"Dig Dug" - NES/Famicom

----- Introduction -----

Oh boy, another Namco arcade port. It's still going to be a little while before we see Namco putting in original effort on the Famicom instead of just creating ports, so let's just enjoy what we're given for now, shall we?

Dig Dug was created for the arcade in 1982, which makes the game about 3 years old by the time it hit Famicom. That makes me pretty hopeful that the Famicom recreation will be pretty good/faithful to the arcade game (this guy's run is incredible so I linked him), since the hardware should hopefully be there.

The arcade game's programmer was Shouichi Fukatani, who apparently passed away in 1985 in the middle of working on these Namco arcade ports to Famicom. The composer for this and the arcade game was Yuriko Keino who's work you can hear in a handful of arcade games, including the horrible sounds of Xevious, but I'll forgive her because the music in Dig Dug is good wholesome family fun.

Is the game (port)? Let's find out:

Not to be confused with Namco's arcade classic, Dug Dig.

----- Playthrough -----

You might expect from the title that Dig Dug has something do with digging, and I'd say you're probably right in that assumption.

The general idea here is that you play as some kind of excavator... miner... type guy (named Dig Dug, apparently), and he's digging underground for... reasons. And in the process of doing so, he encounters various monsters, including dragons, and... Scuba Steve.

His name really is Dig Dug. I made up Scuba Steve, though.

Ol' Dig Dug has two tricks up his sleeve that he came prepared with. One is digging underneath rocks which will fall and crush the enemies (and you thought Minecraft came up with falling rocks), or sticking his pump nozzle in them and pumping them up until they explode, in a vaguely phallic display of might.

An idea later popularized by hentai doujins.
That missing square in the dragon is because of NES flicker by the way.

This is another arcade game, which means you mostly just play until you lose all your lives. I did notice that the background changed once, presumably to indicate that you had completed some amount of levels, but it didn't change again while I was playing.

Just a strategy tip, something I noticed, and saw for sure watching the amazing runthrough I posted in the intro, is that the rock thing becomes pretty important to getting further in the game. The temptation is to place emphasis on the pump, but that'll get you killed for sure. Just use the rocks wisely and think about what you're doing before getting underneath of them.

Wonk.

----- Review -----

Innovation:

Does the game show anything not yet seen on this system/ever before?

The digging under falling rocks thing is going to come up again and again repeatedly in other NES titles if I remember correctly from my youth. This game is considered a "maze game" by some (a-la Pac-Man), but personally I feel there's some distinction to be made here, though I'm not sure what. I mean, you're kind of making the maze as you play, which seems different? 

I dunno, I'm no video game etymologist.

But I hope you'll use the word 'wonk' to
describe things being smashed flat from now on.

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Spitting Rage:

Does the game make you want to tear your own organs out of your body?

I think this game falls under the protection of the 'arcade game' spell, where it's hard to be mad at it because there's not much of a goal other than points.

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Intuitive Design: 

How easy is it to intuitively understand the game?

I think it's pretty intuitive. You see bad guys, bad guys need to go. You press A, your little hose thing flies out, you assume you hit people with that. You see the rocks, you dig around them, you see them fall, you know what's for. You can figure this one out.

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Satisfying Gameplay: 

How rewarding does playing the game feel?

Crushing a bunch of enemies with a rock is truly a good feeling, and you're rewarded well for it point wise. This is a fun game to do well in, and it's reasonably challenging, if a little repetitive.

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Game Depth: 

How deep/long is the game?

There's really no 'stages' here, the enemies are just in different starting locations of what basically amounts to the same level every time, so I guess it's not very deep.

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Sound Design: 

How's the sound?

The music's great! It's definitely a reasonable facsimile of the arcade music. I like the little sound effects too, I think everything here is pretty good sound wise.

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Graphics:

How's it look?

I think Dig Dug honestly looks pretty good compared to the other Namco arcade ports. It is still doing that colorful foreground on black background thing I'm starting to already get a little tired of with these arcade ports, but hey, the sprites are relatively detailed and have fun expressions.

Hhhh! Uwa!

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Personal Chord: 

Does the game have that undefinable "something" for me?

There's definitely nostalgia for this game for me, being yet another on the oft-mentioned 'TOP GUN' bootleg cart of my youth. I think I actually appreciate it as an adult more though. I like the music, I like the colorful levels, and I like the expressive, cute enemies. This one has t-shirt appeal.

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Should You Play: 

Is there a reason to even bother with this one?

I think so. As always, you may as well play the arcade version if it's available to you, but if it's not, the Famicom version is definitely playable and fun.

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wonk