Dig Dug was first released in the early '80s and while he has maintained the same level of notoriety, this industrious little series has managed to score cameos in major motion pictures, appear in Mario titles, and even influence modern releases (such as Shovel Knight Dig). You may also be surprised to hear that Dig Dug was a huge crossover star long before the era of guest characters in games.
Related: Things You Didn't Know About Pac-Man
Yes, Dig Dug was quite the celebrity in his time. Thankfully, his legacy is well cataloged in the form of retro releases and anthologies. The anthology of Dig Dug, and his family, is an interesting one. One which has surprising twists and turns that most will never see coming.
10 Dig Dug's Little Jingle
One of the most endearing elements to Dig Dug is the little song that plays while he walks. This flourish was born from the frustration around creating a walking sound for the titular protagonist.
Dig Dug's sound designer (Yuriko Keino) struggled to craft a realistic-sounding walk effect, so instead, she went the opposite direction and gave him an adorable, little jingle to accompany each step. This is a prime example of art through limitation, as this melody gives Dig Dug a lot of its charm.
9 A High Score Of 5,429,010
As of 2017, the best-recorded score ever is staggeringly just a hair off of five and a half million. For context, that is well over a million points higher than the top score recorded in the '80s. Indeed, over time people have kept digging away (sorry, not sorry) at this game and developing a better understanding of its mechanisms.
So, for now, Donald Hayes has the crown. However, in all likelihood, that will change. New heroes will rise, and the old will fall.
8 Dig Dug Is Mr.Driller's Father
While Mr.Driller-heads will already be aware of this fact (Dig Dug is included in the story, after all), the more casual fan may not have made this connection. There are a number of similarities between the franchises: digging being the primary one.
Related: Best Father Figures In Gaming
However, unlike his father, Mr. Driller doesn't sadistically inflate subterranean creatures until they burst. Because, you know, that is kind of horrifying. Mr. Driller is definitely more chill, in that regard.
7 What's My Name, Again?
While we all know our shovel-wielding hero simply as Dig Dug, his Japanese name is Hori Taizo. Which is a play on words as "hori" is Japanese for dig, "tai" is Japanese for want, and "zo" is an effusive ending to a sentence. Meaning that Dig Dug's Japanese name translates to "I want to dig".
This naming convention would continue with his son, Mr. Driller, whose Japanese name is Hori Susumu, which translates to "dig onward" or "dig deeper". What can we say? The Japanese love their wordplay.
6 Deep Scoring System
The playfield is delightfully colorful, but this isn't just an aesthetic decision: each color designates another level. Each level increases the score you receive for killing an enemy. So, ideally, you want to dispatch your enemies in the lowest section of the stage. So, your scoring sectors are color-coded. However, this isn't the only scoring nuance.
The amount of points you gain from crushing enemies with rocks will also change depending on how many enemies you crush at a time. The maximum score is received when crushing a total of eight enemies. This is when digging an efficient maze to pool enemies effectively is most important.
5 Stranger Things Have Happened
Dig Dug was featured in everyone's favorite Netflix horror series, Stranger Things. When Max is first being introduced in the second season, she notably took Dustin's top position on the scoreboard. Though it must have been a modified version of the game, as her screen name was "Madmax" while Dig Dug only allowed three characters.
If the silver screen isn't good enough for you, Dig Dug, as well as his Pooka buddies, also made a cameo appearance in Wreck-It-Ralph. While his star may have lost some of its luster, Dig Dug is still booking some choice roles.
4 Dig Dug Married Kissy From Baraduke
The crossovers don't end with Mr. Driller. Dig Dug is also married to Kissy from Baraduke. This is pretty awesome, as Kissy is essentially a proto-Samus Aran. I guess she found enough time to pursue romantic interests when she wasn't fighting biomechanical, alien horrors.
Related: Every Metroid Game In Chronological Order
Unfortunately, love, like everything else, fades. The two are now divorced. However, that also means that they are easily one of the most notable divorced couples in video games.
3 Free-Style Play
One of the most interesting elements of Dig Dug's gameplay design is that it is, fundamentally, a maze game. So, like Pac-Man. However, unlike Pac-Man, the maze isn't predetermined. The player is able to construct their own maze.
This means that the game allows for a fair bit more player expression than the standard games of that era. There are still optimal routes, of course. But, ultimately, the player is a part of the level design process, as they form the maze themselves.
2 Mysterious Motivations
One thing that is not well established is what Dig Dug's motivations are exactly. The Nintendo manual positions Dig Dug as a gardener of sorts, irrigating the soil beneath your garden, while the Atari manual claims that you are in pursuit of vegetables.
But that doesn't really gel with the gameplay itself. You clear stages by crushing monsters or inflating them until they burst. Dig Dug: Digging Strike, the third mainline game in the series, abandons any facile attempt to sell Dig Dug as some kind of horticulturist: in Digging Strike, Dig Dug is a death dealer focused solely on extermination. Now that has the ring of truth to it.
1 Pac-Man Connection
Dig Dug's world also intersects with Pac-Man's world. The Pooka enemies exist in both game franchises. The Pookas are prominently featured in the Pac-Man World games. They are also in a Pac-Man Party and both Pac-Man Championship Edition games.
This could be a result of Hiroshi Ono having designed the characters for both games. Either way, it is a direct connection between the two series that exists in the mainline games for both. Move over, Marvel Cinematic Universe, and make way for the Namco Arcade Universe.
Next: Best Pac-Man Games