A lot of people direct a ton of malice towards Game Freak, mostly due to the more recent Pokemon games. Hell, for the most part, people only recognize Game Freak as "the creators of Pokemon". This kind of mentality doesn't really do their studio justice, seeing as Game Freak has created a decent amount of non-Pokemon titles in their time, games that are typically founts of creativity. In my opinion, Drill Dozer is one of their best.
You play as Jill Dozer, a young girl running around in a robot called a Drill Dozer. She's part of a family of thieves whose greatest treasure, the red diamond, has been stolen by a more nefarious gang of thieves. It's your job to go wreak some havoc and make them wish they never crossed you.
Before I go any further, I just wanna recommend you play this game with some form of rumble. It genuinely adds to the experience. The game cartridge has some meaty rumble built into the cartridge, but that can cost a pretty penny. The Wii U Virtual Console release of this game supports rumble as well, surprisingly enough. If you don't own a Wii U (understandable), then the emulator mGBA also supports the rumble feature. Just...play the game with rumble, trust me on this.
Drill Dozer is an action-platformer with a heavy emphasis on the L/R buttons. R spins your drill clockwise, L spins it counter-clockwise. It's a simple concept that's put to extensive use with a steady stream of level gimmicks and setpieces across the game's stages. Every level introduces a unique new way to use your drill, and a new boss fight that puts your skills to the test in a unique way. The game is a bit on the short side, but it makes up for it with extra areas to explore once you upgrade your drill, featuring more challenging stages, and hidden treasures to discover.
The presentation of this game is extremely solid. All the character designs are colorful and memorable, and the sprite work for the levels and backgrounds follow suit. Heck, the game came with a prologue comic book that you can read here. The music is excellent, using the GBA Pokemon games' soundfont to create one hell of a soundtrack. It's all wrapped up in a story with dialogue and events that feel akin to a Saturday morning cartoon, and it's a very enjoyable package overall.
Drill Dozer represents a lot of things to me, but most of all, it represents the need to let devs flex their creative muscles. Having a team make the same thing over and over can burn them out fast, but on the other hand, giving them a chance to create something wholly unique can bring something excellent into the world.
Kudos to Ken Sugimori, Go Ichinose, Junichi Masuda, Hironobu Yoshida, and all the other people working at Game Freak. Don't let all that creativity get snuffed out by Pokemon overdose.
You play as Jill Dozer, a young girl running around in a robot called a Drill Dozer. She's part of a family of thieves whose greatest treasure, the red diamond, has been stolen by a more nefarious gang of thieves. It's your job to go wreak some havoc and make them wish they never crossed you.
Before I go any further, I just wanna recommend you play this game with some form of rumble. It genuinely adds to the experience. The game cartridge has some meaty rumble built into the cartridge, but that can cost a pretty penny. The Wii U Virtual Console release of this game supports rumble as well, surprisingly enough. If you don't own a Wii U (understandable), then the emulator mGBA also supports the rumble feature. Just...play the game with rumble, trust me on this.
Drill Dozer is an action-platformer with a heavy emphasis on the L/R buttons. R spins your drill clockwise, L spins it counter-clockwise. It's a simple concept that's put to extensive use with a steady stream of level gimmicks and setpieces across the game's stages. Every level introduces a unique new way to use your drill, and a new boss fight that puts your skills to the test in a unique way. The game is a bit on the short side, but it makes up for it with extra areas to explore once you upgrade your drill, featuring more challenging stages, and hidden treasures to discover.
The presentation of this game is extremely solid. All the character designs are colorful and memorable, and the sprite work for the levels and backgrounds follow suit. Heck, the game came with a prologue comic book that you can read here. The music is excellent, using the GBA Pokemon games' soundfont to create one hell of a soundtrack. It's all wrapped up in a story with dialogue and events that feel akin to a Saturday morning cartoon, and it's a very enjoyable package overall.
Drill Dozer represents a lot of things to me, but most of all, it represents the need to let devs flex their creative muscles. Having a team make the same thing over and over can burn them out fast, but on the other hand, giving them a chance to create something wholly unique can bring something excellent into the world.
Kudos to Ken Sugimori, Go Ichinose, Junichi Masuda, Hironobu Yoshida, and all the other people working at Game Freak. Don't let all that creativity get snuffed out by Pokemon overdose.