"I curse your heads... with bigness!"
— Merasmus, Team Fortress 2
A common type of Silliness Switch is making all characters in a game have really big heads. For shooter games, this can make headshots easier to nail (or harder, if the hitboxes aren't affected as well).
A distant cousin of Super-Deformed chibi versions of manga characters. Compare and contrast Tiny-Headed Behemoth.
Examples:
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Platformers
- Banjo-Kazooie has several unlockable cheats to enlarge the characters' head, arms, legs or all at once.
- Jak and Daxter games have unlockable (cheap) Big Head toggle. Some also have Tiny Head toggle.
- Big Head Mode is an unlockable Extra in LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.
- In Ratchet & Clank games there are often cheats that will give big heads to the Player Character(s), NPCs, or enemies. A couple of games also had Tiny Head Mode.
- The original Spyro the Dragon trilogy has a code for this.
Shooters
- BIONICLE Heroes for the DS has this, making enemies easier targets.
- In Borderlands 3, "Galaxy Brain" is one of the potential modifiers for Mayhem Mode meant to make headshots easier.
- Dead Trigger: The Head-Flator X1 is an Arena-exclusive power-up that enlarges Zombies' heads and shrinks their bodies, allowing the player to score headshots and increase their scores. There were also plans to implement an exotic weapon called "Headflator" in a future update in the second game, but it hasn't been concreted yet.
- Die Hard: Vendetta has one, literally called "Big Head" mode. And another called "Pin Head" which does the reverse (it even grants the characters Helium Speech!).
- As an unlockable Mutator in Gears of War 3, Big Head mode also pitches up everyone's chatter to match their silly proportions. Sadly, it does not apply in cutscenes.
- GoldenEye (1997) has DK Mode, which also includes longer arms.
- In IndestructoTank, one of the unlockable secrets is making the heads of people in comm units bigger.
- Severed Steel features a Big Head mode as one of the unlockable mutators.
- Splitgate includes a Bighead Snipers mode, where everyone gets only a Sniper Rifle (which kills instantly on a headshot) along with massive heads with accompanying hitbox; when you need some headshots for the day's achievements, accept no substitutes. Laser Tag mode also gives everyone huge heads, though it matters less thanks to the Plasma Rifle's damage and everyone's HP being halved.
- Team Fortress 2: In the Ghost Fort map, one of the Wheel of Fate effects is this for everyone. Another is the inverse, tiny heads for everyone.
- The TimeSplitters series had a big head mode cheat that could be unlocked (as well as a no head, tiny head, and spinning head mode amongst others).
- Turbo Overkill has an unlockable chip that, when active, makes everyone's heads bigger.
- Unkilled: The Head-Flator from Dead Trigger makes a comeback here under the name "Giant Heads". Unlike in the aforementioned game, it can be used in Campaign Mode or Survival Ops missions.
- Unreal Tournament 2003 had this as a mod.
Sports Games
- Coolboarders 3 does this.
- NBA Jam is the likely Trope Codifier, appearing as a Classic Cheat Code in most of Midway's arcade versions, and also in the EA Sports revival.
- NFL Blitz has a big heads code in almost every game in the series.
- A cheat in some Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games.
Fighters
- Jefailey of Divekick (pictured above) has this as his character gimmick: Due to his ego, his head inflates every time he wins a round. This makes it easier for opponents to score headshots on him during later rounds. However, the larger his head gets, the higher he jumps (since it's full of hot air), changing his kick angle.
- In the indie fighting game Duels of Fortune, this is an option in the Extra menu.
- In Mortal Kombat 4, this is one of the Kombat Kodes. For some reason, it also affects the skeleton hands that Shinnok summons in his fatalities. In one of them, they get too big to fit through the portal.
- In Schwarzerblitz, this mode can be activated through a Cheat Code inputed in the title screen.
- Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi includes a Cheat Code that will make everyone Super-Deformed.
- Tekken 2 has this, being released in 1996 when Big Head Mode was popular. It hasn't returned in any sequels.
Other Games
- Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Knight have this.
- When certain characters in Disney Infinity get hit by the "Glow Urchin" item, their heads will swell up for a brief period of time.
- Ed, Edd n Eddy: The Mis-Edventures has unlockable Big Head Mode (and a Small Head Mode).
- Elsword uses it as a negative status effect. When your head is enlarged, your jumping height is cut in half until the effect subsides.
