Dig Dug (thing)

An arcade game made by Japan's Namco in 1982 (I think). The American version was produced by Atari. It was re-released in the rockin compilation of oldskool Namco games for the Sony PlayStation.

You probably know it already, but you have to pump up the badasses, Pooka and Fygar as you dig your way around, and walk through the tunnels you've dug.

LOOK OUT:

                         _  _
                        /' ' '\_ _
    .......            :' (o    '''     . . 
   : __ ___;           | ' ~    v v''  ',  . ' 
*_ :| o|  o|           :     '  \  ' ' '   .  '
  \: ~~ ~~~:            :  '     ^ ^/  '.'    .
   '.......'           /'   ' '  :~~      ', 
     |_  |_          /'   '     :
                   ;' ',..   '  |
     Pooka       ''.--;   --'''_.''

                          Fygar

ascii by me

Some notes:

On dislodging two of the rocks found on the level, a tasty piece of fruit appears in the centre of the field. Grab it for bonus points.

Don't forget that you get score better when you crush the badasses with the rocks, rather than pumping the motherfuckers. From time to time, either out of desperate self-defense or just plain meanness, it becomes necessary to whip out the pump and blow the bastards up.

Screw it up:

Levels can be easily beaten once it's realized that there are only 4 patterns that the enemies move in. This will get you up to level 36, where the game speeds up, and you have to learn the new patterns.

If you manage to simultaneously murder a Pooka or Fygar with your air pump AND a rock, the game fucks up and all the enemies disappear. Proceed to the next level by dropping another rock. (Make sure you have one left!)

At level 256, your game returns to level 1 and gets slow and easy again. (...and you damn well deserve it!)

Note: No luck finding a reason for all of this tunnel digging and monster fragging. This game was around before the need for a storyline. The action was enough. The colourful video interaction machine was enough. Frequently these days the opposite is true, and the quality of the story precludes the quality of the game.


There is an early memory inside my skull of being forcefully removed from a Dig Dug coin-op at Chuck E. Cheese, arms and nerves twitching from the sheer excitement.