . . And it's 5 years later, with a pouding heart and sweaty hands, that I had the immense good fortune, thanks to emulators, to find again my good old "Boulderdash". I have since largely made up for my five years of frustration by taking on dozens of clones unearthed on the internet. My only regret is never to have found a boulderdasher up to the task of finishing them in "teamwork" mode. . . .

In fact, my childhood game was named simply "Boulderdash" but the levels were those of Emerald Mine (except the first cave strangely). After verification, it was published by Kingsoft too. The score frame was not at the bottom of the screen but in the upper left corner and the sprite for the dynamite was different (a kind of gray cross).
I guess it was indeed the same game but a primitive version.
Maybe First Star, original developer of Boulderdash on C64 has requested the name change? In any case you will find them both on The Old Computer.

I see on the internet that I am not the only fanatical for this kind of game. Good! But where I do not agree is when I see that all the players seem to find Emerald Mine ugly! It's not even fair! Oh, my precious, my baby, don't listen to them. . . .
No, really, with its gray walls and brown dirt, I find it graphically more harmonious than all the clones that came out afterwards with their bright colors. Look at Supaplex and compare. Okay? Okay!

One thing to know if you intend to play this on an emulator: the version found on Emerald Web seems to crash at cave 39. I have another one where cave 51 has no exit! If you want to save yourself such trouble, I recommend this version: "Emerald_mine_ (1987) (Kingsoft) [cr]-amiga" on The Game Archives.

Places to download:
Amiga Island
(Look for "Boulderdash".)
Emerald Web
The Game Archives
The Old Computer

Other sites of interest:
Martijn's Boulder Dash Fan Site
Arno's Boulder Dash Fan Site
Tribute to Boulder Dash
Rocks'n'Diamonds

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