Or: Why Namco owes me a new Gameboy Advance and addiction therapy.
My first meaningful contact with Mr Driller was in late 2002, only three years late, when a quick bash on the Dreamcast version resulted first in confusion (not getting it), then in enlightenment (getting it), and finally in what could be called addiction (getting it too much and playing well into the small hours). Subsequent purchases of more versions and almost constant play of them over the last three years may be classed as unhealthy, but I?m confident in calling it the best quick-thought puzzle game since Tetris.
Mr Driller was initially spawned from the Dig Dug legacy, with the original intention to create a third title in the series and the idea, with refinements, grew from there and became its own franchise. In fact, the hero of Mr Driller, Hori Susumu, is the son of Hori Taizou who starred in previous Dig Dug games, so the idea of a small but original puzzle game gradually expanded to encompass a whole universe of related characters and locations.
All that?s required are four directions and a button to operate the drill that our eponymous hero uses to save the world; a spinning metal ray of light to cut through the subterranean darkness, an urban Excalibur with which to solve the mystery of the blocks that are coming from deep underground, a? yeh, you get the idea.
So, with a control scheme that eschews increasingly common complexity, Mr Driller is already accessible to a large audience and the gameplay is simplicity in itself.
It can be boiled down to three simple but very important rules:
1) Don?t get squashed.
2) Don?t run out of air.
3) Four blocks of the same colour coming into contact will disappear.
Simplicity doesn?t necessarily equal challenge, depth or fun but, in Mr Driller?s case, all three are present in huge amounts, although they may not initially be visible to the naked eye. A first play or watch of Mr Driller will usually end with the same reactions; ?I can?t do it?, ?If I wanted to join blocks up, I?d play Tetris?, ?It?s just going downwards and pressing the button really quickly? and ?Do you think ?Driller? is his real surname??
OK, so possibly not that last one if you?re mentally normal.
So you either give up or persevere. If you give up, no loss really, go and play with your polygons, I hope you have a good time. Perseverance, however, brings out those aforementioned qualities of Mr Driller: challenge, depth and fun. ?I can do this?, you realise, edging closer to your first 500 metre clearance as another swathe of what looks like baby blue blancmange squashes our pink-clad hero flat, spawning the Angel Of Game Over once again.
Then, gradually, it becomes clearer. You learn how to set blocks to fall and self-destruct in chains, to treat reaching each air capsule like a little puzzle within itself, to delay a falling column for a split second longer by drilling upwards at just the right moment, to drill through those evil X blocks that take five hits to destroy when it?ll work to your advantage, when to move and when to stand still - the advanced techniques that will aid your graduation from a 500 metre novice to a 2000 metre Perfect Driller (with sparkly award and sizable points bonus, of course). Risk/reward is the intrinsic theme that runs through the Mr Driller games: take no risk and play it safe all the time and you?ll reap very little reward, usually ending up suffocating, literally, under the weight of your own caution. Learn how to take necessary risks to progress, though, and it?s got you. You?re in. There?s little chance of escape. You can?t help but work your own mini puzzles in your head when you?re not playing, a dodge here, a drill there, a climb to the air capsule next. Just don?t play it before bedtime, ok?
For me, the balance of Mr Driller?s gameplay hangs on the number four. The third rule of Mr Driller: Four blocks of the same colour coming into contact will disappear. Perhaps five would have worked, three would surely have made the play area too volatile and the game would have been too easy, but four seems to be just right. The number four has been used in other games in the action-puzzle genre with similar success, most notably Tetris, which wouldn?t have worked nearly as well otherwise; and Puyo Puyo, which has a far superior feel and combo mechanic to an imitator such as Hebereke?s Poppoon, which relies on the joining of only three matching objects to trigger a reaction and feels a little basic and less cerebral in comparison. Mr Driller could have just been another of those concept puzzlers that takes a good idea, doesn?t quite refine it enough, leaves the balance slightly wrong and isn?t remembered as much more than a footnote in gaming?s history, usually on a fan site somewhere towards the back of the internet, hidden among the visual noise of clashing colours, broken links and animated gifs on an AOL personal homepage that hasn?t been updated since 1997. But it?s not. It?s obvious that Namco refined, tested, refined some more, then coloured it in with their brightest crayons before Susumu?s first outing courtesy of Namco?s very own System 12 arcade board. Yes, the very same hardware that brought you Soul Calibur and Tekken 3. It?s also safe to say that the Mr Driller team have been thinking of ways to enhance and improve each iteration. Prettying up the graphics is one thing, but adding different modes and twists to the gameplay takes a bit more time and imagination than many companies are willing to invest.
