History VideoGame / DynamiteHeaddy

* HealThyself: Sleepy Head. Headdy goes to sleep and gradually regains health until he is fully revitalized. Can be dangerous to use if you're currently under attack, although it can be canceled like most heads. There is also a non-head healing item, the [[HyperactiveMetabolism Jelly Bean]], which restores half of your maximum health.

* DubNameChange: Nearly everything when translating from Japanese to English had a name change. [[DubNameChange/DynamiteHeaddy Has its own page]].

** The track “That’s The Way The Boss Is Killed” is only heard when you first fight Trouble Bruin, and since he goes down in two hits, you’ll only hear the first 30 seconds of the track and never hear the part that plays after the 1 minute mark before it loops back around.

* LongSongShortScene: Trouble Bruin's theme plays when he enters a scene. In the Japanese version, it continues to play during the storyline, but in the other version, there is no storyline, so the only way to hear it in full is through the sound test. The song uses a couple of voice samples that aren't anywhere else in the game. Also the music that plays when King Dark Demon's castle is revealed, which is similarly cut short in the international version.

* {{Bowdlerize}}: Most of the dialogue has been removed in the English version.

* LongSongShortScene: Maruyama's / Trouble Bruin's theme plays when he enters a scene. In the Japanese version, it continues to play during the storyline, but in the other version, there is no storyline, so the only way to hear it in full is through the sound test. The song uses a couple of voice samples that aren't anywhere else in the game. Also the music that plays when King Dark Demon's castle is revealed, which is similarly cut short in the international version.

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* ImprobablyFemaleCast: Partially. The main character and a few enemies\supports are male, but most enemies and bosses are female, which is a little more obvious in the Japanese version.

* RecurringBoss: Maruyama, a bear (although he looks more like a cat, really) who also has a detachable head but instead uses it to control a wide variety of strange attack vehicles, [[SonicTheHedgehog Eggman-style]]. He is TheDragon to BigBad King Dark Demon.

* BonusBoss: After the end credits have finished rolling, a numerical keypad appears. Entering the correct randomly-generated four-digit password (whose digits you discover by beating the bonus game once per digit) allows you to fight an extremely difficult boss, presumed to be the greedy manager of the theater the show takes place in, or [[BitingTheHandHumor the President of Sega and/or Treasure]], depending on which version you're playing. Fortunately, against this boss you have infinite lives.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The BonusBoss is the incredibly greedy boss of the theater, and his two henchmen. In the Japanese Version, he is actually supposed to be [[BitingTheHandHumor the President of Sega]].

* Geisha: Yayoi and Izayoi both appear to be designed after one.

''Dynamite Headdy'' is a PlatformGame by Creator/{{Treasure}} with the unique feature of taking place in and behind the scenes of a puppet show. You control Headdy, a puppet with a [[LosingYourHead detachable head]] that can be used as a projectile, on a mission to confront Dark Demon, a BigBad who has, quite literally, stolen the show. On your way you meet helpers such as Hangman, an animate handhold; Headcase, a walking box with a rotating selection of power-up heads inside; Beau, a visitor from FluffyCloudHeaven who points out [[AttackItsWeakPoint bosses' weak points]]; and Heather, a mysterious woman with detachable hands.

* AdvancingBossOfDoom: Twin Freaks/Rever Face

* AIRoulette: Bosses that notably use this include Trouble Bruin's tower fight and final boss Dark Demon.

* AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: Trouble Bruin in the original Japanese version was called Maruyama, was purple and had wide round eyes and a goofy smile. The USA version colored him brown and turned him into a PerpetualFrowner. Also, the USA game cover compared to the EU and JP ones.

* BackgroundBoss: Spinderella is a very notable example, as she can switch the camera's perspective to make it so Headdy is in the background, and the camera faces her back.
* BaitAndSwitchBoss: At the end of the second world it seems that Headdy is going against Trouble Bruin with one of his many weird contraptions, but as soon as he starts moving, Mad Dog, the real boss, falls from the sky and crushes Trouble Bruin, who gets stuck under Mad Dog for the entirety of the fight!

* BearsAreBadNews: [[PunnyName Trouble Bruin]] / Maruyama and his Kuma Body.
* BigBad: Dark Demon/[[spoiler:Smiley]].
* BonusBoss: After the end credits have finished rolling, a numerical keypad appears. Entering the correct randomly-generated four-digit password (whose digits you discover by beating the bonus game once per digit) allows you to fight an extremely difficult boss, presumed to be the greedy manager of the theater the show takes place in, or [[BitingTheHandHumor the President of Sega]], depending on which version you're playing. Fortunately, against this boss you have infinite lives.

* BossOnlyLevel: All end-of-act bosses and most Trouble Bruin battles get their own scene. There are two entire acts where all the danger takes place in boss fights: Act 7 against the Gatekeepers, and Act 9 against Trouble Bruin's Super Finagler (which has other obstacles to worry about as well).
* BreatherLevel: Invoked and then subverted in Stage 7, which is very short with two easy bonus points and a Liberty Head (bonus stage), and no enemies until reaching a [[BreatherBoss rather easy boss]]. Then you get punished gruesomely for your naive belief that the game would be so kind, and the rest of the game past this point is [[NintendoHard no better]].

