Head Over Heels II: 37 Years of Development for an Isometric Miracle

A Ghost Returns to Knock on the Door

There are stories in video gaming that surpass fiction. Head Over Heels II is one of them. In 1987, Ocean Software released the first game—an isometric puzzle designed by Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond, which quickly became an absolute reference point on 8-bit personal computers. Its isometric perspective gameplay, its two protagonists with distinct abilities you'd swap to solve puzzles, its polished art direction for the era: everything conspired to make it a remarkable title. The sequel was in development as early as 1989, entrusted to Colin Porch. Then Ocean changed course, bet on consoles, and the project was shelved.

But Porch never truly forgot. Thirty-seven years later, he breaks his silence and releases this sequel on Atari ST and Commodore Amiga—the exact platforms where the game was supposed to run back then. The gesture is almost poetic. But poetry alone doesn't make a good game. So what does it actually deliver?

An Isometric Legacy Not to Be Taken Lightly

To understand what's at stake with Head Over Heels II, you need to place the original in context. In 1987, the isometric perspective was a recent innovation that few titles truly mastered. Ant Attack by Sandy White (Quicksilva, 1983) laid the groundwork on ZX Spectrum; Knight Lore (Ultimate Play the Game, 1984) formalized the genre with its Filmation engine. The original Head Over Heels fit squarely in this tradition while adding a central duo mechanic to its gameplay: Head can jump incredibly high, Heels can run fast and carry objects. Separated or together, they offered puzzle-solving combinations that gave the game rare depth for its time.

This duality is the franchise's beating heart. And it's precisely on this point that the sequel will be judged.

What the Sequel Delivers—and How

Head Over Heels II preserves the two-character mechanic with complementary abilities. Head still jumps like a rubber ball, Heels still carries and sprints. The screen splits to manage them independently, and reuniting both protagonists remains a gratifying moment that unlocks new environmental interactions. So far, continuity is maintained.

Where Porch made deliberate choices is in level design. Environments are denser than the original, with multi-tiered rooms that better exploit verticality. The isometric perspective—necessarily fixed within the hardware constraints of Amiga and Atari ST—supports these architectures with decent clarity, though some recessed areas can muddy jump hitbox detection. It's an inherent flaw of the genre that Knight Lore and the original already had, and this sequel doesn't resolve it either.

The puzzles themselves are well-calibrated for an audience familiar with the first game. They don't reinvent the wheel: you push blocks, collect key items, activate switches in the right order. The interest lies in arrangement, not mechanical novelty. That's consistent with the series' DNA, but it also means newcomers might find the whole experience a bit austere.

Technology: 1989 Constraints as a Creative Guide

Porch made a radical choice: code the game for the machines of that era, not for emulators or modern PCs. Head Over Heels II runs on authentic Atari ST and Commodore Amiga hardware—or faithful emulation via WinUAE and Steem SSE. This entails technical constraints that might otherwise seem like regressions if they weren't precisely the point.

On Amiga, the game leverages the custom chip architecture to deliver clean sprites and generous colors. Room-to-room scrolling is smooth, character animation is respectable—not flashy, but consistent with 16-bit standards from the late 1980s. On Atari ST, palette limitations become apparent: environments are duller, some backdrops blend together slightly. That's not Porch's fault; it's hardware reality.

The soundtrack deserves mention. Sound effects follow the original's lead—expressive bleeps and bloops that work better than you'd expect. The music, understated, doesn't try to impress. It creates an atmosphere of concentration that perfectly suits a puzzle game.

Playtime and Structure: How Long for a 37-Year Project?

Head Over Heels II offers roughly fifteen distinct worlds, each divided into several interconnected rooms. For a player familiar with the first game, expect 4 to 6 hours for a full playthrough, longer if you get lost in certain maze-like levels—which will happen, let's be honest. The puzzles aren't all crystal clear, and some obligatory backtracking can grate.

There's no save system in the modern sense—you play with level codes, as was standard on these machines. It's a choice for historical accuracy that will divide opinion: purists will appreciate it, players raised on automatic checkpoints will find it punishing.

Replayability is limited. Once you've solved the puzzles, there's not much to pull you back, except for optional items you might have missed on your first run.

Context Changes Everything—But Not Everything

It would be dishonest to ignore the emotional and historical dimension of this project. Head Over Heels II is an act of solitary passion, an anomaly in a gaming landscape dominated by multimillion-dollar productions. Retro-gaming experienced notable resurgence in the 2020s, driven by initiatives like Piko Interactive's new Mega Drive cartridge releases or Gradual Games' commercially-available homebrew NES titles—proof that the market for classic software on original hardware genuinely exists and finds its audience.

But admiration for the endeavor shouldn't cloud judgment of the product. Head Over Heels II is a solid isometric puzzle game, not a masterpiece. It honors its predecessor without transcending it. It lacks that extra something—an additional mechanic, a narrative twist, a visual boldness—that would elevate the sequel from respectful follow-up to standalone achievement.

You wish Porch had taken more risks. That he'd innovated slightly while staying true to period hardware. That the 37-year wait justified itself through increased ambition. That's not quite the case. It's a solid, faithful, well-designed game—but not surprising.

Strengths and Weaknesses

• + Head/Heels duo mechanic perfectly preserved and still effective
• + Well-constructed levels, verticality better exploited than the original
• + Total respect for period hardware constraints—a genuine solo technical feat
• + Amiga version visually clean and colorful
• + A project proving homebrew on old hardware still thrives
• − No genuine mechanical innovation compared to 1987
• − Atari ST version visually less engaging
• − Level code system won't appeal to everyone
• − Backtracking sometimes opaque in maze-like levels
• − Modest playtime and limited replayability

Verdict: A Programmer's Act of Faith, Not the Revolution We Waited For

Head Over Heels II is a love letter to 1980s gaming, written in the ink of 37 years of patience. Colin Porch kept his promise to himself and to fans of the original: the sequel exists, it works, it respects the source material. That's already significant.

But the game stumbles where it could have shone: it doesn't dare. It recreates without elevating, continues without surprising. For hardcore retro-gaming enthusiasts and nostalgic fans of the original Head Over Heels, it's an obvious purchase. For everyone else, it's an endearing historical curiosity that doesn't necessarily justify investing in hardware or emulation if you're not already in that ecosystem.

An admirable project carried by one man against time—and that's precisely why we forgive its limitations.