Deacpattack is my favorite game in the "franchise". It started with Kid Kool on the NES which was "meh". Then Psycho Fox on the Master System which was a definite improvement, but still not amazing though some people enjoy it a lot. Magical Hat was better than Psycho Fox and Decapattack is better than Magical Hat. I think for me at least the music really helps out with that. Maybe it was because I bought some sweet new Jensen speakers (ha!) and Decapattack was the first game I played with them hooked up and I was impressed by actually hearing bass in a videogame. I also like the graphics in Decapattack... they're not "impressive" so to speak but I do dig the colors and the art style. The parallax was just like any arcade game out there as usually arcades simply put one layer on top of the other and called it a day, just like this game does.
@@DGR_Dave Psycho Fox was held dear by kids that owned a SMS back then, magazines, etc. The idea of switching characters on the fly, each with their own strengths and weaknesses is neat, but the game could use the same variety in its overall design. Decap Attack could be more dynamic as well, I feel the gameplay stays the same and the stage layouts doesn't make it feel fresh throughout.
I had Magical Hat as a kid, it came out a good year before Decap Attack, but the diffiulty never really bothered me, I loved Psycho Fox so had gotten used to it by then.
@@auralunaprettycure Oh yeah, the whole sumo ending, and weird photos of the developers comign out of a polaroid camera, have that permanantly seered into my brain :D
I just began to play this game from the Sega bundle pack released on PS4. First time I played it yesterday. I always felt that it was a heart wrapped as a mummy. At first I felt that it was so weird but I grew to like it. I wanted to play it today but I had so much fun at church and enjoying the Sabbath that I could not get back on it today, maybe this up coming week I will play it again. Thanks for your review.
Hi there! I'm the guy who ripped the soundtrack for Project2612. I actually have pretty good memories of DecapAttack. Some kids whose mom my mom was friends with had this game (and a bunch of others), so I got to play it quite a bit back in the day (and even beat it, as well). That soundtrack actually stuck in my head for years afterwards - to the point that DecapAttack was actually the second-ever set put up on Project2612, and was one of the ones that launched the site on October 9th, 2005. I always hated the autoscroller levels (that only briefly got shown in this video). Those ones were pretty cheap. Instant deaths are never fun... All the same, I'm glad you pointed out the soundtrack as one of the highlights. There's some absolutely sleazy bass lines in several tracks (Level 2 comes to mind, along with Level 4 and Level 7 which you didn't really highlight), and that stuck in my head the most of all. It actually is kind of interesting to think about what if Sega had actually turned it into a franchise... it got actually a surprisingly good run in the UK Sonic comics (from Issue 10 to 257, on and off), but that's as far as expansion of the IP ever went. Thanks for the review! Was a fun one to watch while having a late dinner. :)
I remember renting this as a kid, specifically 8 or 9 (mid '90s), from a local rental place called Ocean Atlantic Rentals. OAR mainly did stuff for rental cottages an beach supplies but also did movie and game rentals. I still remember that instead of taking the empty box off the shelf, there was a tag hanging from a hook underneath each game and movie (if they had multiple copies, they'd have multiple tags). I also remember my mom freaking out at the references to decapitation. In the 2000s before they discontinued VHS rentals (about a year or so after another place, Village Video, did the same), they had a much wider selection of old movies on VHS. That's how I first saw Candyman, Heavy Metal and the original Dawn of the Dead. But now, Village Video's been gone for over a decade and OAR doesn't rent out movies or games anymore.
4 days is too long without SLX. I knew that something was missing from my life. Thanks again man. You make my day every time you make a video. SEGA RULES.
Thank you so much for reviewing this game was one of the earliest games I rented and played at a friends house and eventually acquired. You have some of the best content on TH-cam!
This was a tricky game to play at times, remember reading a comic strip of Decal Attack in Sonic the comic not knowing it was based on a game at the time!
I wanted to bring up the comic. I only found out about it a few years ago, I think through a wiki, and wanted to check it out for myself as I played the game long ago. Sadly online copies of the comic are really hard to find.
The thing was each comic was only about 5 pages long and the different stories all had their own titles. I had to number the Sonic stuff too with the different characters like Sonic 1,2,3,4,5 ect. Tails 1,2,3,4,5 ect. lol
Yaay a new Sega Lord X video! Hello from the UK man! I liked Magical flying hat turbo adventure better than Decap attack. You could turn into the big red robot thing. It took me years to realise Decap attack was a semi reskin of it! Thanks for your videos. They got me back into retro gaming and got me through some dark times when I was suffering from depression. 👍
These reviews are top tier. I grew up with sms and genesis but never thought I would care much for this type of review. I was wrong. Keep it up, I'll watch them all bro
I grew up in New Caledonia in the 1990s and my mum would buy me games for good grades but all the shops were independent small joints... And most of them didn't let you try before you buy . So like all my games bought this blind cause the cover art looked cool, turned out to be a classic. Trippy ASF game though.
I bought Decapattack somewhat blind when I saw it at the store, mostly on the strength of the humorous name & cover art, colorful screenshots, and the fact that it looked like a lighthearted, fun platformer. I wasn't disappointed. I enjoyed the colorful graphics, thought the platforming was solid, despite taking a bit to get used to the controls, and the soundtrack really impressed me. It didn't take me that long to beat, once I got a good handle on the game, but I enjoyed it enough that I played through it multiple times. Still a bit of a sentimental favorite.