So, let?s have a look at the games in the Mr Driller series so far. Hopefully there are many more to come.
Mr Driller (Arcade, PS, DC, GBC, WSC, PC, Mobile)
This is where it all started. I saw the arcade version in London subsequent to its release but didn?t play it. It certainly looked interesting, but it wasn?t until three years later that I got to know who that chap in pink with all the drilling and the falling downwards was. The home console conversions? stunning musical score was a sign of things to come from Namco?s sound department who have been doing fantastic orchestral arrangements in games for many years, their current best expertly presented in the genius of Katamari Damarcy and Mr Driller Drill Land. Console and PC versions received the addition of a fairly challenging time attack mode with unlockable reverse courses available to those who beat the original goal times.
The Gameboy Colour version, while it does present the same 500m and 1000m challenges as the PC, console and arcade versions, is limited by the lack of a battery save for scores and a large dose of sprite flicker when things get busy, so it?s not much more than a neat demonstration that Namco?s coders are good at what they?re doing. The mobile version doesn?t fare much better, due to the need for controls that are accurate and responsive, which isn?t something provided for by the majority of handsets.
A highly commendable conversion for Wonderswan Colour was also released in Japan.
Mr Driller 2 (Arcade, GBA)
This excellent handheld release also included a time attack mode and Tokuton Driller challenge mode in which you were presented with infinitely deep stages of easy, normal and hard difficulties and only five, three or one life respectively to dig as far as possible. Achieving certain objectives unlocks largely useless but informative Driller Cards that add some colour to Namco?s increasingly crazy drilling world. A disappointing multiplayer race mode was also added, but this is only a very short-lived distraction from the one player game.
It?s worth noting that it took more than four years for the GBA version of Mr Driller 2 to be released outside of Japan.
Mr Driller Great (Arcade, PS)
More hot drilling action in the third outing, but with the significant addition of Scenario Driller mode in the PlayStation version. Scenario Driller changes the way you go about your drilling antics. Instead of racing against an air counter that?s constantly counting down, each time you use the drill you lose 1% of your air. Numerous useful items in the form of Dristals (Drill Crystals) are up for grabs including ones that can partly replenish your air supply, change the colours of blocks on the screen, destroy all the visible blocks of a certain colour, grant temporary special abilities and more. Scenario mode encourages a more thoughtful way to play instead of the haste that comes with the territory of the standard Mission Driller mode. As well as the usual levels of varying lengths, races against a cpu opponent were included in scenario mode and the accompanying, often humourous, story introduced more of the characters in the Mr Driller universe.
Mr Driller Ace (GBA)
This is it, the one that turned my Gameboy Advance?s brown eyes blue. The down button on my GBA no longer has full sensitivity because of the, according to the records screen, over half a million metres worth of drilling I?ve put into this game. Still, I?m sure it was worth it. Alongside 500m, 800m, 1500m, 2000m and infinite depth Mission Driller modes came seperately selectable Grand Prix featuring races against the CPU and, more importantly, a portable update to Scenario Driller from Mr Driller Great, called Wonderful Pacteria, which added its own kink to the formula. Seemingly in line with the fashion of this era of gaming, Pacteria mode allows you to use items found in the scenario mode to feed and raise your own virtual pet through up to 161 different incarnations, which could then be transferred, albeit rather pointlessly, into?
