Arcade Game Series: Dig Dug

Welcome to the walkthrough for Arcade Game Series: Dig Dug. The short achievement list for this game is pretty easy to complete, so you won't spend too much time fighting enemies underground unless you decide to go for leaderboard bragging rights.

Thanks to a level select feature, no achievement is necessarily hard to get, but some will take a few tries. You can select any level that you've played at least once, which really helps with things. The level select feature does disable leaderboards however, so if you're actually interested in that sort of thing, you'll have to go for it after you're done with the achievements.

For the sake of keeping things brief, you'll never have to play past Level 18 for all of the achievements in this list, so this walkthrough will only go up to that point. Dig Dug as a game is a simple enough concept as it is. Miscellaneous achievements and how to get them will be, for the most part, put in more detail on the last page of the walkthrough.

Mess with the game's settings as soon as you can and turn Choose Level on. Set the maximum amount of lives up too, because there's no reason not to. Changing any of these settings off of the default disables the leaderboards, but that's not really that important in the grand scheme of things. You can also edit the key bindings to best suit your preferences.

There are two types of enemies in the game: There's the round and red Pooka, which wears yellow goggles, and there's the fire-breathing Pygar. Both enemies can slowly phase through the dirt to get to you more easily, so there's really never a safe place in any round of the game. As you progress through the rounds, enemies will become faster, making running away less and less of a viable option of staying alive.

Feathering your attack and moving in a direction towards the enemy you're attacking will cause you to attack the enemy faster, meaning that you'll be able to kill your adversaries faster. Try this out when you can; you won't have to depend on it as you play the game, but it sure helps.

The first five introductory rounds are simple enough for you to grasp the concepts of how the game works. You'll be able to earn a bunch of achievements on the list in these few rounds alone, and you'll be making trips back to the first two rounds for more difficult achievements later on.

Round 1

Round 1 starts you off with four enemies. The three red ones with goggles are called Pooka, and the fire-breathing dragon is a Fygar. The Fygar are the more dangerous foes since they have an actual attack, not to mention a ranged one. There are also two rocks in the level; dig under them and step out of the way before it falls, and the rock will drop down, killing everything beneath it. Doing this twice will make a Carrot pop up in the middle of the stage. It won't sit there forever, so get to it before it disappears for an achievement. For most stages, dropping at least two rocks will warrant some kind of food to pop up, so try to do this whenever you see a new achievement related to a round from now on.

Another easy achievement to get here is to use your harpoon on an enemy so you can pass right through it. This is going to be a very useful tactic for later levels, so it's a good idea to get the hang of it now. When you come across an enemy, just pump him with your harpoon three times (four will kill it) and then walk through the enemy. Once he deflates back to normal, you should get your achievement. Defeat all enemies however you feel like it to finish the round.

• Just Passing Through

  Pass through an inflated enemy!

  
  

• Carrot

  Obtain the Carrot that appears after dropping 2 rocks in a certain Round.

  
  

• Round 1 Cleared

  Clear round 1!

  
  

Round 2

The second round already looks a bit different, and now there's a second Pygar to deal with. Deal with them however you please, but remember that there's a Turnip to find after dropping two rocks. You can always come back to this specific round later with the Round Select feature in the menus.

• Turnip

  Obtain the Turnip that appears after dropping 2 rocks in a certain Round.

  
  

• Round 2 Cleared

  Clear round 2!

  
  

Round 3

The enemy count is the same for Round 3, but the Pooka are pretty close to the starting position. It's a good idea to take them out first since they're so close to you, and just worry about the Pygar when they come after you. You can also pick up a Mushroom on this round for another achievement.

• Mushroom

  Obtain the Mushroom that appears after dropping 2 rocks in a certain Round.

  
  

Round 4

Round 4 is set up nearly the same way as Round 3. Deal with the closest enemies first, and things should be fine. With enough enemy management, you should be able to drop two rocks for a Cucumber too, but make sure there are at least two enemies remaining if you're going for it. If there's just one enemy on the screen, he'll try to leave the area in surrender, which will end the round.

• Cucumber

  Obtain the cucumber that appears after dropping 2 rocks in a certain Round.

  
  

Round 5

Round 5 looks a lot different than the previous four, as there are now soil layers created in the ground. These don't impact anything, but it's a lot cooler to look at than just plain yellow dirt. They've also added another Pygar to spice things up. It's a good idea to head for the two Pooka to the left first due to how close to the starting point they are, then go in for the rest of the enemies as they get to you. Or, you can dig towards them if you don't feel like sitting around. You won't have to deal with rocks here, because Round 5 gives you a Cucumber, which is of course more easily obtained in Round 4.

