Forty years on, the Miner Willy community continues to produce new levels, remakes, and ports. Level editors for the Jet Set Willy engine have existed since 1984 - a continuous creative community spanning four decades.
Multiple independent browser-native HTML5 implementations of Manic Miner exist, built directly in JavaScript. They recreate the ZX Spectrum gameplay at modern resolution. Several are playable without any download. Search "Manic Miner play online" for current active versions - the landscape changes as projects are updated.
Browser-native Jet Set Willy remakes include the full sixty-room mansion, the original room layouts, and the guardian behaviours. Some include the Attic Bug fix by default. JSW Central maintains links to current playable versions including fan-made room extensions.
A 1997 PC remake covering both Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy. Built for MS-DOS era PCs. Now primarily of historical interest - superseded by more accurate emulation and HTML5 versions - but notable as an early example of fan remake work for the Miner Willy games. MobyGames has an entry for this title.
A fan-made port of Manic Miner to the Nintendo Entertainment System. Recreates the twenty caverns and gameplay mechanics within the NES hardware constraints. A demonstration of the game's adaptability across platforms - it has appeared on virtually every home computer with a keyboard.
An unofficial 1985 sequel to Jet Set Willy for the ZX Spectrum, created by a fan developer (Mikegen). Published the year after the original and predating commercial fan game culture. Demonstrates that the Miner Willy engine was being extended by the community almost immediately after the original's release. Spectrum Computing has an entry for this title.
The canonical bug-fixed version of Jet Set Willy, patching the Allow bug and several other issues present in the original 1984 release. JSW Renovated is the recommended version for anyone wanting to complete the game legitimately. Multiple iterations have been released as new bugs were identified and corrected.
An active speedrunning community exists around Jet Set Willy. The game's sixty-room open structure and the ability to route efficiently through the mansion makes it a good speedrun candidate. The speedrun.com leaderboard for Jet Set Willy is active as of 2026. See the Videos page for a speedrunning tutorial.
Manic Miner speedrunning focuses on completing all twenty caverns as quickly as possible. The game's deterministic physics make frame-perfect routing achievable. Category divisions exist for different completion conditions.
Several level editors have been developed for Jet Set Willy over the years, allowing fans to build new mansions using the original game's room architecture and guardian system. The editors expose the game's internal data format, enabling room-by-room customisation of object placement, guardian routes, and room connections. The JSW Hacks Site hosts the current recommended editors.
Level editors for the Jet Set Willy engine appeared in 1984 - the same year as the original. The fan community has been building new rooms continuously for forty years. Type WILLY on any page to read about the game's famous bugs and Matthew Smith's disappearance.
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