Maya Ito, the producer for Encore, says Bandai Namco would consider continuing the series if the remake was popular enough. Related games The scrolling shooters Baraduke (1985) and Bakutotsu Kijutei (1988) have retroactively been connected to the Mr. Driller series through Baraduke'''s protagonist, Masuyo Tobi, having been formerly married to Taizo Hori. The 2002 arcade game Star Trigon adopts many of Mr. Drillers characters and concepts. Star Trigon is a puzzle game where players hop across planets to create triangles in order to rescue yellow creatures. Project Driller developed Star Trigon and is considered a spin-off of the Mr. Driller series. The game was ported to mobile phones and Windows in 2008. In 2005, Namco revived its Dig Dug series with Dig Dug: Digging Strike for the Nintendo DS. The game was designed to be closer to the company's original vision of Mr. Driller, and features gameplay that combines mechanics present in Dig Dug, Dig Dug II, and Mr. Driller. Digging Strike was part of Namco's continuing efforts in making Dig Dug and Mr. Driller part of the company's pillar franchises. It received mixed reviews and was primarily criticized for its lack of long-lasting appeal and replay value. The 2005 compilation NamCollection includes Mr. Driller along with four other Namco-published PlayStation games for the PlayStation 2, in addition to bonus material such as conceptual art. Reception In Japan, the Mr. Driller series was commercially and critically successful, and its characters have become synonymous with the Namco brand. The original received the 1st Arcadia Grand Prize from the Japanese magazine Monthly Arcadia, and Namco received a prestigious award from Edge for Drill Land. Famitsu awarded the Game Boy Color port of Mr. Driller, Mr. Driller G, and the Game Boy Advance port of Mr. Driller 2 the Silver Hall of Fame awards, while Mr. Driller A and Drill Land received the Gold Hall of Fame award. Western perception of the series has varied depending on the game, though consensus agrees its gameplay is simple and addictive. The Dreamcast conversion of Mr. Driller received negative attention from the press for being technically inferior to Namco's previous Dreamcast offering, the 3D weapon-based fighter Soulcalibur. Journalist Jeremy Parish speculates this backlash resulted in the series receiving a largely lukewarm reception outside Japan.Mr. Driller G and Drill Land have been ranked as the best in the series for their quality and amount of content, while