These next five rounds will noticeably become harder and set the tone for the second half of the game. You'll also have the majority of the food items once you're done with Round 10, unless you're saving the scavenging for later.

Round 6

The enemy count might look like it has dropped back down to five, but there are actually two Pooka in the same spot, which won't be noticeable until one starts to phase through the dirt. Four of the enemies are Pygar to boot. The three in the lower left are your best bet at eliminating enemies quickly since they're pretty close to each other. You could also try getting rid of your fifth enemy and dropping two rocks as the last one leaves so you can try to get an Eggplant. At least that one makes more sense than finding a cucumber underground.

• Eggplant

  Obtain the Eggplant that appears after dropping 2 rocks in a certain Round.

  
  

Round 7

Now things are getting a little more interesting. Two Pooka share the same starting tunnels with their own Pygar buddy, and a Pooka pair is up to the left. If you thought that Dig Dug would be easy just for being Dig Dug, this is where you'll start to question your judgement. As for fighting the enemies, I suggest going for either of the two caves on the left side since they're closer to you. Don't bother with the rocks unless you're actually really good at using them; your reward is just another Eggplant.

Round 8

Don't be fooled by the Pooka tunnel directly above your starting point; there are two of them in there, so be really careful about harpooning one of them if you want to aim for those two first. Just walk upwards and hit one by using your harpoon through the thin layer of dirt you created by entering the round. This is the only tunnel with two enemies in it, so there won't be any more surprises. Dropping two rocks here will grant you a Green Pepper.

• Green Pepper

  Obtain the Green Pepper that appears after dropping 2 rocks in a certain Round.

  
  

Round 9

The scenery has changed again, this time to a drabber color palette. There are actually four Pooka and four Pygar in this round, so watch out and keep on your toes. Go for the Pygar directly underneath you first, and then work your way through the Pooka above you. This round also offers you a chance at a Green Pepper, but Round 8 is obviously the better bet at getting your veggie intake. Remember, if you run out of lives, don't stress out about it too much; the level select feature makes running through the required levels a cakewalk in the grand scheme of things.

Round 10

From now on, it's safe to assume that each round is just oozing with enemies. If you're finding things difficult, don't be afraid to back out to the main menu after finishing a level so you can re-enter one with a full stock of five lives. If you can manage to drop two rocks, you can find yourself a nice and ripe Tomato.

• Tomato

  Obtain the Tomato that appears after dropping 2 rocks in a certain Round.

  
  

Rounds start to get pretty challenging here. They're nothing that five lives can't solve, but they're still going to cost you a few lives, so it's smart to reset the game when you enter a new round so you can restock on lives. By the time you're done with these five rounds, there'll just be one food item left to get before you can start tackling the tougher achievements.

Round 11

There are plenty of enemies on both sides of where you start, so it's up to you whether you want to fight the three Pooka and two Pygar, or the single Pooka and twin Pygar to the right. On the bright side, you won't have to worry about rocks, because this round also gives you a Tomato.

Round 12

It'd make sense to go for the tunnel above you, then the one to the left of it, since they're a lot closer to the starting point than the other enemies are. It's no use trying to count these things anymore, so just assume that there are too many of them. Dropping rocks here will make some Garlic appear, but it's not related to any achievements.

Round 13

We're back to the original dirt color scheme again. The level looks a lot calmer too, but rest assured that it's definitely not. There are lots of enemies hidden directly underneath other ones, so you're actually going to be fighting somewhere around a total of ten Pooka and Pygar. This round also gives you Garlic, so you won't have to strategize your rock-dropping until the next round. Don't be surprised if you have to reset your lives back up to five again for this one; the enemies have become super fast and running won't help you anymore.

Round 14

Another pretty difficult round. Reset your lives and aim for the enemies in the tunnels above you first, then wipe out the rest until there are two more. You're going to want to drop two rocks and return to the center of the stage for a Watermelon, the finest of underground food.

• Watermelon

  Obtain the Watermelon that appears after dropping 2 rocks in a certain Round.

