Decap Attack™ Reviews

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Decap Attack is a platforming game that came out in 1991 in the West only. It was published by Sega and was made by Vic Tokai. I also read that "Graphic Design" was involved for music. It came on 4 Megabit ROM. With many head puns made in manual and ads. Some might notice that platforming physics are terribly similar to Psycho Fox for Master System. It was made by Vic Tokai too. There is actually a few platformers that they made that share the same physics and the basic of gameplay so you can think of those four games as part of same franchise. Those are Kid Kool, Psycho Fox, Magical Hat (based on anime) and, finally, Decap Attack. Futhermore, Decap Attack is sorta a westernized version of Magical Hat game, due to not being able to secure anime's license outside of Japan. Thankfully, it wasn't just "censorship" and developers used the chance to futher work on mistakes and improve the game, giving life bar for example and making boss battles more complex. The game that you have here is nothing more than emulation of Sega Genesis version. Now, technical part about Sega's emulation here: The Sega Classic games that you purchase on Steam count as DLCs for "Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics" game that should appear in your library. It has Bedroom HUB which is the one with many features yet lags for many and Simply Launcher which lacks Workshop and Online but at least it works just fine for everybody. However, Simple Launcher has it's fair share of glitches as well. It can crash. And it does the second time you go to main menu, so always quit after saving there so it doesn't crash when you want to save next time! Emulation itself, mostly sound, isn't that good but it does it's job. Also, yes, emulator supports quick saves. As alternative, you can use external emulator to run games that you purchased. Sega kindly placed in all games that you purchased in "uncompressed ROMs" folder that program itself doesn't use, just change file extension to ".bin" or so. The file for this one being "DECAP_UE.68K". I also demand you to read digital manual of this game first. You can find it here on store page or go to "manuals" folder of game root and open "DA_PC_MG_EFIGS_US.pdf". Max D Head, who looks a bit too close of recolor to Magical Hat villain, has separated the skeleton shaped island into limbs and pieces and keeps on threatening to Dr Frank N. Stein, so it's up to Chuck D Head to chuck it up with two heads: one throwable skull he can find around and one that punches out of body. Go for it, but don't lose your head! It's an inertia based platformer. Most noticeably, unlike other platformers the amount of jump button held has zero impact on the jump height, only the speed of your movement. And yea, it's a bit clunky, or harder-to-control-than-expected. But it's nothing bad. While I hated Psycho Fox and had a bad aftertaste from it which influenced my first impression over this game, I actually found it to be pretty darn awesome. It controls nicely. You can glide in the air by tapping jump quickly, so you have some more pleasant control. Not to mention that it's better than previous Tokai's attempts, including Magical Hat game. Mostly because they implemented the hearts health bar, so it's not one hit kill anymore. While also making common enemies and bosses more interesting to fight. Like most common enemies have arrow over their head, that they slowly use. Protip: To get some additional health you have to bounce onto the pole right on top from above, vertically. The only strange thing is the fact that not everything gets restored after losing a life on a level. The enemies are still there. Actually, they respawn as soon as you leave the screen. On other hand, the statues that drop pickups when destroyed and bridges that fall when walked over don't. The bridges/platforms not restoring is actually quite interesting. They might make it harder, but sometimes you just open a shortcut. Supply statues are nastier, as you don't know what's inside them so you can't plan ahead. Like, leaving heart if you are already at full health. Oh well. Another gameplay feature is inventory system. You can collect potions powerups that you can later use, by pressing A to bring up labs menu, with Frank and Igor staring at you with a grin. Most of them are similar in helping you to pass around areas full of common enemies, whether it's destroying everything or giving you a shield. Some jumping and attack increasing ones. They are quite common, so they are pretty nice. Also, you got some options in the game. There is usual controls and sound test. And you can increase default heart amount from one to three. Oh, did I tell you that you can find two or so empty max heart powerups in the game? Oh yea, and they changed setting and music to have an awesome everyday-Halloween style to it. Though it's strange that the last level looks like ice cream hell, while ending shows castle exploding. But hey, the music, while LOUD at first, is damn awesome! Especially in the one where you are being chased by screen-tall all-consuming totem pole. Some of the bosses are also look real nice, bit and animated well. Ok, actually, I am talking about two last ones, which are made from multiple sprites, which is always great to see. Even if they look a bit doll-like. Still smooth for an early system game. And yea, it's pretty fun, even if flawed. Nice to control. The difficulty is neither too easy nor hard, albeit it slightly leans toward the easy. If anything, I feel that the game had much bigger impact in non-game form. You see, there was Sonic-related comics in UK, Sonic The Comic. In the beginning, it used to be much more Sega-general focused, having not only comic strips about Sonic, but also reviews and even comics about other Sega games. Those comics about other Sega games would often be abandoned after a while, sometimes at cliffhangers. But Decap Attack one was something else, as it kept going after the main arc, as writers still would make the strips based on that game even when they stopped making the others. Probably because it was perfect for their dark or absurd ideas, so they happily used it and kept people happy with those characters. It still got canceled at some point, so comics became Sonic-only. But yes, I think that it's today's hidden gem. Not the shiniest gem, but it's hidden from most modern gamers eyes for sure. Ok, I guess it's more of flawed yet good sort of game, not a gem. But check it out, it turned out to be better than I expected from makers of Psycho Fox.