Fantastic Dizzy
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| Fantastic Dizzy | |
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| Developer(s) | The Oliver twins |
| Publisher(s) | Codemasters |
| Release date(s) | April 1991 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Platform(s) | NES, PC, Master System, Mega Drive, Amiga, Game Gear, CD32, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 |
Fantastic Dizzy (The Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy outside Europe & Australia) is a 1991 video game developed by Codemasters. It was published to several platforms, including Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Master System, Game Gear, NES, Amiga and DOS.
The game was originally intended to be released in time for Christmas in 1990, however because of a legal action between Codemasters and Nintendo over the Game Genie the title was released in April, 1991 missing the Christmas rush it was originally slated for and only sold 125,000 units instead of the expected 500,000. Despite this, the game was awarded the 'NES Adventure Game of the Year 1991' by Game Players Magazine and given the coveted 'Parents Choice Award'.
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[edit] Story
In the game, the evil wizard Zaks cast an evil spell on the Yolkfolk, and kidnaps Dizzy's girlfriend Daisy, and it's up to Dizzy to undo Zaks' doings and rescue Daisy from the castle in the clouds.
[edit] Characters
Fantastic Dizzy has all characters in the series, 16 total. While the most of the Yolkfolk were harmed by Zaks, the evil wizard and final enemy in the game (Daisy was kidnapped by him, Denzil frozen inside an ice cube and Dora was turned into a frog), others have other problems (Grand Dizzy is ill, Dylan lost Pogie, a purple fluffy and Dozy is, quite normally, sleeping). Other characters include the Good Wizard Theodore, which grant an extra life to Dizzy if he completes his puzzle, Blackheart the Pirate, who has his ship docked in Keldor, the Palace Guard, who lets Dizzy get inside the city if he bargains with him, Prince Clumsy, looking for a princess, Rockwart the Troll, Shamus the Leprechaun and the Shop Owner.
[edit] Locations
There are several places for Dizzy to visit, including the whole complex of the Yolkfolk secret treehouse, with its lifts and houses, the mine, where a dragon lives, the neighbour city of Keldor, where the Pirate ship and the Castle are, the grasslands, Carber Bay, the cemetery (including a grave) and finally the Zaks' very own Cloud Castle.
The game engine is able to scroll horizontally, but not vertically. As soon as Dizzy climbs a ladder or jumps to an off-screen platform, new screens are loaded to memory. It is also able to render day and night cycles and also rain (which gives Dizzy a sad face).
[edit] Concept
The game is hard to qualify in a genre: while it seems at first a platform game, Dizzy is vulnerable to all enemies while unable to eliminate them, and puzzles are completed by bringing an object to a location (in the same fashion as Gods and adventure games), and also has to capture all 250 stars scattered in the game. It also has several arcade minigames based on older games in the series (like Bubble Dizzy).
[edit] Stars
Scattered around the game world are 100 or 250 stars (depends on version) which must be collected to grant access to the final confrontation with Zaks. While most of them are accessible in the regular parts of the game, others are placed inside the minigames, which forces the player to run through them as many times needed to get all stars. If the player tries to reach the tower without the stars, Dizzy is stunned by the electric door.
[edit] Objects
To complete the game, Dizzy has to carry items (three at a maximum) like keys and objects to be used to solve puzzles like a match, a weight or cymbals to certain spots in the game. Some objects are not meant to be traded, given to another characters or placed, but used to reach other destinations (like the rope, the swimfins or the aqua-lung) or to protect from danger (the umbrella).
[edit] Minigames
While most of the is passed in the slower platform sections, there are three minigames required to complete the game, plus one to get all the stars.
- Mine carts: Dizzy can travel in the carts found in the mine into other places in the game, collecting stars along the way. There are a number of dangers in the rails, from falling rocks, dead ends and carts in the opposite direction. Nearing the end, both cart speed and number of dead ends increase.
- Dizzy Down the Rapids: Some versions of Fantastic Dizzy feature a section where Dizzy must ride a barrel down a river avoiding a pursuing troll and several natural hazards while riding surface currents and attempting to collect stars. This minigame is omitted from several versions, including the Mega Drive/Genesis and PC releases.
- Castle Capers: A minigame based on the Operation Wolf concept, Dizzy, armed with a crossbow, has to get a 5 hit advantage over the trolls, who are occupying the castle. However, if the trolls get the same advantage, Dizzy loses a life.
- Bubble Trouble: Dizzy has to reach a small island before his oxygen wears out. To do so, he has to ride air bubbles formed in the sea bed, and jumping into the platforms in the sides or other bubbles before they burst. Larger bubbles endure more, but are slower, while smaller ones are fast but burst shortly after Dizzy rides them. This minigame was adapted into a standalone title, called Bubble Dizzy however due to further development required on Fantastic Dizzy and Dizzy Down the Rapids, Bubble Dizzy was released November 1990.
- Theodore's magic puzzle: The extra life minigame is regular a 4x4 shuffling puzzle, which has to be completed in inside a time limit. As the number of lives increase, so does the complexity of the puzzles.
[edit] Lives
Dizzy can be harmed by all enemies in the game, but also by staying underwater for too long without an aqua-lung. He also dies immediately on contact with some parts of the game which require an object to be safely traversed, such as the spikes at ground level in the Yolkfolk tree house (which require a plank) or the plant near his house (a can of herbicide) or some other parts in the game where Dizzy isn't supposed to go. While he is unharmed by butterflies of any kind of falls, he becomes dazed and can be harmed by a rat or a snail in a potentially dangerous situation. Fruit restores some of Dizzy's health, while a gemstone clears the damage gauge. It is possible to reach a dead end in the game if, for instance, the player drops the rope at a platform that can only be reached with it.
