Dig Dug

Dig Dug is a popular classic arcade game following the popularity of Pac-Man. Dig Dug is a maze labyrinth game in which the player controls Dig Dug, armed with his trusty air pump as he digs deep underground eliminating Pookas and Fygars by blowing them up. Dig Dug was first released in 1982 by Namco Japan with a U.S. release by Atari.Published by: Namco (Japan), Atari (U.S.A)
Developed by: Namco
Designer: Namco
Platform: Original Release: Namco Galaga Arcade (Japan), Atari (U.S.A): Atari 2600

Subsequent Releases: Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Intellivision, Apple II, Atari 400/800, Commodore VIC-20, Commodore 64, IBM PC, and Texas Instruments TI-99/4A

Nintendo Entertainment System (1985 – Japan Release)

Gameboy (1992)

Arcade (1996 – Namco Classic Collection Vol. 2)

Playstation ( 1996 – Namco Museum Vol. 3)

Nintendo 64, Dreamcast (1999 – Namco Museum 64)

GameBoy Advance (2001 – Namco Museum)

Playstation 2 (2001 - Namco Museum)

Xbox, GameCube (2002 – Namco Museum)

GameTap (2005)

Playstation 2, Xbox, Gamecube (2005 - Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary)

Playstation Portable (2005 - Namco Museum Battle Collection)

Xbox 360/Xbox Live Arcade (2006)

Nintendo Wii ( 2007 – Namco Museum Remix)

Xbox 360 Live Arcade Games (2008 - Namco Museum Virtual Arcade)

Playstation Network (2009 - Namco Museum Essentials)

Wii Virtual Console (2009)

Year Released: 1982
Significant Contributors to Game Development: Allowed players the ability to create their own maze to solve the level, differing from other maze type games such as Pac-Man
Genre: Labyrinth/Maze
Other Games in Series:

Dig Dug II (1985 – Arcade)

Dig Dug Deeper (2001 – PC: Released by Infrogrames)

Dig Dug: Digging Strike (2005 – Nintendo DS)

Dig Dug Remix (2009 – iPhone OS)

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History

During the 1980s, a Japanese game company called Namco released a coin operated arcade game called “Pac-Man”. Did anyone in the company ever dream that a hungry yellow circle would cause such a sensation, and become one of history’s most cherished games spanning all ages and years? The release of Pac-Man caused a shift in the concept of arcade games. Before Pac-Man, most games were singular, the character only moving in a set direction. The introduction of the “maze or labyrinth” type game such as Pac-Man allowed the player to move in four directions, backwards and forwards, with enemies that could follow you. Suddenly, games became more challenging to play, and all the more intriguing.Following the huge success of Pac-Man, Namco tried to release similar maze related games but reception was mostly lukewarm. However, Namco’s luck turned in 1982 when they released “Dig Dug”, a peculiar game in which the player controls Dig Dug, a man wearing what looks like a spacesuit, as he digs underground and destroys his enemies with an air pump. Random vegetables, fruits, and edible items such as a Galaxian flagship will drop down which Dig Dug can “eat”, thus adding points to your overall score.

A hit in Japan, Atari gained the license to distribute Dig Dug in the United States and the game was just as popular with the American crowd. The bizarre concept, bright graphics, and catchy tune were a happy change to gamers vying for something unique. Dig Dug had at least one significance, and that is the player’s ability to create their own maze. Unlike Pac-man in which the player had to follow a set maze laid out for them, the game of Dig Dug lets the player plot out their own course in order to quickly rid of the enemy.

n a sense, the player has been given their first taste of liberation. Now each player can be unique in the terms of play, and defeat each level in a way they deem to be the best.There were also two ways to defeat the enemy, one way was to pump the enemies with air until they exploded, or to dig and have a rock fall over the enemy. A player can also destroy the Pooka or Fygar from top, bottom, or side to side, and consequently be awarded a different number of points. It even mattered what level of soil (there are 4) the enemy is in when it is destroyed. Enemies had strategy too, such as the fire breathing Fygar, whose flames go through the soil, allowing him to remove Dig Dug without touching him.

Unlike Pac-Man in which the player could only “eat” or destroy the ghosts by devouring a cherry, Dig Dug has the power to eliminate all the enemies without needing a special circumstance. While in Pac-Man, the main goal is not to destroy the enemies but to eat all the white dots, in Dig Dug, the player’s goal is to destroy all the enemies as they do not regenerate, and the last enemy can also escape.

Over the course of its lifetime, Dig Dug was re-released multiple times for several platforms, and is a favorite collection of many gamers today, old and new. While other series of Dig Dug were produced, the addictive quality of play that the original Dig Dug gives is what allows it to have a permanent place in the heart of arcade classics.

