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Dig Dug II(JP) is a puzzle action game that originally released on the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game was radically different from the original, being top-down rather than a sideview underground. The goal is still to defeat all the enemies but, rather than dropping rocks on enemies, the player connects dots to disconnect parts of the island. The game was rereleased in 2015 on the Wii U Virtual Console.
Gameplay[]
Dig Dug II takes place on an island with an overhead view. The goal is to kill all the enemies. There are two types of enemies: Pookas (round red monsters with goggles), which can kill a player by touching him, and Fygars (dragons), which can kill a player either by touching him or breathing fire on him.
Taizo Hori (the player's character) is armed with two weapons. One is an air pump that can inflate enemies until they burst. The other is a jackhammer, which can be used at "fault lines" on the map to create faults in the ground. If both ends of a system of faults reach the water, the ground surrounded by them will sink into the ocean, killing all creatures on it, including Taizo himself if the player is not careful. The points earned from this depend on how many enemies are killed at once. Once three pieces of land have been cut off an island, a bonus vegetable will appear somewhere on what remains of the island, which can be eaten for extra points. When only one, two or (on later rounds) three enemies remain on the island, the enemies will head for the edge of the island and jump into the water, killing themselves and ending the round.
Reception[]
While Dig Dug II saw success in its first few months on the market, the game was largely unsuccessful and was not nearly as popular as its predecessor when it was released. The title's departure from the original's maze-chase gameplay, its time of release, and the lack of the original's free movement are believed to have attributed to its failure. A reviewer for the magazine Computer & Video Games said that the game, while having a high difficulty level, was worth playing and became easier through practice.
Legacy[]
Dig Dug II was ported to the Nintendo Famicom in Japan in 1986, followed by a 1989 release for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America (with the subtitle Trouble in Paradise added to the packaging, but not to the game itself), and then in 1990 by a release for the Famicom Disk System in Japan. Until 2005, the game was seen exclusively on the NES in North America. In 2007, it released as a part of Namco Museum DS.
Namco Museum[]
The arcade version has appeared in the following compilations:
Additionally, the NES version appeared in Namco Museum Archives Vol. 2
External links[]
- Dig Dug II at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Dig Dug II at GameFAQs