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> Results: Mr. Driller Drill Spirits
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Four or five years ago, a group of friends and I decided to go to the local GameWorks. GameWorks is a great big arcade, and like many of today's modern arcades, you don't put quarters or tokens into GameWorks arcade machines. Instead, you buy a card with a set amount of money credit on it, and slide it into the arcade machines that you want to play. The night that my friends and I went, you could buy a card that would let you play unlimited games for two hours, so that's what we did. Then I had the dilemma of trying to figure out what to do with my card for the next two hours. It wouldn't have been a problem back in the early 80's when I could be happy playing nothing but Pac-Man, Frogger, or Dig Dug for hours at a time. But today's arcades are a different beast, with most only having driving, shooting, or fighting games that tend to play all the same to me.
But back in the dark corner at this one GameWorks was a new Mr. Driller arcade machine. I had read about this game earlier on Namco's arcade Web site, so I was curious as to how it was. As soon as I slid my card in, I was hooked. Two hours went by pretty quickly as I played nothing but that Mr. Driller arcade machine. It's the kind of game that could have been made 15 or more years ago, and it has that simplistic feel of arcade games of that time. It was the perfect example of the kind of games I really like to play. I may not be very good at them, but I like to play them anyway! I was overjoyed when Namco decided to make home console versions of this new arcade title, yet a little dismayed that it didn't do too well in the US. Maybe it was the simple nature of the gameplay, or that the box featured a little smiling guy wearing a pink jumpsuit. But whatever the reason, Mr. Driller has been considerably more popular in Japan than in the US. Over there they've had lots of arcade and console sequels, including a whopping good GameCube installment called Mr. Driller Drill Land that I'd love to see come out in the US. But until that unlikely dream becomes a reality, I'll just have to be happy with Mr. Driller Drill Spirits, a new game in the series for the Nintendo DS handheld game system. Namco has graciously decided to release it in the US, and chances are that this game will seem pretty new to today's gamers. The object in all Mr. Driller games is to dig down a well filled with colored blocks as deep as you can. You can move your little driller man and make him drill the blocks. Gameplay is kind of a cross between classic arcade titles like Dig Dug or Q*bert, and a mix of falling block puzzle games like Tetris or Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo. When you drill through blocks, they disappear and blocks stacked above will fall. If four or more of the same color fall on each other, they disappear and you earn combo points. But you have to watch out when this happens because sometimes the blocks may fall and squish you! Another thing you have to watch out for is your depleting oxygen supply. Find air capsules among the sea of colored blocks to keep you going. Special hard brown blocks will lower your air meter if you drill through them, so watch out for those. And that's all there is to Mr. Driller.  Drill Spirits uses the capabilities of the DS in a variety of ways. The upper screen shows more of where you drilled, and can give you more of a warning of falling blocks. A new mode in this game is Pressure Mode, where a giant drill robot pursuits our driller hero down the well. You can see the robot on the top screen, but if it ever meets up with you on the bottom screen, watch out! In Pressure Mode you can collect special capsules besides the oxygen, and these special capsules let you fire projectiles to stun the robot drill and eventually destroy it. You can also use the stylus pen to control Mr. Driller by tapping on the blocks you want drilled, but it's much easier just to use the D-pad and buttons. Players with multiple copies of the game can also compete in some wireless multiplayer drilling action. There's also the standard modes where you have to dig a certain distance or Time Attack modes. You can also unlock characters from the Driller series of games, each with their own set of skills. Susumu, the main character who wears the pink jumpsuit is an all around driller. His lady friend Anna is quick. Susumu's cute digger puppy can climb two blocks high, and there's also a robot who can take more than one hit from a falling block. You can even play as the guy from Dig Dug (who is Susumu's father), how cool is that? You earn points by playing that you can use to buy items to help you in the main game. Graphics are full of bright pastel colors, but it's nothing that couldn't have been done on the GBA. Music themes from the Mr. Driller games are catchy, and while the squeaky voices of the characters may annoy some, I thought they were funny. Play control is easy and responsive, just don't use the stylus! Drill Spirits isn't a very deep experience, and it really doesn't bring out the potential of the DS, but it's still a darn fun game! 
No violence here unless you count being squished by a colored block violent. The pick up and play nature of Mr. Driller Drill Spirits is perfect even for the youngest of players. I've shown the original Mr. Driller game to very young children at my house and when they see how simple the game is, the intimidation left them and they chirped up and said, "I can DO this!" Then they promptly grabbed the controller from my hands and started playingï¾—and having fun! Older players will also appreciate how fast and challenging Drill Spirits gets later on. You know the drill. Get this game!
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