Mr. Driller: Drill till you Drop will debut via the online Nintendo DSi Shop in North America come April 2010, publisher Namco Bandai Games America announced today.

As with past entries, the action-centric puzzler has players attempting to drill through multi-colored blocks while trying to avoid a cave-in or oxygen deprivation. It's trickier than you'd think, as one wrong move can result in a chain reaction--when four or more blocks of the same color meet, they disappear--that brings it all crashing down on your head.

However, there's one aspect of Mr. Driller DSi that isn't found in most other entries, the Dristone mode. Here, players earn items that can be used to alter the environment--i.e., destroy all yellow blocks on screen--that provides for a more strategic approach.

Of course, it would go against my morals as a Mr. Driller fan if I didn't point out that Namco's billing of this as a "DSi exclusive Dristone mode" isn't entirely true--variations upon it have appeared in past entries, including the Japan-only Mr. Driller: Drill Land (GameCube) and the Japanese/European editions of Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits (DS).

Oh, and that bit up there about Mr. Driller being a Dig Dug descendant? No joke. Susumu Hori here is the son of Dig Dug protagonist Taizo Hori, who normally appears in the games as a playable character alongside Susumu, his puppy pal Puchi, morally ambiguous older brother Ataru, just-friend Anna and her robotic butler Holinger-Z.

In conclusion, my name is Chris Faylor and I know far, far too much about Mr. Driller.