Game Design Elements

Gameplay

In the game of Dig Dug, the player controls Dig Dug, a male character who wears a blue, red, and white outfit that either resembles a super hero outfit or an spaceman (there is no actual description of who Dig Dug really is in the older versions of the game). Dig Dug is armed with a harpoon/shovel that he uses to dig through the soil and an air pump, which he uses to blow up his enemies. There are also several rocks in every level that the player can dig under. If a rock falls on an enemy and destroys it, the player is awarded the highest points. However the rock can also kill the player if it falls on Dig Dug. One must use caution in their movements to make sure the rock will fall on the enemy and not on themselves.

In each level, there are four layers of soil represented by different colors. The player always starts in the middle of the screen. Depending on which layer of soil the enemy is in when it is defeated, the player is awarded a certain amount of points. Players are also rewarded points for digging through the dirt, 10 points for each square of dirt that is erased. In order to maximize points, players should dig through the whole level while destroying the enemies.For every 2 rocks that drop, a vegetable, fruit or Galaxian flagship will appear. Taking these items will earn the player bonus points. The item that appears on each level is not random, a specific item is designated to each level, such as Carrots in the 1^st level, Garlic in the 12^th-13^th level, and so forth. The bonus items only stay onscreen for 10-15 seconds so it is vital the player quickly takes the item before it disappears.

Depending on what position Dig Dug destroys the enemy; the player is awarded a different amount of points. Destroying the Fygar (green fire breathing dragon) with the air pump from the side earns the most amounts of points compared to destroying it from the top or bottom. It does not matter what position the player destroys the Pooka (the red balloon with yellow goggles). The Pooka can only kill Dig Dug by touch, but the Fygar can breathe fire (only horizontally) through the soil. It is possible to harpoon an enemy with the air pump through thin sections of soil.

It takes 4 pumps to destroy an enemy, any less then that and the enemy will deflate and come after Dig Dug. The enemy will stay stunned for a few seconds if the player stops pumping air and backtracks. This is key when trying to destroy an enemy with a falling rock or if trying to make some distance between Dig Dug and the enemy. Sometimes, the enemy can go into “ghost” mode in which they can move anywhere in the soil and are no longer limited to only moving through the tunnels. The enemies will only turn back to their normal states when they reach an air pocket.

Therefore there are several ways the player can net the maximum amount of points! But beware, as more enemies are destroyed, the enemies speed up in their pursuit after Dig Dug. When there is only 1 enemy left, that enemy tries to escape through the top left of the screen. It is always smart to leave the last enemy alive towards the bottom right as that gives the player enough time to catch it before escape.

After level 36, all the enemies in Dig Dug increase in speed. There are 256 levels in Dig Dug, with level 256 considered a “kill screen”. A kill screen is a glitch in the game that renders the game unbeatable or unplayable. The arcade hardware was limited and not able to restart a game once the player beat the highest level. The programmers of games at the time assumed no one would have the desire to play a game for so long. They assumed the player would run out of lives before actually ever reaching the end of a game. In Dig Dug, on level 256, the player starts off with a Pooka on top of Dig Dug’s head, making it impossible to destroy, and the Pooka cannot escape.

The player will be rewarded with an extra life at the first 20,000 points, and for every 60,000 points per level afterward. The game score cannot go over 1 million, if it does, the score counter will reset to 0. Players can easily net 999,9990 points by removing all the dirt in each level.

There is a glitch in the game upon which if the player drops a rock and explodes an enemy at the same time, all the enemies in the screen will disappear, leaving the player to freely remove all the dirt from the level. The player will progress to the next level when another rock is dropped. Therefore this glitch will only work if the player has at least 2 rocks left in the level.

_{Image Courtesy of Ed's Dig Dug Page}

Points Earned by Dropping Rocks on Enemies

1 Enemy 1,000

2 Enemies at once 2,500

3 Enemies at once 4,000

4 Enemies at once 6,000

5 Enemies at once 8,000

6 Enemies at once 10,000

7 Enemies at once 12,000

The Bonus Items

Round 1 = Carrot 400pts

Round 2 = Turnip 600pts

Round 3 = Mushroom 800 pts

Round 4-5 = Zucchini/Cucumber 1000 pts

Round 6-7 = Eggplant 2,000 pts

Round 8-9 = Green Pepper 3,000 pts

Round 10-11 = Tomato 4,000 pts

Round 12-13 = Garlic 5,000 pts

Round 14-15 = Watermelon 6,000 pts

Round 16-17 = Galaxian Flagship 7,000 pts

Round 18+ = Pineapple 8,000 pts

Controls

Dig Dug was played with 2 basic controllers, a 4-direction joystick and one pump button to the left or right of the joystick. Considering it takes 4 pumps to destroy an enemy, the player had to be careful not to repeatedly press the pump button for no reason. Sometimes there will be two enemies right next to each other, or an enemy coming from behind, and unnecessary button mashing can easily cause the player to lose. If the player wants to stun the enemy, they must be careful not to over 4 pumps. Dig Dug has an actual number of button presses required to result in a certain effect.

