Dig Dug Revival (C64)
A downloadable game
This game is a homage to Dig Dug, an arcade game developed by Namco in 1982.
In this version, the playfields are procedurally generated.
The game works 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.
History
Version 1.0
- First release.
Version 1.1
- Now you break through thin walls slightly earlier, allowing for faster use of the pump in the next tunnel.
- Fixed a collision issue between the pump and an incorporeal enemy when it was about to enter a tunnel.
Version 1.2
- Sometimes, when a Fygar stalked you closely and flamed, it didn't kill you.
- Added the Master difficulty level.
- Some minor graphics fixes.
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Dig Dug Revival (C64) version 1.2 is releasedAug 06, 2023
- Dig Dug Revival (C64) version 1.1 is releasedJul 24, 2023
Comments
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Hey man if you are interested to develop a retro game for blockchain please dm me from twitter @volkank05792491 team is searching gamedevs
Hey man, this port it's outstanding!!! Music it's almost the same as I remember from the arcade game!!! I just missing the flowers on the top right corner surface. Great job!!! Bought at once!!!
Thanks so much for the appreciation!
Quick heads up - I am changing my name, account and C64 cover distribution
New name is reFLEX64, see https://reflex64.itch.io/
this old account will be deactivated shortly!
Good to know!
I like it a lot! Great job. Thanks
I'm really glad you like it!
Fantastic - the game is perfect and the music is spot on - Excellent work - love it.
Thank you so much!
Brilliant conversion for sure! The audio is SSSSOOOOO much better than the original C64 Dig Dug! It is actually accurate! Great job.
A mini review of it is going up on my YouTube channel today.
I saw your review and loved it. I appreciated how you highlighted the fact that the audio is so similar to the original arcade version. Many take it for granted but it is by no means a trivial thing. And thank you very much also for the good publicity you have given me in general.
Hey great job there can you consider becoming blockchain gaming dev
Is it a job offer?
Sorry for late response, not exactly but if you want to connect your games to Phantasma Chain you can get some funding from yearly allocation also i heard they are thinking to hire someone to create games like you porting check my profile and join our community reach a core contributor they will help you.. No need to do big differences for example you can use ranking contract for highscores, or an cheap NFT item for bonus firing power even you can use locked content feature to create treasuse chests for that game. I really want to see games like this in Phantasma Chain and also we have a connection wit a game studio called GOATI they have a platform like steam maybe they want to collaborate with you too. Come and take this oppurtunity maybe together you guys can shape web3 gaming industry
Thanks for this GREAT game! :)
Question... You do such great work, any chance of a C64 version of Time Pilot and/or Time Pilot '84 with high score saving as well? :)
Thanks Again for this great conversion. I asked about a C64 version of this a few years ago on the PC version's page and you said you felt the original Namco version for the C64 was well done and a C64 version was not planned. Glad to see that you decided to convertt and release it. :)
Thank you very much for appreciating my work!
About Time Pilot, it has never been in my plans, even if I have to admit that I don't mind the arcade version at all. In the future who knows
Complimenti davvero per questa ultima fatica. Davvero incantevole !
Leggevo però di alcuni che lamentavano divergenze nella meccanica di gioco rispetto alla macchina arcade. Questa sera ho avuto modo di provarlo su un Commodore 64 vero, andando un pò alla ricerca di queste differenze, forse trovandone una. Ovvero che non è possibile azionare la pompa durante il movimento nelle aree non vuote. Questo ti obbliga ad utilizzarla solo nei tunnel già scavati, togliendo quella anticipazione prima di entrare in una area popolata da nemici, trovandoci ancora con qualche millimetro di area scavabile, ma con la pompa che è in grado di penetrare la parete.
Mi auguro di essere stato chiaro e, magari, di aiuto.
Grazie ancora !
Sono perfettamente consapevole che nella versione arcade c'è la possibilità di lanciare la pompa attraverso i muri sottili ma, come ho già risposto ad altri, personalmente ho sempre trovato questo comportamento più un "bug" che una caratteristica studiata, e di conseguenza ho voluto assolutamente correggerlo (così come ho corretto altre situazioni non convincenti) in entrambe le mie versioni per PC e per C64. Sono convinto di questo e non cambio idea.
Grazie comunque dei complimenti e del suggerimento!
Awesome - version 1.1
Thanks again!
Once again a very nice game with fantastic arcade- and gameplay feeling like the original. Our German-language review can be found in our recorded livestream starting at 01:58:38. Subscription to our YouTube or Twitch channel is welcome. 🙂
Thanks once again for the video and for the appreciation
molto bene, 8.5/10
as usual, here is a nice cover for it (see post below)
Thanks, cute picture! However, I would prefer if it were labeled LC-Games instead of Namco
I'd love to add the lc-logo, but I don't have it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (& I'm too lazy to re-create it), so I just added the namco one
if you got a logo somewhere I can add it, np - it's all wip anyway (and mostly for my own amusement, it's not meant to be spread much)
I just have a pixelated image, hope you like it
hey thx, I got off my lazy butt and took the logo from one of your windows games (it's a bit larger), then downsized it so it now fits perfectly, here's the edited cover (it's only available for 1 week anyway before it gets auto-deleted, I don't share anywhere else so if it's gone here it's gone :)
https://ibb.co/D457dVG
Now it's perfect! Thanx
Great conversion as the arcade with detailed sprites never seen before on C64
(33) (ITA-ENG) C64 DIG DUG REVIVAL - YouTube
Grazie Alex, per l'apprezzamento e, ovviamente, per la donazione! 😉
Prego, sullo stesso stile stavo cercando su C64 il famoso Lock n' Chase (Atari, Intellivision), su C64 non è mai stato realizzato, magari un giorno qualcuno lo facesse....
