I really like reviewing 3rd generation games, but sometimes it's hard to find much to talk about with them.
It's understandable, technology was so limited at the time and a lot of developers were still figuring out what players wanted and how to iterate on formulas that had proven successful. Think of how many games were just the same side scroller or platformer with a new license slapped on. How many seemingly simple mechanics were considered revolutionary back then. Being able to pick your stage order in Mega Man? Walking to the left in Metroid? These things seem ridiculous to call out as special now, but at the time they were a major deal. It was also the frontier days for developers and publishers, with small studios growing, changing and evolving alongside established companies in other spaces looking for a piece of the video game pie. Digger T. Rock: Legend of the Lost City, kind of encapsulates all of those things. It was published by Milton Bradley, known more for board games and action figures than video games. It offered a unique gameplay style, combining side scrolling and platform elements with exploration and puzzle solving. But perhaps most importantly, it was the first title developed by the studio formerly known as Ultimate Play the Game under their new moniker: Rare.
Yeah, quite an improvement on the name there. Anyway, Rare had been developing titles for the ZX Spectrum throughout the early 80s. Brothers Tim and Chris Stamper eventually sold the rights to their mouthful of a company to U.S. Gold (oddly, based in the UK) and decided to shift focus from home computers to video game consoles, particularly the NES. The newly christened Rare became one of the first western developers to receive a license from Nintendo, something that was relatively difficult to acquire at the time. They began building their studio and expanding their production, working on a variety of projects for the big N. Digger T. Rock was the first of those to arrive on the NES in 1990. It's weird to think that the first title by a landmark developer has largely faded into obscurity, though I guess it's somewhat easy to understand why. For one, Rare went on to create some of the most iconic video games in history, I don't need to list them here but anyone that has been a part of the hobby for as long as I have knows these titles. It also didn't score particularly well, it wasn't panned, but it wasn't considered a major hit. And honestly, I think those reviewers kind of missed the mark a little bit. I'm not going to say that DTR was an all-time classic, but it was a really good, solid NES game that I think was something of a hidden gem.
DTR stars the eponymous Digger T. Rock, an archaeologist exploring a series of caves to collect treasure. Along the way, he will encounter a variety of enemies including insects, moles, skeletons and even dinosaurs. Of course, there are friendly faces in the caverns too. Digger can find caveman villages where he can trade some of his newly pilfered treasure for items. He can use dynamite to blast away rocks or ladders to make the treacherous drops of the mines easier to navigate. He can also acquire rocks that he can use with his shovel to give him a ranged attack. Digger's shovel is is only weapon, but he can use his environment to his advantage, dropping rocks on enemies or trapping them. Doing this is easier said than done, because you can also damage yourself with falling rocks. Digger has a life bar, but he can only take a few hits so you have to be careful. You also take tons of damage from falling, so you need to take your time exploring, though you can move up or down more freely by digging at certain spots. If I had to think of a modern equivalent, it would probably be Spelunky. In fact, DTR almost plays like a 30-year-old prototype of Spelunky, which is more good than bad.
I kind of like how DTR plays like a side scroller, but has elements of single screen puzzle games like Bubble Bobble. Of course there's more than one screen, but it has that same sort of vibe to it. Your goal is to step on a special platform that unlocks the exit before making your way to said exit. The game controls like a typical platformer, A jumps, B attacks, start pauses and select chooses your item. Most enemies take one hit, though some of the bigger ones are harder to defeat. There are only eight caverns with bonus stages between each, but they are all relatively long and challenging to get through. The length of the game here comes more from having to repeat the caverns multiple times rather than having tons of levels. Usually I don't like that, but it works here because the game rewards you for exploring and provides you a variety of ways to get through each area. The challenge scales directly to how much treasure you want to try and get, the more you go out of your way the more the game ramps up the challenge. It's not too bad if you are going straight for the exit, but it becomes incredibly difficult to seek out all the treasures. I DTR has good pacing and allows for a variety of playstyles which I like a lot.
I think DTR has some really good graphics, some of it is a little bare bones but what is there looks great. Digger's sprite is excellent, he's incredibly well animated and detailed for an NES game. Most of the backgrounds are empty, but the occasional background objects look great as well. Each cavern has a different color scheme and while they don't always fit the whole "underground labyrinth" aesthetic, they keep things fresh. Objectively I think they kind of look nice despite the fact that they don't really fit with the setting of the game. The sound is okay, not terrible but nothing to really write home about. It's kind of hard to talk about sound in 3rd generation games because you are talking about something very different than you would with 5th or even 4th generation games. You aren't looking so much at big orchestral arrangements or anything like that, it's more about developers doing the best they could with the limited technology they had. The beeps and boops here sound okay, this isn't Mega Man 2 but it's more than serviceable. DTR is clearly very well made and you can see why Rare would become such a well-respected developer.
DTR does have its share of problems, mostly from the somewhat unfair difficulty. We have yet another example of a game that's "Nintendo hard," largely because of the enemies. Enemies here will relentlessly attack you and they spawn infinitely, which is a major problem. Digger doesn't really have much in the way of attacks and he doesn't attack very quickly, so he will get overwhelmed very quickly. There will be times where you will be stuck fighting off a never-ending stream of enemies in no-win situations, you will have to take hits and move forward or back up and reset yourself. This is the biggest problem with the game, enemies come at you like they would in a straight up action title and DTR isn't one. It kind of makes it difficult to focus on the exploration aspects. There are no saves or passwords, so you have to beat the game in one sitting. There aren't even continues, all you have are your three lives. Controls are also a little slippery, the jumping isn't great and it can be hard to move around while digging. It isn't game breaking, but it's still noticeably stiff.
At the end of the day, DTR is a fun, solid NES game that's worth playing today. It isn't the longest or most complex game, but it's a good change of pace from similar titles of its era. It's extremely well made, as we would come to expect from its developer. I think reviews from back in the day kind of sold it short, something that was common for late generation titles. By the time DTR arrived, the Sega Genesis had already been released and the SNES was on its way. 3rd gen games just weren't getting the buzz they used to. But looking back, DTR is was a fun, if a little difficult adventure that I am glad I checked out.
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