What a nostalgic video :) I think the only thing missing is that it all begins with "Psycho Fox" 1989 release on the Sega Master System, I remember playing it way before the others and it's my favorite because of the variant of animals and their own unique skills.
Honestly DeCap Attack looks like one of those tie in games to a saterday morning cartoon that got only one season but has a rabidly loyal fanbase because of how wonderfully WEIRD it was.
He mentioned it in one of his videos before. Pretty sure he wasn’t a fan of it.. although I happen to think it’s up there with the Sonic titles. To each their own I guess 🤷🏻♂️
In my personal opinion I enjoy ''Magical Hat'' more than this one, I think the brighter landscapes and cuter look of Magical Hat are more appealing. Great review SLX.
To me, the most memorable game that Vic Tokai published was The Gene Machine (Divide by Zero, 1996, MS DOS). A P&C adventure. It was the first time I've heard of the Japanese developer/publisher.
I used to have this game back in the day. It took me a bit but I finally finished it and never went back to it. The gameplay reminded me of psycho fox for the sega master system.
Funny you should mention how it feels like a Master System game given that it's part of a somewhat trilogy. The other 2 games being Kid Kool on the NES and Psycho Fox on the Master System, all 3 made by Vic Tokai with the first and second game having similar gameplay and the 3rd game being an evolution of it.
My thoughts exactly, I played Psycho Fox on the Master System, which was fun and had several characters with varied abilities ( one ran faster, another jumped higher etc...). I remember seeing screenshots of the original Megadrive game, and was patiently waiting for it to be brought over ( the art style reminded me of the Wonder Boy games on the Master System). I was initially disappointed at the re-skin, but I still picked up DeCapAttack and enjoyed it. Would have been cool if they had built upon the Psycho Fox IP.
Interestingly, if you're familiar with this game, you'll know enemies respawn but items from the breakable statues do not (even if you have to restart the level from dying). Apparently just like the statues, this applies to bosses as well. The mole boss and I both took each other out at the same time. So as I began with a new life, once I made it to him again, I was preparing to give it another go... but he was gone. Walked straight to the exit.
There was a time in the middle of Genesis life where almost every month some weird quirky game would surprise you. In some ways I think it's the most unique and weird game library ever. I mean what was like this on other platforms? What was like Ecco? what was like the original ToeJam & Earl? So many games that were different from everything before and after.
I love DecapAttack, I got it quite late in around 96 or 97 but I read the UK Sonic the Comic published by Egmont which ran a very bizzare Decap strip that I loved. I was so happy to get it second hand for 10 quid, loved the music and the gameplay - I remember thinking it didn't look as colourful or varied as Sonic or Dynamite Headdy, but I guess reading the comic strip I appreciated the graphic style and already had a fondness for the characters. I've come round to liking the dingy style of some megadrive games so I've grown even fonder of Decap's look, but the lack in variation and detail is a shame, getting it as a cheap "old" second hand game in the 90s probably made me less critical of it at the time, but having the entire library of the MD to peruse and seeing what could be achieved does make it feel like a primitive effort for the system and I can see why people looking at it now might be less fond of the visuals - especially if you didn't already love the characters. Still a great game and one I love playing to this day.
I own both the Magical Hat JP Mega Drive game and DecapAttack. Frankly, I didn’t love Vic Tokai’s “series.” Psycho Fox had miserable physics and Magical Hat only partially fixed that. But DecapAttack is great! It plays SO much better than the Mega Drive original, even though Magical Hat looks so much better. I’ll take the better playing game over the better looking game every time. Great review!
Have to disagree with you on the graphics. I only stumbled upon this game in the Genesis collection on PS3 (and later steam), and it was the quirky and charming cartoon goth graphics that made it stick out to me when I was going through all the games. I think they look great, and they certainly will never be mistaken for any other game. Yes it is only one layer of parallax, but the effect still looks nice. And you were correct about it absolutely looking like a Genesis game. No mistaking that color pallet.
This game was vary fun for me as a kid I loved the gothic them and I still get lost in this game from time to time. Awesome review I'm looking forward to your next one god bless sega lord x
A good review of a game that I think made a bit more of an impression in the UK than the USA, even if I think that your criticism that this Sega Genesis game looks like a Sega Genesis game and not a TG16/SNES game, is a bit unfair. It's certainly much more accessible than Magical Hat, and revels in a wicked sense of humour.
This was one of the first games I played on the system and for that reason I'll always have fond memories of it. Although for me it is your standard 16-bit platformer it was definitely one that deserved a sequel because I do think Vic Tokai was onto something with their platform games. The company itself is interesting in the fact they were a telecommunications company that got into making games then just left suddenly at the end of the 90s.
Decap Attack was my jam as a kid. I remember getting it for my 6th birthday and it was a game I came back to time and time again. I could never get past that damn mole boss though.
