The Dig! Dig! Dig! Method

[Birkal]

Hiya! It's me, Birkal.

So I have a predicament. I'm a huge fan of Pokemon Stadium, and I've played the minigames countless times. I also have a bunch of friends who like to play with me, so things often get heated. One of our favorite minigames is, naturally, Dig! Dig! Dig!. If you've never played this game before, then go buy and N64 now and hop to it. It's fantastic. You'll be all like:

Anyways, the point of the game is to dig a hole as fast as possible with Sandshrew. You do this by alternatively tapping L and R. There is absolutely no mental challenge to this game, just the sheer power of how quickly you can move your stubby gamer fingers. This is, arguably, what makes this the most fun Pokemon Stadium minigame (excluding Clefairy Says).

Now, if you're a normal person, you probably play the minigame like this:

Method A is what I'd argue is the most popular method for playing this game. You simply hold the controller in its default position (LH on left prong; RH on right) and go to town with your pointer fingers. The advantage of this position is that you can rely on quick and repetitive movements to tap very quickly. It has the disadvantage of desynching, however. Your right finger might tap faster than your left, for example, which would throw you out of the rhythm of digging and into a mad-tap frenzy.

Now, the below Method B is the one that I have worked on and currently use:

It involves holding the controller by the middle prong in your non-dominant hand (my LH). You then place your right hand directly above the controller. When the game begins, you alternate between your thumb and pinky finger as quickly as possible by twisting your wrist. The advantage of this method is that you will always stay in rhythm; the tap of one finger will signal that tap of the next. The disadvantage is that it is very intensive on the wrist. I've played piano for years, so it isn't a big deal for me, but I am sure can be difficult for others.

Finally, there is Method C, which was developed by one of my best friends (and enjoyed by many):

This method gets a bit wonky; the idea is to firmly place the N64 controller in between your kneecaps while sitting down. When the timer counts down, you tap the L and R buttons furiously with your entire hand. It is very similar to playing the bongos at a breakneck pace. The obvious advantage is that you can go crazy fast with this method. The downside is that desynchronization is still a danger. Furthermore, the controller is very prone to suddenly falling out of your knee's grasp, which is basically the death of your competitive Pokemon Stadium career.

So... help my friends and I resolve our conflict. Which method is best? Make sure you go out and test them all first before voting in the thread's poll. Before you read this topic, which method did you use? Do you perhaps use a different method than the three I've proposed? If so, what do you do? Post all of your thoughts here that are relevant to this minigame. Thanks for reading this topic (I hope the pictures weren't too nerdy, haha) and I hope this can shed some light on playing Dig! Dig! Dig!

Now get out there and...

 

[Solace]

I CLEARLY possess higher artistic talent to Birkal as you can see by my highly detailed diagram:

Basically my method is to smash the top of the controller into the ground as fast as possible!
This is obviously more efficient if you're sitting down!

carpeted floor is recommended for this method

 

[DHR-107]

My way of doing it is similar to A... But instead of moving my fingers I move my hands. The controller sort of "rocks" between your hands and your finger tips should naturally press onto the L/R buttons.

So you move your hands quickly in opposite directions and make controller twist around its centre point to make it rock. Your fingers will naturally move onto the buttons and you can get up some decent RPM with the movement :) I never lost doing it that way. I'll make a video or something and add a gif later :P

 

[Wyverii]

Oh man, bongo style all the way. C, C, C!

I don't really slap it with my whole hand, but rather the tips of my fingers. There would be very little distance between the fingers and the buttons, or none at all, with fingers constantly resting on the buttons. The closer your hand/fingers are to the buttons while tapping the shorter the distance you need to cover with each tap. Of course, the shorter the distance the harder it is to keep your rhythm.

C's main advantage to me was in the fact that it's less strenuous on me so I could keep it up for longer, a super important thing for any minigame frenzy like the stadium minigames and mario party. It's also super fast to do too and can reach excellent times so long as you master your rhythm and learn not to smack the controller.

While playing casually, I just use A method.

 

[Deck Knight]

I do method A. If you have good muscle memory then it isn't difficult at all to keep rhythm, and it's much easier to move your fingers that to move your whole hands.

 

[Showsni]

Hm, I actually have a very specific method for Dig! Dig! Dig! which isn't mentioned here. Don't know if it's actually any good, but it's enough to easily beat the computer on Hyper every time with no real risk.

I switch my fingers from the index to the middle fingers resting on the R and L buttons, then bow my head a little and bring the controller up so my head's touching it. I then close my eyes, not even looking at the screen until the game's over, and tap away alternating the left middle and right middle fingers.

That's just the method that feels most natural to me; I've never really thought about trying to refine a method and find the one that works best. But it's always worked for me.

Now, anyone got some tips for Run Rattata Run?

 

[Zacchaeus]

Easily the worst minigame in Stadium. I can click one button like 30x faster than I can alternate 2 in a row, but my sister always won anyway without fail so I guess the best method is option D - be my sister