Joystick Control and 2 Pump Buttons

Plot

There seems to be difference of opinion in what the exact narrative of Dig Dug actually is. In the original arcade console, the objective of the game is to dig tunnels underground to find and destroy the enemies by either blowing them up with the air pump or having rocks fall on them. In the Atari 5600 manual, the objective of the game is described as “Keep Dig Dug alive on his quest for points and vegetable treasures”. In the original Atari arcade version, Dig Dug is described as a “dauntless miner who feverishly digs tunnels to dodge or destroy the precocious “Pooka” or the ferocious “Fygar” and to collect veggie treasures”. Namco describes Dig Dug as “heroic” while the Xbox version calls him a “monster hunter”.

Dig Dug is the only playable character, and there are only 2 types of enemies. Whether or not Dig Dug is trying to save the world from the underground enemies or just getting rid of backyard pests is unknown. Why he is wearing a costume and is armed with an air pump and shovel/harpoon is also unknown. My personal guess is that since a Galaxian flagship is part of the bonus items, and Galaxia is a space shooter, not to mention the fact that Dig Dug’s wife is a character in a game where one is a spaceman wearing a bio-suit, and that Dig Dug’s son’s outfit also looks like a futuristic spacesuit, Dig Dug is really a spaceman who is fighting monsters on his planet, or he at least came from outer space, or he is just someone who just happens to be wearing a space bio-suit and likes to dig. Where the air pump comes in, I have no guesses.

Characters

-Dig Dug’s actual name is Taizo Hori, a pun on the Japanese phrase “Horitai Zo” which means, “I want to dig!”

-Dig Dug has a son by the name of Susumu Hori, who is the main character in the Namco game “Mr. Driller”

-Although Dig Dug is the commonly accepted name, in more recent video games released by Namco such as the “Mr. Driller” series, Dig Dug is given the name of Taizo Hori, “Hero of the Dig Dug Incident”.

-In the Mr. Driller series, Dig Dug or Taizo Hori is the ex-hus band of Toby “Kissy” Masuyo, the heroine of the Namco game, “Baraduke”. -The enemy known as Pooka is more popular than the character of Dig Dug himself.

Art

Visual

The four levels of soil Dig Dug can go through in a single level are separated by colors. Each level takes 4 lines with the exception of the 4^th level that only takes 3 lines.

There is a white flower at the top right of each level that symbolizes a unit of one; a large red flower will appear for levels with units of 10.

There are some simple animation graphics in Dig Dug:

Fygar’s wings will glow when they are about to breathe fire
When an enemy is hit with the air pump their eyes turn into ><
Enemies will puff up as air is pumped into their bodies
Enemies will deflate if air flow if stopped
Enemies pop like a balloon
Dig Dug will move his arms as he pushes on the air pump
Dig Dug will move his shovel/harpoon as he clears away the soil
Dig Dug’s eye turn into X’s when he is hit by an enemy and his body disappears

Sample screens of Dig Dug

Sound

There is quite a variety of sounds in Dig Dug that influences play experience, the most significant being that the background music only plays when Dig Dug moves. When he stops, there is silence except for the sounds the enemies make when they move around. Hearing only the background music when Dig Dug moves lets the player know they are in total control and makes the gameplay seem more realistic. The player in essence becomes Dig Dug; one only hears the protagonist’s music when they are acting for the protagonist.

There is introductory music when the game firsts starts. If Dig Dug destroys all the enemies the level ending music is different compared to if the last enemy escapes. There is a sound effect for when Dig Dug throws his air pump, the enemies inflating and the final pop. When the Fygar breathes fire there is a sound effect. When it is game over, there is a different melody that plays. When Dig Dug acquires a bonus item there is a sound effect. The music will also speed up as Dig Dug destroys more enemies.

Having a different sound effect for every result or consequences only strengthens the knowledge of the player that each action is wholly different and that every decision matters. The play experience therefore becomes more fulfilling.

Arcade Game Information

Manufacturer: Namco / Atari

Year: 1982

Class: Wide Release

Genre: Labyrinth / Maze

Type: Video Arcade Monitor Orientation: Vertical

Monitor Type: Raster

Monitor Resolution X: 224 pixels

Monitor Resolution Y: 288 pixels

Number of Colors Used: 32

Video Frequency: 60.61 Hz

Conversion Class: Namco Galaga

Number of Simultaneous Players: 1

Maximum Number of Players: 2

Game play: Alternating

Control Panel Layout: Single Player Ambidextrous

Joystick: 4-way (up, down, left, right)

Buttons: 1 - Pump

Number of Coin Slots: 2

Sound: Unamplified Mono (requires one-channel amp)

References

Dig Dug – Video Game by Atari. The International Arcade Museum, n.d. Web. 22 February 2010
Dig Dug – tips and history of a classic 80’s game. eighty-eightnine, n.d. Web. 22 February 2010.
Broyad, Toby. System 16 – Galaga Hardware (Namco). System 16 – The Arcade Museum, n.d. Web. 22 February 2010.
Collins, Ed. Ed’s Dig Dug Page. n.p., 3 June 2009. Web. 22 February 2010.