Warrior's ROM of the Week:
Mr. Do! Vs.Dig Dug
(Universal 1982----Atari/Namco 1982)
Well, to make up for last week, this week I just happen to be doing not one, but two ROMs of the week, and I happen to think you'll really dig it too (bad pun probably intended). Anyway, way back in 1982, these two games were in direct competition with each other for the gamer's quarters. Nowdays, Universal is long gone, and Atari a mere shadow of it's former self (although recent developments seem to indicate that this may change soon), but thanks to MAME, this epic battle can live on.

Mr. Do! Screen Shot Dig Dug Screen ShotIt doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that both of these games have a lot of similarities. You're digging around all over the place, being chased by weird-looking creatures, all while trying to drop heavy stuff on them. Mr. Do! was the first of the two to be released into the arcades, with Dig Dug following a couple of months later. Needless to say, this meant that the two were in direct competition with each other. Also released in the same year was The Pit by Centuri, with some similar gameplay elements, although from the accounts I have heard of this one, it was graphically much more primitive ("Bordering on ASCII" was one quote in that regard) than either of these two. The Pit will be making an appearance in MAME .31, according to the MAME WIP page. Anyway, to size up the competition in this heated battle, I have put together this little chart comparing our two protagonists:

Hero:
Mr. Do!
Mr. Do!
Dig Dug
Dig Dug
Appearance:
Some guy in a clown suit. 'Nuff Said.A Smurf in a radiation suit?
Weapon:
A turbocharged bouncy-ball, and fruits of unusual size.A bicycle pump, and falling rocks.
Objective:
Run around through the forest(?), pick up cherries, drop apples, dodge monsters.Dig around through the underground, drop rocks, pick up fruit, dodge monsters.
Enemies:
Walking red chef's hats, Bub and Bob's evil cousins, and some monsters who didn't make the cut for Sesame Street.Red ballons wearing yellow goggles, and green firebreathers.
Sequels:
  • Mr. Do!'s Castle(1983)
    • Mr. Do Vs. Unicorns (1983, Asia)
  • Mr. Do!'s Wild Ride (1984)
  • Do! Run Run (1984)
    • Super Piero(1987, Japanese)
  • A Mr. Do! laserdisc game was announced by Universal, but never released.
Only one sequel, Dig Dug II, which is very rare, but is also in MAME. Characters from Dig Dug have, however, made cameo appearances in newer Namco games. For example, when starting the hard course in Alpine Surfer, a rather large pooka rolls across the slope.
Nonetheless, it has been 16 years, and still there remains no clear winner in this battle. We wil just have to wait and see how this turns out. With Hasbro's recent acquisition of Atari's properties, could it be possible that a modernized version of Dig Dug might appear in the forseeable future? Mr. Do!, on the other hand, has also appeared in Gameboy and SNES versions, but seems to have faded into obscurity as far as video games go, but is rumored to have joined the Barnum and Bailey circus, where he continues to perform as a clown to this day. Yet with his reappearance in MAME, who knows what the future might hold?

Previous ROMs of the Week:
Return to Warrior's EMU Rumor Page