Mr. Driller: 2000
Developer: Namco Limited
Genre: Puzzle
Mr. Driller Game Manual

Mr. Driller’s world has been covered with mysterious blocks. Armed with only a mighty drill, you’ll have to dig your way down to safety before his air supply runs out!

Mr. Driller is a real-time puzzle game that relies solely on quick-thinking and a bit of planning. The gameplay is a combination of Tetris and Boulder Dash: You have to drill down through multi-colored blocks to reach the bottom while avoiding the consequences of reckless drilling; blocks left without a foundation will drop down after a while, potentially crushing Mr. Driller. As the hero’s air supply is depleted with time, the player must regularly grab oxygen pick-ups. Some of the blocks are “X-Blocks”, which take a few tries to drill through and take away a large chunk of the player’s air if destroyed. If four or more X-Blocks come in contact with each other, they vanish and leave behind a small blue creature “Chisokojin”, which grants 765 points when picked up.

There are two scenarios in the game, the “2500ft” and “5000ft challenge” (called “500m” and “1000m” in the Japanese version), which are five and ten levels long respectively.