Dig Dug II takes place on an island with an overhead view. The goal is to kill all the enemies. There are two types of enemies: Pookas, which can kill a player by touching him, and Fygars, which can kill a player either by touching him or breathing fire on him. Taizo Hori is armed with two weapons. One is an air pump that can inflate enemies until they burst. The other is a jackhammer, which can be used at "fault lines" on the map to create faults in the ground. If both ends of a system of faults reach the water, the ground surrounded by them will sink into the ocean, killing all creatures on it, including Taizo himself if the player is not careful. The points earned from this depend on how many enemies are killed at once. Once three pieces of land have been cut off an island, a bonus vegetable will appear somewhere on what remains of the island, which can be eaten for extra points. When only one, two or three enemies remain on the island, the enemies will head for the edge of the island and jump into the water, killing themselves and ending the round.
Reception
While Dig Dug II saw success in its first few months on the market, the game was largely unsuccessful and was not nearly as popular as its predecessor when it was released. The title's departure from the original's maze-chase gameplay, its time of release, and the lack of the original's free movement are believed to have attributed to its failure. A reviewer for the magazine Computer & Video Games said that the game, while having a high difficulty level, was worth playing and became easier through practice.
Legacy
In 2005, Dig Dug II was ported to the PlayStation Portable as part of Namco Museum Battle Collection, and was included in Namco Museum DS which was released for the Nintendo DS on September 18, 2007. The game was also included in Namco Museum Virtual Arcade in 2008 and was released on the Wii Virtual Console in Japan on October 20, 2009, along with the inceptive title. Both Dig Dug games are available as part of the Namco Museum Megamix compilation for the Wii, which was only released in North America. A reimagined version for PC titled Dig Dug Island, featuring online multiplayer, was released in 2008 exclusively in Japan. However, the game's servers were shut down in just under a year, leaving it unplayable.
