Weeklies

Game: "Decap Attack"
System: Sega Genesis
Genre: Action
Published by: Sega

Reviewer: Dr. Boogie
Posted: 10/22/2008

Review: Games with mummies and werewolves and such tend to be geared more towards the horror side of the gaming spectrum. Well what about the fun side of horror? That’s where you’ll find Decap Attack.

The diabolical Max D. Cap has emerged from the underworld to conquer our world, a suspiciously skeleton-shaped world full of monsters and all sorts of horror-themed decorations. Has he already succeeded, or is this just a sign of how bad things have gotten? To find the answer, you’ll need to take control of headless mummy, Chuck D. Head.

That you control a headless mummy with a face in his chest is weird enough on its own, but the designers had further weirdness in mind. Rather than battering enemies with his ropey arms or inflicting the Mummy’s Curse on them, Chuck attacks by shooting his face out of his chest to deliver some kind of bizarre head/face/torsobutt. He gets surprisingly good reach with his face projection, but you run into some problems when you start facing enemies that take multiple hits.

You can pick up a skull every now and then to give yourself a ranged attack, but the skull only hangs out until you get hit. Speaking of getting hit, the game gives you the option to set how much health you start with at the beginning, but at the same time, the game likes to get you a occasional cheap hit. To get powerups, you need to break open statues with your face, but sometimes, those same statues will spawn an enemy. Fortunately, hitting a statue with your face will stop you if you’re running, but that doesn’t make getting hit by these surprise enemies any less irritating.

The powerups that you can get are unique in that none of them are used the moment you pick them up. Instead, you have a pause menu where you can pick which particular magic potion you’d like to unleash. The potions can do things like strengthen your “punch”, make you jump higher, and even kill all enemies on screen, but they do all these things in 10-second bursts. Also, you can’t use invulnerability during a boss fight, which is a bummer. The one potion they don’t have, and the one I probably would’ve used more than any other, is a health potion.

The health potion bit really comes into focus when you realize that your health isn’t refilled when you beat a stage, or ever for that matter. You can find little hearts (your health is shown by beating heart, and not the Valentine’s Day kind of hearts either), but they don’t show up that often, and each one only restores a single hitpoint.

Even so, the game is still plenty enjoyable. For me, the enjoyment is partly based on the bizarreness of Chuck, the enemies, and even the world. Sure, Chuck can kill enemies by hitting them with his face, but he can also kill most of them by jumping on their heads and pounding them into the ground until they explode in a shower of bones. It’s a kid’s game! Plus, Chuck has some kind of strange mummy hovering ability you can use while he’s in the air. Why? I don’t know, but it sure comes in handy. And the music is great, too!

Overall rating: WholeWholeWholeWhole
(Scored on a 0.5 - 5 pickles rating: 0.5 being the worst and 5 being the best)

Reader Comments

Last of the Time Lords
Oct 22nd, 2008, 08:41 AM
I swear I've played this one, but I can't remember a single thing about it.
poop turtle
Oct 22nd, 2008, 12:31 PM
i loved this game as a kid but i never could complete it, even a couple of years back when i retried to conquer it on emulator i got two about the 4th world where the level chases you i think and couldnt do it!.

The game is great as is the music and the bonus games....well lets just say they are interesting.

good too see im not the only person who liked this game :D
Member
Oct 22nd, 2008, 04:47 PM
I look at the headless zombie and think of Earthworm Jim.
Greasy Bacon of Villany
Oct 23rd, 2008, 05:19 AM
The game uses an engine from a game called Magical Hat Flying Turbo Adventure basically with different graphics characters. Basically, they didn't have rights to publish that game outside Japan. Also, the original games looks lame and fairly generic and the resulting change to Decap Attack had much better graphics and music. You can see video footage of the Turbo Adventure on you tube.
Using Ninjitsu of Fushin
Oct 23rd, 2008, 07:43 AM
this game has always been one of my childhood favourites, good job!
pickled
Oct 23rd, 2008, 10:01 AM
A headless mummy with eyes on his torso? MADNESS!?
...Pause at the Beginning
Oct 23rd, 2008, 11:32 AM
I love this game.
SKATASTIC
Oct 24th, 2008, 05:30 PM
This game was great. I went on vacation with my friends family and they brought the genesis and decap attack. Screw the beach. Chuck D. Head needs our help.
Ya my sideburns are epic
Oct 25th, 2008, 11:36 AM
when I was a kid I loved this game!!!!!!!!!!
Looking tone!
Oct 29th, 2008, 08:13 PM
Decap attack is a hack made from a Japanese game called Magical Hat No Buttobi Turbo! Daiboukin. The original game looks very different and seems to have an Arabian setting.
Member
Sep 19th, 2010, 04:59 PM
I love the music in this game, but it is HARD.