A dire il vero, finora ho realizzato cloni di giochi che hanno segnato la mia gioventù e Lock n' Chase non è uno di questi, anzi non credo di averci mai giocato. Inoltre ho altre idee in mente, senza contare diverse altre richieste. Comunque, mai dire mai
Certamente, io giocai credo alla versione arcade e sognai di avere un atari o intellivision per rigiocarci, averlo su C64 sarebbe bello visto che li' e' inedito, ma segui naturalmente le idee che hai, ci mancherebbe. Buon sviluppo!
Awesome version !
Thanks so much!
Really nice port, good work!!! Thanks a lot, for bringing a new version from one of my favorite games on the C64. You really picked up on "Odourman's", "Draugr's" and my suggestion one year ago in the comments of the PC-version, to make a C64 port of your "Dig Dug Revival" version. That's really great and it was a very nice surprise today, when i discovered this new version here! Today i bought and played the game for some hours and it plays great. Two suggestions (not criticism) i would have, for a possible v1.1 version of the C64 version:
(1) That the playfield in every level, always is generated randomly, might be a good idea, to have more variety in the gameplay, but i am sure, not only in my opinion, it would also be great, to have such a "randomly generated playfields" function only in the game-menue, as an on/off switchable function and not as the standard. Many fans of Dig Dug certainly also want to play the normal gamelevels, that they know since their childhood from the Arcade version and all the different ports of the game. Randomly generated levels as a switchable feature are a great idea, if the player want them, but they shouldn't be the only choice. I am sure, not just me, as an old Dig Dug fan, who always played the game in the Arcade, thinks so. I know, that in the PC version of Dig Dug Revival, the levels are also randomly generated and also there, it would be great, to have a possibility, that the normal game-levels could be played too. That would perfect the two Revival versions.
(2) The game-info here on this side, says, that if you want the original gamespeed, you should use a NTSC-C64 machine. Since the software standard on the C64 is PAL (in contrast to many retro-consoles, where it's NTSC), it would be great here, to have the NTSC gamespeed also available on PAL-C64 computers, for example as a selectable function in the game-menue. Then all users, no matter of having a NTSC or a PAL machine, could play the game in that speed, who it is actually made for. Yes I know, that's a lot of work afterwards, because everything in the gameplay then must run in 120% on PAL-computers, instead of 100%, if users choose "NTSC speed" on a PAL-machine then, but it would make sense, because PAL is the standard on the C64 (for example, nearly all of the best multidisk-demos only run correct in PAL). The Hokuto Force version of the normal C64 "Dig Dug", that came out in november 2022, has such a choosable "NTSC speed" function and it works great. PAL-users can turn it on, NTSC-users let it turned off, gamespeed then is the same. Something like that, would also be superb to have for Dig Dug Revival.
If the game-menue would have these two suggested things as a choice, all players would have the perfect version of "Dig Dug" on their C64. Maybe a v1.1 would be possible, sometime in the future? Best regards and thanks again, for all your work on realizing "Dig Dug Revival" on the C64, it's appreciated.
(1) My version of the game is called "Dig Dug Revival" just to highlight that it's not a mere port, but instead a personal reinterpretation (sort of an advanced version) where the randomly generated playfields make the game infinitely more fun and less monotonous and frustrating. So the levels from the original arcade version will not be implemented.
(2) Maybe in the future I could consider the possibility of playing at NTSC speeds on PAL as well. Maybe I could think about doing a separate version to make things easier, although, as you said, there would be a lot of extra work to do. At the moment, however, I prefer to dedicate myself to something else.
Something great is on the way, i can say that, but you still have to wait a little bit.
Awesome, so much better than the official port. Made some box art for it :)
Thank you for appreciating and for the cool image!
well done! this plays sooo good. more fluid than the original c64 version as well as eliminates some of the annoying quirks. just had a quick game and i can say that i'm really impressed. i don't remember how many monsters were on screen in the original, but here we got at least 9 moving sprites with no slowdowns and a lot of variation in the levels.
Thank you so much for appreciating my work!
I love games straight from the living room 😊 Graphically the game looks sensational. Of course I'm taking it for review for the latest issue of K&A Plus #24 😊
Cheers
Retro Chlop 😎
Thank you for the video!
thanks, very good game
I'm glad you like it!
Great game!
Thanks!
Great feature to add, now it's infinitely playable <3
I'm glad you appreciate!
I played this in the arcade when I was a kid. This version feels good as far as I'm concerned.
One little thing I did notice is that in the arcade version, when there's only the slightest wall left between the player and a monster you could still blow it up without it being able to reach you. For me that was a vital mechanic :)
I know that in the original arcade version you can throw the pump through thin walls without enemies being able to pick you up, but personally I've always seen this behavior as a "bug" rather than a wanted feature, so I thought I'd fix it (in both versions for PC and for C64), as well as I fixed other situations that did not convince me.
Anyway, thanks for enjoying the game.