Mr Driller Drill Land (GC)
I may well have put more time into Drill Land than into Ace, which isn?t something I really want to think about at this particular point in time. Perhaps, when Namco pays for my therapy, I?ll be prepared to go into details.
Drill Land is a theme park created by a seemingly benevolent chap called Dr Fluid for Susumu and friends to enjoy, but is soon revealed as an evil plot to drill to the centre of the Earth for evil gains. Smooth, bold, brightly-coloured graphics themed to each attraction and an utterly stunning musical score, ranging from jazz to opera to country and the pi?ce de r?sistance, the vocal track ?Dorirurando? featured in World Tour mode, are proof that Namco were having some real fun when they put this game together. Different play modes include standard drilling in the form of a World Tour; Star Driller, set in space with an abundance of self-destructing space crystal blocks and special items to be had; Drindy Adventure, a slower-paced, more tactical mode involving treasure hunting for golden idols and trademark rolling rocks, spikes and flame trap avoidance; Horror Night House, a vampiric affair with ghost hunting as the objective; and Hole of Druaga, named and themed in reference to the earlier Namco game Tower of Druaga and taking a similar format to the previous games? scenario mode but with a little dragon and demon slaying and basic maze solving along the way. In the section of the theme park known as Drill Town, there are areas to listen to the game?s music, view cut scenes in the movie theatre, buy useful items and not so useful goods in the shops, visit the library to learn more about Drill Land and the previous games in the series, or you can visit the Pacteria Station to transfer drilled depth and Pacteria from Mr Driller Ace via a link cable. Depth is used as a boost to your currency ? which takes the form of the total number of drilled metres you?ve accumulated in the theme park?s attractions - and the different Pacteria can be made to sound out instruments in the Drill Parade, something which isn?t quite as useful. The usual poor multiplayer mode is also present.
After each initial 500m depth level for the attractions is completed, a boss challenge appears in which you must race to get away from the giant drill that?s headed toward the centre of the earth, reach the switch and shut it down temporarily, with similar levels appearing after clearance of the 1000m and 2000m versions of the attractions. A final defeat of the giant drill results in resolution of the between-level story and a credits sequence with a, quite frankly, absolutely lovely duet entitled ?Days? that could easily have been borrowed from the best of Disney?s movies. Production values for Drill Land are extremely high and, in my opinion, it?s the best version available.
The only complaint would be that the highly enjoyable boss challenge isn?t freely available to select for play after you?ve beaten it during the story so you only get to see it a few times unless you want to start all over again. However, it did later became available for free selection in?
Mr Driller Drill Spirits (DS)
The latest and most expansive of the portable games, with the largest handheld selection of play modes including an expanded Mission Driller mode, time attack, 6-player multiplayer and the Dristone Driller mode seen previously, something that?s inexcusably been removed from the American release so I certainly recommend a purchase of either the Japanese or European version here. Finally, a new realisation of the boss levels from Drill Land becomes available as a freely selectable mode in the form of Pressure Driller, in which you must collect Pow blocks to charge up your chosen character?s flamethrower and launch an attack on the perpetually descending deadly giant drill.
The general idea seems to have been to simply include more of everything, which is by no means a bad thing, particularly for me. However, Drill Spirits does suffer from one quite significant gameplay problem. As your character is always shown on the lower DS screen, the upper screen is used to show where you?ve been. This makes it far easier to react to blocks that are falling in the column you?re currently in and essentially negates a large part of the risk of death from cave-ins. On the whole though, Drill Spirits is well worth picking up even if you already own previous games in the series.
So, Mr Driller, a game that started out as an unofficial side project at Namco and grew into a series of, so far, six games, one of which has lodged itself firmly in my top ten favourite games of all time. What will Namco add to the series next? Personally, I can?t wait to find out.
