Hothead (1987 video games)

Hothead
Biographical information
Abilities	Fire Breath
Occupation	Fireman
Physical description
Species	Dragon
Gender	Male
Eye color	Yellow, White
Hair color	Purple
Out of universe information
Era(s)	1987 games
First appearance	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (NES)
Publisher	Konami
Created by	Ryan Brown

Hothead is a character from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters for NES. A former fireman who unwittingly unleashed an ancient Samurai dragon's spirit. His massive power and resistance to damage make up for his slow speed.

Video Games

Hothead as depicted in the opening of Tournament Fighters for NES.

Warrior Dragon appeared in the NES version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters as Hothead.

Like in the comics, his skin is depicted to be a pale yellowish-green (although the cover artwork has him colored red like his action figure). His usual attire consisted of only a pair of shorts/or a loincloth belted at the waist. From the waist-up, he is completely bare. He is gigantic and appears to be very muscular with a toned chest, bulging biceps and well-defined abdominal muscles.

Unlike his depiction in he comics, Hothead is shown to be extremely tough, aggressive and ferocious. He's shown to be extremely strong and agile, capable of executing a series of swift punches or kicks and dodging energy blasts. His tough skin is resistant to almost all forms of attack, and his horns allow him to severly wound an enemy.

Although his durability feats are excellent, Hothead has two weaknesses. If taken by surprise, Casey's high-voltage electric shocks can cause Hothead to writhe in agony. Repeated electric shocks (or any particular localized electric blasts to his bare stomach or chest) can cause Hothead to feel dizzy and confused from the agony of being electrocuted. In this stunned state, the opponent can deliver a hard punch or kick to his stomach to knock him off his feet (Hothead's stomach seems to be his weak spot).

Also, after being repeatedly electrocuted, Hothead can be defeated if the opponent throws the magical ball directly at Hothead's stomach. The ball blasts Hothead with an even bigger electric shock that sends him flying, screaming in agony. Arcs of colored electricity would course over Hothead's bare-chest, shocking and burning the shirtless Dragon Warrior, until after a while, the pain stops.

Another one of Hothead's weaknesses is his vulnerability to fire (this being the case when he fights with his alternate self). His other self can blast white-hot flames right at Hothead's bare body, aiming for his stomach. These flames can weaken Hothead by severely burning the shirtless Hothead, who writhes on the floor in agony.

Despite electric shocks, magic ball-blasts and burning flames, Hothead would most likely win. He can easily tolerate about 20 rounds of continuous electric shock torture, about 10 hits with the magical-powered ball and several blasts of those burning flames to his bare muscular body, before he would acknowledge defeat.

Players were unable to play a Hothead vs. Hothead battle due to his sprite's massive size and frames being too much for the NES to process. An issue of Nintendo Power magazine stated that the reason Hothead could not fight himself was because his Dragon spirit would not allow such a battle to take place. However, a player could force a glitch to fight a CPU Hothead as Hothead; the CPU would have an orange-tinted sprite. Unfortunately, the game could become unstable while fighting this battle.

Trivia

• Hothead's design is based on Chu Hsi from the Archie continuity, who is also associated with the name "Hothead."
• The name "Hothead" would later be associated with Kavaxas from the 2012 TV series.