GBAtemp Recommends! Drill Dozer

[shaunj66]

GBAtemp Recommends! Drill Dozer
G.R. Issue #12 (GBA)


Did you have fun with Another World's recommended game last week, Another World? Wait... What? Erm... Nevermind!

Welcome to the twelfth issue of GBATemp Recommends! - a weekly magazine feature in which we share our favourite Game Boy Advance titles. The games we recommend may be top titles from the GBA library, a homebrew, or they may be sleeper hits that flew by the radar, but one thing's certain, they're all fantastic games that deserve your play time!

GBAtemp Recommends!

Drill Dozer

The only game besides the Pokémon games that was created by Game Freak for the Game Boy Advance is 'Drill Dozer', a fun action platformer with a unique game play method. Released late in the Game Boy Advance life cycle, this game was over looked by many and did not receive the attention it really deserves.

As a member of The Red Dozers, you play as Jill, a young girl who pilots a mechanical monster known as the Drill Dozer, and must reclaim the powerful Red Diamond, a gift from your mother, that was stolen by the bastard Skullkers group when they ambushed you and your gang. While the game won't win any awards for it's rather predictable and uninspired plot, it may do so for the method in how you play...

You play through the game in the pilot seat of the Drill Dozer, a crazy mechanical machine that is able to drill straight through walls, switches, objects and enemies. You control the drill bit by using the L+R buttons, and can control in which way the drill motor turns. The R button spins the drill bit forward and the L button spins it backwards. As you progress through the game, you will pick up gears in each stage, that allow you to increase the speed at which the drill spins, allowing you to do more damage and unlock different paths.

The game is primarily a platformer, and you must navigate through the levels with your Drill Dozer, finding the correct route by solving puzzles. There's even an intense boss battle at the end of each stage.

Created by Game Freak, the game oozes charm and style. You may eventually grow a little tired of the Drill Dozing' but fortunately the game is not overly long, and can be completed in a couple of days. Drill Dozer is, however; extremely well polished with colourful, easy-on-the-eye graphics; a great soundtrack and easy to learn but difficult to master controls. The official game pak even supports rumble.

If you haven't already played this game, you really missed out on one of the best GBA action platformers, so give it a drilling and let us know what you think of it!

The fiendish Skullker gang has attacked your father, the head of the Red Dozer band of thieves, and stolen your precious red diamond. Now it’s up to you to hop into your powerful Drill Dozer robot and lead the Red Dozers on a destruction-filled quest to get it back.

Spoiler: Japanese Trailer (video)

Genre: Action Platformer
Publisher: Nintendo
Dump Date: 08/02/2006
ROM Size: 64Mbit

If you enjoyed this weeks edition of GBAtemp Recommends! please leave a comment in the thread. This helps us monitor feedback and ensures we keep posting these magazine articles in the future.

View in G-Online

Game Profile at Wikipedia

Official GBAtemp Recommends! Mini-Page & History

Discuss (%nbreplies% comments)

 

[xylos]

lol the trailers freakin funny... japanese people

 

[cupajoe]

I've played this game without the rumble pack. It's good to see that the guys behind Pokemon have other games they are capable of creating.

 

[Goshogun1]

Its a pretty fun game. I was playing Smash Brothers last night and received a sticker for this game, and remembered I never got around to playing this past the first level. I find it kind of sad that some of Nintendo's lesser know titles just kind of disappear into obscurity, such as this one.

Thanks for remembering this gem!

 

[walkearth]

Oh, Drill Dozer... That was amazing.

 

[Toni Plutonij]

Yeah, I really liked this game.....I played it after I got my M3, and it's really pretty-looking and innovative in gameplay....I just wish I could get original game, so I could play with rumble, I believe that would be really great experience..

Ah well, great new GBA Recommendation!

 

[Jax]

I LOVE that game! The music reminds me so much of the pokémon games.

 

[halljames]

I played this for a fair amount of time, and thought it was really good.

I kept coming back to it loads and loads.

 

[SargeSmash]

Excellent recommendation. I liked this one enough to track down a copy. They just don't make 'em like this anymore.

Really, if you're a fan of the Wario games, this one should be right down your alley, although some of the platforming got pretty tough at the end.

 

[Satangel]

Great game, great recommendation!
Definately one of the best games for the GBA

 

[Hadrian]

I kinda lost interest in this game half way through but its still pretty good. Would be nice if Game Freak did more none Pokemon games, I think this Yoshi, Mario & Wario were the only ones that came out in English.

Check out Pulseman on the mega drive, it was a great platformer of theres, its Japanese only but its pretty easy to play.

 

[Sloshy]

I love this game SO MUCH and I might just play it again someday..... but is it any possible to play this game with a rumble pack a-la the EZ-Flash 3-in-1 instead of the original cart? I don't wanna have to pull the cart out from wherever I stored it to use rumble.

 

[AXYPB]

Jill is the best Assist Trophy.

 

[Pizzaroo]

I've played this game so many times already, it just never gets old! I still have it on my microSD somewhere....

 

[Jundeezy]

I remember getting this game around the time of Brawl's release. Awesome game, but got half way and my save data got erased somehow. Looks like I will pick it up again later today. Thanks for the recommendation GBATemp!







Drills always remind me of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann now.

 

[PuyoDead]

Ahh, I was hoping to see this one up here soon. This is easily one of the top 5 GBA games. I picked up the cart at a local toys r us on the cheap, and I still play it every now and then. Never did find all the stuff.

The platforming aspects are very well thought out, and downright fun to navigate. All the little tricks and moves you can do really add to the challenge.

And for me, I love the collection aspect to games like this. It's the kind of thing I can pick up anytime and work on.

 

[Blackiris]

I got this game when my Game Boy Micro flyer-thing inside the case (I got the anniversary edition that looks like a NES controller) showed it to me. Well, it was still Japanese and called Screw Breaker or something, but when I saw Drill Dozer out I knew that it was the game I saw, and I was right.

This game is worthy of a GBAtemp recommendation indeed. It's awesome \o/

 

[Rod]

DRILL DOZER = SEX.


Seriously, such a suberb game. One of the funnest and most inventive plataformers I've ever played, it might just be my favorite GBA game ever. The music is just plain awesome!

Come on Game Freak, stop wasting such great talent on Pokérehashes. Have pity, Nintendo!

 

[Siegmund Fretzga]

Nice game, but too hard at the secret levels.