(Beat this, but used saved states liberally— it’s really fucking hard.)

This is an insanely-paced platformer with wildly varied game mechanics from level to level. In fact, one of its downsides may be that it throws TOO MUCH at the player too quickly, and could’ve benefited from some conceptual editing.

However, as it stands, DH is tough-as-nails but mostly fair, super smooth in the control department, and highly impressive from a graphics/art direction perspective. It contains some absolutely brilliant boss fights, as all Treasure games do!

The bonus game sucks, the melon head sucks, and it’s arguably FAR too unforgiving with health, saves, continues, etc... but if you’re playing with a saved state at the beginning of every scene, and can learn via trial and error, it’s a joy to play.

In all honesty, I didn't think I would finish it when first picking it up, but woooow, it's so demented that I couldn't stop myself.

Dynamite Headdy is certainly not as addictively action packed as some other Treasure outings on the Mega Drive. What this game does have, however, is one of the most out of this world art directions in any 2D game I've seen. As always, Treasure pushes the hardware to great heights in both graphical effects and outlandish mechanics. Couple that with its sheer visual insanity and Dynamite Headdy manages to stand on the same tier of Mega Drive classics as Gunstar Heroes and Alien Soldier.

I say Mega Drive because I had to play the japanese version with an english patch. The american release is too cheap to bother with, and a lot of its visual mayhem is needlessly tampered with.

On a final note, the credits theme gave me a very melancholic feeling. It was rather beautiful, even if not entirely in tone with the rest of the experience.

I had already played a few platformers before D. Headdy in the early 90s, both on NES and Megadrive.

You could say I was a connoisseur of the genre. This was without a doubt a must play.

Colourful, dynamic, action packed... I really liked it.

Now this is a god damn video game.

It really feels like Treasure threw everything they had at this game, and anyone familiar with their output knows that's saying a lot. This game is wild. It's weird, it's crazy, it's kinetic, it's gorgeous, and it's a whole lot of fun to play.

Headdy definitely outpaces Gunstar Heroes (arguably Treasure's most acclaimed game of this generation) for variety, with gimmicks and power ups that are always fun to engage and experiment with. Platforming is tight, Headdy's controls are very responsive, and the art direction gives you so much to soak in as you dash between bosses - which (in true Treasure form) are the real highlight of the game. It's never quite on the same level of Alien Soldier, where levels simply feel like a means to an end, though. But, very much like Alien Soldier, bosses are creative showcases that are sometimes too chaotic to fully take in. There's a few that really push the Genesis and I was surprised to see what Treasure was able to pull off at the time.

True to form for Treasure, this game is also hard as hell. Unlike Gunstar Heroes and even Alien Soldier, however, I didn't mind running the gauntlet again after burning through my continues. Dynamite Headdy owes a lot of its replayability to just being a damn fun game to play, but its aesthetics and music certainly pulls its weight. The soundtrack in particular is incredible and very effective as invoking stress and excitement at the exact right times.

Dynamite Headdy is hands down one of the best games on the Genesis and pretty high up there in Treasure's catalog. There's only a few reviews on this site for it, which I just have to take as a sign that not enough people have played it. Fix that. Right now. Or so help me, I will rip my head off and I will throw it at you.

The first Treasure game I ever played as a child, now beaten for the first time many years later. Not as great as Gunstar Heroes, but easily one of the best games on the Genesis. Like Gunstar, it's surprisingly modern, including tutorials, awesome setpieces and how it messes with video game story tropes for fun.

This one doesn't have infinite lives, but continues are easier to get than I expected. I think most people wanting to play this could get pretty far without needing to use savestates because it's a tough but fair game, except maybe for the final boss. Even once you figure out how to predict his attacks, you'll need to be so fast you'll probably want to pause the game. This is all about the Japanese version with the English patch though, the western version was made even harder, removed all story and changed names and enemy colors and designs for no reason. Play the Japanese one.

What is better than Gunstar Heroes is the music. It's shocking that tracks like "you're Izayoi" or "Danzen Dungeon" aren't in best Genesis music compilations on YouTube. I also can't not praise the graphics, the art design stylized around a puppet show, the game's surreal, funny tone and what may be the first Vergil in action games, Maruyama.

God damn am I surprised on how much this game's grown on me ever since my first playthrough a while back. I think this might genuinely be my favorite Genesis game as of now. It's just bursting with so much creativity and charm, not to mention it's just super rad as hell too. A stage play is a super cool style to theme a game around, and Treasure truly knocked it out of the park with it. You have super cool set pieces and sequences like the opening chase, practically every fight with Maruyama, the climb through Dark Demon's tower, and the flying stages which honestly became one of my favorite parts of the game. The game is a blast to play as well too, with Headdy's gimmick making for some really fun platforming and combat. I initially had some issues with odd difficulty once I first played it, but I didn't really have that issue this time around. That's probably because I played the original Japanese version, which is noticeably more fair. (Though to be fair, extra knowledge this time around did help as well) Either version would probably be fine for me now though, since I basically love every corner of this game now, but I would recommend the original version if you want to try it out for yourself though. This Genesis classic really is something special.

Also if nobody got me, I know Dynamite Headdy OST - Hustle Maruyama got me. Can I get an amen?

iyellatcloud recently described shadow of the beast as 'designed by 10-year-old [themselves]'. For my money, Headdy is the good future equivalent of that kid design fantasy. Just this insane deluge of visuals and gimmicky set pieces crammed into a 2MB cart. It's actually pretty adjacent to Ristar in being this sensory-oriented arcade platformer, though it aims further into structural chaos than dreamlike delight. Not every idea lands - I could do without izayoi, dark demon and baby face's boss fights. The western version's bizarre localization sucks, but the worst part above all else is the sparsity of continues - this game is too on-rails to justify having to start over THAT many times just to complete it.

Um ótimo jogo de plataforma antigo, com uma trilha sonora muito boa e cenários LINDOS pra época.

A jogabilidade tenta inovar com o diferencial do protagonista conseguir "trocar de cabeça", cada "cabeça" tem uma habilidade diferente que irá te ajudar a passar determinadas fases.

As lutas contra chefes são o destaque do game, a grande variedade e criatividade nos níveis do jogo estão entre os melhores de qualquer plataforma de 16 bits.

O maior contra do jogo é sua dificuldade. O jogo até começa tranquilo mas uma vez que o desafio aumenta, tudo fica MUITO DIFICIL. Os estágios mais pro fim do game terão inimigos vindos de todos os lados, alguns dos chefes começam a usar ataques aleatórios que são muito injustos. O que realmente torna o jogo absurdo de injusto é que você tem vidas muito limitadas e os níveis não apresentam checkpoints. Morreu uma vez e você terá que começar o estágio atual novamente (incluindo lutas contra chefes de várias fases). Game over e você terá que recomeçar do inicio do jogo.

Em poucas palavras o jogo é estranho, frenético, repleto de lutas de chefes memoráveis, esteticamente agradável e realmente criativo. Em contra partida a dificuldade do jogo faz você desanimar com ele.