That was the best part of growing up in that age of arcades, was that you never knew what was going to be there any given day of the week. I found new games in 7-11's, liquor stores, and even in a clothes boutique by my house had a Wizard of War machine, it was just insane. There was no internet, no news source for up coming coin-ops, so each new trip to an arcade meant walking each isle to see what new had arrived. Sadly those days will never happen again, but I'm glad I got to experience it first hand during it's peek.

That Dig Dug commercial was insane!!! I had no idea they made such ambitious commercials for Arcade Machines.

I have to say how much I enjoy all of these 80's arcade vids 👍 I'm 52yrs young so grew up playing these, and even now after all this time I still learn things I never knew! Thank you so much for continuing to produce these fantastic documentaries of games from my childhood 👍 Dave

Man I remember the NES port of Dig Dug and Galaga blew me away, I was thinking at the time "it's freeplay forever!" I remember asking my dad for Dig Dug and Pac Man for my birthday and he's said something like "What are you? 50? You don't want new games?" IIRC Metroid and Zelda came out that year and I passed on them because I wanted Arcade games I can play at home lol.

Dig Dug is one of rhe first arcades I remember playing at a bowling alley, probably in 1982 when I was 5. Still one of my favorites from the Golden era.

Now that advert for dig dug.. simply stellar and I wish there were more ads like it.. it would make me want to watch tv again.

Fantastic review!!! I have a special love for "Dig Dug," I am severely visually impaired but I can see some color, well the color scheme for "Dig Dug" was perfect for me and was one of very few titles I could play in the arcade. PLEASE keep making these videos they are awesome!

When you think about how you kill enemies in this game is terrifying.

That commercial is beyond words! Thanks for sharing!

I love how you keep digging up these great classic games.

"Dig Dug" and "Burger Time" were my two favorites back then. When I got them both for my Atari 7800, it was off to the races!

A true classic. I remember a row of these coin ops when going to Venice Beach as a kid. They were always full of players. It's also one of the games that also has a kill screen.

PatmanQC you sir are absolutely fantastic. So happy you’ve got round to Dig Dug…oh and that TV commercial 😮 is freaking awesome. I’m in the U.K. and never knew they had made any adverts,especially like that. Thx again for another great video 🙌❤️🙏

Dig Dug is one of my all-time favorites. I had it for the TI-99/4A (mid-80s) growing up and loved it. Later found it for the PS2 and it was also fun. Thanks for doing the research and posting this video about such an awesome game 😺.

I played this in the arcade in 1986 at a caravan park in South Africa. I loved it.

Keep ‘‘em coming Patman! Look forward to your videos especially these days, it’s awesome to go back to a simpler, happier time.

I played the game back then but was never a big fan. One thing I can get behind though is the passion that went into this video. We need more recognition for underrated games and for namco as a pioneer in the games industry.

I love Dig Dug so much! Thanks for the awesome vid!

Dig Dug was great. 👍 I had it on the 7800 and one time I played it so long I maxed out the big flowers and couldn't get any more from clearing levels.

Thanks as always. A game where you kill your enemies in what has to be one of the most painful ways possible.

Dig Dug is one of my favorite old school games. Maybe my favorite. That commercial is ridiculous. Thank you for sharing it.

Never seen that commercial before. That was a legit production ha. Incredible

Once again, you knocked it out of the park! Thanks for the 80's arcade nostalgia!

Ah sweet sweet Dig Dug... probably my most played coin op game from my youth and ranks #2 on my all time favorite arcade games list

Freaking love Dig-Dug from the Atari 2600 to the arcade. Excellent video PatMan.

What game is this: the enemy is in the middle like the DVD logo that bounces around the screen. You are on the border of the screen and when you walk into the middle where th enemy can get you, the path you walk draws a line and when you get back to the safety of the border, the area within the lines you walked get filled in making the playing field smaller for the enemy. You basically shrink the danger zone bit by bit by walking in and out of the enemies playing field. It's kinda like Dig Dug 2 where he makes parts of the island collapse by connecting the lines.

Awesome! Was one of my favorite to play back in the arcade. Seeing the Apple II version made me think you should do a video on Moctezumas Revenge. Always enjoy your videos

PatmanQC, Thanks for making great content. Keep doing it!

How dare you bring back horrific memories from my childhood. This is how we lost our Trailer when I was a wee tot. Oh such memories of living with those crazy lizards within the subterranean landscape.

