Dig Dug
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is a
maze A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lea ...
arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...
developed by
Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...
in 1981 and released in 1982, distributed in North America by
Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry. Based primarily around the Sunny ...
The player controls Dig Dug to defeat all enemies per stage, by either inflating them to bursting or crushing them underneath rocks. ''Dig Dug'' was planned and designed by Masahisa Ikegami, with help from '' Galaga'' creator Shigeru Yokoyama. It was programmed for the
Namco Galaga Namco was a video game developer and publisher, originally from Japan. Bandai Namco Entertainment is the successor to Namco and continues manufacturing and distributing video games worldwide. For Namco games released following the 2006 merger wit ...
arcade board by Shouichi Fukatani, who worked on many of Namco's earlier arcade games, along with Toshio Sakai. Music was composed by Yuriko Keino, including the character movement jingle at executives' request, as her first Namco game. Namco heavily marketed it as a "strategic digging game". Upon release, ''Dig Dug'' was well received by critics for its addictive gameplay, cute characters, and strategy. During the golden age of arcade video games, it was globally successful, including as the second highest-grossing arcade game of
1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
in Japan. It prompted a long series of sequels and spin-offs, including the ''
Mr. Driller is a puzzle video game franchise created by Yasuhito Nagaoka and Hideo Yoshizawa for Namco. The eponymous first game was released in 1999 for arcades and several home consoles, such as the PlayStation. Gameplay in the series consists of contr ...
'' series, for several platforms. It is in many Namco video game compilations for many systems.


Gameplay

''Dig Dug'' is a maze video game. The player controls protagonist Dig Dug (Taizo Hori) to eliminate each screen's enemies: Pookas, red creatures with comically large goggles, and Fygars, fire-breathing green
dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...
s. Dig Dug can use an air pump to inflate them to bursting, or crush them under large falling rocks. Bonus points are awarded for squashing multiple enemies with a single rock, and dropping two rocks in a stage yields a bonus item, which can be eaten for points. Once all the enemies have been defeated, Dig Dug progresses to the next stage. Enemies chase Dig Dug through dirt in the form of ghostly eyes, only becoming solid in the air where his pump can stun or destroy them. Enemies eventually become faster and more aggressive and the last one then attempts escape. Later stages vary in dirt color, while increasing the number and speed of enemies.


Development

In 1981, ''Dig Dug'' was planned and designed by Masahisa Ikegami, with help from Shigeru Yokoyama, the creator of '' Galaga''. The game was programmed for the
Namco Galaga Namco was a video game developer and publisher, originally from Japan. Bandai Namco Entertainment is the successor to Namco and continues manufacturing and distributing video games worldwide. For Namco games released following the 2006 merger wit ...
arcade system board by Shigeichi Ishimura, a Namco hardware engineer, and the late Shouichi Fukatani, along with Toshio Sakai. Other staff members were primarily colleagues of Shigeru Yokoyama. Yuriko Keino composed the soundtrack, as her first video game project. Tasked with making Dig Dug's movement sound, she couldn't make a realistic stepping sound, so she instead made a short melody. Hiroshi "Mr. Dotman" Ono, a Namco graphic artist, designed the sprites. The team hoped to allow player-designed mazes which could prompt unique gameplay mechanics, contrasting with the pre-set maze exploration in ''
Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...
'' (1980). Namco's marketing materials heavily call it a "strategic digging game".


