Dynamite
Headdy is a platform game developed by Treasure in 1994 for the Sega Mega
Drive.
The unique selling point of the
game is the separation of the playable character into two parts- head and body.
Headdy’s head is detached from his body and levitates slightly above where his
neck should be. The head can be fired short distances in eight by holding the
d-pad and pressing B. The 8-way controls are similar to a shooting game such as
Contra or Metal Slug. The head travels a short distance before returning to
the body. Headdy can combine these with jumping and ducking. A unique selling
point is the fact that only Headdy’s body takes damage yet his head does not. The
player must use their head for offense while making sure the body avoids harm.
Unlike the similarly designed Rayman, this game justifies Headdy’s
detached head by making him a puppet. The whole game world is set up as a
theatre show and its aesthetics are designed around this idea so that the
player never forgets that the game is a piece of fiction within fiction. The
plot of the game, while vague, is still relatively straight forward with an antagonist
(Dark Demon) for the melodramatically expressive hero to defeat as one may
expect from a pantomime.
“The most compelling amusement park
attractions build upon stories or genre traditions already well known to
visitors, allowing them to enter physically into spaces they have visited many
times before in their fantasies. Broadly shared genre tradition- designer
assumes some assumptions of the player- setting and world” - (Jenkins, 2004)
Presenting a particular immersive
aesthetic theme is more difficult on the 16-bit Mega Drive technology than it
would be for a modern HD system. While the Mega Drive obviously isn’t incapable
of showing a clear and understandable world, it is likely that a player will
take most visual representations of objects at face value. Without being explicitly
told that a 16-bit cloud is actually a 16-bit painting of a cloud, something
else has to make the construction obvious.
“Relatively
higher-quality graphical resolution and design/reproduction of sound can
increase the extent to which narrative, generic or other contextual frameworks
are likely to be in play, giving a stronger sense of the location of gameplay
within a particular, realized milieu.” (King & Krzywinska, 2006)
The game resolves this by
constantly presenting ‘giveaways’. The set backgrounds are almost always damaged
in some way, including torn matte paintings and exposed scaffolding. This
damage is required to clearly identify the backgrounds as artificial. The whole
world is a stage- for example clouds are held up by frayed ropes. Levels are
also referred to in-game as ‘scenes’.
Standard
game screen
A
manipulation of the above screenshot to remove all set imperfections
The original Japanese version told
the story through text dialogue which has been almost entirely removed in the
foreign release. The game opens with a dialogue-free overview of the plot.
While the character names appear at the bottom, a series of events detail the setup:
Robots attack a once peaceful town of toys. Headdy attempts to fight them off
but is swiftly captured. Headdy is deemed unfit to enter ‘D.D Imperial World’
and is dumped for incineration. Headdy breaks out and the game begins. Any
specifics about the plot in the Western version are hard to determine as it is
difficult for the player to differentiate between the events of scripted puppet
show and what happens outside of it. The game’s focus on cartoony melodrama still
makes the tone clear. (Schell, 2008) states that when balancing the tone of
a game, it is acceptable to “give details
the imagination can use”. (Salen & Zimmerman, 2004) also explain that “When you are creating a games with less
typical narrative experiences, your design task becomes more challenging.”
They go on to say that players not initially familiar with a game’s fictive
world would rapidly require traits to establish the world. By carrying the
visual cues of set stage design the players can quickly grasp that this is not
a game world to be taken at face value. “Narrative descriptors in games include everything
from the written introduction to the opening cinematic, from the design of
light and sound to the style of the game interface.”
The game features a dijectic HUD in the form of
Headdy’s spotlight- the colour of which represents his 16 hit points of energy.This
is also reflected in his bowtie. Another spotlight appears on the opposite side
for bosses. This is an additional part in forming the consistent game world
which (Bjork & Holopainen, 2003) refer to as
game patterns. “…game elements are
normally also related to one another, thus creating game element
configurations.” The game relies on the theatrical references working
together to succeed as a whole. “The
state of the game is the totality of the game element configuration at any
given time.”
The first level has Headdy run away from a robot.
Headdy cannot actually be caught by the robot and it isn’t neccesary to destroy
the robot to continue. This entirely consequence-free enviroment allows the
player to learn the controls without stopping the flow of the action.
“Some
games create a space for rehearsal, as well, so that we can make sure we
understand our character’s potential moves before we come up against the
challenges of navigating narrational space.” (Jenkins, 2004)
Appling this to Csikszentmihalyi’s
Flow Channel (1997) we can strike a balance between the thrill of running from
a robot while avoiding the anxiety of failure. The player can freely learn the
controls at this point through experimentation. The Mega Drive controller has
only four buttons and a d-pad. This avoids what (Swink, 2009)
calls ‘state overwhelming’. Game controls are often tradition bound (Sniderman, 1999) and through the
standards of Sega games, B is commonly attack and C is jump (Golden Axe, Splatterhouse 2).
