Digger T. Rock

The game received mixed reviews upon release, with praise directed at its playability but was criticised for its poor graphics and presentation. It was later included in Rare's 2015 Xbox One retrospective compilation, Rare Replay.

• Title — Digger T. Rock • Developer — Rare • Publisher — Milton Bradley Company • Designer — Tim Stamper Chris Stamper • Composer — David Wise • Released — December 1990 • Genre — Platform • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — NES

• Illustration — The bottom of the screen shows Digger's inventory, score and remaining lives. The game is divided into eight caverns, which must be explored whilst avoiding death from enemy attacks, cave-ins, and fatal falls. The player-character, Digger T. Rock, can utilise multiple tools such as ladders, shovels, armour, and explosives, which can be used to explore and discover new areas. Monsters such as moles, mosquitoes, and dragons seek to kill the player-character. Digger's only defence is his shovel, which can be used to attack enemies as well as mining stone. The player starts the game with three lives. The goal in each cavern is to locate both the end of level door and the special pillar which unlocks it. When stepped on, the pillar activates a countdown timer, during which the door is open. Once the timer is active, the player must get to the door before the timer ends and the door re-closes. There are multiple bonus games in between levels where the player can amass more treasure. Later levels include caveman villages where the player can purchase new tools with collected treasure as a currency.

The game was conceived by Tim Stamper, as an update to the 1982 arcade game The Pit Ultimate Play the Game was founded by brothers Tim and Chris Stamper, along with Tim's wife, Carol, from their headquarters in Ashby-de-la-Zouch in 1982. They began producing multiple video games for the ZX Spectrum throughout the early 1980s. The company were known for their reluctance to reveal details about their operations and upcoming projects. Little was known about their development process except that they used to work in "separate teams"; one team would work on graphics whilst the other would concentrate on other aspects such as sound or graphics. During the late 1980s, the Stamper brothers sold the rights of Ultimate Play the Game to U.S. Gold and shifted their focus from the British home computing market to broader home console gaming. Rare became one of the first western developers to be granted a licence by Nintendo to produce games for the Nintendo Entertainment System, during which Rare began employing more staff and expanding their operations in order to develop more games for home consoles. They were both later included in Rare's 2015 Xbox One retrospective compilation, Rare Replay.