Mines (Space Hopper)

Mines are hazards introduced in level 5 of Space Hopper.

Appearance
Circular shaped with a blinking red dot in the middle of two perpendicular lines, mines appear together in large groups, often circling wide areas of a big planet. The mines have a pale reflective glow around them, as seen with almost every inanimate object of the game.

Game Information
Unlike mines from other Nitrome games such as mines from Rush, these hazards do not explode on contact with the astronaut. Instead, the red light will brighten on the mine and it will beep rapidly several times before exploding in a pale red smoke. The explosion of the mines is delayed, meaning the astronaut can walk past them quickly without getting hurt.

A mine's real damage is in the explosion, which subtracts 1 heart of health from the astronaut if caught in the blast. Once detonated, mines will not respawn. Thus, players may choose to detonate mines first before collecting stars around that particular planet.