A fun,colorful and wacky Japanese platformer but it's difficulty is too hard.
Dynamite Headdy is easily one of the best looking platformer games on the SEGA MEGA DRIVE.It's levels use an artstyle that reminds me of the 16-Bit Sonic games but the levels have weird and funny things happening in the background due to the fact the game's story is set in a puppet world filled with toys that have come to life(which is why lots of toy robots and cat puppets will attack you)and you'll see puppet people running around or singing in the background(sometimes they'll sing from windows in buildings)and it looks hilarious and the stages show influences of a variety of Japanese,Russian,Greek culture and areas with nice mountain scenery or influenced by space/stars,high in the sky amongst the clouds etc.I couldn't beat this game so I didn't get to see all the stages.
As for the gameplay,it has a mechanic that allows Headdy to move his head far from his body and use it as a weapon to bash enemies or to knock them away.It might sound not that interesting but Headdy can change the form of his head which allows his head to be used as a variety of different enemies,such as being an exploding bomb or as a gun or as a vaccum cleaner so he can suck up enemies(kinda like what Kirby from Nintendo does)and he will use his head to pull him up onto higher platforms.
The platforming isn't that great but it's the different ways Headdy can use his head as a weapon that makes the game feel fresh and fun.The gameplay is also quite fast paced for side scrolling platformer standards and you'll need to react quickly to dodge enemy attacks or to eliminate enemies and there's still precision platform jumping required at times.The controls work quite well too.
The levels are filled with enemies that can easily cause damage to Headdy's health and careful maneuvering is required to defeat them(especially flying enemies) and in some places enemies appear in unlimited numbers and move towards you quickly and will be in areas you need to go through and it makes you use delicate timing and there's areas with pitfalls(pitfalls don't cause instant death but a loss of health) and hazzards that cause instant death.Dynamite Headdy is a tough game because the enemies attack you in ways that are tough to dodge rather than from the platforming itself.Also the game gives you an old school style challenge by not allowing you to save your progress or use passwords.You're given a certain number of lives and continues and once they're used up,you have to start the game from the beginning and redo some difficult segments.I think even though certain old school platformers such as Sonic 2 and Sonic and Knuckles were better off without a save system due to the fact they weren't too difficult to beat on one set of lives or using a limited number of continues,I think Dynamite Headdy needed some sort of save/password system because only a very skilled gamer is going to be able to beat this game.
But don't get me wrong,the game is very fun to play but after stage 5 the game gets too difficult for it's own good,there's a difference between a good challenge and a game being too hard and Dynamite Headdy is unfortuantely the latter.I guess this is the type of game you'll enjoy playing and trying to get as far as you can in it even though you know you'll most likely never beat the game.
As for more about the graphics,like I've said they're colorful and besides what I've already mentioned about the graphics,I'd also like to say there's a nice use of green grass and flashy SEGA signs in certain places and giant robots that run around catching cute furry creatures and the purple mountains in the background of the first level are lovely to look at and there's a good variety of environments such as areas that look like theater stages and areas that look like towns with puppet people in them and the level with the clouds look lovely by the way they blend with the sky and the environments with space/stars is pretty and plesant to experiencel.I like the details in the visuals such as how you'll see a dark threater stage with the cat puppets being lite up by a spot light to make it look like it's part of a show and props on the stage or the detail and the nice use of colors for the bricks in the town.
Dynamite Headdy is a game that I like and that I wish I could like more because it's one of those games that I don't like leaving unbeaten,especially since it's not a long game,because the game is so lovely to look at and has fun and creative gameplay elements but unfortunately is too hard.