Dig Dug

Dig Dug is a straightforward game about digging tunnels and popping baddies. Like it's arcade peers, the concept is simple enough to pick up pretty quickly, but the difficulty is no joke, and strategy is necessary if you want to make it more than two levels in. Separating it from  many other Namco titles at the time is the delightful bright colors and fun designs. Little touches like the changing dirt colors and the little flowers growing above-ground make progression that much more enjoyable.

Lucky for the little enemies, I'm not the greatest exterminator, so I don't tend to make it far when playing, but I do have fun for the little bit that I survive. Losing so constantly puts a damper on my enjoyment, but I'm not committed enough to the game to work on my strategy, so I won't knock it for it's difficulty. I do have to give my kudos for the design though. It's rare for games from this era to excite me with their grpahics so much, but there's something about suddenly digging in purple dirt that really gets me pumped!

At it's core, Dig Dug is another arcade game designed to take your money. However, it's success means that it did a good job keeping people enticed, which I can't deny happened for me a bit too. Although I'm not committed to getting better at the game, it is fun, and has the award of being one of the few games that my wife likes, so that's praise enough for me!
The game is available on Steam here (as of 9/16/20): https://store.steampowered.com/app/403400/ARCADE_GAME_SERIES_DIG_DUG/
The game is available for Nintendo Switch here (as of 9/16/20): https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/namco-museum-switch/
The game is available for PS4 here (as of 9/16/20): https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0700-CUSA19255_00-NMARCHIVES000000

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