Decap Attack: Two Heads, Six Potions, and Three Rounds per Island Level

Two Heads, One Job: Punching, Throwing, and Smashing Statues

Chuck enters each of the island's seven parts with two heads in reserve: one head punches, the other throws. Both heads serve the same two ends, attacking enemies and picking up goodies scattered through the stage. Punching also opens the Shrunken Head statues that stand in clusters of up to three around the island. Many of the level's goodies sit inside these statues, so cracking one open is the standard way to reach coins and other pickups before moving on.

The statues carry a risk beyond their rewards. Busting one open can release a lurking ghost, and statues may hold other baddies too, so the punch that reveals a prize can also start a fight. The manual groups this danger with another hazard: the roving totem pole, which buries Chuck alive if he gets too close, so the safer route is to steer clear of it. The same risk is repeated as a plain warning that statues may contain enemies.

Six Potions and the Trip to the Lab

Dr. Frank N. Stein and Igor prepare special power-up potions for Chuck, and pressing Window drops him by the lab. On that screen the D-button moves an arrow to a selection, Select confirms it, and Cancel returns to the playing screen. Choosing a potion opens two options: use it or ask about it. A potion can only be used after it has been collected, and the count of each collected potion sits beside its name in the lab list.

The six potions cover distinct effects. Xenon causes the significant earthquake that is the nemesis of baddies. Swill surrounds Chuck in a ball of protective light, while Trioxy serves as a powerful ball of light used as a weapon. Freeiz freezes every baddie on the screen, Claxy makes Chuck run faster and jump higher, and OozeO2 improves his punches. The lab menu therefore sorts the brews by what they change: strength, speed, an earthquake, and other abilities made available before Chuck heads back out.

Three Rounds a Level, Seven Parts of the Island

Chuck works his way through each of the seven parts of the island, using his two heads to punch bad guys, collect coins, and find and use power-up potions. Each part is not cleared in a single pass: a level is finished only after all three of its rounds are completed. That three-round structure repeats across the seven island parts, so progress means clearing the rounds of one section before the next part comes into play. The overall objective ties these pieces together: finishing the three rounds of a level reconnects a part of the island. Since the island is broken into seven parts, reconnecting them all is the larger goal that the round-by-round clearing serves. The game opens by showing the island of body parts separating apart, and the warning from Max D. Cap frames that split as the problem Chuck is sent to fix, one part at a time.

Within a part, the three rounds are the unit of completion: when Chuck completes all three rounds of a level, that level's work is done and the island section can be reconnected. The manual presents the seven parts as a sequence to get through, so the three-round clear applies to each part in turn rather than to the island as one continuous stage. Coins, punches, and potions all sit inside those rounds as the moment-to-moment activity. Nothing in the documented rules adds a separate condition beyond the three rounds for reconnecting a part. The three-round requirement and the seven-part structure are the same rule seen at two scales: each level demands three rounds, and each completed level restores one piece of the divided island. The starting scene of the island splitting apart sets up exactly this repair work.

Three Lives, Two Hit Hearts, and the Bonus Maze

Chuck starts with three lives and two Hit Hearts, and each Hit Heart absorbs two hits; once every Hit Heart is depleted, one life is lost. The remaining lives are shown as a number beside Chuck's head on the right side of the screen. Hit Hearts can be raised or lowered through the options, so the starting protection is adjustable rather than fixed. This layer sits underneath the punching and statue-smashing, since taking hits drains the hearts before a life is spent.

Clearing all three rounds of a level triggers an invitation to the Bonus Game, but only if any coins were collected. The number of tries ranges from one to five based on how many coins Chuck picked up. The player presses the D-button and Select to place each Chuck on a chosen path, or Cancel to move a Chuck to a different path. After the last placement, the Chucks walk down the path and stop at entrances to a moving maze, where Select halts the motion. Here the coins that fill statue interiors turn into extra attempts at maze prizes.

Jumping, Boinging, and Scaling the Way the Manual Says

Jumping in Decap Attack uses the Jump input in two distinct ways: holding Jump down instead of tapping it gives Chuck extra height, while hitting Jump repeatedly lets him float gently down from a fall. Boinging off a pole adds another layer, since the pole's own movement can be used to give the leap as much thrust as possible. A separate climbing technique applies at Bone Bonker walls: press the D-button in the direction the Bone Bonker throws Chuck and hit Jump repeatedly to scale the wall.

The manual pairs these movement rules with hazards that punish careless positioning. The roving totem pole buries Chuck alive if he gets too close, so staying away from it is the stated precaution. Statues carry a similar warning, because one may hold baddies along with whatever it conceals, so the punch that opens a statue can expose an enemy rather than only a prize. These cautions sit alongside the jump and wall-scaling instructions as things to account for while moving through a stage.

First published Oct 18, 2026.