Last updated on January 17th, 2026 at 06:22 pm
Emerald Mine – Puzzle Game Review
Emerald Mine is a Puzzle/Entertainment/Action game from Les Bird, first launched in 17th July 2011.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 32+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Emerald Mine Stand Out
Emerald Mine for iOS. Based on the Rocks N Diamonds codebase but only includes the Emerald Mine levels.
Game Center global high scores.
In Emerald Mine you play as a miner trapped deep underground. Your objective is to collect the minimum number of gems to open the exit portals. Explore the caves to find all the gems and try to avoid the hazards which include exploding bugs, tanks, aliens and acid pools. Be careful of falling boulders and debris as they will crush you.
Relive the classic Amiga game, Emerald Mine. This is a fan port of the game updated to play on all iOS devices. All classic art and sounds are included as well as the original levels for Emerald Mine 1, 2 and 3 plus some bonus levels from the Emerald Mine archive. In total there are more than 6,000 levels.
Swipe on the right half of the screen to move your character. Tap and hold on the left side then swipe on the right side to grab a nearby block.
MFi controllers supported
This Puzzle game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Emerald Mine is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 13th July 2020
Recent improvements include:
Upgraded to latest Rocks N Diamonds codebase – V4.1.4.2
Download & Availability
Emerald Mine is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
Only thing is we feel like it would be better if it had an on screen gamepad because its a little difficult to just swipe where you want to go.
Such a flawless recreation of a great game that was long lost.
The Snap does not work on iPhone.
But looks just like we remember it from our Amiga days… Its a shame.
We loved this game on Linux and Windows and love that we can now play it on our iPad. It plays just as well here and we love the iCade-compatible controller support. Must have for puzzle nerds like us.
Wonderful port of a classic game. The controls could be improved a bit, but totally playable as-is. Highly recommended.
Anything AMIGA related deserves 5 stars – especially this all time classic. Can anyone help with the following related – but much larger game? We wish we had the knowledge to port this to mobile devices … Google rocks and diamonds for a Free, non-mobile game including Emerald ours (just a small part of the entire web page/forum/levels download area). R&D includes an amazing game level/custom element maker. Also download the great 3-D ish "Bd2K3" levels.
Ohh man, this brings us back to the Amiga days!!! Makes us regret selling our Amiga.. Wish there were more Amiga games available for the ipad.. The controls are hard to get used to.. Instead of using the standard buttons for controls (a = left, d = right, w = up, s = down) the down button is x.. Makes it that much harder to control.. But otherwise a great game.
This is a cool little game. With so many levels it could keep you glued to the screen for hours. It reminds us of a game called Rockman. The only real difference is that if you also walk u der neath the gems and stay for too long, they fall and crush you as well as the rocks. We strongly advise anyone who likes running around huge screens collecting gems to get this fantastic little game.
Very good port of a classic Amiga game. Good control options to cater to touch interface, although a few more refinements could take it to the next level. Gameplay is still great 20 years on! FYI to people asking for no timer… You can turn this off in the game options.
It's a good game, but we'd suggest that they enlarge the buttons. Yeah, our thumbs are too fat for these buttons, causing us to miss pressing them.
We used to play this on the Amiga in 1989. This is a really good port of the game as far as gameplay and sounds. The only thing we noticed is that there is no music on the games first screen with the picture. On the Amiga version if you let it sit there, music would play. It was actually pretty awesome too. Please bring the music back for the full nostalgic effect.
Love the game but very sad that it keeps quitting on us at certain levels. One of the levels is at 40-3. So much that we have to delete the app and download again and remember not to use level 40-3… And there is another level like this, somewhere around 32 :(.
You can't win any hard levels as the controls are poorly thought out. You must be able to stand still and remove sand beside you. Too bad, we used to have this game, we love it, but it's unplayable in its current form.
We used to play this game like 20 years ago along with Boulder Dash and Supaplex..love it, but we can't get passed level 1..keep hitting arrow and nothing..what am we doing wrong? Can we install again? HELP…..we rate this game a 10.
Awesome game and can you remove the time limit? It's annoying us.
Great game, but still needs work with the controls. The swipe method seems inconsistent. The dpad control method has the dpad in the middle of screen. What's up with that? Lastly, the joypad control method seems to only accept one direction until you lift off the pad to push a different direction (in fact, we think all methods do this). Our character won't be moving but the joypad will show that we're pushing a direction. This is such a fantastic game that demands accurate and responsive controls. We also agree an option to eliminate the timer would be welcome. Update: Thanks for option to remove the timer. We also like that if you die, you can restart from your last emerald instead of starting all over. Plus thanks for more control options. We did discover that after choosing the dpad option and pressing the accept arrow, the next place you touch will be the location of the dpad. Our bad. Some instructions would have been helpful in learning this. The dpad works great for us now, especially with a fling contoller over top. Great update…5 stars.
We would rate this 5 stars if they remove the time limit. Or at least use the time limit for bonus score. This could be a great past time, if you didn't have race though each level.
Wow. Never thought this Amiga classic would make it to the iOS, but it did and – with polish – and, on top of everything else, it's free! Way to go Les Bird for such a fantastic port! We LOVE it.
Awesome game, very addictive, all it needs is some music and achievements! :).
When we start the game it's only showing the bottom right wall and when we touch the screen we lose.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 2.30
- Size: 52.19 MB
- iOS: 10.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: [Les Bird]()
Last updated: 13th July 2020 | Genre: Puzzle, Entertainment | Developer: Les Bird