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Head Over Heels (game)
Encyclopedia
Head Over Heels is an arcade adventure, released in 1987
for several 8-bit
home computer
s, and subsequently ported to a wide range of formats. Originally, the working title for the game was Foot and Mouth.
Visually, Head Over Heels bears a number of similarities with Ultimate Play The Game
's Knight Lore
and Alien 8
. It uses an isometric
engine that is similar to the Filmation
technique first developed by Ultimate. Head Over Heels is the second isometric game by Jon Ritman
and Bernie Drummond, after the Batman computer game.
The game introduces an original concept: the player controls (initially separately) two characters instead of just one. The two characters have different abilities (Head can jump twice as high, control himself in the air, and fire doughnuts from a hooter to paralyse enemies; while Heels can run twice as fast, climb certain staircases that Head cannot, and carry objects around a room in a bag), which become complementary when the player combines them together after about a sixth of the game. Compared to its predecessors, the game offers unique and revolutionary gameplay, more complex puzzles, and more than 300 rooms to explore.
Drummond contributed some famously surreal touches, including robots (controlled by push switches) that bore a remarkable resemblance to the head of Prince Charles
on the body of a Dalek
. Other surreal touches include enemies with the heads of elephants and staircases made of dogs that teleported themselves away as soon as Head entered the room.
In 1994
its authors wrote Monster Max
, another isometric video game, for the Game Boy
. The game, although monochrome, is twice the size of Head Over Heels.
Ritman admits that storyline lacked real connection to gameplay. In an interview for Edge, he stated that he "made the whole game up and then added the bullshit in the last ten minutes."
-microprocessor-based home computers (ZX Spectrum
, Amstrad CPC
, MSX
). Due to its huge success, it was later ported to other platforms including the Atari
XL/XE
and ST
, Amstrad PCW
, Commodore 64
and the Commodore Amiga
.
The latest remake of Head Over Heels (for Windows
, Mac OS
, Linux
and BeOS
) by Retrospec
is available as freeware
on their website. It was recently voted the second best remake ever by PC Zone
magazine.
1987 in video gaming
-Notable releases:* January 14, Nintendo releases Zelda II: The Adventure of Link in January for the Famicom Disk System in Japan only. The game would go unreleased in America for nearly two years afterwards.* February 20, Konami releases Contra...
for several 8-bit
8-bit
The first widely adopted 8-bit microprocessor was the Intel 8080, being used in many hobbyist computers of the late 1970s and early 1980s, often running the CP/M operating system. The Zilog Z80 and the Motorola 6800 were also used in similar computers...
home computer
Home computer
Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user...
s, and subsequently ported to a wide range of formats. Originally, the working title for the game was Foot and Mouth.
Visually, Head Over Heels bears a number of similarities with Ultimate Play The Game
Ultimate Play the Game
Ultimate Play The Game was a critically acclaimed video game developer of the early home computer era. "Ultimate Play The Game" was the trading name of Ashby Computers & Graphics Ltd. , a software company founded in 1982 by two ex-arcade game developers Tim and Chris Stamper...
's Knight Lore
Knight Lore
Knight Lore is a computer game developed and released by Ultimate Play The Game in 1984. The game is the third in the Sabreman series, following on from his adventures in Sabre Wulf and Underwurlde. Unlike the earlier games in the series it used Ultimate's filmation engine to achieve a 3D look...
and Alien 8
Alien 8
Alien 8 is a ZX Spectrum video game. It was written by Tim Stamper and Chris Stamper of Ultimate Play The Game, and was released by the company in 1985. The game was also ported to the BBC Micro, Amstrad CPC and MSX platforms. It is the follow-up to Ultimate's Knight Lore, which had been released...
. It uses an isometric
Isometric projection
Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings...
engine that is similar to the Filmation
Filmation engine
Filmation is the trademark name of the isometric graphics engine employed in a series of games developed by Ultimate Play The Game during the 1980s, primarily on the 8-bit ZX Spectrum platform, but various titles also appeared on the BBC Micro, Amstrad CPC, MSX and Commodore 64 platforms.The...
technique first developed by Ultimate. Head Over Heels is the second isometric game by Jon Ritman
Jon Ritman
Jon Ritman is a software developer, notable for his work on major 1980s video games. Working primarily on games for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC home computer range. His first experience with a computer was at the age of 13, and first computer was a Sinclair ZX81 that he bought in 1981.His first...
and Bernie Drummond, after the Batman computer game.
Gameplay
Drummond contributed some famously surreal touches, including robots (controlled by push switches) that bore a remarkable resemblance to the head of Prince Charles
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
on the body of a Dalek
Dalek
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...
. Other surreal touches include enemies with the heads of elephants and staircases made of dogs that teleported themselves away as soon as Head entered the room.
