DESCRIPTION

In a somewhat disappointing (and, thanks to the videogame industry crash of 1983-'84, ultimately unreleased) version of the Namco classic, Atari gives us a ColecoVision version of Dig Dug that doesn't live up to the addictive arcade game. As with the Apple II port, this home version squishes the vertical playfield of Dig Dug to fit the screen, but unlike anything since the Atari 5200 version, this Dig Dug suffers from a terrible case of flickering in its animated characters, especially Dig Dug's adversaries.

It's important to keep in mind that ColecoVision Dig Dug was still a work-in-progress when Atari's Atarisoft division canned it; there was undoubtedly more work waiting to be done on this game. The controls are fluid, but the game lacks visual flair: even the subterranean background for the maze is below par for the graphics capabilities of the ColecoVision. The sprite flicker plaguing the animated characters renders the game almost unplayable in later levels, where there are sometimes multiple enemies inhabiting a single tunnel. Dig Dug for ColecoVision would likely have had some of these bugs worked out in time for an initial release; as it is, it was mothballed until the prototype was made available at the 2001 Classic Gaming Expo. ~ Earl Green, All Game Guide