 Before clash at Demon Head was the name of a band in the Scott Pilgrim comic it was a pretty interesting NES game. You start the game and immediately you're met with a story sequence where Billy Big Bang Blitz no seriously that's his name, is relaxing on the beach with his friend Mary when he gets a message saying that Professor Plum the adventurer of the Doomsday bomb has been kidnapped and must be rescued? Okay wait just a minute if you invent something called a Doomsday bomb wouldn't you be inherently evil? Why is this guy worth rescuing? Anyway, throughout the whole game, the story presentation is really goofy, and I presume it's not meant to be taken very seriously. I mean, this skeleton dude you meet in the first stages named Tom Guycott, that's like the name of a real estate agent, not a super villain. So yeah, you go around looking for the six royal medallions of the seven governors or something, and you do so by traversing this overworld map. And this is where the game really stands out as something different. On the surface it looks like just another 2D action platformer run to the right and kill stuff with your projectile, but the map is non-linear. You can choose any path you'd like at any intersection, including backtracking to previous areas. One path might lead to a shop where you can use money dropped by enemies to buy items, another path might lead to a boss fight, and another path might lead to a character that would progress this goofy story. But yeah, the weapons, items and upgrades you can buy are what make this game so much fun. There's a jet pack, special boots that make you bounce around like a super ball, and all sorts of upgrades that you can find for your weapon like a boomerang gun. You can even buy something that will summon the shop wherever you are so you can buy health replenishments. Really though, the hook for this game is the map structure, which lends itself to be approached in all sorts of different ways. You can just follow the story and go where you're supposed to, or you can just go wherever the hell you want and follow every dead end, talk to every character. Really there's a lot of replay value here. In fact not only is this the case with the map, but it can be tricky to find the exit for each level, it's not always simply running to the right or to the left. Sadly this game does have a password system instead of a battery save, so that's a bummer. But still, the open-ended structure of Clash at Demonhead is a major strength that you don't find in just any 2D side-scrolling action game. If I had to pick out any other flaws in Clash at Demonhead, the game visually doesn't do a whole lot for me. I certainly appreciate the cutscenes. Those are something somewhat unique for the time, but the side-scrolling levels are pretty primitive looking, especially when you look at its peers like say Powerblade, Batman, or Vice Project Doom. But yeah, while Clash at Demonhead may look like something simplistic and generic, there's a lot going on here and a lot to hook the player. This is one of those games that you can really sink a lot of time into thanks to the map structure, and the game rewards your time and effort by providing fun stuff like jet packs and overpowered weapons. So if you like non-linear games that you can explore at your own pace, you gotta check out Clash at Demonhead.