My first meaningful contact with Mr Driller was in late 2002, only three years late, when a quick bash on the Dreamcast version resulted first in confusion (not getting it), then in enlightenment (getting it), and finally in what could be called addiction (getting it too much and playing well into the small hours). Subsequent purchases of more versions and almost constant play of them over the last three years may be classed as unhealthy, but I?m confident in calling it the best quick-thought puzzle game since Tetris.
Mr Driller was initially spawned from the Dig Dug legacy, with the original intention to create a third title in the series and the idea, with refinements, grew from there and became its own franchise. In fact, the hero of Mr Driller, Hori Susumu, is the son of Hori Taizou who starred in previous Dig Dug games, so the idea of a small but original puzzle game gradually expanded to encompass a whole universe of related characters and locations.
All that?s required are four directions and a button to operate the drill that our eponymous hero uses to save the world; a spinning metal ray of light to cut through the subterranean darkness, an urban Excalibur with which to solve the mystery of the blocks that are coming from deep underground, a? yeh, you get the idea.
So, with a control scheme that eschews increasingly common complexity, Mr Driller is already accessible to a large audience and the gameplay is simplicity in itself.
It can be boiled down to three simple but very important rules:
1) Don?t get squashed.
2) Don?t run out of air.
3) Four blocks of the same colour coming into contact will disappear.
Simplicity doesn?t necessarily equal challenge, depth or fun but, in Mr Driller?s case, all three are present in huge amounts, although they may not initially be visible to the naked eye. A first play or watch of Mr Driller will usually end with the same reactions; ?I can?t do it?, ?If I wanted to join blocks up, I?d play Tetris?, ?It?s just going downwards and pressing the button really quickly? and ?Do you think ?Driller? is his real surname??
OK, so possibly not that last one if you?re mentally normal.
So you either give up or persevere. If you give up, no loss really, go and play with your polygons, I hope you have a good time. Perseverance, however, brings out those aforementioned qualities of Mr Driller: challenge, depth and fun. ?I can do this?, you realise, edging closer to your first 500 metre clearance as another swathe of what looks like baby blue blancmange squashes our pink-clad hero flat, spawning the Angel Of Game Over once again.
Then, gradually, it becomes clearer. You learn how to set blocks to fall and self-destruct in chains, to treat reaching each air capsule like a little puzzle within itself, to delay a falling column for a split second longer by drilling upwards at just the right moment, to drill through those evil X blocks that take five hits to destroy when it?ll work to your advantage, when to move and when to stand still - the advanced techniques that will aid your graduation from a 500 metre novice to a 2000 metre Perfect Driller (with sparkly award and sizable points bonus, of course). Risk/reward is the intrinsic theme that runs through the Mr Driller games: take no risk and play it safe all the time and you?ll reap very little reward, usually ending up suffocating, literally, under the weight of your own caution. Learn how to take necessary risks to progress, though, and it?s got you. You?re in. There?s little chance of escape. You can?t help but work your own mini puzzles in your head when you?re not playing, a dodge here, a drill there, a climb to the air capsule next. Just don?t play it before bedtime, ok?
For me, the balance of Mr Driller?s gameplay hangs on the number four. The third rule of Mr Driller: Four blocks of the same colour coming into contact will disappear. Perhaps five would have worked, three would surely have made the play area too volatile and the game would have been too easy, but four seems to be just right. The number four has been used in other games in the action-puzzle genre with similar success, most notably Tetris, which wouldn?t have worked nearly as well otherwise; and Puyo Puyo, which has a far superior feel and combo mechanic to an imitator such as Hebereke?s Poppoon, which relies on the joining of only three matching objects to trigger a reaction and feels a little basic and less cerebral in comparison. Mr Driller could have just been another of those concept puzzlers that takes a good idea, doesn?t quite refine it enough, leaves the balance slightly wrong and isn?t remembered as much more than a footnote in gaming?s history, usually on a fan site somewhere towards the back of the internet, hidden among the visual noise of clashing colours, broken links and animated gifs on an AOL personal homepage that hasn?t been updated since 1997. But it?s not. It?s obvious that Namco refined, tested, refined some more, then coloured it in with their brightest crayons before Susumu?s first outing courtesy of Namco?s very own System 12 arcade board. Yes, the very same hardware that brought you Soul Calibur and Tekken 3. It?s also safe to say that the Mr Driller team have been thinking of ways to enhance and improve each iteration. Prettying up the graphics is one thing, but adding different modes and twists to the gameplay takes a bit more time and imagination than many companies are willing to invest.