Yeah, i also remember it as a brutal hard game. Maybe i was too young/stupid to understand how the coins and all the stuff worked. Especially as a 4 years old german kid ^^
One of my favorite non-survival horror games to play during the Halloween season along with Gargoyle's Quest and Splatterhouse 2. The soundtrack is in the top 10 as far as Genesis games go. Great stuff.
Definitely not one of my favorite platformers, but I really love the soundtrack! Much like Psycho Fox before it, I feel the controls are a bit too slippery, and it's too easy to hit an enemy and take damage. Fortunately, they seemed aware of that and made the game far more merciful than the original Magical Hat... those one-hit deaths are a nightmare. The gameplay and soundtrack were improved, but I prefer the colorful graphics of Magical Hat. It's much like Black Belt vs Fist of the North Star, the western version improves the gameplay but the graphics become bland compared to the game it was based on.
I'd forgotten this game, but as a small side note Decap Attack had its own (often quite funny) comic strip within Sonic The Comic, that alone was enough to sell the game to me lol
Sega and NEC were sort of in the same boat. Not having access to the biggest third parties, they both heavily relied on anime, manga and other Japanese media licenses for games, and genericized those games for Western localization. I'd like to see a whole video about those types of games. This, Black Belt, Mystic Defender, Alex Kidd in Hi Tech World, and others.
I like Decap Attack, largely because it has a kind of cute Halloween atmosphere that's kid-friendly, but actually pretty fun to play. I really enjoy it as a seasonal game.
I remember playing this game several times but could unfortunately never really get into it despite really wanting to like it. Will have to give it another try.
I think this a good game 4 when U just got bored of the 1-3 big hitters many had access to back in the day. Kinda like super valis 4. Nothing spectacular but it was better than playing a game with excellent graphics and horrible controls. I only played it at a friends house that had a Genesis and probably every game at the time. I only owned a game boy then. I never owned my own NES so visiting households that did was my only exposure to games. Seeing anything on Genesis blew my mind compared to wimpy NES and especially my game boy, though at the time just being able to change games on a portable inspired awe. Step forward to 2022 and I will take these memories over any I have made in the last 3 years lol.
I love the Genesis, but it was known for its poor video output with those cables. It's one of the weaker aspects of the machine. It does look really nice with RGB, even if you lose the color blending from the lower-quality connections.
Decap Attack is an underrated gem on the Genesis. Definitely better that it’s Japanese brethren with the one hit deaths in which that make Turbo Hat version beyond frustrating. Another thing is it’s a good horror themed game, which aside from Splatterhouse, you didn’t see on that system.
Gotta love that Vic Tokai sound, especially 7:14, it was the main draw for me with Socket =) Also, for anyone that enjoyed this, check out Psycho Fox on the Master System, which Decap Attack is kind of a progression of in terms of gameplay ;-)
This game is one of my original ones back in the day, and I loved it; as there was no timer I would explore every bit of each level. There's a nice animated ending to the story too. The strength potion is pretty useful against bosses.
This game was such a huge part of my childhood! For some reason, whenever I think of this game, I always think of kid chameleon too, so I’m pretty sure my brothers and I must have gotten both games around the same time. Both games evoke such a powerful feeling of nostalgia. They don’t get the credit they deserve, in my opinion, though I’m pretty sure the nostalgia factor plays a major role in why I feel so strongly about them. Kid Chameleon has the upper hand in my opinion. But yeah, there were so many great games during the Genesis and SNES era! I am so glad I was fortunate enough to grow up with so many awesome video games. The 90s had it all man.. the video games, the music, the movies, etc etc. Anyway, you’re the man, X! Thanks for all that you do!
I loved the eff out of Psycho Fox when I was a kid so when I played Decap I noticed all the similarities between the games. That alone was what kept me motivated to beat the game.
my grandpa gave me this console that had this game (and sonic pinball etc etc) he died later that year and that console is all that i have of him that he gave me. this game always was creepy for me because of the main character. just wanted to comment this to remind myself of this weird and interesting game
Decap Attack gets my vote for best side scroller action platformer on the genesis. Had so much fun playing this one through to completion. Vic Tokai really killed it with this one!
As a kid, one of my friends let me borrow this game. I thought it was decent, but, yeah, the graphics are kind of lackluster for a Genesis game. The game just looks kind of drab and generic. However, my favorite thing about the game was the soundtrack! I remember just sitting at the game's Sound Test just to listen to all the music instead of playing the actual game! 😅
Decap attack ( so magical hat of which I had only vaguely heard of ) was in my opinion a 16 bit re-design or conversion of "Psycho Fox" on the Sega master system. Same gameplay, same frustrating difficulty, but same appeal too. Try Psycho Fox and you will find identical gameplay features, like the skull you throw in decap attack is exactly similar to the little black bird that psycho fox picks up and throws at enemies, bonuses are concealed the same way but in eggs in PF while in DA they are in statues, the bonus stages are identical in their operation, in magical hat, the punch attack is totally identical to that in PF. the principle of potions and objects to recover and use and similar too. the only notable element missing is the possibility in DA to change characters, while in PF there are 4 selectable ones. (good idea at the time, except that the menu for selecting objects and characters was done with the select button of the master system... so...) I know these two games well on their respective supports, their qualities and faults are very similar. even if of course, Decap attack brings much more quality! despite everything... I recommend to try Psycho fox it is good and makes a very good challenge for lovers of platform games.
