Play Dig Dug Online

I first played Dig Dug on the Game Boy, a port of the arcade game that came out in 1990. It was developed and published by Namco, a familiar name if you were playing handheld games back then. It fit right in with the kind of straightforward, focused experiences the system was known for, a pocket-sized version of a simple but clever idea.

You control a little guy named Taizo Hori, and your job is to dig tunnels through the dirt of each single-screen stage. Your main goal is to clear all the enemies, which are these round red Pookas and fire-breathing dragon-like Fygars. You have two main ways to deal with them: you can pump them up with air until they burst, or you can tunnel under a boulder to drop it on their heads. The catch is that if you start pumping an enemy but stop, they deflate and get faster and angrier. Sometimes they even turn into ghosts and phase right through your tunnels to chase you. The pacing is quick, and the difficulty ramps up steadily as more enemies fill the screen. It feels tense and strategic, a constant calculation of risk versus reward with every move you make.