Notice

This game has to be considered a tribute. It is inspired by the unreleased Mire Mare game and characters created by Ultimate Play The Game in the golden era of the 80s.

Game Objective

In the Land of Mire Mare, three volcanoes are on the brink of erupting, spewing lava across the whole territory. In order to avoid disaster, Sabreman will have to find three magic jewels, and then throw them into the Well of Mire Mare.

Energy

Sabreman's vital energy is represented by a water bar, which will decrease when a collision occurs with an enemy.

The Objects

Each jewel is defended by a deadly Guardian; a Knight, a Gargoyle and a Fire Eagle. Watch out for the Guardians, because they are invulnerable!

Along the way, the adventurer can bump into strange mushrooms: these are a gamble. Either they will recharge Sabreman's energy and award 100 points (30% chance) or, more likely (70% chance), they will kill him.

Various collectables can be found around the land. Three of these represent special pledges which can be exchanged for the jewels. The others simply increase the score.

Once a pledge has been exchanged for a jewel, it will be no longer possible to pick up that object again. If your inventory is empty, jewels cannot be collected.

Defeating The Enemies

Enemies can be defeated with three different weapons:

Sword - Defeats most of them
Axe - Useful to extinguish fire flames
Staff - Defeats gas bubbles

Timer

A lava hourglass is shown at the bottom of the screen. It represents a timer before the next volcano explodes. The hourglass countdown refreshes each time a jewel is thrown into the pit.

Good luck!

Game Controls

5 - Left, 8 - Right, 7 - Up, 6 - Down, 0 - Use weapon(s)/Pick up/Exchange objects

Keyboard controls correspond to a cursor joystick. The game may also be played with a Sinclair or Kempston joystick interface.

Notes

The inspiration for this game was seeded by Jerrod Bentley's graphic mockups previously released for a Retro Gamer article about Mire Mare.

Land Of Mire Mare was reviewed in the March 2014 edition of Retro Gamer magazine in issue 127, page 104, scoring 85%.

In December 2014, Chris Wilkins produced a physical tape release of Land Of Mire Mare as one of his rewards for his Kickstarter project The Story Of The ZX Spectrum In Pixels Vol 2. To celebrate the event, which is dedicated to collectors, the author built a Special Edition of the game, including a dedicated menu and an extra enemy sprite.

Game Credits

Program: Luca Bordoni
Graphics: Jarrod Bentley
Music: Chris Cowley & Mister Beep
Written with Arcade Game Designer by Jonathan Cauldwell

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