  
  

Round 15

As you'd expect, Round 15 is also pretty dang hard, and you'd be best off with five lives to start the round off. Head for the Pooka tunnel on your right first before going for any other tunnel, as they're likely to phase through the dirt pretty quickly after the round starts. The Pygar below you are actually pretty easy to kill because they can't breathe fire directly above them in a position like that. You can pick up another slice of Watermelon here too, if you want.

And now for the highest rounds you'll ever have to get to. Playing your cards right will allow you to just get to Round 18 without having to go any further, but you can always continue the game if you want.

Round 16

This round isn't actually all that bad. You'll die for sure, unless you're a master at the game, but it's not as bad as Round 15 for whatever reason. Dropping rocks will make a Galboss appear, from another of NAMCO's flagship titles, Galaga. It's not related to any achievements, but it's nice to see a fun little easter egg like that in person.

Round 17

With this round, you're back to the secondary color palette from earlier. Just like Round 16, all you have to do here is just get through to the next round; The Galboss you can earn doesn't do anything for you achievement-wise. You won't have to do a whole lot of digging for this round, either. The enemies will come to you much faster than you'll get to them.

Round 18

This is the last round you'll need to play, but it'll still take a bit of effort to make a Pineapple show up. It'll even then be a challenge just to get to the thing, but that's what level select is for. Enemies will almost always try to storm you, so take out as many as you can and you'll have a lot more options when you die and respawn.

• Pineapple

  Obtain the Pineapple that appears after dropping 2 rocks in a certain Round.

  
  

Round 19

Any round from now on is optional, so you don't really need to play Round 19 if you don't want to. It functions much like one of the previous rounds of this color palette, so it wouldn't be that hard to finish. You can get yourself a brand-new Pineapple from each level past this point from now on, so if for whatever reason you find it hard to get one in Round 18, you might want to try your luck in this round.

Round 20

Round 20 is just about as hard as Round 19, which is to say that it's not too bad given the difficulty of the other, more recent rounds. Again, you'll only ever find a Pineapple in every round past this point, and there's really no point in continuing, but go right ahead if you want to topple your friends' scores and show them who's boss.

All of the miscellaneous achievements are covered here. You'll always want to use Round 1 for every single one of these achievements since it's the easiest level. It's also a good idea for you to have already obtained all of the food achievements beforehand so you at least have a good amount of experience with playing the game. The last two are considered the toughest to get out of the whole list, so you're not out of the woods yet.

Surface Assassin/Clean Harpoon

The best place to do both of these achievements is Round 1, because you can easily earn both at the same time at a very low difficulty. When the round starts, just climb straight up to the surface and defeat all the enemies as they come to you with your harpoon. This shouldn't take more than a minute.

• Surface Assassin

  Defeat an enemy on the surface.

  
  

• Clean Harpoon

  Clear any Round without digging!

  
  

Rocks

There are some achievements related to dropping rocks on enemies too. You might have gotten the first one, 2 Enemies, on accident due to how simple it is to kill two enemies with a single rock. Killing four at once, though, takes a bit more effort, albeit not a whole lot. Boot up Round 1 again and dig down to the same level as the one Pygar is, then dig to his tunnel so it connects with yours. Then dig one space to the right of where you stopped before digging downwards again. Head to the very bottom of the screen, underneath the long Pooka tunnel, and then dig upwards underneath the rock to the right of the very same Pooka. Turn around and just keep pumping the Pygar chasing you with air, letting it deflate so it doesn't die, and you'll see that the other Pooka have started making their way over to you too. Hold your position just underneath the rock until the Pooka from above reaches the very end of the rock's space; dig the rock out at that very moment, and it should collapse on all four enemies. If not, try again until you get it right, because this is by far the easiest and least time consuming way of getting these achievements out of the way.

You'll kill four enemies with one stone, but you'll kill three birds too; by doing the 4 Enemies achievement this way, you'll also earn another for defeating all the enemies in a round with only rocks.

• 2 Enemies

  Crush 2 enemies with one rock!

  
  

• 4 Enemies

  Crush 4 enemies with one rock!

  
  

• Rock And Roll

  Defeat all enemies in a Round using rocks!

  
  

Dig

For this achievement, you'll have to dig through every single space on the screen, including those which were already dug out, like enemy tunnels and the one you used to get to the starting point. The only thing left on screen will be few clods of dirt at the very top near the surface. Setting the game to five lives should be obvious for this one.

