Hello again folks! Today we have a really cute gem by Namco
Before we go here's a short story on how I found out about the game. A group I'm in celebrated it's 9th anniversary a few weeks ago. One of the sellers there had Mr. Driller, the cute box art is what caught my eye so I bought it, plus it was cheap!
Anyways Mr. Driller is a pretty simple and cute game where you dig underground to find the cause of the mysterious colored blocks appearing on the surface.
Asides from the games cute art style it also has some pretty nice music, the track changes whenever you go deeper underground, Egpyt/Sala de Masala being my fave out of all the tracks.
Still, don't get fooled by this games cute artstyle. This game is ridiculously hard to due it's fast paced gameplay. There's only 2 ways you can die here, either run out of Oxygen or get squashed by the blocks. It starts off easy before it increases the speed when you get deeper underground.
Oxygen is the biggest obstacle here, there's oxygen capsules available but these can be blocked the brown blocks. Brown blocks eat 20% of your oxygen if you break them. A safe way to clear these brown blocks is by getting four of them to connect but watch out for the blocks above you or you get squished!
Staying idle and waiting for a block to fall isn't always a good option either unless you've cleared a good amount of blocks above you or have some specific colored blocks preventing the ones above it from falling.
You're normally just looking at the blocks bellow you so you can barely remember what's above you. However getting colored blocks to connect is also key to safety. Similar to the brown blocks, if 4 or more colored blocks connect they'll disappear, if it's 3 or less then it can create a roof over your head so you can keep digging.
That's one of the key mechanics when you dig and get deeper. Other tip I can give if drill sideways if there's no way to dodge a colored block that's about to fall on you. You can also hide under blocks ONLY if they've formed a roof for you.
There's about 3 game modes here, arcade mode, time attack, and survival. Just went with the arcade to showcase both 2500ft and 5000ft. I might try time attack in the future but it'll have to wait.
2500ft has it's own mix and much like the game says, recommended for beginners. It's good practice if you want to get a hang of how the game flows. However 2500ft won't let you see the games ending.
5000ft is where it shows you the ending but be warned, once you get pst egypt, blocks will fall faster now and your oxygen will drain faster as well.
If you've managed to reach 4000ft with about 3 lives on you still, then you can rush it till you reach the very bottom because you have enough oxygen at that point. If you got two lives left then make sure you've reached 4500ft for the rush to work.
Once you reach the bottom you meet the undergrounders (yes that's what they're called.) Susuma then meets the king who says the blocks on the surface are actually their food. Susumu scolds them and the undergrounders and the king then apologize for their blunder.
It's a really satisfying feeling when you've reached the the very bottom of the earth and understand how the game flows. I'd recommend it but brace yourself for the challenge this game will offer. If you want a more approachable version of this game, then I recommend the game boy color port!
Another really neat thing about this game is that the main character Susumu, is the son of Taizo Hori aka Dig Dug himself! He even became a playable character in the sequels.
If you like my runs be sure to check out the group I'm in if you want to see us play more good ol fashion retro games!
PRG official page
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