How to play Hard Head on Mac
Game summary
Although the official Title Hard Head was the same in every region, SunA's second game used to be known in Korea as "Jjanggu Baksa" (Dr. Bulgehead)3. It is incredible how many elements from other games are squeezed into a surprisingly fun melange platformer. Hard Head (and his twin in 2-player mode) carries a bubble gun that encloses enemies into bubbles, which can then be used as trampoline, just like in Bubble Bobble. Similar to Super Mario Bros, items are gained from blocks by jumping at them with the hero's head, while enemies are defeated by stepping on theirs. Then there's passages where one has to break through walls by using a hammer, which is very reminiscent of Wrecking Crew.
However, other than with contemporary titles of home entertainment companies like Clover and Zemina, the designer (who sadly isn't credited at all) had also a few quite unique ideas, like working musical instruments used as platforms, a football that can be found in every stage and kicked through a goal at the level end for extra points. There even is a day/night change hinted at through pallette rotation of the mostly monocoloured background. The game has a time limit, but rather than just killing the player off when it runs out, more and more evil suns come attacking the player already when only little time is left.
The game can be enjoyed by two players simultaneously, who can use each other's head as a springboard to reach higher places without relying on nearby enemies. Only in the second half the game tends to get a bit tedious, as there's almost no new elements introduced after the middle, and those from the early stages grow old fast because of their steady repetition. Less interesting is also the music, which is mostly snatched together from various classical pieces.
First released: Feb 1988
Play Hard Head on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)
The easiest way to play Hard Head on a Mac is through Parallels, which allows you to virtualize a Windows machine on Macs. The setup is very easy and it works for Apple Silicon Macs as well as for older Intel-based Macs.
Parallels supports the latest version of DirectX and OpenGL, allowing you to play the latest PC games on any Mac. The latest version of DirectX is up to 20% faster.
Our favorite feature of Parallels Desktop is that when you turn off your virtual machine, all the unused disk space gets returned to your main OS, thus minimizing resource waste (which used to be a problem with virtualization).
Hard Head installation steps for Mac
Step 1
Go to Parallels.com and download the latest version of the software.
Step 2
Follow the installation process and make sure you allow Parallels in your Mac’s security preferences (it will prompt you to do so).
Step 3
When prompted, download and install Windows 10. The download is around 5.7GB. Make sure you give it all the permissions that it asks for.
Step 4
Once Windows is done installing, you are ready to go. All that’s left to do is install Hard Head like you would on any PC.
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