Dynamite Headdy
2.0: Complete
Dynamite Headdy is a platformer created for
the Genesis/MegaDrive by Treasure and
released by Sega in 1994 globally. The
game follows the adventures of Dynamite
Headdy in the puppet town of North Town.
Headdy must face Dark Demon and his
minions to stop him from converting all the
toys in town into evil minions and from
controlling the world. Along the way,
Headdy fights Dark Demon’s elite guards,
the Keymasters, and he deals with a jealous
puppet called Trouble Bruin (Maruyama in
Japan). Bruin will stop at nothing to prevent
Headdy
from
completing
his
task. Thankfully,
Headdy
has
friends: HangMan
lets Headdy pull
himself up platforms (or pull them towards him) while
HeadCase lets Headdy choose other heads
with different abilities. These heads are of
strategic importance as they give Headdy
different abilities (shooting, fitting through
smaller spaces, etc.). The game has nine
difference “scenes” the player must traverse.
A Keymaster boss awaits Headdy at the end
of each scene. When defeated, the bosses
release items of which Headdy must grab a
certain number to get “continue” points.
Dynamite Headdy went through several
changes when exported from Japan. Many
of the changes make the game more difficult
or even frustrating. While the game still has
all nine areas, their names have been
changed and many of the story details have
been removed. In fact, a lot of dialog that is
seen in the Japanese version (particularly
before fighting Keymasters) is absent from
the exported version. Many of the same
bosses remain but several have been
changed (e.g., dolls replaced by robots, color
changes). The bosses also have different
patterns and require more hits to be defeated,
something that increases the difficulty level.
In addition, the ending differs due to the
removed story elements. Another element
that was changed is
the number of
“continues”
the
player has at the
start - zero (two
continues are given
in the original)!
Also more items must be grabbed from a
defeated boss to get a “continue.”
Thanks to a fan translation of the
original Japanese title, players outside of
Japan can now enjoy Dynamite Headdy as it
was meant to be played...with its full dialog
and a complete storyline. Overall, the game
is challenging but fun. It certainly boasts
some of the
most colorful
graphics that
can be found
on a Genesis/
MegaDrive
game.
Be
sure to give
it a try.
9
EUGENIO
ANGUEIRA
Sega Genesis 1994
Major Changes:
Tons of story text
was removed in the
North
American
version.