So, I've always had a quiet personal affection for the Lode Runner franchise, in spite of not owning a PC of any kind until 1999 or so. I discovered it on NES, and have been playing it on various systems over the decades, especially Saturn and Cubic Lode Runner on PS2, which rules. About a month ago I picked up a pcb for Lode Runner: The Dig Fight, which is a Japanese exclusive arcade game from Psikyo in the year 2000.

Where this game has really hooked me comes in three parts. One, the added arcade sensibilities. Lode Runner has always been a thinking game, so to spice it up, you don't have lives, but rather time. Getting hit drains considerable time from yourmeter, as does having to re-start a stage. You can get more time from power-ups and by completing stages, which carries over to the next, much like hitting a checkpoint in OutRun. What this accomplishes is making you think under far more duress, challenging your decision making skills to really charge forward. In free play, some of this is lost, but you still need the time to view the stage and think it out, which makes it very rewarding to get it right. Also, it uses only single screen maps, creating diabolical puzzles at time to maximize the challenge in a small space instead of spreading it out.

Secondly, the fight mode allows you to link up two cabinets off of one pcb, allowing up to four players to compete to collect the most gold. You collect eggs in your color, which will spawn enemies that chase only your opponents. This is pretty cool, though not my favorite part.

No, my favorite is easily "together" (co-op) mode. Two players must attack a separate set of stages competely designed around teamwork, and it's crazy fun. Standing on each other's heads, hanging on to feet, and digging in tandem to allow tunneling to buried gold are truly fun, and it looks so slick when you're clicking... yet you feel so dumb when you accidentally get excited because you figure it out and accidentally dig early and trap your partner. Adding to this, enemies come in two colors in each stage, each designed to track one player, allowing for puzzles involving luring enemies to use as stepping stones or to draw them away to gain access to an area.

My brother and I did the first 13 stages of co-op last night, and it was nuts. This is fast becoming one of my favorite ways to play Lode Runner.

Any fans here?