I'm aware of Psycho Fox and I honestly can't stand it. This plays so much better. They may have similarities in design, but the quality between the two couldn't be more different.
@@SegaLordX you are right, DA has a higher quality and is really more pleasant to play! It must be because it runs on a machine with 68,000 hearts on fire... 😉
We had this when I was a kid and I loved it. I never knew anyone else who had it or talked about it. I never even came close to beating it, but I still remember everything from the first few levels. It's still one of the first things I will try if it is on a sega classics compilation.
One of my all time favourite Sega Mega Drive game I remember when my mum brought me my First Sega Mega Drive console and one of the games with it was Decapattack when I first played it such a weird cool game that grew on me love it and great game music too 👍🕹🔉
Gotta say I prefer the Japanese version more. But that is only due to my attachment with my late friend who had one of the first Japanese imported megadrive in the country.....(uk - he sold me a lot of his Japanese games and showed me to remove the pcb to play it in my uk one for peanuts due to his addiction aged 14. Passed aged 18 in the year 2000) Kid Kool and psycho fox are the prequels which I equally enjoyed considering there short comings.
I never thought of this game as having "bad" graphics. In fact as a kid and even an adult I quite enjoy the graphics. Either way I have a blind love for this game and have beat it countless times.
I really appreciated this look-back on Decap Attack. As a kid, it was one of my favorite rentals. When I tried to play it as an adult, I found I didn't enjoy it as much, but I think that speaks to what you mentioned in your review--patience. I'm going to give this another try, and will attempt to keep in mind to go at a slower pace, and try not to speed through. (As a kid, we always had more time to play.)
I dunno I always thought this was a good looking game. That said I do agree, it is distinctly looking Sega game. It's pretty cool that even to this day, you can tell your playing a Sega game just from how it looks
I absolutely love turbo hat adventure... One of my all time favourites. Awesome music and great challenging gameplay. Prefer turbo hat over decap attack
I rented Decap Attack several times as a kid and loved it. Ended up getting my own copy around 10 yrars ago. It's one of those games I will regularly just sit down with for an evening when I didn't have the greatest day.
Deacpattack is my favorite game in the "franchise". It started with Kid Kool on the NES which was "meh". Then Psycho Fox on the Master System which was a definite improvement, but still not amazing though some people enjoy it a lot. Magical Hat was better than Psycho Fox and Decapattack is better than Magical Hat. I think for me at least the music really helps out with that. Maybe it was because I bought some sweet new Jensen speakers (ha!) and Decapattack was the first game I played with them hooked up and I was impressed by actually hearing bass in a videogame. I also like the graphics in Decapattack... they're not "impressive" so to speak but I do dig the colors and the art style. The parallax was just like any arcade game out there as usually arcades simply put one layer on top of the other and called it a day, just like this game does.
I'm one of the weirdos that really likes Psycho Fox haha
@@DGR_Dave Psycho Fox was held dear by kids that owned a SMS back then, magazines, etc. The idea of switching characters on the fly, each with their own strengths and weaknesses is neat, but the game could use the same variety in its overall design. Decap Attack could be more dynamic as well, I feel the gameplay stays the same and the stage layouts doesn't make it feel fresh throughout.
Psycho Fox was a ton of fun. A really colorful game and the physics were like no other (for better or worse)
You sound stoned as hell lmao
So much memories with Psycho Fox. It was the first game I bought with my own money. Loved the music.
I had Magical Hat as a kid, it came out a good year before Decap Attack, but the diffiulty never really bothered me, I loved Psycho Fox so had gotten used to it by then.
Were they sequels? I always though the were similar.
Same. Do you prefer Snes or mega drive Mr Larry Bundy Jr?
Magical Hat, easily one of the best picks in the history of genesis/MD
Psycho Fox is indeed badass. It also has one of the weirdest endings of any SMS game I’ve played lol
@@auralunaprettycure Oh yeah, the whole sumo ending, and weird photos of the developers comign out of a polaroid camera, have that permanantly seered into my brain :D
This game brings me back so many awesome memories. Me & my dad played this game a lot
I just began to play this game from the Sega bundle pack released on PS4. First time I played it yesterday. I always felt that it was a heart wrapped as a mummy. At first I felt that it was so weird but I grew to like it. I wanted to play it today but I had so much fun at church and enjoying the Sabbath that I could not get back on it today, maybe this up coming week I will play it again. Thanks for your review.
Hi there! I'm the guy who ripped the soundtrack for Project2612.
I actually have pretty good memories of DecapAttack. Some kids whose mom my mom was friends with had this game (and a bunch of others), so I got to play it quite a bit back in the day (and even beat it, as well). That soundtrack actually stuck in my head for years afterwards - to the point that DecapAttack was actually the second-ever set put up on Project2612, and was one of the ones that launched the site on October 9th, 2005.
I always hated the autoscroller levels (that only briefly got shown in this video). Those ones were pretty cheap. Instant deaths are never fun...
