Dynamite Headdy Review

The 8 and 16 bit generations were saturated with platformers. Undoubtedly numerous worthy games got buried in this avalanche of mediocrity. Dynamite Headdy is one of those games. It’s one of the classic Treasure games that every gamer should play at some time. These are the same guys that brought us Gunstar Heroes, Ikaruga and Bangai-O.

In Dynamite Headdy, you play as a character that uses his head to get things done. You use your head to attack enemies by throwing it at them. Over the course of the game you get several different heads that you can use. Some of them are like sprayed bullets while others vacuum enemies into your mouth. It’s really quite creative.

You also use your head to grab and reach for things such as “hangmen”, which help you reach higher parts of the level. This is where a lot of the platformer elements come into play as you will reach for areas that you could reach by simply jumping. Instead you have to (literally) use your head. Training missions help you get acquainted with the gameplay mechanics.

The game is about fast paced action. The levels themselves are more or less filler for the boss fights. The developers gave a clear nod to Sonic the Hedgehog as the game is played over “scenes” and “acts” similar to Sonic. The graphical style is somewhat similar as well. Overall, the gameplay is incredibly varied, as is typical with games from Treasure. It even has psedu-3D levels where you can move in and out instead of just left and right.

Treasure managed to make a true under-rated classic here. Dynamite Headdy takes a unique, genuine concept and runs with it. They add depth, tons of variety and extremely entertaining boss fights. Aside from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, this is probably the best platformer on the Genesis. If you still own a Genesis, pick this up today. It’s also available on the Wii Virtual Console.