The following threats (a bomb-dropping
plane and the first encounter with reoccurring boss Trouble Bruin) are low
level challenges that do not require any of the gameplay lessons that appear in
the following tutorial level. (Swink, 2009)
refers to the cycle of game feel and challenge- new challenges are only
introduced once the player has an established understanding of their
character’s abilities.
Trouble
Bruin in the spotlight
It is Trouble Bruin pushing the
backdrop down on Headdy in the very first stage that establishes that the
‘show’ within this game has no fourth wall. The ‘fourth wall is a term taken
directly from theatre and references to the ‘wall’ separating the stage and the
audience (Bell, 2008) .
After Bruin is defeated the player
moves onto Scene 2-1 set in a town of toys. The player is given three optional tutorials
based on Dynamite Headdy’s three gameplay pillars each of which is represented
by a friendly NPC.
Headcase is a small orange smiley
face that resides in a box. The box cycles icons representing different power
up heads. Hitting Headcase will replace Headdy’s head with the one currently
displayed. Each head offers a unique gameplay effect such as Warhead firing out
projectiles in eight directions. Most heads can be removed with the A-button or
are lost after a set amount of time. Using these heads help with particular
bosses and some are required to navigate the environment, most notably Pinhead
and Spike Head. To demonstrate the usefulness of Headcase the player is given
one to combat a series of toy soldiers.
The second friend/gameplay style is
Hangman. Headdy can grab these orange similes with his head and he will hold on
as long as the B button is held. Once released Headdy’s body will be pulled up
like a rubber band. This is used for fast vertical movement and can be used
multiple times in the air. This is tested by a vertical auto-scrolling level
that relies on more elaborate moves as it progresses.
The final friend is the angel Beau
who points out the weakpoints on bosses. There are many bosses and mini-bosses
in Dynamite Headdy which is a trope of developer Treasure (Alien Soldier, Sin & Punishment). This trial requires the
player to hit targets establishing the 8-way shooting mechanic. The game
features a distinct audio feedback system. An enemy that blocks an attack in
some way gives off a metallic ‘ping’ sound whereas actual damage gives a
satisfying ‘squish’ noise.
There is very little asset
recycling in Dynamite Headdy. Most levels feature unique tilesets and enemies
that are only seen on single short stages. Dynamite Headdy’s levels are usually
very short and many scenes have the camera static for a boss fight. (Wolf, 2002) claims that a small
game space such as this can make combat more intense. The game also features
artificial scrolling; backgrounds run in a loop as though the camera is
actually static. The player is watching the show from the audience, a form of
emergent perspective rarely possible within a strictly 2D system with no Z axis
camera movement. As a stage show is similarly viewed from a static perspective
this technical limitation of the game feeds directly into its theme.
Still
from a Japanese television advert
Dynamite Headdy features a diverse
soundtrack which even includes a performance of the Nutcracker March during a
boss battle complete with performing orchestra members. The player can hear the
audience cheer whenever Headdy completes a level which is an incorporation of
the belief of (Schell, 2008) that the game’s direct praise of a
player is a form of reward equal with the promise of future powers and
challenges.
The limitations of the 16-bit
hardware have helped Treasure create a platformer in which every aspect of it contributes
strange vivid world and it justifies the unique selling point of the gameplay. “The
artists are simultaneously empowered by and restrained by technology, and the
engineers are similarly empowered and restrained by art.” (Schell, 2008) The plot of Dynamite Headdy is somewhat
weak because of the vagueness of the events that occur but it compensates by
presenting the story in a unique setting. “even
narratives that do not fit this paradigm draw their meaning from the way they
play ironically against our deeply engrained expectations that all narratives
are going to be like that.” (Hillis, 1990)
Bibliography
Bell, E. S.
(2008). Theories of Performance. Los Angeles: Sage.
Bjork, S., & Holopainen, J. (2003). Games and Design Patterns. Level
Up Digital Games Research Conference. Utrecht.
Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Csikszentmihalyi, I. S. (1997). Optimal
Experience. Cambridge University Press.
Hillis, M. (1990). Narrative. Chicago: The University of Chicago
Press.
Jenkins, H. (2004). Game Design as Narrative Architecture. First
Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game, 670-686.
King, G., & Krzywinska, T. (2006). Tomb Raiders & Space
Invaders: Videogame Forms & Contexts. London: I.B.Tauris & Co
Ltd.
Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2004). Rules of Play.
Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Schell, J. (2008). The Art of Game Design. Burlington, MA: Morgan
Kaufmann Publishers.
Sniderman, S. (1999). Unwritten Rules. The Life of Games.
Swink, S. (2009). Game Feel. Burlington, MA: Morgan Kaufmann.
Wolf, M. (2002). The Medium of the Video Game. Austin: University
of Texas Press.
Games Cited
Alien Soldier
Treasure, 1995
Console game
Contra
Konami, 1987
Arcade game
Dynamite Headdy
Treasure, 1994
Console game
Golden Axe
Sega, 1989
Arcade game; Console game
Metal Slug
SNK, 1996
Arcade game
Rayman
Ubisoft, 1995
Console game
Sin & Punishment
Treasure, 2000
Console game
Splatterhouse 2
Namco, 1992
Console game
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