Mr. Driller

Overview

Mr. Driller is a puzzle video game franchise developed and published by Namco, now owned by their successor company Bandai Namco Entertainment. The series began in arcades in 1999 with Mr. Driller, running on the Namco System 12 arcade hardware, and would see several ports and sequels for arcades and home video game systems, the latest being the 2015 game Mr. Driller for Kakeo, released exclusively for mobile phones in South Korea. Early games in the series were developed by Project Driller, an internal development team at Namco in the 2000's. The series stars Susumu Hori, the son of Dig Dug protagonist Taizo Hori and Baraduke protagonist Masuyo Tobi. Gameplay revolves around the player destroying colorful blocks in an attempt to reach the bottom of each stage. Blocks will disappear when four of a color are connected, which can cause large chain reactions. The player has an oxygen meter that will constantly drain as the game progresses - collecting air capsules will replenish a fraction of the meter. Brown-colored "X Blocks" take five hits to destroy, which will deplete a small portion of the player's oxygen meter. The original Mr. Driller was originally intended as a third entry in Namco's own Dig Dug series, aptly titled Dig Dug 3. Technical restrains caused the project to be shelved, however Namco executives expressed interest in the project, causing the game to be revived as an official project. The series has received mostly mixed reviews from critics, who praised its addictive gameplay and characters, although some would criticize some entries for a poor presentation or lack of variety compared to other games. In Mr. Driller, after a character is selected and a country is selected, the player then drills a seemingly endless onslaught of colored blocks, ending with that country's given mileage (given in meters). The levels are randomly generated, and the blocks can merge with other similarly colored blocks, therefore disppearing after 4 or more blocks merge. There are 4 main colors of blocks: red, blue, green, and yellow. There are also 3 special kinds of blocks: white blocks, which are pale blocks that don't merge with other similarly colored ones; crystal blocks, blocks that last for around a few seconds before disappearing; and X-blocks, brown crate-like boxes that take 5 drill hits to disintegrate, and also take off 20% of the player's air supply. The player has an air supply that acts as his vitality gauge, and when it is under 30%, the player's complexion will turn blue and a bubble with an air capsule will appear over his head. To keep the air from running out, the player can collect air capsules that replenish the driller's health by 20%. A life is lost when the player's air runs out, or if he/she is squished by falling blocks. The gameplay has been described as "Dig Dug meets Tetris."

Alternate Names

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