Mr. Driller

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Mr. Driller is a 1999 puzzle video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. It was later ported to various home and portable systems. Controlling Susumu Hori, the titular "Mr. Driller", the player must dig their way to the bottom of the screen by destroying colored blocks that litter the playfield. Blocks will be cleared if four or more are touching each other, which can be used to cause chain reactions. Susumu has a constantly-depleting oxygen meter that can be refilled by collecting air capsules found throughout stages. Mr. Driller was designed by Yasuhito Nagaoka and produced by Hideo Yoshizawa, best known for his work on Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and the Ninja Gaiden series. It was intended as the third entry in Namco's Dig Dug series, tentatively titled Dig Dug 3. Originally meant to be exclusive to home consoles, it was instead made an arcade game to help increase sales. The game was completed before it was ever pitched, leading to a lengthy process that ended with the game being presented to company president Masaya Nakamura. Upon release, Mr. Driller was met with mostly positive reviews from critics — reviewers praised its "refreshing" gameplay premise, colorful visuals and soundtrack, although criticized its low replay value and lack of extra content. It was met with a long series of sequels and spin-offs for multiple platforms, beginning with Mr. Driller 2 in 2000. The PlayStation version of the game was released for the PlayStation Store under the PSOne Classics series in 2014, before being delisted in 2019. It was also included as one of the 20 games in the PlayStation Classic mini console, and was released digitally on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 in 2022.