All the same, I'm glad you pointed out the soundtrack as one of the highlights. There's some absolutely sleazy bass lines in several tracks (Level 2 comes to mind, along with Level 4 and Level 7 which you didn't really highlight), and that stuck in my head the most of all. It actually is kind of interesting to think about what if Sega had actually turned it into a franchise... it got actually a surprisingly good run in the UK Sonic comics (from Issue 10 to 257, on and off), but that's as far as expansion of the IP ever went.
Thanks for the review! Was a fun one to watch while having a late dinner. :)
Game was fun then and still is now. Been playing it on the Sega Collections and it instantly takes me back to the 90s.
I remember renting this as a kid, specifically 8 or 9 (mid '90s), from a local rental place called Ocean Atlantic Rentals. OAR mainly did stuff for rental cottages an beach supplies but also did movie and game rentals. I still remember that instead of taking the empty box off the shelf, there was a tag hanging from a hook underneath each game and movie (if they had multiple copies, they'd have multiple tags). I also remember my mom freaking out at the references to decapitation. In the 2000s before they discontinued VHS rentals (about a year or so after another place, Village Video, did the same), they had a much wider selection of old movies on VHS. That's how I first saw Candyman, Heavy Metal and the original Dawn of the Dead. But now, Village Video's been gone for over a decade and OAR doesn't rent out movies or games anymore.
4 days is too long without SLX. I knew that something was missing from my life. Thanks again man. You make my day every time you make a video. SEGA RULES.
Such a weird game, love it! Its so 80s/90s
Yup. Only Sega could come up with such a strange concept.
True!
One of my favorite games for the SEGA.
I bought this new on the cheap back in the day. One of those games I had to love since budget was always tight and the library limited.
Thank you so much for reviewing this game was one of the earliest games I rented and played at a friends house and eventually acquired. You have some of the best content on TH-cam!
This was a tricky game to play at times, remember reading a comic strip of Decal Attack in Sonic the comic not knowing it was based on a game at the time!
Would have made a great Saturday morning cartoon!
Sonic the Comic was my childhood. Loved seeing this, Streets of Rage, Shinobi and others making appearances.
I wanted to bring up the comic. I only found out about it a few years ago, I think through a wiki, and wanted to check it out for myself as I played the game long ago.
Sadly online copies of the comic are really hard to find.
Good thing i downloaded them and put them in individual files on my terrbyte hardrive. I might upload them someday.
The thing was each comic was only about 5 pages long and the different stories all had their own titles. I had to number the Sonic stuff too with the different characters like Sonic 1,2,3,4,5 ect. Tails 1,2,3,4,5 ect. lol
Yaay a new Sega Lord X video! Hello from the UK man! I liked Magical flying hat turbo adventure better than Decap attack. You could turn into the big red robot thing. It took me years to realise Decap attack was a semi reskin of it! Thanks for your videos. They got me back into retro gaming and got me through some dark times when I was suffering from depression. 👍
Good to hear you are feeling better. :)
@@SegaLordX Thanks bro. 👍
One of the three games that were packed-in with my Mega Drive: Sonic, Decap Attack and Jewel Master. I liked all three.
These reviews are top tier. I grew up with sms and genesis but never thought I would care much for this type of review. I was wrong. Keep it up, I'll watch them all bro
I grew up in New Caledonia in the 1990s and my mum would buy me games for good grades but all the shops were independent small joints... And most of them didn't let you try before you buy . So like all my games bought this blind cause the cover art looked cool, turned out to be a classic. Trippy ASF game though.
You never cease to amaze me with the picks you have. Totally forgot about this gem.
Decap attack is one of my favorite Genesis games. I always kept coming back to it, and will every now and again.
I bought Decapattack somewhat blind when I saw it at the store, mostly on the strength of the humorous name & cover art, colorful screenshots, and the fact that it looked like a lighthearted, fun platformer. I wasn't disappointed. I enjoyed the colorful graphics, thought the platforming was solid, despite taking a bit to get used to the controls, and the soundtrack really impressed me. It didn't take me that long to beat, once I got a good handle on the game, but I enjoyed it enough that I played through it multiple times. Still a bit of a sentimental favorite.
What a nostalgic video :)
I think the only thing missing is that it all begins with "Psycho Fox" 1989 release on the Sega Master System, I remember playing it way before the others and it's my favorite because of the variant of animals and their own unique skills.
Yeah, I'm honestly surprised Psycho Fox wasn't mentioned in the video
Honestly DeCap Attack looks like one of those tie in games to a saterday morning cartoon that got only one season but has a rabidly loyal fanbase because of how wonderfully WEIRD it was.
Great review! I'd love to hear your thoughts on High Seas Havoc someday, I feel it's a solid platform experience on the Genesis
It's a great game and its sound engine was used for many bootleg games, so clearly they liked it too lol
He mentioned it in one of his videos before. Pretty sure he wasn’t a fan of it.. although I happen to think it’s up there with the Sonic titles. To each their own I guess 🤷🏻♂️
cool game, but imo it runs too fast for it's own good, trying to copy Sonic The Hedgehog and failing miserably.
Love it, very fun game .
Haven't played it since my old College days
In my personal opinion I enjoy ''Magical Hat'' more than this one, I think the brighter landscapes and cuter look of Magical Hat are more appealing. Great review SLX.
