Fantasy World Dizzy - Commodore Amiga - 1989

Fantasy World Dizzy is the third in a series of graphic adventures featuring the anthropomorphic egg.  Dizzy has already featured on the blog but I omitted Treasure Island Dizzy as it only gave you a single life which I found somewhat harsh.  Fantasy World Dizzy makes amends as you start the game with three lives.

As usual I tested the game on various platforms to find the best version.  The Spectrum, Amstrad and Commodore 64 incarnations are basically unchanged from Dizzy where the graphics are predominantly black.  The 16-bit versions on the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST look much better with higher resolution graphics and a lot more colour.  Unsurprisingly for this era they look and play identically. The only difference is the music playing throughout where the Commodore machine just pips the Atari’s jaunty chip tune.

In this game Dizzy has to rescue his girlfriend, Daisy, who has been kidnapped by the Evil King's troll.  Daisy has been taken to Wizard Weird's tallest tower while Dizzy has been consigned to the King's dungeon.  

The gameplay is pretty much the same as the previous games with Dizzy somersaulting his way around the landscape.  As before, he must find a use for the various objects scattered around in order to save his beloved.  He can carry up to two items in his inventory (or four when you find a bag).  Most of the puzzles are logical and can be solved without too much thought.  In addition Dizzy must collect 30 gold coins to fully complete the game.  Some are hidden behind scenery so it is worth pressing the fire button when you find yourself hidden from view until you know where they are.

As well as Daisy, other members of the eggy clan make their debut in this game.  Speaking too these 'yolk folk' opens up a cut scene where they give up a useful object to help you progress.

The graphics in Fantasy World Dizzy do a good job of bringing the character into the 16-bit world.  There is a tune that loops continuously throughout the game.  There are no sound effects to break up the music which does get rather monotonous after a while.  The puzzles aren't too taxing on the gray matter although some do require trial and error.  The main difficulty comes from from some of the platform elements mainly due to the somersaulting action.  This can make certain sections extremely challenging when you also have to time the jumps (damn you dragon!). Overall, though, Fantasy World Dizzy is a fun little game - especially on the 16-bit computers.

Things get confusing after jumping into the bottomless well.

Example gameplay