Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Dynamite Headdy
Dynamite Headdy is a computer game released in 1994 by Sega and produced by Treasure Co. Ltd. It was released on the Sega Game Gear and Sega Mega Drive\Genesis systems.
The style of the game is platform/action. In the game you as play as the star puppet Headdy who can attack his enemies by shooting his detachable head at them.
Storyline
Set on the stage of a puppet theatre, the storyline to Dynamite Headdy is strange, and a little confusing without combining ideas from the box description, manual and game itself.
Headdy is the star of the Treasure Theatre production, but the evil puppet king, Dark Demon, attacks the puppet town to select which of the peaceful puppet people should live and which should be converted into his evil minions. Headdy is selected by Dark Demon's robots as a reject and is sent to be destroyed. However, Headdy escapes the clutches of Dark Demon's minions and sets off to defeat the evil king.
However, trouble is afoot. Not only is the puppet world filled with Dark Demon's minions, but to reach the evil overlord's castle Headdy must defeat Dark Demon's keymasters, who serve as the king's elite guard. To make matters worse, Headdy is followed by his lifelong rival, Trouble Bruin, a puppet jealous of Headdy's success. Bruin wants to be the star instead of Headdy, and will stop at nothing to get rid of him.
Gameplay
The game is played over a series of "scenes" and "acts". The end of each act is signified by a large battle with a keymaster. Headdy's special power is his launchable head. This can be fired in eight driections: up and down, left and right, and the four diagonals inbetween. Lauching it at enemies can damage or destroy them. His head can also be used to hold on to a Hangman, a creature that acts like a hook. By grabbing a Hangman with your head, you can then use it to hurl yourself in its direction, as if connected by an elastic band. Headdy can also swap his head for a special head, if he attacks a Headcase. Depending on the symobol that the Headcase is showing, Headdy will get a different head with a different special power. By pressing the A button, Headdy's normal head will be returned to him and his special head will be removed. There are 15 power-up heads that can be used in the normal levels, and 3 that only appear in certain levels.
Much of the levels constists of fighting certain bosses. Although some of the acts contain mostly normal platformer stages, many are filled with bosses, with only small sections of level inbetween. As a result, the game is incredibly varied, featuring an incredible array of ideas and fast-paced action, while retaining the platform-game mechanic. In other words, you rarely stray from platforming action, and the variety, challenge and originality of the bosses keeps the game exciting and fast-paced.
Bosses include such creative designs as a flying puppeteer and his swinging marionette, a giant manikin whose powers are decided by the clothes it wears, and a giant robotic baby's head which transforms from baby to old man as its outer shells fall off. Trouble Bruin also appears frequently, each time with a new robotic body to destroy Headdy with. Beau also points out the weak point of the current boss.
Scattered accross the levels are a number of secret bonus points. these can be collected by performing a strange or skilled action, such as finding a hidden item or defeating an enemy that is difficult to reach.
The theme of the puppet theatre is put to good use in some levels. It means that although you may seem to be traversing from one world to another, you are in fact on the same stage at all times, while different sets around you set out the setting and theme of the acts. Levels include ideas such as pulling the set down and playing in the lighting rigs. In another level, Trouble Bruin launces a mechanical arm through the background, ripping a hole in the scenery, and pulling you into the backstage area.
Available Heads
Using a Headcase, it is possible to collect 15 heads in the main levels, and 3 others in the flying sections. Most of them last until they wear off, or until the A button is pressed. However, Head Trip can only be removed by it wearing off after a period of time. Pin Head and the flying-section heads can only be removed by changing to another head.
| Name | Effect | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1# | Lotsa Heads | Allows you to fire three heads at once, instead of your usual single head, making it possible to attack more enemies at the same time. | Attack Head |
| 2# | Liberty Head | Collecting this will cause you enter into the intermission game (bonus round) | Special Head |
| 3# | Head Trip | A booby-trap head. Collecting this causes your head to become so large, fat, and grey, that you can barely lift yourself off the ground. As a result, you cannot jump or attack, and can only move very slowly, until the effects of this wear off. This is one to avoid, and accidentally collecting one can be fatal - especially when fighting a boss! | Cannot be canceled, Bad Head |
| 4# | Slammer Head | A hammer-shaped head that allows Headdy to break through hard blocks, do extra damage to enemies, and generally hit things harder than possible with any other head. | Attack Head |
| 5# | Pig Head | By holding the shoot button, Headdy can fire stars from his nose which home in and damage enemies. | Attack Head |
| 6# | War Head | Stars shoot from Headdy's head to damage all on-screen enemies. | Attack Head |
| 7# | Protector Head | Surrounds you with fire and damages all nearby enemies. | Support Head, Take note that it doesn't actually 'Protect you' but rather hurt anybody who goes near you. |
| 8# | Spike Head | Can stick to walls enabling Headdy to reach high places as if it were a Hangman | Purpose Head |
| 9# | Empty Head | Headdy's colour disappears and becomes invulnerable to almost any attack except falls | Support Head |
| 10# | Super Head | Grants Headdy increased speed, jump height and the distance Headdy can shoot his head. | Support Head |
| 11# | Sleepy Head | When Headdy collects this, he falls asleep and regains health. If you allow the animation to finish, all of Headdy's health is restored. | Support Head |
| 12# | Pin Head | Shrinks Headdy to half his size allowing him to access small areas and evade some attacks. | Support Head, Cannot be Cancelled |
| 13# | Bomb Head | Headdy's Head turns into a bomb, The fuse is lit and when it explodes it greatly damages all enemies onscreen. However if not thrown in time, You'll do damage to yourself. | Attack Head |
| 14# | Vacuum Head | When you attack, Headdy sucks in surrounding powerups and enemies. | Support Head |
| 15# | Ticker Head | All enemies and objects are frozen in time as long as this head is active allowing Headdy | Support Head |
| b1# | Rocket Head | Headdy's Head becomes a laser guided missile allowing him to fire lasers rapidly from his nose. The lasers can travel through objects and walls and still damage. | Flight Head, Only accessable in flying stages. |
| b2# | Air Head | Headdy's head becomes a plane, allowing him to face in different directions and fire at three different angles. | Flight Head |
| b3# | Feather Head | Headdy's head becomes a giant bird and can spray out 'chicks' from its beak to damage enemies from below | Flight Head |
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