Ah yes, one of the absolute best games from the golden era of arcade games. Thanks for keeping it alive. Great video as always PatmanQC!

arcade games were always have a special place in my heart..going back to the days where you have some coins..you can go to every places that has some arcade machines..also i love Dig Dug..I played both Arcade and NES Versions..which these were my favorites...everytime when I play..the jingle already headed straight to my mind, I began dancing while playing. Advanced Merry Christmas, Mr. Patman..Hope you have a wonderful day..😊

So awesome. This is one of my favorite games of all time. I still play it today. Dig dug and Mr Doo.

I never played Dig Dug but I played Digger (1983 PC, same age as me) millions of times , it was my favourite game full stop. I can now see the improvements it brought especially the digging although Dig Dug is clearly the originator and clearly a fantastic game. Another great video Patman 🙂

Thank you for this delightful documentary on one of my most memorable childhood memories. Please keep being awesome. I truly appreciate all that you do.

I'm elated you did another great documentary and this time on Dig Dug. It's in my top 3 of all time 80's arcade games. The myriad of adaptations on various gaming and computer systems was surprising and informative. Once again you have delivered a comprehensive history of this game. I don't remember seeing those commercials but they were wild! The Gameboy sp advance version is still enjoyable to play. But I need to get past rd 11! Keep up the superior content.

Those were the days... ❤ Great video of a great classic video game 👍👍👍

Dig Dug is the cab I decided to build from the ground up, not my favorite game but always felt too iconic not too, plus I love the artwork.. That commercial played a lot during my childhood, more than most, I have a feeling that played a part in my decision without me even knowing it.

Great video, and I don’t think I ever saw that commercial before

one of the downsides of being so busy during the holidays was falling behind on Patman videos. the upside is being able to marathon a month's worth of new Patman videos at a time :)

Just now saw this. Great video. I do remember seeing Zigzag out in the wild once. I remember it looking and sounding very close to Dig Dug except that you could pick up a pick axe and smash the enemies similar to Donkey Kong hammer. I also remember a clone on Windows years ago that had an interesting wrinkle. Your hero would get bombarded with lethal radiation if you hung around the surface for too long, forcing you to dig underground. Otherwise it was the same game. Another knockoff of this game I got pretty good at was made by Centari called "The Pit". You had a limited amount of time to grab jewels and make it back to your saucer before a tank blasted through the mountain to your saucer.

Patman's jokes are awesome in every video.

just found my 2600 version about the same time you dropped this vid! Cheers!

I'm speechless after that commercial. I wouldn't even know where to start. I'm not even sure what it was lol

"Ask for it where you play coin video games". Not in the tiny arcade I went back in the day. You had to be happy with whatever they put up there. There I never saw Dig Dug, Gorf, Qix, Bosconian and others. These I saw only when on holiday where others lay on the beach to get some tan. I always came back pale from holiday for some reason... As for the Fygars: I used to pump them a little from top or below just before bursting, then positioned left or right to finish the blow job and scored (higher). Umm, that doesn't sounded right? 😗 Thanks for this video. I didn't even knew there were sequels in the following years until when I watched it. Always learning something new thanks to your channel. Even if it takes 40 years. 😀

16:00 I love the Namco Classic Collection version of Dig Dug. But I especially love the "pop" sound this version used when one of the enemies popped. I laugh every time.

The years playing Dig Dug and making perler beads of the characters. Loved this game.

A while ago I commented on another one of your videos, asking if you could review a couple of my favorite arcade games. Congo Bongo and Dig Dug. Now you've done both! This was one of my FAVORITE games when I was a kid! Still love it to this day!

An early Christmas present from Patman! And I haven't even been a good boy this year.

Very fun arcade game that I still play every now and then! And as a kid, the Atari 2600 version was the very first video game I ever bought using my own money!

I remember back in 1988 I was five and I got the Atari 2600 with Mario brothers, Pac-Man and dig dug and I was so good at Dig dug. So good in fact that one time I got to level 50. Best moment of me and my friends life.

I’ve played Dig Dug time and time again through NAMCO Museum on the PlayStation.

That add! Yes! So much yes! I remember the 80's and that's just what it was like! Perfection!

