Emulator used: Gens 9z
Emulator settings:
Controller 1: 6 button
Controller 2: 6 button
Allow Up+Down: Yes
Sound: Enabled, 44100KhZ Stereo, YM2612 High Quality enabled
Categories
Does not use warps or passwords
Abuses programming errors in the game
Manipulates luck
Takes damage to save time
Ignores semi-important goals in the game
About the game
Dynamite Headdy is a game of Treasure (Gunstar Heroes, Alien Soldier), in which the hero can attack the enemies by launching his detachable head into them. It has several autoscrollers and is not very fast paced, but makes up for this with its colourful levels and great variety. Nearly every scene has its own enemies and new concepts, which makes it fun to play and maybe enjoyable to watch. It consists of 9 stages with are divided in several scenes. The closing curtain, props, spotlights and curtain call at the end provide a theatrical theme giving the player the role of the spectator. Enjoy the show.
About the game play
Headcase:
Headdy can temporarily change his head by hitting his friend Headcase. Each of the 15 heads gives him special abilities which help him on his journey. Only 9 were used in the movie and will be explained later.
Hangman:
Headdy can bite him, pulling himself to Hangman to reach platforms. Since this gives him a speed boost, they are used whenever it was possible. The spike head used in stage 8 gives Headdy similar abilities, being able to cling to walls.
Secret Bonus Points (SBP):
There are 39 Secret Bonus Points spread throughout the game. Since they serve no useful purpose (other then collecting), I only get those, which don't waste additional time.
Boss pieces:
Most bosses (except for Trouble Bruin and Dark Demon) will throw out debris with a "T" on it, after being destroyed. Collecting enough of them gives a continue. Though not needed, all of them are collected (except for the last time, due to lag). However, getting them does not speed up the game.
Bonus Levels:
There exists a basketball mini game, which can be accessed with the liberty head from Headcase. Successfully beating it four times gives Headdy four secret numbers, which gives access to a secret scene after the credits, where you fight the theatre owner. Since the collection procedure would need much time, this is not done in this movie.
Level notes
0 - 1 Intro
The intro is the only cutscene that could be skipped. However, I recommend to watch it before the movie, to understand the first scene.
1 - 1 The Escape (autoscroller)
Destroying the robo collector is not necessary, but grants a SBP
2 - 1 Practice area
In this scene, Headdy could enter the three doors to learn how to use his three friends Headcase, Hangman and Beau and get SBPs, which is obviously skipped
2 - 2 Toys in the Hood
- I pick the super head here. It doubles walking speed, shooting range and jumping height
- After the fight with Catherine Derigueur (green robot) is a junction. On the upper route, I would have fought a mini-boss, which takes more time, so I get the Mini-Head to go the lower route.
2 - 3 Mad Dog and Headdy (Boss)
The weak spot of Mad Dog is his tail. I get the hammer head at the end, which doubles the damage.
3 - 1 Down Under (fixed time exit)
- whether an enemy should be destroyed or not depended on the lag it creates
- jumping in the pit and stopping for a short moment reduced lag
- I was not in a hurry, since Headdy can only exit the scene, when the platforms are horizontal, however I could not do fancy stuff, as it would have created a lot of lag
3 - 2 Backstage Battle
- I used the superhead for its long range
- On some occasions Headdy had to delay the shot, as
- he can not shoot, when he is below the floor or over the screen
- Headcase or the cat puppies sometimes blocked the way
- the finishing blow had to be delayed, as Headdy's position during Trouble Bruins explosion heavily influenced the bouncing height and time to leave the scene.
3 - 3 Green Room
- one of my favourite parts of the movie
- destroying the puppeteer before gentleman jim gives a SBP
3 - 4 Clothes Encounters (Boss)
To make Wooden Dresser vulnerable, Headdy has to dispatch off here clothes first.
- I could have removed her Dragon Head earlier, but then she would not have been long enough on the ground to destroy her on the first go
4 - 1 Terminate her too
- the switches change the landscape to enable progressing to the left. However, they can not be hit, until the wheels stopped rolling
- the bombhead inflicts 8 damage, thus making it faster to kill Mons Meg
- destroying the second bullet of the tank gives a SBP
- hitting the switch changed the direction of the assembly lines to move me to the right
bug: walking at the edge of the screen allowed me to leave the scene one screen earlier
4 - 2 Mad Mechs
- the spike head can't be used here due to waiting time and the hammer blocks at the exit
4 - 3 Mad Mechs 2
- I need to wait for the hammer head, since I need it for the hammer blocks later
glitch: a flying enemy would turn the fourth cross to the left. Shooting it at the right moment warps Headdy up, saving a few frames
glitch: the crosses push Headdy to the screen edge, thus allowing him to leave the scene earlier again (discovered by upthorn)
4 - 4 Heathernapped (last scene, but no boss)
This stage has no boss. The skipped dialog box of Beau would say: "Look Headdy!! No keymaster!! Heather beat you to it, but now she's gone, too"
5 - 1 Go Headdy Go
I delay exiting this scene to manipulate Trouble Bruin's first attack of the next scene
- Headdy is on autopilot, when he ascends the stairs
5 - 2 Stair Wars
Trouble Bruin normally has two attacks: Cutting pieces out of the tower and ramming you. While ramming he is vulnerable, thus he is manipulated to do this attack only.
