You’ve gotta be yolk-ing me.
PLAYERS: 1
PUBLISHER: Camerica
DEVELOPER: Codemasters
GENRE: Adventure
RELEASE DATE: 1993
You may remember Dizzy the Egg from his previous adventures in, uh, Dizzy the Adventurer. While not a ground-breaking game, Dizzy stood apart from a large portion of the typical side-scrolling tripe by incorporating “puzzle elements.” Basically, “bring this particular item here” and “put this other item there” and so forth. It worked because it was straightforward and, while a tad easy, was engaging without being obtuse (despite the protagonist being a remarkable dolt, devoid of any meaningful personality).
The “Fantastic” Adventures of Dizzy is everything its predecessor is not. It’s non-linear (not always a bad thing, but here…), obtuse, and explains nothing about its intent. Is Dizzy simply trying to use the items of the world to save a princess? Is he collecting 100 stars and if so why? Why can he only hold three items and why is he forced to shuffle through them to get to the item he actually wants to use? Once again, Dizzy can’t use any real weapons; instead, he is forced to use items he finds around the world, like weed killer to kill a one-hit-and-you’re-dead venus Eggtrap. This didn’t bother me as much in the previous game because a lot of the enemies you came across were inconsequential and could easily be jumped over. Here you’re often forced to take hits, which is, if anything, less than “fantastic.”
Speaking of which, here’s what the ol’ Oxford English Dictionary had to say about “fantastic”: 1. “imaginative or fanciful; remote from reality.” 2. “extraordinarily good or attractive.” Well, if Dizzy was aiming for the former definition, he succeeded. Dizzy’s game mechanics and overall skills as a protagonist are as remote from gaming reality as a game could be. If he was aiming for the latter, er, well, better luck next time.
D-
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6 replies on “#219 – Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy”
Come on, it’s a good game. But cannot be appreciated in just one night. It has good graphics, music and also a lot of variety. Game’s idea is discover the usefulness of each item found and where to apply it, so it takes time. Long. In those golden times, take time to finish a game was no problem, but today’s players have no more disposition to do it.
This game is HARD, too. Mainly because of the spiders, but there are many other challenges. The limited number of lives and no continues, no battery save or passwords to proceed with your quest also collaborate with the situation.
Personally I prefer this title, not yet finished for me despite possessing and play it occasionally for almost 20 years, than Kirby’s Adventure, finished in the day I bought it. Dizzy down rapids in a barrel, walks the plank on a pirate ship, drives a mine kart, shoots trolls (imitating Cabal’s style)… There’s plenty to love here.
And I also played NES Micro Machines without finishing it for 20 years and continues to be great. Sorry for my poor english.
Just by looking at the screenshot, I can tell you played the 1991 version, not the 1993 version(as you claim to). This game have 3 versions, 1991, 1993 and 1993 PAL(which is rare as hell). The first…I agree, it is bad. But other two fixes a lot of problems.Just try the other one..PAL was recently dumped and it even have an in-game a map of the city, in case you would get lost. It’ wonderful game, just do not play the 1991 version.
Thank you Anonymous tipster! I had no idea there were three versions of the game -o.O-
I shall have to go back and re-review them all.
Version 1 is very very slow, there is a version 3 on ebay i noticed.
These reviews have been great to read through! Several years later now when the NES Classic is released and I’m trying to choose which ROMs to upload to the Classic – these reviews have been a help! I agree with the previous comments – there are two very different Dizzy games (1993 being much more rare).
Thanks Micah! I’m glad they were a help.