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Dig Dug

Dig Dug is an arcade game released by Namco in 1982 for Namco Galaga hardware. A popular game based on a simple concept, it was also released as a video game on many consoles.

Objective

The objective of Dig Dug is to eliminate underground-dwelling monsters. This can be done by inflating them until they pop or by dropping rocks on them. There are two kinds of enemies in the game: Pookas, round red monsters (said to be modeled after tomatoes) who wear yellow goggles, and Fygars, green dragons who can breathe fire. The player's character is Dig Dug, dressed in white and blue, and able to dig tunnels. Dig Dug is killed if he is caught by either Pooka or Fygar, burned by a Fygar's fire, or crushed by a rock.

It takes four 'pumps' with the player's action button to inflate a monster until it bursts. If left partially inflated, the monster will deflate and recover after a few seconds, but half-inflating is a useful way to stun an enemy for a few moments, especially to make sure it remains in the path of a falling rock. You can also pass through the enemy while he is deflating.

The monsters normally crawl through the tunnels in the dirt but can turn into ghostly eyes and travel slowly through the dirt.

More points are awarded for eliminating an enemy further down in the dirt (the levels are color coded), and the Fygar is worth more points if it is inflated horizontally rather than vertically (because it only breathes fire horizontally). More points are also awarded for dropping rocks on enemies in order to eliminate them rather than inflating them. If one enemy is killed by the rock, it is worth 1000 points. The next two add 1500 points each and any after that they add 2000. The act of digging is itself worth points, giving ten points for each block dug, so some players do as much of it as possible in situations where the threat from the remaining monsters is minimal.

After the player drops two rocks, fruits and vegetables (and other edible bonus items, such as Galaxian flagships) appear in the center of the play field, and can be collected for points if the player is able to reach them before they disappear. These edible bonus items will appear even if the rocks fail to hit any enemies. In some versions of the game, the most points you can get for this fruit bonus is 8,000 from the pineapple.

If the player drops a rock on a foe at the same time he pumps it to death, the game will be tricked into thinking that all enemies have been destroyed, but that the level has not been defeated. Thus, all enemies will promptly disappear, and the player will be free to dig through all dirt. Until another rock is dropped, going to the next level will remain impossible.

The last enemy on a level will try to escape off the top left of the screen. Level numbers are represented by flowers in the top right of the screen and each new level is noted at the beginning of each stage on the bottom right (as seen in graphic above). In successive levels, more monsters appear on each screen and they move more quickly. A level is completed successfully when the last monster is dispatched or succeeds in fleeing.

In the coin-operated version the game ends on round 256 (round 0), since this board is unplayable. At the start of the level, a Pooka is placed directly on top of where the player starts, with no way to kill it (this is an example of a kill screen).

Dig Dug Arrangement

In 1996, Namco packaged both this game and a remake and re-released it in arcades with the title "Namco Classic Collection Vol. 2". The remake was called Dig Dug Arrangement, with one or two-player modes, as in the original. Out of the five created Arrangement games, this version has the least amount of changes. The graphics are updated and the levels are different. There are also new features such as giant rocks (that can crush multiple enemies at a time) and special power-up items.

Dig Dug Arrangement was re-released alongside this game and ten others in the 128-bit Namco Museum version.

Mobile game

In 2005, Namco Networks released a version of Dig Dug for cell phones and Palm OS/Windows Mobile devices that is authentic to the arcade original in terms of graphics and controls, even though the levels are as they are in the NES version of Dig Dug. Also unlike the arcade version, there is no "kill screen" at level 256, but rather the levels go on past 500.

Protagonist

Although Namco has officially given the character of the original Dig Dug the name "Dig Dug", in other games where he makes an appearance, the protagonist goes by Taizo Hori, and is the father of Susumu Hori, the main character in the Mr. Driller series. He is also the ex-husband of Toby "Kissy" Masuyo, the heroine of Baraduke. His name is a pun on the Japanese phrase "Horitai zo" (掘りたいぞう) or "I want to dig". Many American gamers learned of his real name via the PlayStation 2 game Namco x Capcom and the Nintendo DS game Mr. Driller Drill Spirits, where he is also a playable character. He is additionally featured in an unlockable gallery of Mr. Driller items in Mr. Driller 2. In the Mr. Driller series, Hori is known as the "Hero of the Dig Dug Incident". In Japan, he is also the "Hero of the South Island incident", and is the honorary chairman of the Driller Council whom most of the characters answer to. This contrasts greatly with the PC remake Dig Dug Deeper, where the hero is simply named Dig Dug.

Legacy

A 1985 sequel to this game, the overhead-view oriented Dig Dug II, was much less common and met with less success in the arcades. Another sequel, Dig Dug: Digging Strike, was released in 2005 for the Nintendo DS. This combined the side-view play of the original with the overhead play of the sequel and added a narrative link to the Mr. Driller series. A 3D remake of the original, entitled Dig Dug Deeper, was released for PC in 2001 by Infogrames. The original Dig Dug was released for the Xbox 360 console via Xbox Live Arcade on October 11 2006. The original Dig Dug is also available for play via the GameTap subscription gaming service, and was shown in one of the television commercials for the Gametap website in 2005.

It was re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console in North America on June 9, 2008 and in Europe on August 29, 2008, at a cost of 600 Wii Points.

Dig Dug was rated the sixth most popular coin-operated video game of all time by the Killer List of Video Games website.

It has been said that the music for the game show Starcade was inspired from the music for Dig Dug.

In the video for the song "We Are All Made of Stars" from electronic musician Moby, a scene is depicted where a sprite of Moby himself, dressed as an astronaut, is in the middle of a Dig Dug session.

Cameos

Some bootleg arcade versions of Dig Dug were made, under the name Zig Zag. One version looked exactly like the original, and the other changed both the sounds and colors.

The character Pooka has had many cameos in Namco games, most often as an enemy in Namco games such as the Pac-Man World series. Pooka was playable for the first time in the game Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness as an unlockable character for the multiplayer modes. He is also available to play as in Pac-Man World Rally, as well as Fygar.

In R4: Ridge Racer Type 4, there is an American racing team with Dig Dug artwork on its hauler and is named the "Dig Racing Team", run by manager Robert Chrisman. It is the "expert" team of the game. Also in R4, the track "Phantomile" has a giant statue of Pooka alongside Pac-Man on the left hand side of the finishing straight. The "Pooka Line" track, which is the first in the game, has a giant screen with a Pooka and Fygar chasing Dig Dug's protagonist in arcade-style graphics, which changes to him inflating a Pooka when the player takes the lead. In Ridge Racer 64, however, "Dig Racing Team" has to be unlocked by winning all the tracks in Stage 3 in first place - and waiting for the credits to roll, then defeating the car on the "Renegade Expert" track in Car Attack mode.

The Dig Dug universe and some of its characters appear in the Mr. Driller games, starring Taizo Hori's son, Susumu.