Mr Driller Ace

[charlesr]

Just got my copy of Mr Driller Ace on GBA from Play-Asia ?16. So far so good.

There's a whole bunch of modes and seemingly some creature building mode, although not sure what they are for yet. There's a race mode where you drill as fast as you can which is hilarious - great for honing those last minute drill decisions and plotting the right paths (drilling through vertical blocks and dropping down is quicker innit).

In the normal mode, there's powerups-a-plenty and random "?" blocks, that do things like turn lots of the blocks to rocks (!DRILL!!!) or flip the screen round. There seems to be a 4p multiplayer option, although I haven't got a 2nd GBA to see if it's single cart or not. If anyone can read the attached scan, you'll be able to tell me.

I've got a good feeling about the game overall and reckon it'll be stuck in there for ages.

I think it'll be a faq job for the shop items and menu details, unless I get time to do some screenshots and get our translators on the case. Anyone else got this?

[The Glider]

I think vertigo did a nice little post some time ago about the Mr Driller series (including Ace) which I printed out & found quite helpful. I keep meaning to start playing it again & your post Charles has prompted me to do so. Cue many nights of going to bed with *that* tune going round & round in my head...

[Emir]

Yep, it was vertigo's little write up on the series that made me grab this, the original and Drill Land.

This game is so damn addictive, and the tunes, so catchy.

Probably my favourite GBA game along with Aria and Hajime No Ippo.

Does anyone have this?


I bought it a while ago, but haven't had chance to listen to it properly.

[charlesr]

Ah yeah. Found his thread

[tom-nook]

Emir where did you get the Mr Driller cd from?

The song that plays in World Tour mode of Drill Land on the Cube is probably one of the finest pieces of music I've heard in a game....hopefully it's on there.

[Emir]

Emir where did you get the Mr Driller cd from?

The song that plays in World Tour mode of Drill Land on the Cube is probably one of the finest pieces of music I've heard in a game....hopefully it's on there.

I got it from Play Asia a few months ago. I was gonna be helpful and link you to a copy, but I just checked the site, and its out of stock.

[tom-nook]

Thanks anyway Emir!

At least I know one exists now so I can keep an eye out for it.

[vertigo]

Fame at last. It's nice to be remembered
As for Drill Spirits, my wife picked it up on the weekend at Game coz it was £12 and I've barely touched it, mainly because of the horrid grating American voicing but also because it feels funny. You'd never have thought that Mr Driller could feel different really, but I think I pointed out in the thing I wrote that each game does have a subtlely different feel in control. Drill Spirits feels like a step back to me, to a feel more like Mr Driller 2, where Ace and Drill Land were far more fluid and allowed a lot more getting away with it, or forcing your chap through tighter gaps and promoting risk-taking without necessarily spoiling the core concept or making it easier.
If I do want to play Drill Spirits more, I'll be buying the JP version anyway, but Ace is exactly that, ace.
You do want to check out the Pacteria mode FAQ though, for info on the item trees you need to grow the pacteria, coz I reached a point where I couldn't do anything else and then found out that you need either a light or dark crystal to advance, which you only get every 2000m, to my recollection. Check it out anyway.

[charlesr]

Vertigo, did you get my PM? Please reply.

[ryodi]

If I do want to play Drill Spirits more, I'll be buying the JP version anyway, but Ace is exactly that, ace.

There's no need to get the JPN version of Drill Spirits, the UK version is identical to the JPN release and I have found the voice acting in all the Mr Driller games I have played equally excruciating.

It was Vertigo who inspired me to get into Mr Driller with his thread of a while back that is now in General Gaming. Ace is the best game out of the three available on handhelds (Mr Driller 2, Drill Spirits and Ace) and the increased screen size of Drill Spirits makes the game a lot easier than the GBA iterations. The JPN is not that hard to understand in Ace because the game is mostly icon based and you also get a high score table for your top 10 scores which you don't get in Drill Spirits.

[JamesS]

Fame at last. It's nice to be remembered

FWIW, since you posted that thread, Mr Driller Ace has barely been out of my GBM. I'm still playing it daily on my commute into work. The big, scary total miles figure in the options is over 200,000 miles I think which, given I'm only really playing 500m mode due to not having much time, is quite a lot of games.

I'm still not all that great at the game, but I've pretty much got all I can out of 500m mode, I think. Top score (with Susumu) is around 610,000, which is with perfect air, the no death medal and a time bonus. Just working on getting the time down a bit more, but I might try moving on to 800m mode instead, as I've not really done much there.

It took me years of trying to actually "get" Mr Driller, but I'm completely addicted to it now.

[charlesr]

Me too. It's stuck in there. Looking forward to getting my lounge back together so I can try out GC Drill Land.

I love the different characters' abilities in Ace. E.g. the dog that can leap up 2 blocks.

[charlesr]

I've decided I'm going to write a review of this. You lucky people.