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Dig Dug - Atari - Atari 2600     HTML Manual   

Dig Dug
                              Dig Dug
                 The Underground Smash Arcade Hit|

NOTE: Always turn the console POWER switch OFF when inserting or removing an
ATARI(r) Game Program(tm) cartridge. This will protect the electronic
components and prolong the life of your ATARI 2600(tm) Video Computer
System(tm) game.

GAME OBJECTIVE and notes from the underground:

You are Dig Dug, the underground miner. With your jet-powered shovel, you
create intricate, subterranean mazes. Ever on the watch for vegetable prizes,
you must also look out for the fierce Fygar(tm) and mean Pooka(tm) that lurk
underground. Their touch kills| Worse, these two meanies can transform into
spooky ghosts that will appear out of nowhere and haunt you to death.

Use your Joystick Controller to dig through the earth in this one-player game.
Your objective: Destroy the meanies who lurk below and uproot the prized
produce. Destroy meanies by using the fire button on your controller to pump
them up until they burst or by drooping boulders on them. To get the
valuable vegetable, dig to it as soon as it appears and cover it completely
by moving Dig Dug over it.

Each round is completed when you destroy all the meanies or when the last
one escapes. The game ends when you lose all your lives.

GAME PLAY:

Create your own tunnels and escape routes as you carve your way through the
earth. You dig in the same direction as you move your Joystick.

The meanies who chase you are: the fire-breathing Fygar, whose flames fry
you, the balloon-like Pooka, and the ghosts of Fygar and Pooka. You lose a
life when any meanie touches you.

To blow up a meanie: Press the red fire button on your Joystick once or twice
to stun the creature, then continue pressing the button to pump up the meanie
until it bursts. (See USING THE CONTROLLER for details.)

To drop a rock: Dig under the rock, then move away fast| The falling rock will
crush any close-pursuing meanie(s) that it touches. It can crush you, too, if
you don't get out of the way.

When only one meanie is left, he will always try to escape, thus ending that
round of the game.

Your underground mine is composed of four layers of dirt. You receive more
points for blowing up meanies in the bottom layers that in the top soil.

A high-scoring prize, which is usually a vegetable, appears once per round
at the same spot where you started digging. It appears for only a few seconds
and you must get Dig Dug to completely cover the prize to score big points.
So keep your eyes open and watch for it|

You start the game with five lives. Remaining lives are displayed as squares
at the lower left side of the screen. (See the Game Screen.) You can also earn
bonus lives. You win your first bonus life at 20,000 points. After that, a
bonus life is won at every multiple of 50,000 points up to 200,000 points.
The maximum number of lives you can have at any one time is eight.

Periodically, the game action speeds up. The musical tempo increases, the
meanies move more quickly and turn into ghosts more often than usual.

To keep the challenge hugh, you can restart a game at the same round you last
played after you lose all your lives. To do this, simply press the red fire
button on your controller after a game ends and while the title DIG DUG
appears on the screen.

USING THE CONTROLLER:

Plug your Joystick Controller into the LEFT CONTROLLER jack at the back of
your 2600(tm) Video Computer System(tm) console. Hold the Controller with the
fire button to your upper left, toward the television screen. See your owner's
manual for details.

You can move Dig Dug up, down, right, or left on the screen. Just move your
Joystick in the diretion you want him to go.

Fire button: Press the red fire button to start the game. To restart the game
at the same round you last played, press the fire button while the DIG DUG
title screen is displayed. You will have approximately ten seconds after
losing your last Dig Dug life to do this.

During game play, press the red fire button once or twice to stun the meanies.
Then hold the button down or use a multiple pumping action to pump up meanies
until they explode.

SCORING:

Your score is displayed at the lower right side of the screen. You can score
a total of 999,990 points before the score resets. In EASY play, the top
score is 99,990. The table below gives point values for the DIG DUG game.

