Dig Dug was developed by Namco and distributed in the US by Atari back in 1982. It was a nice wee game which took the Pac-Man formula and gave it a new twist. Players were cast in the role of Dig Dug, who looked like a man in a spacesuit but instead of space you were heading underground to clear away monsters and collect vegetables.

Armed with a shovel and a pump you had to dig your own tunnels and clear each level of monsters by either pumping them up until they exploded or dropping rocks on their heads. If a monster touched you or a rock fell on you then you died. There were two types of monsters, Pooka’s who were round and coloured red and yellow with massive eyes and Fygar’s who were small green dragons. The Fygars could also breathe fire at you but only horizontally. After dropping rocks vegetables would appear in the centre of the screen and you could snap them up for bonus score. You could also score for digging away earth and killing monsters. You’d get more if you dropped a rock on them than if you pumped them up.

I used to think Dig Dug was a miner but actually he was supposed to be a gardener out protecting his crops, hence the whole vegetable collection thing. How he managed to get a garden full of small dragons and whatever Pookas were meant to be we may never know but the game-play was addictive and loads of fun. As the levels progressed the difficulty rose and more and more monsters invaded the garden.

The controls were simple, a 4-way joystick for movement and a button to pump those pesky critters to oblivion. It was a bright and cheerful looking game, the sort of title that makes your eyes sore now and it was originally released as a stand up cabinet and as a cocktail table. Dig Dug did well in the arcades and spawned a sequel a couple of years later which was much less successful. You’ll also find versions today for the Nintendo DS, Wii and the Xbox 360.

There was something weirdly satisfying about eating away the rock or earth on each level and timing the rock falls so they would land on a monster was also a lot of fun. It took a bit of skill as well because the rocks wouldn’t fall immediately, they would teeter for a moment, although you could always semi-pump a monster to freeze him on the spot. The game had twelve levels and if you made it beyond that point they would repeat eventually speeding up. Apparently a bug meant that you couldn’t play beyond level 256 because it started with a Pooka on top of you but I can’t say I ever made it that far anyway.

There’s no denying Dig Dug was a really bizarre game but the game-play really worked. I actually preferred a later title called Boulder Dash (Rockford) which definitely borrowed heavily from Dig Dug but added a few game-play features. In any case Dig Dug was an arcade classic.