Ok, below is the edited response (removed any personal hello's etc.. I got from Don Hayes on Dig Dug)
You already know that Dig Dug is basically pattern-based. The patterns
aren't always exact, though, and they can break down with even minute timing
differences. The first 11 screens are unique from each other so do those
however you feel most comfortable. You can set up decent rock drops on most
of them but I'd suggest concentrate on surviving those boards without losing
any men.
Starting at board 12, the game throws the same sequence of 4 boards at you
over and over. So, board 12 repeats at 16, 20, 24, etc. As you progress
through the levels, the enemies get faster and behave slightly differently
and this will cause the starting patterns to change. The board 13 layout is
the easiest one, the other three are pretty close on difficulty. I use
several different starting patterns on the early boards (from 12 to the low
30's). After that I use my primary patterns to start each board with a goal
of maximizing rock drops and points. You'll probably want to concentrate
more on not losing men, though, as that's the first key to starting to get
better.
Here's a couple general thoughts:
-- it is relatively easy to keep ahead of two enemies that are following
you. three can be done too but it is actually much harder so try to avoid
this
-- when a rock drops, the enemies run away from it. if they're below the
rock this usually means going down.
-- related to this, it's usually a good idea when digging a vertical tunnel
under a rock to dig a small dead-end channel down first and then head up to
the spot underneath the rock to drop it
-- the quickest way to blow up an enemy is to tap the pump button several
times while running towards the enemy. If you simply hold the pump button
down it takes WAY too long to actually kill the thing
-- another fire button trick is when you want to stun an enemy, hold the
pump button a split second longer than normal. If done right, the enemy
will get two pumps instead of one which gives you more time to do what you
want.
Hope that helps, and good luck with your practice!
Don
Basically, I haven't even gotten to the part of the game that holds the patterns yet. I am only at Level 11 or so. Hope this helps.
But we still need the patterns. Don also said that over at MARP he has some Mame .inp Dig Dug recordings, but I don't know how to playback these game files.