One thing stands in it’s way.. incredibly poor localization.

The game, in it’s American form.. though I am usually by no means, a Japanese “purist” in most cases.. I actually appreciate well dubbed anime for instance… This game is.. well, there’s no getting around it in the case of Dynamite Headdy.. bastardized.

Now, that is a bit of an overused word in most cases… but in the case of Headdy, it’s 100% true. Tons of bizarre localization changes, and not a single one of them for the better, adds up to the game being undesirable in this form, and should be experenced the way it was meant to be be played.. if just but this one time.

The fact is, localization for this game went through the gamut of beating the game with the ugly stick, completly changing the visual design and overhauling of the original graphics.. but not for any real censorship problems. SImply because too many Sega of America people decided that their meddling would make the game better.

As a result, the hidden ending to Headdy was heavily altered, the plot was re-worded rather insipidly (See also Streets Of Rage 3) and graphical changes made to bosses for no discernible or logically unnecessary reason.

This is simply not the true Headdy that people should experience. My recommendation? Skip this and find the Japanese Rom. While it’s not technically the best way to actually support Sega or Nintendo… In a case like this, it would serve them right for not simply allowing the original game which WASN’T bastardized unnecessarily to be downloaded via the Wii for the North American region.

They dropped the ball with this VC release… so, shame on them. And the blame on them, too.