* {{Chickification}}: Heather appears to be an ActionGirl at first, going as far as to defeat one of the Keymasters before Headdy shows up, but later on in the game, she gets captured and must be rescued. Twice.
** Some may say that she deserves a break for some of this: The first time she was blindsided by the Nasty Gatekeeper, who showed up out of frickin' ''nowhere'', and the Japanese version explains the second one: [[spoiler:She was trying to [[IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight reach out to Smiley]], and he attacked her in response]]. Still though...
* ClimaxBoss: The end-of-act bosses are Keymasters (well, at least from act 2 through 6), but Nasty Gatekeeper (end of act 7) is certainly one. If the Keymasters count, Twin Freaks (end of Act 8) does too.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Dark Demon has a crystal ball which signals which attack he will perform next, while Headdy is given a choice between four power-ups to respond with.

* CulturalTranslation: There are several. The Level names in western releases are parodies of Movie/Music names while in the Japanese version, they just give the general level idea in a simple phrase. The Geisha in Scene 7 is replaced by a robot who is far less threatening when they change forms, as the original had sharper claws than the robot. In stage 4 of the Japanese version, Mons Meg was a large doll named Rebecca. Maruyama was changed from Purple to Brown in the western version. The Heavy head's icon was changed from the Japanese characters to a large onion of some type. Even the ending has some minor differences. [[spoiler:In the Japanese version, Smiley latches onto Headdy's head and he tries pulling it off humorously, while in the Western releases Heather hugs Headdy, though this may be because there was no dialogue in the Western release.]]

* EvilIsHammy: Dark Demon's voice samples in both versions. In the Japanese version, most of the boss characters, especially Maruyama (Trouble Bruin), serve up some [[AffablyEvil oft-affable]] ham in their text-only speeches.

** When Dark Demon's crystal ball flashes all colors, he will fire a massive beam that only Pin Head can avoid.
* GimmickLevel: Besides Act 6's UnexpectedShmupLevel, Act 3 starts with an area that has depth, so Headdy can move up and down as would be ordinarily seen in a BeatEmUp. Then Trouble Bruin pulls Headdy backstage, ending the gimmick.

* HostileShowTakeover: The event that kicks off the plot, with Dark Demon forcibly derailing the puppet show from whatever it was originally going to be about. Also referenced in the Japanese version before the fight with Maruyama in Act 3, Scene 2, which helps explain his motive:

* HumanShield: The Nasty Gatekeeper spends most of his fight using Heather to shield his weak spot.

* IncredibleShrinkingMan: Pin Head, which makes Headdy tiny. Useful for getting through small openings and avoiding certain hazards. When it shows up you usually face a fork in the road with a tiny path where you need Pin Head to proceed and a normal-size path that often requires some other head. Even where the level layout doesn't actually split, Pin Head and whatever the alternative is will give you entirely different strategies for proceeding through the level. It's also useful to [[spoiler:avoid an otherwise screen-filling fireball that Dark Demon likes to cheaply slide offscreen and shoot at you]].
* IntangibleMan: Empty Head, which reduces Headdy to a white outline with no color inside. Rather one-sided, as you can still attack enemies but their attacks go right through you. Still vulnerable to NonLethalBottomlessPits and [[spoiler:damage from hitting Heather in the Nasty Gatekeeper fight]].

** The second-to-last stage has a constant rising floor, lots of walls that can squish you, and Trouble Bruin's last vehicle.
* JustForPun: Most of the levels in the US version are puns of popular movies (e.g. [[StarWars Stair Wars]]), and TheDragon that looks like a cat but is really a bear is called "Trouble Bruin".
* KamehameHadoken: Dark Demon has a beam attack that fills most of the screen.

** All versions have Dark Demon with his EvilLaugh and his take on ThisCannotBe.
* LethalLavaLand: Act 3, Scene 1. Subverted in that it ends with Trouble Bruin bursting through the background and pulling Headdy backstage, where the rest of Act 3 takes place.

* LongSongShortScene: Trouble Bruin's / Maruyama's theme plays when he enters a scene. In the Japanese version, it continues to play during the storyline, but in the other version, there is no storyline, so the only way to hear it in full is through the sound test. The song uses a couple of voice samples that aren't anywhere else in the game. Also the music that plays when Dark Demon's castle is revealed, which is similarly cut short in the international version.

* MarySue: Possibly invoked in the Japanese version, where it is revealed that [[spoiler:Dark Demon was originally Smiley, an animate award that was supposed to be presented to the "greatest puppet", but instead interpreted this to mean that he was to ''become'' the greatest puppet, leading directly to his StartOfDarkness and transformation into Dark Demon.]]

* MoodWhiplash: Hey, it's a [[CloudCuckooland weird]] but friendly level full of cows and birds. And the boss is kinda easy and [[ActionGirl Heather]] is helping me out while they play happy music. Could this be a BreatherLevel?

