Digger
DOS - 1983
Description of Digger
Undoubtedly the most successful game from Windmill Software, Digger is a timeless action classic that combines the best elements of Atari's Dig Dug and Mr. Do.
MobyGames says it all about this masterpiece that remains one of the most fondly remembered games for old-timers:
Dig through underground tunnels as you pick up gems. Drop bags of gold on the bad guys, then pick up the gold afterwards--or, kill the monsters using your one-shot gun (refuels after 30 seconds)....
Digger is a classic in all respect. Its graphics are good, music great, controls excellent and playability level unmatched at the time. It was technically remarkable, way ahead of its time, with polyphonic music and sound effects, simplistic but effective computer AI and an amazing charm which keeps people playing it to this day.
It's obvious that Digger's ideas were stolen from existing games, but Windmill managed to improve them greatly.
If you ever wonder how a game can fit under 50KB and still provides a lot more fun than many of today's bloated, multiple-CD, 3D extravaganza, Digger is the best example. A true classic in every respect, and a must-have for every serious action fan.
Also be sure to check out the outstanding remastered version by Andrew M. Jenner, which adds optional VGA graphics, record and playback options, and even a two-player simultaneous mode. Rustic Classics below is also a great (and funny!) Digger clone that is well worth a look.
Review By HOTUD
External links
Captures and Snapshots
Comments and reviews
Def 2023-09-04 0 point
My first game ever. Catchy, simple, straightforward. As a kid I was so obsessed with how machine code works and my foray into this was to modify this ancient classic. I do not know how, but browsing through the file using PC Tools I spotted two ASCII chars and thought they are so funny, I went ahead and just changed one of them. What happenned was an ultimate blast for me. Digger was invisible to hobs and nobs when driving horizontally. Then I discovered the same sequence somewhere close to this one and changed it the same way. And you have guessed right if you thought ok, I managed to make digger invisible in the vertical direction. What a blast being 10 years old and changing a game to my liking. And I didnt stop here. Sniffing around inside the file and you can see the letters sequence towards the end. Yes these are level definitions. Just try it yourself and you can mess with the levels as you wish :D Now being light years older there is no game I had played that I did not touch in some way.
AlexD 2018-07-02 2 points
I know y'all are craving to run Digger on your modern computers... fear not, for http://www.digger.org/ is your answer.
Andrew J. has ported the old DOS into a new code and someone also has ported it to Windows. Currently I run on Windows 10 but I have also ran for a few years on Windows 7 almost flawlessly. Download the package, unzip and run the Windig.exe as it will run fine. You can speed up, slow down, music on/off, sound effects on/off, replay your game, yes, replay other people's games and learn how the pros play it :-)
Check out the Hall of Fame.
gogorun 2018-03-26 0 point
is there a option to download this game in windows 10? if it isn't there please someone make it able to run on windows 10. really wanna play this game again :D
Hitman 2018-03-06 2 points
The first game i played when i was in university. I still remember it..
P B Pumber 2018-03-02 1 point
How do I quit/exit the game gracefully? Killing DOSBox via Ctrl-F9 — is that the only way?
SAS 2017-12-30 5 points
Love this game, first game I ever played.
Showed my son and this is the conversation:
him: what upgrades can we buy?
me: none, this is it
him: what other characters can we play?
me: none, this is it
him: how can this be it?
me: because that's what games were
him: this is crap
didn't stop me from spending about 3 hours playing it, my husband thought I was crazy.
newmy 2015-04-09 2 points DOS version
I think from memory there were 99 levels then it recycles them but they are harder.
one trick I remember for those who are new to it...
You can shoot backwards if you are pushed against a $bag
cherryking 2014-07-26 1 point DOS version
Quick! Get the cherries! GET. THE. CHERRIES!!!
@RENERGY I kid you not... this happened to me... during a storm. Spooky!
Israel Gep 40 2014-05-12 2 points DOS version
One of the first game I ever played on a computer, I miss those old days ^__^
indstr 2014-02-07 2 points DOS version
Whoa!!! We used to have this when I was a kid, and I had long forgotten that it was not actually called "Dig Dug". No wonder I could never find it. Seeing those screenshots takes me right back. Crazy! Thank you myabandonware.com!!!
1uc 2013-11-28 2 points DOS version
My dad still plays this game! He's in his 60s. We had a wonderful time with this game, especially because of the multiplayer mode! Brilliant game, lots of memories! :)
robin 2013-10-31 0 point DOS version
We've played this game for months and months and after every level we'd finished, a new level appeared. The original game had many, many levels. I thought at the time that the game would just randomly generate every new level. Digger was one of the best games at that time. Way better that pacman!
renergy 2013-02-06 0 point DOS version
How many levels are there in this game? In the remake src, I see 8, but in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ffW4YJndCs here nine.
Let me add a memory regarding this game (and levels) - I was once playing as a child ~1989 - during a lightstorm. Lightning stroke near, and - gues what, kid you not - a voltage spike (I guess) altered the memory of a computer in such a way that the levels began appearing and instantaneously finished - jsut the planeform. Again, kid you not.
Seemed to me then that the number of levels is quite high. Actually, iirc, it just kept on drawing new and new ones, I just resetted the pc after a short while. I was afraid that the computer could be damaged, and also - guess what - I was *scared* by encountering such chance (not by the lightning). The chance of (randomly) altering a memory of a comp that it is.
I was in second level or so when the lightning stroke, and knew the game up to 6th level, and the floorplan of the first few levels was familiar.
Anyway, fun game. Another personal note: for quite some time, we played the game without knowing that F1 shoots, i.e. were able to kill the "monsters" just by timing $ sacks.
viki 2013-01-28 0 point DOS version
This was my favourite when I was kid. Lets get back to kiddiness;)
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DOS Version
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