In 1994
1994 in video gaming
-Events:*Nintendo calls this year "1994: The Year of the Cartridge".*Nintendo Australia Pty. Ltd, the Australian subsidiary of Nintendo Co., Ltd is established and opened by Hiroshi Yamauchi and effectively ends Mattel Australia's distribution of Nintendo's products throughout Australia.*"Project...
its authors wrote Monster Max
Monster Max
Monster Max is an arcade adventure video game developed by Rare and published by Titus for the Game Boy handheld game console in late 1994. The game was written by Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond. It is very similar in both graphics and gameplay to Ritman and Drummond's 1987 title Head Over...
, another isometric video game, for the Game Boy
Game Boy line
The line is a line of battery-powered handheld game console sold by Nintendo. It is one of the world's best-selling game system lines with a combined 200+ million units sold worldwide....
. The game, although monochrome, is twice the size of Head Over Heels.
Plot
Headus Mouthion (Head) and Footus Underium (Heels) are two spies from the planet Freedom. They are sent to Blacktooth to liberate the enslaved planets of Penitentiary, Safari, Book World and Egyptus, and then to defeat the Emperor to prevent further planets falling under his rule. Captured and separated, the spies are placed in the prison headquarters of Castle Blacktooth and must first escape, then break through the market to the orbiting Moonbase where they can teleport down to the planets to locate and reobtain the stolen crowns. Liberation of the planets and defeat of the Emperor will allow Head and Heels to return to Freedom as heroes.Ritman admits that storyline lacked real connection to gameplay. In an interview for Edge, he stated that he "made the whole game up and then added the bullshit in the last ten minutes."
Conversions and remakes
Head Over Heels was first released in 1987 for Z80Zilog Z80
The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor designed by Zilog and sold from July 1976 onwards. It was widely used both in desktop and embedded computer designs as well as for military purposes...
-microprocessor-based home computers (ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
, Amstrad CPC
Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...
, MSX
MSX
MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...
). Due to its huge success, it was later ported to other platforms including the Atari
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
XL/XE
Atari 8-bit family
The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers manufactured from 1979 to 1992. All are based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU and were the first home computers designed with custom coprocessor chips...
and ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
, Amstrad PCW
Amstrad PCW
The Amstrad PCW series was a range of personal computers produced by British company Amstrad from 1985 to 1998, and also sold under licence in Europe as the "Joyce" by the German electronics company Schneider in the early years of the series' life. When it was launched, the cost of a PCW system was...
, Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
and the Commodore Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
.
The latest remake of Head Over Heels (for Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Mac OS
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
and BeOS
BeOS
BeOS is an operating system for personal computers which began development by Be Inc. in 1991. It was first written to run on BeBox hardware. BeOS was optimized for digital media work and was written to take advantage of modern hardware facilities such as symmetric multiprocessing by utilizing...
) by Retrospec
Retrospec
Retrospec is an internet based collective of coders, graphics artists and computer musicians. They specialise in taking popular games from the eighties and rewriting them using the extra power that is available in more modern computers, whilst attempting to stay true to the feel and gameplay of the...
is available as freeware
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
on their website. It was recently voted the second best remake ever by PC Zone
PC Zone
PC Zone was the first magazine dedicated to games for IBM-compatible personal computers to be published in the United Kingdom. Earlier PC magazines such as PC Leisure, PC Format and PC Plus had covered games but only as part of a wider remit. PC Zone was founded in 1993.The magazine was published...
magazine.
Critical reaction
- Your SinclairYour SinclairYour Sinclair or YS as it was commonly abbreviated, was a British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum.-History:...
awarded Head over Heels 9/10 in the June 1987 issue and the game was placed at number 5 in the Your Sinclair official top 100. Sinclair User also awarded 9/10.
- CrashCRASH (magazine)Crash was a magazine dedicated to the ZX Spectrum home computer. It was published from 1984 to 1991 by Newsfield Publications Ltd until their liquidation, and then until 1992 by Europress.-Development:...
magazine gave Head over Heels 97% and called the game "The best fun you're likely to have with a Spectrum for quite some time".
- Zzap!64Zzap!64Zzap!64 was a computer games magazine covering games on the Commodore International series of computers, especially the Commodore 64 . It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact....
gave the Commodore 64Commodore 64The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
conversion of the game 98%: enough for its coveted Gold Medal Award; the joint highest score in the magazine's history; and the first Gold Medal of the year - in its August 19871987 in video gaming-Notable releases:* January 14, Nintendo releases Zelda II: The Adventure of Link in January for the Famicom Disk System in Japan only. The game would go unreleased in America for nearly two years afterwards.* February 20, Konami releases Contra...
issue. It was described as "An all time classic - not to be missed for any reason"
Cultural references
- This game is parodied in the DVD release of The IT CrowdThe IT CrowdThe IT Crowd is a British sitcom by Channel 4, written by Graham Linehan, produced by Ash Atalla and starring Chris O'Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson and Matt Berry...
series one. In the DVD menu system, a game very similar to Head Over Heels, but with characters from the TV show, is played while you choose an episode.
External links
- Head Over Heels on the Amiga at the Hall of Light (HOL)
- CRASH review from 1987
- Your Sinclair review from 1987
- "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown" - analysis and dissertation of Head Over Heels at gamestudies.org
- Head over Heels platforms a Windows/Macintosh/Linux remake of the game