Dynamite Headdy (Sega Genesis)

It seems like you could always count on Treasure to provide a quality game. Dynamite Headdy released in 1994 for the Sega Genesis is no exception to that rule. Written by some of the same team that worked on Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Headdy on its surface appeared to be just another side scrolling platform game of the type that was so common in that era. In a way it was, but it happened to be a spectacular example of that genre.

In Dynamite Headdy you take the role of a puppet named Headdy who uses his head as his primary weapon. Not just A head though, there are actually many heads that each act as their own sort of power-up. There are quite a few of these power ups including ones that give invincibility, increase speed, restore health, give you a halo of spinning fireballs and there are even heads to find that will take you to bonus levels among other things. His head can be thrown as a weapon, used as a grappling hook, and a for a variety of other fun and interesting things.

As a puppet, I suppose that it should be obvious that your goal would be to rid the world of an evil puppet master (who has the creative name of Dark Demon). This puppet master has created an army of evil minion puppets so as you can imagine, this can make for a pretty creepy vibe. The bosses are also pretty creepy on a much larger scale.

The graphics are outstanding and there are tons tons of things going on in the background. In fact, watching what is going on in the background tell a whole story itself but paying too much attention might detract from your game play a bit :). Likewise, the game play, sound and music are all top notch as well. You would have a hard time finding a bad review of this game. Some might argue that the game wasn’t prompted or marketed well enough by Sega or it would have done better in sales. That’s probably true but how do you promote a game in which you play a puppet that throws his head around? Maybe if it had been more horror themed instead of a combination of cutesy and creepy…but then it would lose its unique feel.

Though the Genesis version if probably the best version and the best known, Dynamite Headdy was also released for the Game Gear and Sega Master System. While those version might lose a little in terms of graphics, they are still solid. But if you are going to give it a try you might as well try the best version which is for the Genesis. And if you are a Treasure fan, a Sega fan or just a gaming fan in general, this is one you should definitely try if you haven’t already. If you don’t have a Genesis there are a few more modern re-releases that might be an option, including a release on the Wii via the Virtual Console, as part of Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection on the Xbox 360 and PS3, as part of Sega Genesis Classics, via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack service and via Steam..