As poor Pooka expanded, swelled and burst into pieces, an ecstatic grin formed as I recognized that, yes, this was indeed a game about blowing stuff up. Resting my fingers on the trigger button (mysteriously titled “pump”), I casually tunneled my way towards one of the walking balloons - a red, goggle-wearing goon dubbed “Pooka”– and watched with wonder when, as advertised, a pump sprang from my character and latched onto the pudgy critter. Intrigued, I fished out a quarter, inserted it, and observed as a man in a hazmat suit burrowed deep beneath the earth, infested by sentient balloons and nasty dragons. The memories of this particular occasion have grown cloudy - I remember not whose birthday it was, let alone any occurrences other than stumbling across a new arcade cabinet in the game corner: Dig Dug. Long, long ago in the halcyon days of 2000 - what, were you fossils expecting the 80’s? - eight-year-old me found himself yet again at Inline 309: an in-door skating rink popular for birthday parties. Today’s review is based upon the original arcade Dig Dug included within PlayStation 3’s PSOne Classic re-release of Namco Museum 3, originally released for PlayStation. But why is that the case? Join Anthony on his 8-Bit Chronicles, wherein he studies the industry’s building blocks in famous coin-munchers, failed experiments, and obscure gems. The innate addiction coded within the circuit board-powered arcade cabinets and NES cartridges render them precious artifacts, their primitive graphics and relative brevity revered even today. Bleeps, bloops, and pixels: the cornerstones of classic gaming.

Dig dug arrangement download