Mr. Driller Review - WonderSwan Games for English Speakers - H4G
139Hello and welcome back! In this series we’re gonna be looking at gems for the WonderSwan that fulfill 3 requirements: Can you play/understand it as an English speaker? Is it fun? Is it worth the price?
WonderSwan History & Review + Turntablist: DJ Battle Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLdYiV1AIuk
Mega Man & Bass (Rockman & Forte) - WonderSwan Games for English Speakers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2En7T7Fqezg
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Okay! It’s Mr. Driller!
Mr. Driller is an arcade game that came out in 1999 and was promptly ported to the Game Boy Color, Dreamcast, PlayStation, and of course the WonderSwan Color!
A bit about this game, it was published and developed by Namco. It was originally referred to as Dig Dug 3 in development, but ultimately became it’s own game. In fact, it even stars the son of the protagonist from Dig Dug.
Gameplay:
Most reviews describe this game as a combo between Dig Dug and Tetris. You drill your way to the bottom to reach your 500 meter goal (or higher depending on the difficulty).
Instead of enemies, you are avoiding being crushed and fighting against the clock. The longer you dig the more your air supply is depleted. You can get air capsules, but in the harder stages they can sometimes be tricky to get to.
There’s a few other nuances. For example these X bricks take longer to drill through and delete your air supply. And of course, like Tetris, if like blocks touch they disappear…Very satisfyingly so I might add!
I generally like to play this game one of two ways. The first way is how I think it’s supposed to be played. At a moderate pace, planning your next move. The way I like to play is just whipping through the stage at break-neck speed like a Mr. Driller badass. Trying to out-pace the blocks that are about to crush you and trying to see how far you can go without dying. It’s actually pretty exhilarating to just stop caring and try to speed your way through it.
Graphics/Presentation:
The graphics are great and colorful! The screen really comes alive and the game looks great. Obviously there isn’t as much detail as the Playstation or Dreamcast versions, but it does look better than the Gameboy Color, since the WonderSwan is a 16-bit system. Not to mention that the WonderSwan screen is wider and has more real estate than the GBC.
So can you play/understand it as an English speaker?
Of course! There are a few menus to navigate, but even I figured them out very quickly. Otherwise everything is really easy to understand as a non-Japanese speaker.
Is it fun?
Absolutely, it’s a great challenge! It has really fun pick-up-and-play gameplay. Plus Mr. Driller is very well suited on a handheld device.
Is it worth the price?
Hmm, now that is a trickier question. Since the game is available for multiple platforms, most of which you wouldn’t have to import, it isn’t a MUST HAVE if you don’t already own a WonderSwan. There’s nothing the WonderSwan port brings to the table that is more impressive than the other versions. Although it was the superior handheld version at the time. That said, if you already own the system and are looking for games to play it is a must have. For $20 or less. I’ve seen it anywhere from $20-$40 excluding shipping and trust me you won’t get $40 worth of value out of it. The PlayStation and GBC versions are cheaper. Around $5-$10 on eBay. And the Dreamcast version is more-so around $20-$30.
Well, that’s it for Mr. Driller! If you liked this review, check out our other WonderSwan videos as well! Hope you enjoyed!
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