So, let?s have a look at the games in the Mr Driller series so far. Hopefully there are many more to come.
Mr Driller (Arcade, PS, DC, GBC, WSC, PC, Mobile)
This is where it all started. I saw the arcade version in London subsequent to its release but didn?t play it. It certainly looked interesting, but it wasn?t until three years later that I got to know who that chap in pink with all the drilling and the falling downwards was. The home console conversions? stunning musical score was a sign of things to come from Namco?s sound department who have been doing fantastic orchestral arrangements in games for many years, their current best expertly presented in the genius of Katamari Damarcy and Mr Driller Drill Land. Console and PC versions received the addition of a fairly challenging time attack mode with unlockable reverse courses available to those who beat the original goal times.
The Gameboy Colour version, while it does present the same 500m and 1000m challenges as the PC, console and arcade versions, is limited by the lack of a battery save for scores and a large dose of sprite flicker when things get busy, so it?s not much more than a neat demonstration that Namco?s coders are good at what they?re doing. The mobile version doesn?t fare much better, due to the need for controls that are accurate and responsive, which isn?t something provided for by the majority of handsets.
A highly commendable conversion for Wonderswan Colour was also released in Japan.
Mr Driller 2 (Arcade, GBA)
This excellent handheld release also included a time attack mode and Tokuton Driller challenge mode in which you were presented with infinitely deep stages of easy, normal and hard difficulties and only five, three or one life respectively to dig as far as possible. Achieving certain objectives unlocks largely useless but informative Driller Cards that add some colour to Namco?s increasingly crazy drilling world. A disappointing multiplayer race mode was also added, but this is only a very short-lived distraction from the one player game.
It?s worth noting that it took more than four years for the GBA version of Mr Driller 2 to be released outside of Japan.
Mr Driller Great (Arcade, PS)
More hot drilling action in the third outing, but with the significant addition of Scenario Driller mode in the PlayStation version. Scenario Driller changes the way you go about your drilling antics. Instead of racing against an air counter that?s constantly counting down, each time you use the drill you lose 1% of your air. Numerous useful items in the form of Dristals (Drill Crystals) are up for grabs including ones that can partly replenish your air supply, change the colours of blocks on the screen, destroy all the visible blocks of a certain colour, grant temporary special abilities and more. Scenario mode encourages a more thoughtful way to play instead of the haste that comes with the territory of the standard Mission Driller mode. As well as the usual levels of varying lengths, races against a cpu opponent were included in scenario mode and the accompanying, often humourous, story introduced more of the characters in the Mr Driller universe.
Mr Driller Ace (GBA)
This is it, the one that turned my Gameboy Advance?s brown eyes blue. The down button on my GBA no longer has full sensitivity because of the, according to the records screen, over half a million metres worth of drilling I?ve put into this game. Still, I?m sure it was worth it. Alongside 500m, 800m, 1500m, 2000m and infinite depth Mission Driller modes came seperately selectable Grand Prix featuring races against the CPU and, more importantly, a portable update to Scenario Driller from Mr Driller Great, called Wonderful Pacteria, which added its own kink to the formula. Seemingly in line with the fashion of this era of gaming, Pacteria mode allows you to use items found in the scenario mode to feed and raise your own virtual pet through up to 161 different incarnations, which could then be transferred, albeit rather pointlessly, into?