Start off by killing the Pygar immediately, then the Pooka to the lower right. You'll want to have a good positioning of your two enemies on screen (only one will cause it to run away), and having both at the top works pretty well. Once those two are dead, start digging horizontal tunnels upwards from here towards the top of the stage. When the other two Pooka get in your way, hit 'em once or twice with your harpoon so you can walk through them and continue digging. They'll speed up if you've been alive for too long, so make sure you quickly stun them every time they start moving when they're behind you.

When you hit the surface, dig down the far left column of dirt and continue with your horizontal tunnels on the lower half of the screen. Remember, dig through even the tunnels that already existed by default. Rocks will very likely never fall on your Pooka buddies, so don't worry too much about that. By finishing all of these tunnels, you'll no longer have to worry about the Pooka phasing through dirt. Now it's time to dig vertically. Start wherever you please and do what you think is best to throw the Pooka off; with more and more columns dug out, the Pooka will be able to change direction at a moment's notice, which is a lot worse than you think it is.

If this is too confusing for you to understand in words, you can always skim through the video above to get the general idea of what to do. If you did everything right and dug through absolutely every single tile of dirt on the screen, you should get this achievement within a matter of seconds.

• Dig

  Dig through the entire area on any Round!

  
  

Centurion

This is going to be a really frustrating achievement. You have to kill at least 100 enemies in a single playthrough of the game, and it's going to be tough even with five lives. At the end of Round 15, you will have encountered a total of 101 enemies, so the achievement should pop around then or after you take out a few enemies in Round 16. The difference in this is whether or not you let a bunch of enemies escape off the top of the screen as a round is ending, so it's a good idea to start with the higher-placed enemies in the easier rounds.

There are a few really good tips to take into this run. First, go into the game settings and set Extra Lives to 20000/50000/-----. You're going to need that extra life at 20,000 points, and although you probably won't hit 50,000, it wouldn't hurt to have another in the off-chance that you do. Secondly, you can send the tip of your harpoon through very thin layers of dirt, which will allow you to take out enemies in tunnels without connecting your tunnel to theirs. The one catch with this is that tunnels with two enemies are pretty risky; you might pin one enemy and stop him from moving, but the other might phase through the dirt and kill you in a second. Finally, you can attack much faster up close, and if you move after attacking. To reiterate, attack an enemy, then move towards it for a split second, then attack again. Repeat this process until that enemy is dead. This saves you from a lot of close calls and otherwise deadly situations since you'll be able to destroy an enemy or quickly inflate him so you can deal with another.

This achievement might take you 10 minutes or so on a successful run, but it's very likely that you won't have this on your very first attempt. If you're not familiar with the tips provided, you can try all of them out on Round 1 as many times as you want.

• Centurion

  Defeat 100 enemies on a single playthrough!

  
  

Rambler

Odds are that you'll be having the most trouble with this one, even compared to Centurion. It's one of those things that you're somehow better at the next day, so if you've gotten all 19 of the other achievements up to this point in one sitting, don't expect to get it the same day. When you do sit down the next day, maybe put on some different music. Even an 8Bit enthusiast such as myself got sick of the music in this game after a while. This achievement is going to require the most mental preparation out of all of these, so this really might be as important as as knowing what to do.

This is a completely separate beast from the Dig achievement, but the strategies used for it still hold. Before, you had to dig up the entire screen once, but this time you need to dig 1000 spaces in one single run. That's right, it's not cumulative, and that's what makes it such a doozy. Each screen has 210 spaces in it, not including the pre-dug tunnels, so you'll be given a bit less than 200 each round. But the chances of you digging out the entire screen more than twice, if even that much, is pretty darn low anyways.

For whatever reason, multiple people (including myself) have agreed that trying to dig up and down instead of horizontally works better for them. Just dig out as much as you can in a level while also staying as safe as possible. For the first two levels, you shouldn't have any problems with keeping enemies away as you dig by using the strategies in Dig, but you're going to have to abandon them for anything past Round 2. Enemies are just too fast and in too high numbers to keep up with, so the most optimal way to deal with the last two enemies at the end of your rounds is to kill one while the other is near the bottom of the screen. That way, you'll get as much time as possible to continue digging as he escapes to the top left.

Assuming you had good enough runs on your first few rounds, you should get this achievement around Round 8 or Round 9. But, since you've probably finished Centurion before this, you should be more than prepared to reach those rounds than ever. The achievement will pop mid-round, so you'll be able to quit your run as soon as you get it.

• Rambler

  Dig 1000 spaces! (1 space is the same size as 1 character)