Mr. Driller 2

Overview

Mr. Driller 2 is a puzzle-platformer developed and released by Namco for arcades (using PS1-based Namco System 10 hardware) on July 2000.

A sequel to the 1999 game Mr. Driller, Mr. Driller 2 puts players back in the role of Susumu as he uses his digging prowess to investigate the resurgence of colored blocks throughout the world.

Along with a redesigned interface, the game features two-player multiplayer (with the other player controlling Susumu's rival, Anna Hottenmeyer, in her own playfield), a reworked Beginner course (which now uses a playfield only 7 blocks wide), and a new Expert course (which not only doubles the depth of the standard course, but zooms out the screen for a 15-block wide playfield). It also adds Susumu's dog, Puchi, who aids the player in the How to Play screen.

Unlike the game's predecessor, Mr. Driller 2 did not see a console release, instead being ported to the PC in Japan and to the Game Boy Advance worldwide. The GBA version was first released in Japan on March 21, 2001, before being brought worldwide years later (on January 20, 2004 in Europe and on April 10, 2005 in North America). The GBA version was later re-released as a Virtual Console title for the Wii U in 2014.

The game later received an updated revision, known as Mr. Driller G.

Gameplay

You only need 1 button and the D-Pad on the GBA to play. You dig downwards, and move around to avoiding being crushed by blocks that accidentally fall atop you. You use the button to dig through the blocks. You can move left or right -- you can't jump, but you can climb blocks one block in height simply by moving toward them.

Normally blocks fall into one of four colors and these can simply be dug through. These primary-colored blocks pose little threat, but there are also special blocks that you must deal with. The brown "X" block is harder than normal blocks, and digging through it deducts 20 air from you air gauge. Disappearing blocks will disappear on their own after a moment, resulting in an avalanche of falling blocks, especially if there were multiple disappearing blocks on screen. Blocks of the same color may connect together at any point in time where if there are 4 connected this way they will destroy each other. (Though it is possible to see blocks that started out with 4 or more already connected when you found them. They don't get destroyed simply for existing, but they will get destroyed once they fall, or once an additional block of the same color touches them.) All these rules applies to brown "X" blocks as well. This is the only effective way of destroying brown "X" blocks, and a bulk of the challenge in Mr Driller 2 stems from trying to get rid of them this way.

You also will need to keep an ever so watchful eye on your air tank as it will continuously deplete requiring you to locate air canisters in between rocks. The further you've gone down the faster the game is and thus the quicker the tank will deplete.