The Namco Museum series is one of the greatest compilations ever. Any entry is guaranteed to give you your arcade fix, no matter if it's the latest on Nintendo Switch or the original ones on Playstation. However, one aspect in some of the earlier titles that people forget about is the original ones. Indeed, some of the Namco Museums, such as the Playstation original five-volume set, and the first Namco Museum on Playstation 2 have these games called Arrangement games. These games are original entries and can be served as their own games. These arrangements cover a lot of series including, Pac-man, Galaga, Rally-X, and the one I’m going to focus on today, Dig Dug. Dig Dug is my favorite Namco arcade game, I really enjoy the simplistic nature of it, just kill all the enemies using an air pump. It’s a game that anyone can/simply get into, and have fun with it. However, that's just Dig Dug, how well does Dig Dug Arrangement remix this gameplay style?
Dig Dug Arrangement, and all of the arrangement games, are not traditional arcade games from Namco. These games have endings and span for about 50 levels, and then you're done. However, with that in mind, the developers were assembled to expand on the simple nature of Dig Dug, and add a lot to it. Some major ones include the introduction to new enemies. Uniduck is an enemy that charges quickly into you. Fygars, and Pookas, have Neo counterparts, which are much stronger. Neo Pooka in particular can be difficult to inflate normally, which makes them very annoying. Dodongans are the most annoying, because they have long-range fire-spitting attacks, and can destroy terrain. I’ll link the Dig Dug Wiki page on enemies if you wish to learn more about them.
Another gameplay addition that isn't brought to the table is powerups. There are multiple powerups that randomly spawn throughout the levels, and a lot of them are useful. There is a laser gun powerup that gives you the ability to shoot the enemies instead of inflating them, which is useful because the death is constant with the gun compared to the pump. There is a power to remove all the dirt in the level, and a power-up that rains down on the level, getting rid of dirt, and killing any enemies that it touches. There is also just a simple powerup to make pumping faster. In addition to powerups, there are two new rocks that can drop onto enemies. One of the new rocks is just a bigger rock, while the other is a ball that rolls through a path, and bounces off walls. Finally, there are new boss levels that use the gun, as well as the bomb enemies. The bomb enemies blow up when you inflate them, damaging enemies, and bosses that are near the blast radius. These new features help the game feel a bit different than just any normal dig, and really add to the gameplay experience in my opinion.
With all these new additions to the original Dig Dug formula, what do I personally think of Dig Dug Arrangement Dig Dug Arrangement is my favorite version of Dig Dug. Now granted, I’ve only played the original Dig Dug, and Dig Dug II. However, I like it when arcade games make their own identifiable levels, especially with these older Namco arcade games. Dig Dug Arrangement has a handful of level themes, and each level has an impact on the player. This is also why I enjoyed the mobile port of Pac-Man, making these arcade games not endless is just something like. Dig Dug is my favorite Namco arcade game, and Dig Dug Arrangement is my favorite version of it.
The Namco Museum series is a great series of compilations, many of which include tons of extras I can talk about. Maybe one day I’ll come back to a version of Namco Museum, and discuss what makes that version stand out from other versions. I do have a particular entry on the Wii, I would love to talk about, but only time will tell if I’ll talk about it. Until then, just go, and play some Dig Dug.
The Dig Dug Wiki
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