21:55 "For some reason, the walking tune has also been changed as well." My perspective on this as someone who grew up in those years. Arcade ports were inherently downgrades, but at the same time, there seemed to be an unwritten *law* that demanded arbitrary, unnecessary changes that further differentiated ports from their arcade originals. One look at the 2600's Space Invaders, with the completely reconfigured aliens, is all the evidence you need for this weird phenomenon. Even as a kid, I knew they could have done better with even a trifle of care. You grew accustomed to this and took it for granted back then. The fact that the music is completely different here is quite simply part and parcel of that unwritten law.

Had this one on the Vic 20 was a good port. Great video as always.

like how the music goes with your footsteps. pretty neat.

Loved this game as a kid. And I'm digging the Konami sound at the start

This is one of my favourite games ever made and I still play it frequently on my GBA despite me only being Gen Z

Great Video! I remember playing the arcade at the local Convenience store.

This and Mr. Driller both are personal favourites, nice job on this one!

My friends & I loved playing the arrangement games through the Namco Museum gamecube game disk

Dang Pat, they have pills for that green hose 😆 i never seen that commercial before, it's crazy and i bet expensive for the time. I've been playing Dig Dug since it was in the arcade and Atari 7800. I own it for the PS2 on the Namco treasures. A true and fun classic game. 2 hands for possible documentary Xenophobia and Quartec. Good job as usual bro💪🏆 - Pantyeatr1

I love these classic arcade vids. Makes me recall a lot of great times I had back then.

I actually had no idea how many ports of that game were made. Thanx for another excellent video.

"Gold medal in the Queef Olympics" might be my all time favorite line in one of your videos, Pat! 😂🤣😂

If I am not mistaken, Here in the US, we were only treated to Dig Dig II: Trouble in Paradise for the NES, and it was Japan who saw the releases of both Dig Dig & Dig Dug II for the Famicom

No lie, I literally played this pretty much all day less than a week ago. Loads of fun, and this video is a nice capstone

That advertisement video... That was AWESOME! xD

Thanks a lot for another excellent arcade documentary. I love them all! Dig Dug is one of my all time favourites as well. Didn't know anything about the nice DS-version, thanks for mentioning it, happy to try it out.

Thanks to this channel, I am discovering these great titles. I was recently able to purchase this but I am not good at it. But I enjoy the challenge. And those retro commercials were so great...LOL. Thanks and I am looking forward to seeing more of these great games.

Awesome buddy I love dig dug I'm glad that you're doing better

I used to play this in the arcade at Luna Park, Melbourne, around 1982-83.

this was one of my favorites at the arcade. that fun factor gave it that replay factor. thank you for this video!!!

I always thought Dig Dug looked like a Smurf. Thank you for confirming it Patman! One of the best games ever made IMO. Buckner & Garcia never made a Dig Dug song, so that commercial fills the gap. DDArrangement is awesome. I didn't know Mr. Driller was linked to Dig Dug. Thanks!

This ad would take the entire commercial break! That campaign must have cost a lot!

Great Nostalgic Trip as always brother ... I use to love Dig Dug .....Was hoping you could do a video on Pengo ....

Another excellent and upbeat video about a childhood classic. Thank you! PatmanQC!

If I had to pick just one arcade game to be my favorite, it would be Dig Dug. It was the only game that I was genuinely quite good at. Could beat multiple levels of it even as a kid. Later, I became a fan of Centipede, Defender, Qbert, etc, but will always love Dig Dug most. I love, love how you literally blow up enemies in a very different way than other games blew stuff up. Love the banjo sounding music when you are digging too. So great. I love that you make your own maze instead of having to follow a pre-made maze too. The enemies are cute and iconic. It's neat how it keeps track of what level you've reached by how many flowers have grown in the upper right corner. I can sometimes get up to six flowers before I run out of lives. It's great that you can collect a bunch of different vegetables. Wait... Galaxian is a vegetable?!? I've never gotten far enough to come across that one. I liked it much better than Pac Man. The commercial makes me surprised that someone hasn't made a live action movie or cartoon based on it yet. Dig Dug II is a great example of making a sequel that innovates on a game's design without losing the key aspects of the series that made the first game so popular. Mr. Driller is a great example of what not to do. It was popular, but had very little to do with Dig Dug to the point that I didn't realize that it was a sequel to Dig Dug back when it came out. Never seen the DS game. I'll have to look for it. Hopefully, it hasn't achieved 'rare collectible' price status yet. The Atari 2600 version is quite good. Might not look and sound arcade accurate, but given the system's limitations, and the crazy short development time, it's very good. Quite fun. It ranks right up there with Defender as one of the very best Atari 2600 games. I agree that the Atari 5200 had terrible joysticks. So did the Intellivision. I'm so glad that my grandma got me a 2600 and I never 'upgraded' to a 5200. I still love the 2600, but have never cared for the 5200. The GBA version illustrates well why I was glad to skip the Game Boy and wait to get a GBA instead. Some great ports on the GBA. The version I got from the eShop for my 3DS must be the NES version as it looks and sounds just like it. It's quite good. That plug n play system that Namco put Dig Dug on is fantastic! Every game on it is very good. Bosconian doesn't get the love it deserves, so I was glad to see it was on here when I got mine. I got it mainly for young visitors to play when friends and family with kids came over, but I play it quite a bit myself. Turns your TV into an arcade cabinet for a fraction of the price if you sit it on a slip proof mat on a sturdy coffee table. Pooka is great! I've managed to find a little figurine of one in one of those blind box things that my wife gave me as a stocking stuffer a few Christmases ago. She gets me.

