Mr. Driller (Game Boy Color)

Mr. Driller
Developer: Namco Publishers: Namco (JP/US), Virgin Interactive (EU) Platform: Game Boy Color Released in JP: June 29, 2000 Released in US: August 2, 2000 Released in EU: 2000 This game has unused graphics. This game has debugging material. This game has regional differences.

Mr. Driller is a Dig Dug spinoff starring the son of the Dig Dug games' protagonist.

Unused Graphics

Ths game was originally intended to be released as a proper Dig Dug sequel, with the working title of "Dig Dug III". One CHR bank in the ROM has unused title screen graphics for yet another name, "Dig Attack". The fact it uses the Dig Dug title screen font suggests that it's a leftover from the "Dig Dug sequel" era of development.

Above is a mockup of the "Dig Attack" logo, using the color palette of the arcade Dig Dug logo.

A mockup of the "Push Start" text from the above CHR bank.

A mockup of the copyright info from the above CHR bank. Notably, it includes a Namco logo and only has a 1999 copyright.

Debug Menu

Game Genie code 0E1-57F-E6A boots into a small debug menu.

to Game

Seems to just crash the game?

to Hato

Goes to the name entry screen.

to Higashi

Goes to a screen where the region of the game can be selected.

to OBJ Test

An object test.

• Anime No - Press Up/Down to cycle through the character's animations.
• Flip - Press Left/Right to horizontally flip the displayed sprite.
• Character - Would seemingly cycle through the characters, but there doesn't seem to be a way to do so?

Additionally, hold B to make a grid appear above the displayed sprite.

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page.

(Source: nensondubois)

Screen Viewer

Enter Game Genie code CB4-B8B-7F1, then press Down anywhere from 4 to 9 times, then press A to view all of the screens in the game.

(Source: nensondubois)

Regional Differences

Title Screen

Japan	US/Europe

Saving

The Japanese version was released on a cartridge containing battery-backed SRAM which allows the game to save high scores. While Namco cheaped out for the international versions and used an SRAM-less cart, the saving functionality is still present in the international versions and can be restored with the following patch:

Download Mr. Driller (US/Europe) SRAM Patch File: Mr. Driller (USA, Europe) - SRAM Patch.7z (1KB) (info)