Release

''Dig Dug'' was released in Japan on February 20, 1982. It was released in North America in April 1982 by
Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...
, as part of the licensing deal with Namco. Namco released it in Europe on April 19, 1982. The first home conversion of ''Dig Dug'' was released for the Atari 2600 in 1983, developed and published by Atari, which was followed by versions for the Atari 5200,
Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...
,
Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...
, and
Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...
. In Japan, it was ported to the Casio PV-1000 in 1983, the
MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by Microsoft and ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, then vice-p ...
in 1984, and the Famicom in 1985.
Gakken is a Japanese publishing company founded in 1947 by Hideto Furuoka, which also produces educational toys. Their annual sales is reported at ¥ 90 billion ($789 million US). Gakken publishes educational books and magazines and produces other ...
produced a handheld LCD tabletop game in 1983, which replaced Dig Dug's air pump with a flamethrower to accommodate hardware limitations. Namco released a
Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...
conversion in North America only in 1992, with an all-new game called "New Dig Dug" where the player must collect keys to open an exit door; this version was later included in the 1996 Japan-only compilation ''Namco Gallery Vol. 2'', which also includes '' Galaxian'', ''
The Tower of Druaga is a 1984 Arcade game, arcade action role-playing maze game developed and published in Japan by Namco. Controlling the golden-armored knight Gilgamesh, the player is tasked with scaling 60 floors of the titular tower in an effort to rescue the ...
'', and ''Famista 4''. A Japanese
Sharp X68000 The is a home computer created by Sharp Corporation. It was first released in 1987 and sold only in Japan. The initial model has a 10 MHz Motorola 68000 CPU, 1 MB of RAM, and lacks a hard drive. The final model was released in 1993 wit ...
version was developed by Dempa and released in 1995, bundled with ''
Dig Dug II is an action arcade video game developed and published in Japan by Namco in 1985. It is a sequel to 1982's ''Dig Dug''. Pookas and fire-breathing Fygars return as the enemies, but the side view tunneling of the original is replaced with an overhe ...
''. The Famicom version was re-released in Japan for the Game Boy Advance in 2004 as part of the ''
Famicom Mini This is a list of games that are part of the ''Classic NES Series'' in North America, in Japan, and ''NES Classics'' in Europe and Australia. The series consists of emulated Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo Entertainment System#Regional ...
'' series. ''Dig Dug'' is a mainstay in Namco video game compilations, including ''Namco Museum Vol. 3'' (1996), ''Namco History Vol. 3'' (1998), ''Namco Museum 64'' (1999), ''Namco Museum 50th Anniversary'' (2005), ''
Namco Museum Remix ''Namco Museum Remix'' is a 2007 Product bundling, video game compilation developed and published for the Wii by Namco Bandai Games. The compilation includes nine Namco arcade games and five "remix" games made specifically for this compilation. A r ...
'' (2007), ''
Namco Museum Essentials ''Namco Museum Essentials'' is a 2009 video game compilation developed by Cattle Call and published by Namco Bandai Games for the PlayStation 3. The collection includes five Namco arcade games from the 1980s: ''Pac-Man'' (1980), ''Galaga'' (1981), ...
'' (2009), and ''Namco Museum Switch'' (2017). The game was released online on Xbox Live Arcade in 2006, supporting online leaderboards and achievements. It is part of ''
Namco Museum Virtual Arcade is a video game compilation developed and published by Namco Bandai Games for the Xbox 360. It was released in North America in 2008 and in Europe and Japan in 2009. Part of its ''Namco Museum'' series, ''Virtual Arcade'' includes 34 titles; nine ...
'', and was added to the
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
's backward compatibility lineup in 2016. A version for the Japanese Wii Virtual Console was released in 2009. ''Dig Dug'' is a bonus game in ''
Pac-Man Party is a party game by Namco Bandai Games for the Wii and Nintendo 3DS. It is similar to the ''Mario Party'' series and ''Monopoly'' games for the Wii. In the game's story mode, players must retrieve a stolen cookie recipe from Pac-Man's enemies Blin ...
'', alongside the arcade versions of ''
Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...
'' and ''Galaga''.


