1991 Taito
Platform: PC Engine
Adventures of the MummyHead is a neat looking platformer that was due for release by Taito in 1991 for the PC Engine.
By the looks of things, you were in control of a body with a detachable mummy head, which has very strong vibes of Magical Hat no Buttobi Tābo! Daibōken (or Decap Attack as it was known in Europe) for the SEGA Mega Drive.
In some screens, there is no sign of a body, suggesting that there were levels/scenes where you just controlled the head – perhaps in shoot-em-up/maze style levels. Other screens seem to suggest that the wrapping from your head could disappear over time – which may have been some kind of energy indication perhaps?
As for the story line, the adverts suggest that you must stop the Demon Lord, whose castle has appeared suddenly in New York, and where you have to try and save the world before Friday December 13th. What is odd is that the game advert was from December, and Friday the 13th would have landed that very year in that month. So, was the game intended for release in early December?
For years, no screenshots had been really seen of the game, and only adverts seemed to exist – though ParanoidDragon highlighted that @PCEngineClub found a preview in a Taito Tigers magazine from 1991. This showed some rare screens from what seemed to be a relatively close to completion (if not complete) game.
So why was it never released? We are not sure at the moment, but there is a possibility that there were issues due to Vic Tokai’s very similar game that had been released in Japan the year previous. The westernized version as Decap Attack was released in late 1991 – so did this have anything to do with it?
If you know anything more about this game, or even have any more scans or materials in relation to it – then please do get in touch.
With thanks to ParanoidDragon for the suggestion and research, Gaming Alexandria for the advert scans, chrismcovell.com for the additional scan and @PCEngineCLUB for the screenshot scan.
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