- Guild Wars 2 introduced a Bobblehead mode as its 2014 April Fool's day joke, where every character in-game would appear with a giant, bobbling head. They later started selling the Bobblehead Laboratory, a toy which grants this effect to anyone who uses it.
- Heroes of the Storm did this
for the 2015 April Fools prank.
- Just Cause 3 has a hidden Easter Egg weapon, the DK Pistol,note which does no damage, has unlimited ammo, and causes the heads of anyone shot with it to inflate to comical proportions. Causing someone in this state to ragdoll will result in them floating off into the sky like a helium balloon. It also inflates Rico's head to similar proportions just by picking it up.
- Kitty Powers' Matchmaker has a hidden big head mode that unlocks an achievement if found.
- LEGO Dimensions added this as an unlockable modifier, along with an inversion in the form of Tiny Head Mode.
- In LEGO The Lord of the Rings, hitting someone with the Ent-Draught makes their head swell up.
- One of the possible cheats for MediEvil. Players can actually adjust the size of Dan's head from slightly swollen to larger than his body.
- Ninja: Shadow of Darkness: You can unlock this by inserting a cheat code, which will make your hero's head enlarge at least ten times.
- Office Point Rescue allows this mode after completing the game once, not on yourself but on the game's enemies. Giving terrorists swollen, oversized heads makes a Boom, Headshot! easier.
- Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time has the Pinata Party event appropriately titled "Big Brainz". During this event, all zombies from Player's House/Modern Day have comically oversized heads. Otherwise, it's just a cosmetic difference.
- Roblox has its own popular Bighead accessory, as well as a Biggerhead and a Biggesthead. There are several games on Roblox which will scale up your head, such as this.
- Scribblenauts has the Lolwut.
- Spider-Man (2000) and its sequel Spider-Man 2 – Enter: Electro both feature Pulsating Head mode, which causes Spidey's head to expand and contract, as well as Stick Spidey mode, which keeps his head normal sized, but makes his body stick-thin and his neck abnormally long. The two can also be combined for nightmarish results. * Spider-Man: The Movie features a more traditional Big Head mode for Spidey, plus a separate Enemy Big Head mode.
- All characters in Thimbleweed Park have big heads.
- In Toontown Online, one of the rewards for completing a "Just for Fun" Task is your Toon to receive a giant head for a varying period of time, depending on which Playground tasks you're working on.
- Tyranny features it as a basic setting option.
- One of the game mods of Wasted Youth.
- Yandere Simulator has a DK Mode, also a reference to GoldenEye.
Non-Video Games
- Doraemon: Nobita's Secret Gadget Museum have the Exaggeration Ray, which can enlarge a single body part of a person... while the rest of their body remain unchanged. Doraemon accidentally enlarges his own head, causing it to swell until his body proportions resemble a hot-air balloon rolling comically to the side of the room.
- Escape from Planet Earth: A variant. The chief of BASA, Lena, always gives herself a large, intimidating hologram of her head when calling Gary, which he isn't fond of.
Gary: What?! Okay, that's terrifying. Why do you always call me in Jumbo Head Mode?
- Dr. Hax in The G Mod Idiot Box looks exactly like Dr. Breen but with a giant head and a perpetually deranged, angry expression.
- An Easter Egg in Sega Pinball's GoldenEye has Bond get chased by Xenia Onatopp's giant head.
- Mystery Science Theater 3000: For the Invention Exchange in episode 318, Joel created the Big Head, which merely gives the wearer a really big head. It appears in the next two episodes, then crops up again when Joel spaces out and forgets about the Exchange.
- A common feature in Naruto fanfiction is the "Big-Head no jutsu", used by teachers (ie: Iruka Umino and the Sandaime) to quell unruly students in class.
- Used as part of the anime-inspired comedy gags in Ninja High School, with the very first issue featuring protagonist Ichikun's grandfather doing this whilst Suddenly Shouting when he informs her that she will only inherit the clan if she can get Jeremy Feeple to marry her.
- Emporio Ivankov in One Piece weaponizes this gag; his signature ability is the Death Wink attack, which lets him wink so hard it shoots an air pressure projectile. By using his Devil Fruit-granted powers to manipulate hormones, he can physically increase the size of his head, which correspondingly powers up his Death Wink.
- Soun Tendo from Ranma ½ tends to do this when upset (usually when finding yet another long lost fiancée or the like that Ranma has been promised to marry), sometimes with demonic assets like a snake's tongue or tentacles.
- Used as a one-off gag in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series when Kaiba enters a code on his Enemy Controller card to enlarge his and Yugi's heads.
