Decap Attack

About Decap Attack

Decap Attack (1991) is Vic Tokai's Genesis platformer starring Chuck D. Head, a headless mummy who punches enemies with the face in his torso, a gothic Western makeover of Magical Hat.

Decap Attack in Depth

Dr. Frank N. Stein and his assistant Igor create Chuck D. Head, a headless mummy with a face in his chest, and send him to defeat Max D. Cap, a demon from the Underworld whose monster army is conquering the surface and has split the skeleton-shaped island chain into pieces. Levels are named after parts of the skeleton, such as Abdomainland and Armington, and some require Chuck to collect an item for Dr. Stein. After reuniting the islands and defeating Max, Chuck trudges home, where Stein rewards him by turning him into a human.

Chuck attacks by thrusting his face out of his torso or jumping on enemies, and tapping jump slows his fall. A skull power-up sits on his shoulders like a head and can be thrown like a boomerang, always returning until Chuck is hit. Potions collected along the way can be used at will for effects such as invincibility or wiping out every enemy on screen, red totem poles restore health when landed on, and crouching to slide down a ramp knocks out an approaching enemy. Each area ends with a boss. Players choose up to three hearts per life in the options, rising to five with upgrades, whereas in the Japanese original a single hit was fatal. Sega Force praised its "big, bold, colourfully and beautifully animated" graphics but found it unoriginal.

Making Decap Attack

Vic Tokai developed it and Sega published it for the Genesis in 1991, reworking Magical Hat's play with new graphics, characters, music and levels for Western audiences; in Magical Hat, the flagpoles that restore health in Decap Attack award lives instead. Console XS noted it was the same game with gothic graphics and gory kills but found it big and very playable, and MegaTech called it "a fun-filled platform game". It has since appeared in several emulated compilations.