Dig Dug (C64)

This game is a C64 port of Dig Dug, an arcade game developed by Namco in 1982.

This version includes the levels from the original arcade game. There are therefore 15 different levels of which the last 4 are repeated until reaching level 256 (the kill screen). If, however, you are interested in a less repetitive and therefore more stimulating version of the game, try Dig Dug Revival, where the levels are procedurally generated and are always different from each other and from game to game. You can download it from https://lowcarb.itch.io/dig-dug-revival-c64.

The game runs perfectly on both PAL and NTSC models of the Commodore 64.

Gameplay

Dig Dug is a maze video game. Controlling the titular character, the player's objective is to eliminate the enemies on each screen; these being Pookas, red tomato-like creatures with comically large goggles, and Fygars, green dragons that can breathe fire. Dig Dug can defeat these enemies by using a bike pump to inflate them with air until they explode, or by crushing them under large falling rocks. Bonus points are awarded for squashing multiple enemies with a single rock, and dropping two rocks in a round will cause a bonus item to appear in the middle of the screen, which can be eaten for points. Once all the enemies have been defeated, Dig Dug will progress to the next round.

The enemies can travel through solid dirt to reach the player, where only their eyes will be shown. Inflated enemies pose no threat to the player, allowing Dig Dug to pass through them without harm.

The game will play a short jingle when Dig Dug moves, abruptly stopping when he becomes idle.

If the player takes too long to clear a round, the enemies will become faster and much more aggressive, indicated by a short jingle.

Later rounds feature variations in the color of the dirt, while increasing the movement speed of the enemies.

At 20000 points and then every 50000 points (70000 for the Expert difficulty level; 90000 for the Master difficulty level), the player earns an extra life, for a maximum of 7 lives.

Options

There are 5 difficulty levels to choose from: Easy, Normal, Hard, Expert, Master.

Controls

Joystick in port 2.

Joystick lever = Move Dig Dug in the four directions.
Fire button = Use the pump.

While playing, press F7 to pause or F1 to stop the game and go back to the title screen.

While the best scores are showing, press F1 to reset the ranking.