| M.O.: Subterranean residents First appearance: Dig-Dug (Namco, ARC, 1982) Known crimes: Dismemberment; Arson Nature of Demise: Inflation |
| Profile by Jeremy Signor? | April 3, 2011 |
Taizo Hori’s Spelunking Journal
January 3, 1983
After months of journeying into the earth and observing what I saw, I can report with certainty about the two most prominent creatures residing there. The most common one is a very strange-looking creature I have dubbed the Pooka. Its appearance is that of a red ball with skinny yellow feet and legs that resemble those of a chicken. Each one also appears to wear yellow goggles, though I haven’t discerned where they came from. Are they intelligent enough to craft clothing items on their own? This requires further study.
The other prominent species found in these depths shows no such hints of intelligence. The creature I have named Fygar is literally a fire-breathing dragon made real. However, it almost seems like a deformed version of your standard vision of a dragon, as the squiggly body snakes up into its elongated head and wonky eye. It was every bit as hostile as the Pooka, but it had an extra weapon in its arsenal with its fire breath. I would have to keep my distance if I wanted to stay alive.
Both creatures had the home-field advantage in the Earth’s crust. They could move quite easily in the open caverns that were already carved out, but they could also move through the crust itself without effort. This made catching the creatures very difficult, as they had a tendency to run away if they felt threatened or outnumbered. It would be hard for me to even get to them without the proper tools, but luckily I came prepared. They don’t call me “Dig Dug” for nothing.
Facing such fierce creatures intimidated me, as I was not versed in weaponry. Nonetheless, I improvised my son’s bicycle pump into a makeshift weapon and hoped for the best. Luckily, this proved effective on both enemies, as they appeared to have slightly elastic bodies that couldn’t take much air before they exploded. I felt clever as I explored, but I also found another way to deal with these enemies, which is my preferred method of attack.
First, I would lure the creatures towards the larger boulders. Then, I would dig underneath the boulder just enough so that I could escape before it fell. All that would remain then would be to wait for anything following me to get squashed. Crude, but it still earns more style points than my pump.
Need to dig deeper. Must learn more about this ecosystem.
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