Reception

''Dig Dug'' was a critical and commercial success upon release, and was praised for its gameplay and layered strategy. In Japan, it was the second highest-grossing arcade game of
1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
, just below Namco's ''
Pole Position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
''. In North America, Atari sold 22,228 ''Dig Dug'' arcade cabinets by the end of 1982, earning in cabinet sales. Around July 1983, it was one of the six top-grossing games. It was popular during the golden age of arcade video games. The 2004 ''
Famicom Mini This is a list of games that are part of the ''Classic NES Series'' in North America, in Japan, and ''NES Classics'' in Europe and Australia. The series consists of emulated Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo Entertainment System#Regional ...
'' release had 58,572 copies sold, and the Xbox Live Arcade version had 222,240 copies by 2011. American publication '' Blip Magazine'' favorably compared it to games such as ''
Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...
'' for its simple controls and fun gameplay. ''Allgame'' called it "an arcade and NES classic", praising its characters, gameplay, and unique premise, and for its easy home platform conversion. In 1998, Japanese magazine ''
Gamest was a Japanese video game magazine that specialized in covering arcade games. Published by Shinseisha, it first began in May 1986 and originally published bi-monthly, later changed to be a monthly-issued magazine in the late 1980s. The magazine al ...
'' called it one of the greatest arcade games of all time for its addictiveness and for breaking the traditional "dot-eater" gameplay used in games such as ''
Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...
'' and '' Rally-X''. In a 2007 retrospective, ''
Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...
'' praised its "perfect" gameplay and strategy, saying it is one of "the most memorable and legendary videogame releases of the past 30 years". The
Killer List of Videogames Killer List of Videogames (KLOV) is a website featuring an online encyclopedia devoted to cataloging arcade games past and present. It is the video game department of the International Arcade Museum, and has been referred to as "the IMDb for pla ...
rated it the sixth most popular coin-op game of all time. '' Electronic Fun with Computers & Games'' praised the Atari 8-bit version for retaining the arcade's entertaining gameplay and for its simple controls. Some home versions were criticized for quality and lack of exclusive content. Readers of ''Softline'' magazine ranked ''Dig Dug'' the tenth-worst Apple II and fourth-worst Atari 8-bit video game of 1983 for its subpar quality and failure of consumer expectations. Reviewing the Xbox Live Arcade digital re-release, ''IGN'' liked its presentation, leaderboards, and addictive gameplay, recommending it for old and new fans alike. A similar response was echoed by ''
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'' for its colorful artwork and faithful arcade gameplay, and by ''Eurogamer'' for addictiveness and longevity. ''Eurogamer'', ''IGN'', and ''GameSpot'' all criticized its lack of online multiplayer and for achievements being too easy to unlock, with ''Eurogamer'' in particular criticizing the game's controls for sometimes being unresponsive.


Legacy

''Dig Dug'' prompted a fad of "digging games". Clones include the arcade game ''Zig Zag'' (1982), the Atari 800 game ''Anteater'' (1982) by Romox, Merlin's ''Pixie Pete'', Victory's ''Cave Kooks'' (1983) for the
Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...
, and Saguaro's ''Pumpman'' (1984) for the TRS-80 Color Computer. The most successful is
Universal Entertainment formerly known as and Universal, is a Japanese manufacturer of pachinko, slot machines, arcade games and other gaming products, and a publisher of video games. Aruze possesses licenses to both manufacture and distribute casino machines in the ...
's arcade game ''
Mr. Do! is a 1982 maze game developed by Universal. It is the first arcade video game to be released as a conversion kit for other arcade machines; Taito published the conversion kit in Japan. The game was inspired by Namco's ''Dig Dug'' released earlier ...
'' (1982), released about six months later and surpassing clone status.
Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
's '' Borderline'' (1981), when it was ported to the Atari 2600 as ''Thunderground'' in 1983, was mistaken as a "semi-clone" of ''Dig Dug'' and ''Mr. Do!''. '' Boulder Dash'' (1984) also drew comparisons to ''Dig Dug''. Numerous
mobile games A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to ...
are clones or variations of ''Dig Dug'', such as ''Diggerman'', ''Dig Deep'', ''Digby Forever'', ''Dig Out'', ''Puzzle to the Center of Earth'', ''Mine Blitz'', ''I Dig It'', ''Doug Dug'', ''Minesweeper'', ''Dig a Way'', and ''Dig Dog''.


