Digger III is the final chapter in the Digger Coco 3 games trilogy, and by far the most ambitious. It features 4 way hardware scrolling, digitized sound effects and speech, more than 2 dozen levels (each of which are multiple screens wide and high, and of different sizes), simulated parallax scrolling backgrounds, and many game elements added that go far beyond even Digger II and/or Gold Runner 2000 that Chet had released two decades earlier. Filling almost the entire 512K RAM that is required, it is one of the most advanced Coco 3 games available, and runs on stock Coco 3/6809 hardware. It allows the use of either joystick or keyboard controls, and features warp codes that you "earn&; as you complete each level, so that in future game plays you can skip to the those levels. While the earlier levels are of an advanced Lode Runner type (which the Digger game series was originally based on), where you dig holes to trap the "Gomers" and steel gold bars (and later on, other treasures), the game starts adding unique elements of it's own, featuring puzzles of how to get to certain treasures without trapping yourself, and adds digging to the side (as well as below) to accomplish these goals. Various other surprises await the player as they get further and further into the game. Chet has requested no money for the game, but has a charity in mind for those who want to donate. You can get further information, the manual, and download either Composite/TV or RGB versions of the game here.
The full title of the game, which appears on the loading screen, is Digger III: The Saint's Ascension.
Title: Digger III
Author: Chet Simpson (character graphics by Paul Thayer, sound by Chet Simpson &Eric Crichlow)
Publisher: HyperTech Gaming
Released: 2020
Requires: Color Computer 3 ONLY, 512K RAM, joystick optional.