To me, the most memorable game that Vic Tokai published was The Gene Machine (Divide by Zero, 1996, MS DOS). A P&C adventure. It was the first time I've heard of the Japanese developer/publisher.
I enjoyed DecapAttack as a kid. I don't think it held my interest for long but it is a memorable game. Glad to see you covered it here.
I love Decap Attack, especially its soundtrack.
I really enjoyed this game when I played it on Sonic's Ultimate Genesis for my PS3. It was a hidden gem for me. Nice job on the review as always 👍
I used to have this game back in the day. It took me a bit but I finally finished it and never went back to it. The gameplay reminded me of psycho fox for the sega master system.
Same company. They did an NES game called Kid Kool that uses the same gameplay too.
Funny you should mention how it feels like a Master System game given that it's part of a somewhat trilogy. The other 2 games being Kid Kool on the NES and Psycho Fox on the Master System, all 3 made by Vic Tokai with the first and second game having similar gameplay and the 3rd game being an evolution of it.
My thoughts exactly, I played Psycho Fox on the Master System, which was fun and had several characters with varied abilities ( one ran faster, another jumped higher etc...). I remember seeing screenshots of the original Megadrive game, and was patiently waiting for it to be brought over ( the art style reminded me of the Wonder Boy games on the Master System). I was initially disappointed at the re-skin, but I still picked up DeCapAttack and enjoyed it.
Would have been cool if they had built upon the Psycho Fox IP.
Psycho fox was pretty good
Magical flying hat was my first mega drive game in 1989 wow how time move fast.
Interestingly, if you're familiar with this game, you'll know enemies respawn but items from the breakable statues do not (even if you have to restart the level from dying). Apparently just like the statues, this applies to bosses as well.
The mole boss and I both took each other out at the same time. So as I began with a new life, once I made it to him again, I was preparing to give it another go... but he was gone. Walked straight to the exit.
There was a time in the middle of Genesis life where almost every month some weird quirky game would surprise you. In some ways I think it's the most unique and weird game library ever. I mean what was like this on other platforms? What was like Ecco? what was like the original ToeJam & Earl? So many games that were different from everything before and after.
I’ll sometimes listen to this game’s music while playing another game on PC
Great review. I have this game for my Genesis. Thanks for this video.
Thanks for watching!
I love the OST for this game!
I love DecapAttack, I got it quite late in around 96 or 97 but I read the UK Sonic the Comic published by Egmont which ran a very bizzare Decap strip that I loved. I was so happy to get it second hand for 10 quid, loved the music and the gameplay - I remember thinking it didn't look as colourful or varied as Sonic or Dynamite Headdy, but I guess reading the comic strip I appreciated the graphic style and already had a fondness for the characters. I've come round to liking the dingy style of some megadrive games so I've grown even fonder of Decap's look, but the lack in variation and detail is a shame, getting it as a cheap "old" second hand game in the 90s probably made me less critical of it at the time, but having the entire library of the MD to peruse and seeing what could be achieved does make it feel like a primitive effort for the system and I can see why people looking at it now might be less fond of the visuals - especially if you didn't already love the characters. Still a great game and one I love playing to this day.
I own both the Magical Hat JP Mega Drive game and DecapAttack. Frankly, I didn’t love Vic Tokai’s “series.” Psycho Fox had miserable physics and Magical Hat only partially fixed that. But DecapAttack is great! It plays SO much better than the Mega Drive original, even though Magical Hat looks so much better. I’ll take the better playing game over the better looking game every time. Great review!
Have to disagree with you on the graphics. I only stumbled upon this game in the Genesis collection on PS3 (and later steam), and it was the quirky and charming cartoon goth graphics that made it stick out to me when I was going through all the games. I think they look great, and they certainly will never be mistaken for any other game. Yes it is only one layer of parallax, but the effect still looks nice. And you were correct about it absolutely looking like a Genesis game. No mistaking that color pallet.
I was obsessed with this game when I was 12 or 13
I think that was the target audience's age range for it. These days it's one of the most creative games ever made. 👌😌
This game doesn't get enough love, thanks.
one of my fav Genesis games, pretty long for a platformer too
Never played it, but it always reminded me of European style platformers, like James Pond or Chuck Rock.
This game was vary fun for me as a kid I loved the gothic them and I still get lost in this game from time to time. Awesome review I'm looking forward to your next one god bless sega lord x
This was the first game I ever seen on a Sega Genesis that made me want to own one, but I had already got the SNES for christmas.
Close shave!!
A good review of a game that I think made a bit more of an impression in the UK than the USA, even if I think that your criticism that this Sega Genesis game looks like a Sega Genesis game and not a TG16/SNES game, is a bit unfair. It's certainly much more accessible than Magical Hat, and revels in a wicked sense of humour.
Hands down one of my favorite Genesis games. Owned it growing up, bought on a whim from KB Toys because of cover art...it's a classic. 👍
This was one of the first games I played on the system and for that reason I'll always have fond memories of it. Although for me it is your standard 16-bit platformer it was definitely one that deserved a sequel because I do think Vic Tokai was onto something with their platform games. The company itself is interesting in the fact they were a telecommunications company that got into making games then just left suddenly at the end of the 90s.
