Heiankyo Alien / Cratermaze / Nichibutsu Arcade Classics 2

Recently I learned about a genre of maze games where you dig holes to trap enemies. They’re sometimes called Digger-likes or trap-em-ups. The player moves about a maze and digs holes, which is a multi-stage process, hoping to capture the monsters. After they fall in the hole they have to be buried.

Heiankyo Alien is the originator and I feel down a rabbit hole for a bit trying out different versions of this style game.

Nichibutsu Arcade Classics 2 for Super Famicom has a “new type” version as well as the original. The new version is stupid cute. Unfortunately, I didn’t find it very fun to play because if your sprite isn’t lined up exactly on the tile, you can’t properly dig, which I found both stressful and annoying.

Cratermaze for TG16 had better play control and more level design variety. I may return to this one from time to time, but it will take a while to beat all 60 levels.

Finally, honorable mention to Gameboy Color Heiankyo Alien. It looks cool, the play control isn’t as fussy as the SFC version. It’s hard, as you can see from the screenshot of my character being eaten.