The actual best Game Freak game, and it might not even be close.
Drill Dozer is such a creative and interesting game. The goal is to tear through lairs of enemies while regaining your lost treasure with your trusty lil drill mech, pressing R to spin clockwise and L to spin counter-clockwise. There's a lot to unpack from all the levels due to just how well the levels force you to utilize and understand the mechanics of the drill and its various interactions. Unlike most Game Freak games, Drill Dozer is also more than happy to test you, through both knowledge of game mechanics and tight execution. Yet it's also fairly forgiving thanks to Energy Tank upgrades you can purchase inbetween levels and quick and simple restarts after failure states. I really can't overstate how great this game feels to play either; make sure to play with rumble, because there's nothing like feeling the quaking as you drill your opponents into oblivion.
I blew through the game in about 6 hours or so after messing around with it the night prior and losing my mind over how ridiculously fun it was. It's short and sweet, and there's tons of post game content through challenge maps and drill upgrades should you wish to test yourself and venture further. With colorful spritework, well animated and static characters, and phenomenal level design, this is a true gem left collecting dust in Nintendo's 2000s catalogue. Yet another example why I consider the 2000s to be my favorite era of gaming, and Nintendo was at its creative prime.
Drill Dozer is such a creative and interesting game. The goal is to tear through lairs of enemies while regaining your lost treasure with your trusty lil drill mech, pressing R to spin clockwise and L to spin counter-clockwise. There's a lot to unpack from all the levels due to just how well the levels force you to utilize and understand the mechanics of the drill and its various interactions. Unlike most Game Freak games, Drill Dozer is also more than happy to test you, through both knowledge of game mechanics and tight execution. Yet it's also fairly forgiving thanks to Energy Tank upgrades you can purchase inbetween levels and quick and simple restarts after failure states. I really can't overstate how great this game feels to play either; make sure to play with rumble, because there's nothing like feeling the quaking as you drill your opponents into oblivion.
I blew through the game in about 6 hours or so after messing around with it the night prior and losing my mind over how ridiculously fun it was. It's short and sweet, and there's tons of post game content through challenge maps and drill upgrades should you wish to test yourself and venture further. With colorful spritework, well animated and static characters, and phenomenal level design, this is a true gem left collecting dust in Nintendo's 2000s catalogue. Yet another example why I consider the 2000s to be my favorite era of gaming, and Nintendo was at its creative prime.