Decap Attack was my jam as a kid. I remember getting it for my 6th birthday and it was a game I came back to time and time again. I could never get past that damn mole boss though.
Yeah, i also remember it as a brutal hard game. Maybe i was too young/stupid to understand how the coins and all the stuff worked.
Especially as a 4 years old german kid ^^
One of my favorite non-survival horror games to play during the Halloween season along with Gargoyle's Quest and Splatterhouse 2. The soundtrack is in the top 10 as far as Genesis games go. Great stuff.
Definitely not one of my favorite platformers, but I really love the soundtrack! Much like Psycho Fox before it, I feel the controls are a bit too slippery, and it's too easy to hit an enemy and take damage. Fortunately, they seemed aware of that and made the game far more merciful than the original Magical Hat... those one-hit deaths are a nightmare. The gameplay and soundtrack were improved, but I prefer the colorful graphics of Magical Hat. It's much like Black Belt vs Fist of the North Star, the western version improves the gameplay but the graphics become bland compared to the game it was based on.
I'd forgotten this game, but as a small side note Decap Attack had its own (often quite funny) comic strip within Sonic The Comic, that alone was enough to sell the game to me lol
It was awesome yeah
Ooh yeah! Halloween comes around….the OST becomes my ring tones. Love the music and the game isn’t too shabby either.
The OST is pretty solid for Genesis music.
This is definitely in my "I need to try" list!
Thanks for the great video as always!
Sega and NEC were sort of in the same boat. Not having access to the biggest third parties, they both heavily relied on anime, manga and other Japanese media licenses for games, and genericized those games for Western localization.
I'd like to see a whole video about those types of games. This, Black Belt, Mystic Defender, Alex Kidd in Hi Tech World, and others.
To this day, when I'm alone and feeling silly, I would walk waving my hands around like Chuck's walk/run animation.
I like Decap Attack, largely because it has a kind of cute Halloween atmosphere that's kid-friendly, but actually pretty fun to play. I really enjoy it as a seasonal game.
This game seriously needs a remake!
I'd agree.
@@SegaLordX Maybe you could make a video about old 16-bit soundtracks remixed. I've seen even E-Swat boss theme remixed.
I remember playing this game several times but could unfortunately never really get into it despite really wanting to like it. Will have to give it another try.
I think this a good game 4 when U just got bored of the 1-3 big hitters many had access to back in the day. Kinda like super valis 4. Nothing spectacular but it was better than playing a game with excellent graphics and horrible controls. I only played it at a friends house that had a Genesis and probably every game at the time. I only owned a game boy then. I never owned my own NES so visiting households that did was my only exposure to games. Seeing anything on Genesis blew my mind compared to wimpy NES and especially my game boy, though at the time just being able to change games on a portable inspired awe. Step forward to 2022 and I will take these memories over any I have made in the last 3 years lol.
It’s incredible how much better the Genesis looks when using a component cable compared to the A/V or RF output I used to play on.
I love the Genesis, but it was known for its poor video output with those cables. It's one of the weaker aspects of the machine. It does look really nice with RGB, even if you lose the color blending from the lower-quality connections.
as always thanks for the nostalgia and background sir
You bet!
Decap Attack is an underrated gem on the Genesis. Definitely better that it’s Japanese brethren with the one hit deaths in which that make Turbo Hat version beyond frustrating. Another thing is it’s a good horror themed game, which aside from Splatterhouse, you didn’t see on that system.
Gotta love that Vic Tokai sound, especially 7:14, it was the main draw for me with Socket =)
Also, for anyone that enjoyed this, check out Psycho Fox on the Master System, which Decap Attack is kind of a progression of in terms of gameplay ;-)
Genesis was good times. I can appreciate the content!
This game is one of my original ones back in the day, and I loved it; as there was no timer I would explore every bit of each level. There's a nice animated ending to the story too. The strength potion is pretty useful against bosses.
This game was such a huge part of my childhood! For some reason, whenever I think of this game, I always think of kid chameleon too, so I’m pretty sure my brothers and I must have gotten both games around the same time. Both games evoke such a powerful feeling of nostalgia. They don’t get the credit they deserve, in my opinion, though I’m pretty sure the nostalgia factor plays a major role in why I feel so strongly about them. Kid Chameleon has the upper hand in my opinion. But yeah, there were so many great games during the Genesis and SNES era! I am so glad I was fortunate enough to grow up with so many awesome video games. The 90s had it all man.. the video games, the music, the movies, etc etc. Anyway, you’re the man, X! Thanks for all that you do!
I loved the eff out of Psycho Fox when I was a kid so when I played Decap I noticed all the similarities between the games. That alone was what kept me motivated to beat the game.
The artwork makes me think of the Bonk franchise.
my grandpa gave me this console that had this game (and sonic pinball etc etc) he died later that year and that console is all that i have of him that he gave me. this game always was creepy for me because of the main character.
just wanted to comment this to remind myself of this weird and interesting game
Decap Attack gets my vote for best side scroller action platformer on the genesis. Had so much fun playing this one through to completion. Vic Tokai really killed it with this one!
This is my most favorite game EVER. Also haunting with Pulter Guy.
I have never heard of this game, but to know that it is a sequel to Magical Hat makes me interested in this game.
