Publisher/Developer: Namco Bandai
Genre: Arcade
Price: $5.99
Verdict: Only buy it if you’re a huge Dig Dug fan.
Pros: Solid ports of the arcade classic and of the PSP Dig Dug Arrangement.
Cons: The controls are hard to use due to the small on-screen d-pad and wonky flick controls.

No one can certainly blame Namco of ignoring the App Store – they’ve unleashed their full fury of releases onto the system, mostly in the way of arcade classics for portable consumption. And we’ve loved them for it, because there’s just something awesome about playing arcade-perfect Pac-Man on a device that slips into your pocket. Their latest release is Dig Dug Remix, and it’s another solid release, albeit nowhere near perfect.

If you’ve never played Dig Dug, then honestly…where have you been? The game’s pretty old at this point, and it’s hard to imagine that anyone could have not played it at this point. Well, if you haven’t, then you play as a little guy who must dig through tunnels and inflate monsters until they explode because if you don’t, then they’ll kill you. And some of them breathe fire. There’s a reason why dragons don’t exist, folks, it’s because anything THAT CAN BREATHE FIRE shouldn’t be allowed to live. This game continues on this proud tradition. As for the story behind what exactly Dig Dug entails, I think he’s the dad of Mr. Driller, but I like Robot Chicken’s explanation far better:

The gameplay has held up well over the years (there’s a reason why this is getting released on the App Store – people still love Dig Dug), and it’s a fairly unique concept that hasn’t really been duplicated due to its uniqueness. The game is still fairly challenging as well, as going through the dirt underground slows you down, and the enemies can float through it and get to you quicker, and you have boulders to worry about that can fall on you if you get under them (or can use them to kill the enemies), and the dragons that can shoot fire from a distance to incinerate you. It’s all fun stuff, and the Remix mode adds some nice twists to the game like boss fights and powerups along with a landscape view (the Remix mode is identical to the Arrangement mode from the PSP version, same as how Galaga Remix did it). It’s just that unlike Galaga Remix, where the controls were decently workable (and recently improved in an update), Dig Dug’s 2 dimensions of movement versus Galaga Remix’s one dimension causes problems. There are two main ways to control the game – a virtual d-pad on screen, or a ‘flick’ type control scheme where swiping in a direction will move you in that direction. Neither is anywhere near a perfect control scheme for a system lacking physical controls.

The onscreen d-pad is just way too small. Granted, I’ve got large thumbs, but I feel like I can objectively say that it’s pretty small, and changing directions can be hard because of the tiny d-pad. When you’re trying to avoid freaking dragons chasing after you, this does not help. The flick controls should theoretically work better, as the mechanic works great for Pac-Man, but they do not work here. If you need to change directions suddenly, it’s very clunky. If you need to make a subtle movement like a change of direction, good luck with that. I feel like part of the issues are due to the game’s mechanics (being originally a game controlled by a joystick, of course), but the other part of it is just that the flicking mechanic does not work for this game. Surprisingly, there’s no gimmicky accelerometer option, although I couldn’t imagine it being much better than the other control options present.

Is Dig Dug Remix worth it? Maybe if you’re a Dig Dug fan whose life has lacked clarity and meaning because you couldn’t play it on your iDevice up to this point. Otherwise, it’s hard to recommend as just a normal game due to the controls. This game was not meant to fit on this system, and it shows. Dig Dug is a classic, and deservedly so, but this version isn’t. And it’s not because the port is poor, it’s just that the circumstances of getting the game to fit weren’t going to work due to how the game had to play and control. If they could somehow make the d-pad area larger, then maybe it would be worth it. Until then, I only recommend this for Dig Dug freaks who must have the game on their device.