    ACTIVITY     POINTS

    Digging       10 points every
                     two chunks

    Dropping rocks on meanies

    1 meanie             1,000
    2 meanies at once    2,500
    3 meanies at once    4,000
    4 meanies at once    6,000
    5 meanies at once    8,000
    6 meanies at once   10,000
    7 meanies at once   12,000

    Round Number      Prize        Round Number     Prize

      Round 1        Carrot       Rounds 10 & 11   Tomato
     400 points                    4,000 points

      Round 2        Turnip       Rounds 12 & 13    Onion
     600 points                    5,000 points

      Round 3       Mushroom      Rounds 14 & 15  Watermelon
     800 points                    6,000 points

    Rounds 4 & 5    Cucumber      Rounds 16 & 17   Galaxian
    1,000 points                   7,000 points

    Rounds 6 & 7    Eggplant       Rounds 18 on    Pineapple
    2,000 points                   8,000 points

    Rounds 8 & 9   Bell Pepper
    3,000 points

    Inflating Pooka; Inflating Fygar
    from above or below

    Top soil layer     200
    2nd soil layer     300
    3rd soil layer     400
    Bottom soil layer  500

    Inflating Fygar from the side

    Top soil layer     400
    2nd soil layer     600
    3rd soil layer     800
    Bottom soil layer 1000

GAME VARIATIONS:

DIG DIG contains two game variations: EASY play and NORMAL play.

EASY: There is only one pattern of tunnels, rocks, and meanies. Each round
is identical to the previous round, with only two meanies per round. The
meanies never speed up and they never turn into ghosts. The prize is always
a carrot worth 400 points. A teddy bear head indicated easy game play and
appears in the top score digit throughout the EASY play.

NORMAL: The pattern of tunnels, rocks, and meanies varies from round to round.
Pooka and Fygar frequently turn into ghosts and the game action periodically
speeds up. In higher rounds, as many as seven meanies can be on the screen at
once. The prize changes and increases in value with higher rounds.

CONSOLE CONTROLS:

GAME SELECT: Use the GAME SELECT switch to choose a NORMAL or EASY game
variation. The EASY game variation is indicated by a teddy bear head in the
center of the title screen.

GAME RESET: Press GAME RESET to start the game action or to restart a game at
round one.

DIFFICULTY SWITCHES: The DIFFICULTY switches have no function in DIG DUG.

TV TYPE SWITCH: Set the TV TYPE switch to color to play the game on a color
TV. Set it to B/W to play on a black and white TV.

HELPFUL HINTS:

- At higher rounds your priority should be to get the bonus vegetables because
they're worth more points than destroying meanies.

- The prize will not appear in a round until two boulders have fallen and there
are fewer than seven meanies on the screen.

- The last meanie on a screen will always try to escape, thus ending the round.
So, if just one meanie remains and the prize hasn't appeared, you may want to
stun that meanie long enough to allow the prize to appear.

- Since the last meanie will always try to escape at the top left side of the
screen, you can strategically position yourself above ground on the left and
wait for the meanie to emerge then quickly blow him up.

- You can't pump through the soil, so back off if a ghost is approaching
through the dirt toward your tunnel. Wait until the ghost gets indise the
tunnel then quickly turn and pump it up.

- To crush a ghost, tunnel under a rock and wait (as long as you don't move,
the rock won't fall). When a ghost covers the rock, quickly move out of the
way and the ghost will be crushed.

- A good way to trap and squash several creatures at once is to tunnel
straight up under a rock and wait for the meanies to follow. When they get
close, quickly move out of the way to the right or left. They will be trapped
in the path of the falling rock.

- If a meanie is pursuing you, try to get to a tunnel. Since you move more
quickly in a tunnel than through soil, this gives you a better chance to
escape.

- Try to group meanies behind you by stunning them and then running. (You can
run right through a stunned meanie.) When several are in pursuit, lead them
toward a boulder and drop it on them for high points.

Atari welcomes your comments. Please address all correspondence to:

Atari, Inc.
Customer Relations
1312 Crossman Avenue, P.O. Box 61657
Sunnyvale, California 94086

(c)1983 Atari, Inc. All rights reserved.

* DIG DUG is created and designed by Namco Ltd., manufactured under license
by Atari, Inc. Trademark and (c)Namco 1982.



-------------------Atari 2600 Instructions Archive-------------------

This document obtained from the History of Home Video Games Homepage, �1997-1998 by Greg Chance