As a kid, one of my friends let me borrow this game. I thought it was decent, but, yeah, the graphics are kind of lackluster for a Genesis game. The game just looks kind of drab and generic. However, my favorite thing about the game was the soundtrack! I remember just sitting at the game's Sound Test just to listen to all the music instead of playing the actual game! 😅
I think the Halloween themes saved it. The graphics and music as well as the gameplay mechanics.
Decap attack ( so magical hat of which I had only vaguely heard of ) was in my opinion a 16 bit re-design or conversion of "Psycho Fox" on the Sega master system. Same gameplay, same frustrating difficulty, but same appeal too. Try Psycho Fox and you will find identical gameplay features, like the skull you throw in decap attack is exactly similar to the little black bird that psycho fox picks up and throws at enemies, bonuses are concealed the same way but in eggs in PF while in DA they are in statues, the bonus stages are identical in their operation, in magical hat, the punch attack is totally identical to that in PF. the principle of potions and objects to recover and use and similar too. the only notable element missing is the possibility in DA to change characters, while in PF there are 4 selectable ones. (good idea at the time, except that the menu for selecting objects and characters was done with the select button of the master system... so...) I know these two games well on their respective supports, their qualities and faults are very similar. even if of course, Decap attack brings much more quality! despite everything... I recommend to try Psycho fox it is good and makes a very good challenge for lovers of platform games.
I'm aware of Psycho Fox and I honestly can't stand it. This plays so much better. They may have similarities in design, but the quality between the two couldn't be more different.
@@SegaLordX you are right, DA has a higher quality and is really more pleasant to play! It must be because it runs on a machine with 68,000 hearts on fire... 😉
First time I played DecapAttack was at a friend's house. It's an underrated gem, not flawless by any means but it's unique and a lot of fun.
I didn't know about the sprite swap until very recently, but I couldn't help but like this game, its called decap attack lol
Yeah. I didn't have this game growing up as a 90s kid, but I'd agree with the journalist that this games graphics are beautiful myself. Lol
Those sounds bring me right back. I remember we bought our copy at a swap meet. The booth had hundreds of them.
Finally gave it a shot on one of the collections. Collecting treasures to progress being annoying aside, is a decent time
I played this game for a few minutes and it was one of the weirdest games I have ever played. I should give it another go sometime!
We had this when I was a kid and I loved it. I never knew anyone else who had it or talked about it. I never even came close to beating it, but I still remember everything from the first few levels. It's still one of the first things I will try if it is on a sega classics compilation.
Ha! I was just playing this game today. I love this game, not sure it would be as charming without the horror theme.
That's what led to it's soundtrack too. 🤔
Cool game! Never heard of this title before! I like the music and gameplay mechanics! Awesome video SLX!
Good to see there were inclusive games back then
One of my all time favourite Sega Mega Drive game I remember when my mum brought me my First Sega Mega Drive console and one of the games with it was Decapattack when I first played it such a weird cool game that grew on me love it and great game music too 👍🕹🔉
Really loved this game, besides never really finished. The art style is the one thing that sticked with me the most!
Good times, man! XDDDD
One of my most favorites for Sega as a kid.
This was a very good redressing of an existing game. Always got a Dr Forrester and TV's Frank vibe from Dr Frank N. Stein and his assistant Igor.
right? i can hear John Astin's voice when the doc is talking to me. lol
Just push the button, Igor....
Gotta say I prefer the Japanese version more. But that is only due to my attachment with my late friend who had one of the first Japanese imported megadrive in the country.....(uk - he sold me a lot of his Japanese games and showed me to remove the pcb to play it in my uk one for peanuts due to his addiction aged 14. Passed aged 18 in the year 2000)
Kid Kool and psycho fox are the prequels which I equally enjoyed considering there short comings.
one of my favorites games .
in the UK Sonic comic books they also had decap attack as a comic strip too, along with shinobi, ecco, streets of rage and golden axe
I never thought of this game as having "bad" graphics. In fact as a kid and even an adult I quite enjoy the graphics. Either way I have a blind love for this game and have beat it countless times.
Great vid, I agree that Decap graphics and colors are disgusting and unappealing, while Magic Hat looks beautiful imo.
While the graphics weren't impressive or had any fx the art style is one of the best on the system.
LOVE THIS GAME 🔥
Out of all the games I had for the Genesis (I only had a few games) Decap Attack was my favorite.
I really appreciated this look-back on Decap Attack. As a kid, it was one of my favorite rentals. When I tried to play it as an adult, I found I didn't enjoy it as much, but I think that speaks to what you mentioned in your review--patience. I'm going to give this another try, and will attempt to keep in mind to go at a slower pace, and try not to speed through. (As a kid, we always had more time to play.)
I dunno I always thought this was a good looking game. That said I do agree, it is distinctly looking Sega game. It's pretty cool that even to this day, you can tell your playing a Sega game just from how it looks
I absolutely love turbo hat adventure... One of my all time favourites. Awesome music and great challenging gameplay. Prefer turbo hat over decap attack
I rented Decap Attack several times as a kid and loved it. Ended up getting my own copy around 10 yrars ago. It's one of those games I will regularly just sit down with for an evening when I didn't have the greatest day.