You bring up a good point about the Atari 7800 version. Unfortunately, to save money in the long run, General Computer Corporation decided to modify the Atari 7800 so that it would support the POKEY chip but the developers would have to include it themselves. As a result, with only two exceptions, every Atari 7800 game uses the Atari 2600 TIA instead.

Not surprisingly, my first time playing "Dig Dug" as a kid was on the Atari 2600, so I have a bit of nostalgia every time I see it.

Digging in the dirt? Dig Dug is the grandfather of Minecraft

As a young kid, Dig Dug on the TI is the game I played the most, and felt like I was the best at. Loved it!

If anyone didn’t know about the aliens and the Cosmo Balls in DigDug Arrangement, they are referenced to this Namco series, Cosmo Gang. Those Pink-blue Aliens are called Jammers. And the Purple-green cosmo gang dragons, Dodongadon. In addition, the Cosmo Balls are from Cosmo Gang: The Puzzle, back before they make a Pac-Man version of it known as Pac-Attack. I wonder if anyone remembers that Namco series, Cosmo Gang that is.🤔 It’s a great series since back in the early 90’s.

Another great vid brother! I forgot I had the minicade of this in storage. Getting it tomorrow. WC4L. 🤘

My night shift friend saves the day, I mean night, with a new upload. Thanks, Pat!

First time I played this was in namco museum vol. 3, I also remember 1 of my older sisters playing it in a namco gba collection game. I only played dig dug 2 once, my 8th grade english teacher was giving away computer discs full of emulated NES games. I never got past level 1. I also remember having that particular plug & play, I won it at sum Xmas themed raffle. I hated that the sound was off

I'm going into this expecting wife jokes, right out of the gate. Please don't disappoint, my guy!

Its so cool to think that there used to be mainstream TV commercials for arcade games!

I love this game! I have multiple home versions of this game and I enjoy all of them!

Ooh, Dig Dug! This is another fun one.

There was a version for GAME CUBE as well. It was on a Namco disc with a few other games.

I was just playing this at a local arcade bar last weekend, and I got the high score at that arcade bar there! It must've been that I knew about making the vegetables appear, after letting two boulders fall in each level, and getting a good amount of points after getting said vegetables. It was such an impromptu session of Dig Dug with no intention of getting the high score, just more of a casual play.

Bubble Bobble was the first I ever played. So I'm eager to learn about this game.

Another great one here. It's a game I really started playing in later years via emulation, a superb arcade game but so well converted, again so interesting to see a comparison here. The Atari console ones all play really well, the VCS conversion is impressive, they nailed the gameplay. A bonkers game, those green 'dragons' are so amusing, and it's some of my favourite ever arcade game music, along with Fantasy Zone. A classic!

aside from a few facts being slightly off/timelines being a bit off aswell, this made for a pretty good video!! nice work!

About time you covered dig dug ❤

35:20 Yeah I used to own that. You're right about that commercial, it is definitely crazy. 😂

4:50 Those Atari cinema featurettes were the best! They did several, also including Pole Position, Centipede, and Yar's Revenge. They were shown before movies amongst the trailers, and especially at the drive-in. There was one to promote the Intellivision as well, which looked like a furutistic newscast, with a pixelated video game look... all achieved with painstaking hand-drawn animation

Worth it for the commercial alone.

This is one of my favorite games up there with PAC man. super Mario bros and Sonic the hedgehog series.

I first played that game on the Atari 2600, and it was a fun game. I got the chance, over 30 years later to play the game on the PS4. It is still a fun game to play.