One of the first games I remember playing on the ZX Spectrum, alongside the Dizzy games, Atom Ant, Batman, Technician Ted, Jet Set Willy, Horace Goes Skiing, Chuckie Egg and Operation Wolf. Never knew there was a storyline at all when I was a kid, just that the general gist is a simple, but brilliantly executed one. Head Over Heels is an isometric platform puzzler, similar in style to Batman by the same creators, and Knightlore. You switch between characters, one being Head and one being Heels. Head is slow, but has a good jump and can glide in mid air. Heels is fast, but cant jump very far. When the two get together, Head can ride on Heels, and you gain the abilities of both together! But the game is a pretty damn fiendish puzzler, and every time you get the pair together again, you will soon reach a puzzle that requires you to split them up again! You have to progress through a large chunk of the futuristic space world of Blacktooth until you reach the transporters, which then take you to four other worlds, Egyptus, Penitentiary, Bookworld and Safari. Once you have found the crown at the end of each world, you then have to return and find the last one in Blacktooth.
Head and Heels have been separated and imprisoned at the start of the game.
There are loads of other little features too, Heels can find a handbag which enables to pick up blocks and other items for solving puzzles, and Head can find a gun which stuns enemies to make up for the fact he cant run away from them. There are also the fishes, which when found can save your progress.
One of several puzzles where Head and Heels had to work together to clear.
As with a lot of Spectrum games at the time, the difficulty was downright frustrating sometimes! Some of that was down to the technology of the day, but in general, this is quite rare. Even today, the game stands up very well, because the concept is so simple, yet so intricate at the same time. The music is also pretty good. Not constant, but depending on what area you are in, you are treated to a different little jingle every time you enter a new room. The sound effects too are fun, with the little pitter patter of Head and Heels' feet, to the background sound of fans and enemies. On the topic of 'new rooms,' I think its this concept of single screen games of my childhood that still to this day have me proclaiming to my dad that when I find an area in a game I've never seen before, I say I've found 'new rooms!' There are a hell of a lot of new rooms in this game, as it has a massive scale of over 300 of them!
The 'puppy steps' were only available when Heels entered a room alone.
If you're looking to play the game, an excellent website called Retrospec created a PC remake, which is quite simply beautiful. It manages to stay utterly true to the original I remember, but with much improved colours, controls and by making a slight tweak in that you can stockpile your save game fishes, rather than be forced to save when you find one. The Retrospec remake can be downloaded on their website here. I really can't recommend it enough.
A screenshot of Egyptus in the Retrospec remake
Overall, despite this game being almost 30 years old now, it is still a true classic, and among my all time favourites. That's not just the nostalgia talking either, as it still holds up as a cracking little game today. For anybody who fancies a challenge, it's well worth giving it a go to see how good you are!
Head Over Heels, released in 1987 on the Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Atari 8-Bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amiga, MSX and ZX Spectrum. PC remake released in 2003
