Dynamite Headdy INFO BOX SYSTEMS Genesis (Megadrive) Wii Virtual Console PUBLISHER Sega RELEASE DATES Japan - 08/04/94 NA - 08/05/94 Europe - ??/??/94 Dynamite Headdy is one of the more original games to come from Treasure. Instead of running around and blowing everything up in this game, you run around a smack things around with your head. That's right you use your head as a weapon in this game, your head that's not even attached to your body. Your head that can be swapped for other heads to offer you new powers and abilities. It's rather odd, like most of Treasure's games, and works very well. It's a lot like in Mario where you can get new costumes to give you different powers, so I guess it's not all that original, but it still offers some fun, and challenges along with dozens of secrets to find along the way. This is pretty much your basic action side scroller with a few additions from Treasure that make it so much more fun then the usual game. You usually just run from one end of a level to the other and duke it out with a boss at the end, but it's how you get there that matters. The first level doesn't have any real puzzles or strategies that are required, and only has one split in the path. You just run forward, and fight off the few inept enemies along the way. You'll also find secret bonus points which are sometimes easy to find, and some are near impossible to find. When you get to a boss, you'll be told where to attack it, and then basically just go at it from there. You usually just wait your turn to attack, and then hit the boss as many times as you can, and then go into hiding again. There's not much to set this game apart from any other game of its time, but the game just feels better. It's nothing special, and not Treasure's greatest effort, but it's still one of the better games for the Genesis. The only thing in this game that really sets it apart from any other game is the whole head thing. Throughout the game you come across places where you can swap your head to get a different power up for a short time. Sometimes the situation you are in requires that you have a certain power up to progress any further, but most of the time the heads are just there to help you out. The whole head system is never fully used by the game, and just becomes a small addition. Most of the game, you won't even bother using the extra heads because they just aren't necessary. Had Treasure made the game revolve more around the use of all the extra heads the game may have been more fun, but that unfortunately did not happen. Graphics The game is very colorful. Everything is bright, and has a cartoony look to them. Your character, Dynamite Headdy, isn't the most inspiring character, but seeing his head fly off from his body and smack into an unsuspecting enemy is always entertaining to see. Now the enemies that'll you'll be smacking around aren't all that interesting. Most enemies consist of large helmets with arms and legs. Other enemies are actually less exciting then the simple helmet enemies. Bosses aren't anything special either, they're just very large but plain enemies, with nothing all that interesting about them. The first real boss is just a giant, plainly colored dog that bounces around on the screen. It's funny watching the dog bounce around like an idiot, but the actual look of the dog is very bland. There's nothing wrong with having such generic enemies, but it would have been nice to have some interesting encounters once in a while. As it stands, only the main character and the backgrounds offer anything all that appealing. Sound Heh. The music in this game is, well, not very good. It's interesting at times, and sometimes it even sounds good, but for the most part, it's just sitting in the background without you even noticing. I don't know what's with Treasure, but the music in their games just never very good. Just like Alien Soldier, I had to go play the game and make sure to listen to the music so that I could write this. Well, the music has a strange warped sound to it. Maybe I'm just too involved in the actual gameplay to notice the music, but usually I notice the music because I like video game music. Oh well. Oh, as for sound effects, well you hear bips and bloops. Nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary, except you do get some low quality voices here and there. Gameplay As I've stated earlier, this game is an side scrolling action game. You fun around and throw you're head at stuff to get through the game, and it is fun, but it's not the best designed game I've played. The basic premise of the game is to throw your head in one of eight directions to grab onto things, smash things around, or attack an enemy, or to jump. The only thing you can do is use your head to smash stuff. It seems original, but it just like having a long arm and punching and grabbing stuff with your fist. The whole head swapping business is the only real original thing in this game, and even it's not too original if you think about it. You get heads that shrink you, let you cling to walls, make you stronger, and heads that shoot all over the place. It's fun to use the heads, but they aren't usually required, and you don't even use them that much in the first place. The game usually just has you using you regular head to grab onto things to pull yourself around, rather then playing with all the other heads. It's unfortunate that the heads weren't used more in the game because it would help to keep the game more entertaining as you progress further into the game. The game is still fun without too much emphasis on the heads, but it could have been so much more fun. Overall This is definitely not Treasure's best game. It's not even close to the best game on the Genesis, although I suppose it's up against some tough competition with Gunstar Heroes, and Alien Soldier. It's a fun game that has plenty of secrets to find for those who are willing to take up the challenge, but the actual game is pretty easy to beat. I only had any real trouble with two of the bosses in the game as most of the levels are pretty simple, and there aren't any real puzzles to solve, so there's not much actual gameplay here to challenge you. It's better then the average action game, but a far cry from most of Treasure's other games. If you really want to compare, it's better then Yu Yu Hakusho, Light Crusader, and McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure for the Genesis, but Alien Soldier, and Gunstar Heroes simply beat this game hands down.