Mr Driller Drill Land (GC)
I may well have put more time into Drill Land than into Ace, which isn?t something I really want to think about at this particular point in time. Perhaps, when Namco pays for my therapy, I?ll be prepared to go into details.
Drill Land is a theme park created by a seemingly benevolent chap called Dr Fluid for Susumu and friends to enjoy, but is soon revealed as an evil plot to drill to the centre of the Earth for evil gains. Smooth, bold, brightly-coloured graphics themed to each attraction and an utterly stunning musical score, ranging from jazz to opera to country and the pi?ce de r?sistance, the vocal track ?Dorirurando? featured in World Tour mode, are proof that Namco were having some real fun when they put this game together. Different play modes include standard drilling in the form of a World Tour; Star Driller, set in space with an abundance of self-destructing space crystal blocks and special items to be had; Drindy Adventure, a slower-paced, more tactical mode involving treasure hunting for golden idols and trademark rolling rocks, spikes and flame trap avoidance; Horror Night House, a vampiric affair with ghost hunting as the objective; and Hole of Druaga, named and themed in reference to the earlier Namco game Tower of Druaga and taking a similar format to the previous games? scenario mode but with a little dragon and demon slaying and basic maze solving along the way. In the section of the theme park known as Drill Town, there are areas to listen to the game?s music, view cut scenes in the movie theatre, buy useful items and not so useful goods in the shops, visit the library to learn more about Drill Land and the previous games in the series, or you can visit the Pacteria Station to transfer drilled depth and Pacteria from Mr Driller Ace via a link cable. Depth is used as a boost to your currency ? which takes the form of the total number of drilled metres you?ve accumulated in the theme park?s attractions - and the different Pacteria can be made to sound out instruments in the Drill Parade, something which isn?t quite as useful. The usual poor multiplayer mode is also present.
After each initial 500m depth level for the attractions is completed, a boss challenge appears in which you must race to get away from the giant drill that?s headed toward the centre of the earth, reach the switch and shut it down temporarily, with similar levels appearing after clearance of the 1000m and 2000m versions of the attractions. A final defeat of the giant drill results in resolution of the between-level story and a credits sequence with a, quite frankly, absolutely lovely duet entitled ?Days? that could easily have been borrowed from the best of Disney?s movies. Production values for Drill Land are extremely high and, in my opinion, it?s the best version available.
The only complaint would be that the highly enjoyable boss challenge isn?t freely available to select for play after you?ve beaten it during the story so you only get to see it a few times unless you want to start all over again. However, it did later became available for free selection in?
Mr Driller Drill Spirits (DS)
The latest and most expansive of the portable games, with the largest handheld selection of play modes including an expanded Mission Driller mode, time attack, 6-player multiplayer and the Dristone Driller mode seen previously, something that?s inexcusably been removed from the American release so I certainly recommend a purchase of either the Japanese or European version here. Finally, a new realisation of the boss levels from Drill Land becomes available as a freely selectable mode in the form of Pressure Driller, in which you must collect Pow blocks to charge up your chosen character?s flamethrower and launch an attack on the perpetually descending deadly giant drill.
The general idea seems to have been to simply include more of everything, which is by no means a bad thing, particularly for me. However, Drill Spirits does suffer from one quite significant gameplay problem. As your character is always shown on the lower DS screen, the upper screen is used to show where you?ve been. This makes it far easier to react to blocks that are falling in the column you?re currently in and essentially negates a large part of the risk of death from cave-ins. On the whole though, Drill Spirits is well worth picking up even if you already own previous games in the series.
So, Mr Driller, a game that started out as an unofficial side project at Namco and grew into a series of, so far, six games, one of which has lodged itself firmly in my top ten favourite games of all time. What will Namco add to the series next? Personally, I can?t wait to find out.
ps are you saying there were two mr driller games on the psone? I thought there was only one?The original.
Comment