Sequels

''Dig Dug'' prompted a long series of sequels for several platforms. The first of these, ''
Dig Dug II is an action arcade video game developed and published in Japan by Namco in 1985. It is a sequel to 1982's ''Dig Dug''. Pookas and fire-breathing Fygars return as the enemies, but the side view tunneling of the original is replaced with an overhe ...
'', was released in Japan in 1985 to less success, opting for an overhead perspective; instead of digging through earth, Dig Dug drills along fault lines to sink pieces of an island into the ocean. A second sequel, '' Dig Dug Arrangement'', was released for arcades in 1996 as part of the ''
Namco Classic Collection Vol. 2 is a 1996 product bundling, compilation arcade game developed and published by Namco. It is a collection of four of Namco's popular games: ''Pac-Man'' (1980), ''Rally-X'' (1980), ''New Rally-X'' (1981) and ''Dig Dug'' (1982). Alongside the origin ...
'' arcade collection, with new enemies, music, power-ups, boss fights, and two-player co-operative play. A 3D remake of the original, ''
Dig Dug Deeper ''Dig Dug Deeper'' is a 3D remake video game of the original ''Dig Dug'' game which was first released in 1982. It was released for Windows in 2001 by Infogrames. As well as the classic underground world, it has an outside world, much like ''Dig ...
'', was published by Infogrames in 2001 for Windows. A Nintendo DS sequel, '' Dig Dug: Digging Strike'', was released in 2005, combining elements from the first two games and adding a narrative link to the ''Mr. Driller'' series. A massively-multiplayer online game, '' Dig Dug Island'', was released in 2008, and was an online version of ''Dig Dug II''; servers lasted for less than a year, discontinued on April 21, 2009.


Related media

Two ''Dig Dug''-themed slot machines were produced by Japanese company Oizumi in 2003, both with small LCD monitors for animated characters. A webcomic adaptation was produced in 2012 by ShiftyLook, a subsidiary of Bandai Namco focused on reviving older Namco franchises, with nearly 200 issues by several different artists, concluding in 2014 following the closure of ShiftyLook. Dig Dug is a main character in the ShiftyLook webseries '' Mappy: The Beat''. A remix of the ''Dig Dug'' soundtrack appears in the PlayStation 2 game ''
Technic Beat is an arcade music video game developed by Arika. It is a sequel to the PlayStation 2 game Technictix. The PlayStation 2 version of ''Technic Beat'' was published in North America by Mastiff. It was released in Japan in 2002 and the United St ...
''. The character Dig Dug was renamed to Taizo Hori, a play on the Japanese phrase "horitai zo", meaning "I want to dig". He became a prominent character in Namco's own ''
Mr. Driller is a puzzle video game franchise created by Yasuhito Nagaoka and Hideo Yoshizawa for Namco. The eponymous first game was released in 1999 for arcades and several home consoles, such as the PlayStation. Gameplay in the series consists of contr ...
'' series, where he is revealed to be the father of Susumu Hori and being married to ''
Baraduke also known as ''Alien Sector'', is a run-and-gun shooter arcade game originally released by Namco in 1985. Gameplay The player takes control of a spacewoman in a biohazard suit. Player 1 is Kissy and Player 2 is Takky. They must clear eight wor ...
'' protagonist Masuyo Tobi, who would divorce for unknown reasons. Taizo appears as a playable character in ''
Namco Super Wars ''Namco Super Wars'' (ナムコスーパーウォーズ) is a tactical role-playing game developed by Namco and published by Bandai for the Wonderswan Color. It is a crossover game, featuring characters from several classic Namco titles. This ga ...
'' for the
WonderSwan Color The (ワンダースワン) is a handheld game console released in Japan by Bandai. It was developed by Gunpei Yokoi's company Koto Laboratory and Bandai, and was the last piece of hardware Yokoi developed before his death in 1997. Released i ...
and ''
Namco × Capcom (pronounced as "Namco Cross Capcom") is a tactical role-playing (RPG) crossover video game developed by Monolith Soft for the PlayStation 2 and published by Namco in 2005. The gameplay combines tactical RPG and action sequences during battles, ...
'' for the PlayStation 2, only in Japan. Taizo appears in the now-defunct web browser game ''Namco High'' as the principal of the high school, simply known as "President Dig Dug". Pookas appear in several Namco games, including ''
Sky Kid is a horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game released by Namco in 1985. It runs on Namco Pac-Land hardware but with a video system like that used in ''Dragon Buster''. It is also the first game from Namco to allow two players to play s ...
'' (1985), '' R4: Ridge Racer Type 4'' (1998), '' Pac-Man World'' (1999), ''Pro Baseball: Famista DS 2011'' (2011), and in Nintendo's ''Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS'' and ''Wii U'' (2014). ''Dig Dug'' characters briefly appear in the film ''
Wreck-It Ralph ''Wreck-It Ralph'' is a 2012 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 52nd Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Rich Moore (in his feature director ...
'' (2012).


Notes


References


External links

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