- when walking to the left, the rotation of the tower forces Trouble Bruin to the right, thus shortening the time between attacks
5 - 3 Towering Internal
- jumping in the pit gives Headdy the biggest horizontal boost (discovered by upthorn)
- the rotation speed is constant and can not be boosted by a hangman
- the ticker head temporarily stops all enemies
5 - 4 Spinderella (Boss)
The weak spot of this boss is on the back. It can be accessed by walking around, while spinderella's arm are stuck to the floor
- the little guy walking by is bino. hitting him four times gives a SBP. However, as soon as Spinderella is defeated, Bino can not be hit anymore, so I spared him
6 - 1 Flying game (autoscroller)
- every bullet connects, no shot wasted
- destroying enemies does not make the level go faster
- the only thing that speeds up the game is destroying the battleship as early as possible. It has a strange HP system: It normally has 64 HP, but shooting it too early gives it additional hit points - more that Headdy can burn away. So I have some free time meanwhile, where I shot the turrets and finally make a countdown. Near the end I destroy the mouth of the battleship to make it produce a last helicopter before falling down.
6 - 2 Fly hard
To defeat Trouble Bruin this time, he has to be shot enough times, before he goes into the background. So again no way to speed up the fight.
- One time I had to avoid Trouble Bruin's left side, because I did not fit between him and the screen edge, which was not a problem, as I make enough hits
6 - 3 Fly Hard 2 (autoscroller)
- again no way to speed up the level
- shot every enemy, that was possible to hit
glitch: the areas dividing the paths, can be entered. But since getting out damages Headdy, no time is saved and I can't shoot all enemies then, I didn't include it. Still, I entered the border at the third junction a little bit to give an idea, but it is barely noticeable.
6 - 4 Baby Face
Baby Face consists of four generations, each with its own HP and attack pattern. Before the boss changes to the next form, he has to finish his specific pattern.
- His last form (grandpa) can be fought, too (revealing Bino = SBP), but getting caught and dying of senile decay is approximately 800 frames faster
7 - 1 Headdy Wonderland (Boss)
- The level itself has no enemies (except for the two SBPs)
The gatekeeper has two forms:
Normal Gatekeeper:
- by varying the duration of her arm attack, I manipulated the number jumps to the minimum
- the position of the gatekeeper does not matter for the duration of the key flying
Nasty Gatekeeper (usually one of the three hardest bosses)
she normally has 17 hit points, but the bomb provided during the fight kills her in one go
- manipulated her to fetch Headcase as early as possible
- manipulated her to be open while the bomb exploded
8 - 1 Rocket Tier
I get the spike head here. It works similar to Hangman, which means Headdy can pull himself to any wall he touches with his head. Right timing allows to get a max boost (5 times walking speed) without crushing against the ceiling.
8 - 2 Illegal Weapon
bug: Headdy gets hurt by the tower of the Missile Man, gains invincibility time, but does not lose health. Thus the rocket can pass Headdy without causing damage. Additionally Headdy can shoot the tower, even when the rocket passes him, as long as he stays close enough to the tower.
8 - 3 Fun Forgiven
bug: I could not prevent Headdy from slowing down after shooting the buzzsaw.
Tarot has two forms:
first form:
The balls around Tarot can be rammed into him. Since he does not have invincibility time, I can shoot the ball several times in a row.
Bug: The last shot has to be delayed, or else Tarot would not change to the second form, freezing the game progress.
second form:
after destroying the second form, Headdy has to stay near Tarot, who would wait, as he wants to suicide bomb Headdy.
8 - 4 Vice Versa
Basically Headdy needs to change to level upside down to pass obstacles in the way.
- Waiting for the fireball and getting hit is nearly a second faster than hitting the switch twice
- The fireballs of the protection head hit targets they touch, thus pushing the blocks for me
Sparky
He can be hit by dropping the balls on him, when the level is switched upside down. He also has no invincibility time, making it possible to hit him several times in a row.
8 - 5 Twin Freaks (Boss, probably the hardest, normally)
Normally this boss has a second form (upside down), which wants to crush Headdy into the walls, but he is easily destroyed before.
- Collecting the pieces this time would have caused over 40 frames of lag, thus not done. He still tries it later but fails totally :)
9 - 1 Fatal Contraption (autoscroller)
- the damage boost jump enables me to destroy one Cocoa Head earlier, reducing lag
- destroying both Cocoa Heads was though two be impossible, but not in a TAS, giving me the possibility to get an additional SBP
- I take the right path after the spikes (with the tanks), as the other one creates one second of lag
glitch: Tiny Headdy can morph through the blocks, when positioned at the right spot
9 - 2 Far Trek (autoscroller)
- Headdy gets a SBP for never being grabbed by Trouble Bruin
- Leaving the scene is delayed to manipulate Dark Demons first attack
9 - 3 Final Analysis (last Boss)
Dark Demon has five attack pattern, with a big blast (which can only be ducked by being Tiny Headdy) and releasing monsters (10 frames slower) being the fastest ones. Only the monsters give to possibility to manipulate DD's next attack by delaying the last hit. So the best strategy is, to manipulate DD to cast the big blast as long as it is followed by another blast or by releasing creatures (to manipulate the next attack).
- For the last attack I picked the war head, which automatically releases stars, destroying DD. This enables me to stop the input earlier (DD is still hit the first possible frame).
Panel to the secret scene
Since no bonus levels are played, Headdy does not have the secret numbers to enter the door. Thanks to Trask for testing, that guessing is not possible, so feel free to enter any number. You will return to the title screen.
Thanks to all supporters
- Trask (project initiation, testing, WIPs)
- upthorn (WIP, routes, glitches, advices)
- arrow (speedrun from SDA, techniques)
- Raiscan (reviews, advices)
- Minty Fresh Death (FAQ from gamefaqs.com)
- everybody who put all these years of work into tool assisted speedruns to make runs like this possible
adelikat: Good movie. Accepting for publication and beginning encoding.
