Dig Dug Review - Screenshot 1 of 3

Pac-Man wasn't the only popular arcade game Namco made. Aside from Galaga, Mappy, and others, there was also Dig Dug.

In Dig Dug, your objective is to dig through the earth's soil and eliminate the monsters lurking within it. You can move through the soil (Thus creating tunnels) by simply moving around, but defeating the monsters is the hard part. You can do this by creating a tunnel beneath a rock wedged in the earth, making it drop down and crushing the enemy. But that's no fun, is it?

If you want a more inventive way to kill enemies, you're in luck, because there is one - You can throw out a hook, which, when successfully attached to the enemy, allows you to inflate it until it pops. If you only partially inflate a monster (For example, because other monsters are headed your way and you have to run for it), it will rapidly deflate back to its normal state before giving chase once more. While it is deflating you can run through it without dying.

Dig Dug Review - Screenshot 2 of 3

There are only two monsters in the game. Pookas are red, balloon-esque enemies wearing goggles. They are harmless, unless they touch you, of course. Fygars are dragon-like creatures, which, if you cross their line of sight horizontally, will glow for a second or two before spewing fire about three spaces wide. Duck out of the way when they do this!

After the monsters move around for a while, they will be able to turn into a ghost of some sort and float through the dirt before appearing in another tunnel. After that they will need a few seconds to "recharge" this ability. If there is only one enemy left, ocassionally, it might get frightened and run for the surface. If it escapes, you will win the round.

Like most arcade games, the game has no ending. After 12 rounds, rounds 8-12 will begin repeating infinitely until you lose all your lives. The only thing that changes after a set amount of levels is the colour scheme of the dirt.

One more thing that should be mentioned is the music - Namco has done something rather strange (Yet inventive) with it, as it will only play while you're moving around. If you're standing still, the game is mostly silent.

Conclusion

Overall, Dig Dug is yet another good Namco arcade game. It is good fun to try and get better highscores, but be warned, because there's not a lot of variety! Note that the game costs 600 Wii Points instead of 500, because, surprisingly, it was never released outside Japan.