** For the first Act 7 boss, if Heather gets into position to throw a key at the first Gatekeeper a little too late, she'll try anyway, but the Gatekeeper will get out of the way in time, sending Heather into this trope as she scrambles to get the key back.
** After what looks like a BreatherLevel in 7 you beat an easy boss then suddenly the background turns dark, revealing the enemy's castle, evil music starts playing, and the [[DifficultySpike Nasty Gatekeeper]] arrives.

* PlotCoupon: Each of the five Keymasters holds a key, all of which are necessary to approach Dark Demon's castle.

* RecurringBoss: Trouble Bruin, a bear (although he looks more like a cat, really) who also has a detachable head but instead uses it to control a wide variety of strange attack vehicles, [[SonicTheHedgehog Eggman-style]]. He is TheDragon to BigBad Dark Demon.

* ShouldersOfDoom: Dark Demon has what appear to be green ''statues'' sprouting from the shoulders of his costume. ''Animated'' green statues.

** Also played straight in the ending cutscene where [[SequelHook Trouble Bruin takes control of the ruined castle]].

* ThisCannotBe: "[[LargeHam I CANNOT BELIEVE IT]]" (said by Dark Demon after beating most Keymasters)

* TrickBoss: The Gatekeeper seems like an unusually easy boss for his place in the game, as he only has two, fairly telegraphed attacks and you don't even have to attack him yourself. After defeating him at first and revealing the ominous castle in the background, though, he comes back up and the real boss battle begins.

* TheUnfought: Heather beats one of the bosses for you; you never get to fight or even see her. Trouble Bruin also has a machine that you never fight because a Keymaster falls on it.

* WarmupBoss: The first fight with Trouble Bruin, especially in the Japanese version where the balls of light don't do damage, though he's not a danger in the NA version either given he has 2 HP and you will have at least 14. Mad Dog, the boss of Act 2, probably counts as well; she has more health and a variety of attacks, but compared to the rest of the game, still a cakewalk, especially with all the goodies Headcase brings to the fight.

* WidgetSeries: It's a game set in a puppet show, starring a puppet with a detachable head. The Widgetiness is especially high in the Japanese version, which contains robot kabuki performers, a gigantic doll firing EyeBeams, a bright purple Trouble Bruin with a fixed grin (referred to as Maruyama), and bizarre dialogue.

* NintendoHard: Some levels really test your ability not to smash the control through the screen.

** "HELP ME!" [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome Cue]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnwunBUlPFk metal]].

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The puppet show nature of the game's setting comes up quite a bit, although it also has elements of a live action play or a movie. Each stage of the game is called an Act, and is subdivided into sections called Scenes. Backgrounds are often missing sections through which the backstage area can be seen, and sometimes actually fall apart. Some sections of the game take place backstage, and enemies and [=NPCs=] both sometimes take on the role of stagehands or other staff. Even the LifeMeter reflects this: Headdy's vitality is represented by a klieg light whose color (and the size of the "H" in the middle) corresponds to the amount of life left, and bosses have a similar spotlight with an "E" in the center. There's also a scene where an orchestra is visible in the background playing the background music. Needless to say, metafictional and setting tropes get quite a workout in this game.

* WarmupBoss: The first fight with Trouble Bruin, especially in the Japanese version where the balls of light don't do damage, though he's not a danger in the NA version either given he has 2 HP and you will have at least 14. Mad Dog, the boss of Act 2, probably counts as well; he has more health and a variety of attacks, but compared to the rest of the game, still a cakewalk, especially with all the goodies Headcase brings to the fight.

** "HELP ME!" [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome Cue]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYUVRSbjehA metal]].

* BreatherLevel: Invoked and then subverted in Stage 7, which is very short with two easy bonus points and a Liberty Head (bonus stage), and no enemies until reaching a [[BreatherBoss rather easy boss]]. [[ThatOneBoss Then you get punished gruesomely for your naive belief that the game would be so kind]], and the rest of the game past this point is [[NintendoHard no better]].

** Some may say that she deserves a break for some of this: The first time she was blindsided by ThatOneBoss, who showed up out of frickin' ''nowhere'', and the Japanese version explains the second one: [[spoiler:She was trying to [[IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight reach out to Smiley]], and he attacked her in response]]. Still though...

** After what looks like a BreatherLevel in 7 you beat an easy boss then suddenly the background turns dark, revealing the enemy's castle, and the music lets you know ThatOneBoss has arrived.

* ViolationOfCommonSense: [[spoiler:Pin Head, the head that makes you tiny and decreases your firing radius, walking speed, and jump height accordingly, and usually leads to the safer, less rewarding path in the early game, but in a level near the end, it leads to a challenging path that ends with the only 2-up reward in the game, and it is very important against the final boss.]]

* BoringButPractical: The Hammer Head isn't as flashy as almost any other power-up, but will do double the damage to any enemy.

* ColorCodedForYouConvenience: Dark Demon has a crystal ball which signals which attack he will perform next, while Headdy is given a choice between four power-ups to respond with.

* HoistedByHisOwnPetard: A tank miniboss in Scene 4-1 is defeated by deflecting its shot onto the ceiling and letting it drop onto the soldier driving the tank.