Dig Dug

Dig Dug is a popular arcade game from 1982 by Namco, an action title where the player digs tunnels to fight enemies called Pookas and Fygars by either dropping rocks on them or harpooning them with an air pump and inflating them until they explode. Klub3 discovered this game right about the time the first story was written, so its influence is prevalent through the series, both subliminally (characters inflating themselves or each other, often until exploding, like Inflateo) and directly (King DDD having his own Dig Dug machine in the Royal Arcade is mentioned in many stories, and Kirby trying to beat his record, sometimes lying about it, and often stealing money from him to play it, is a common theme). Klub3 and his wife now have a Dig Dug arcade machine in their own castle so I guess some dreams never change.