Game Review: Dizzy the Adventurer
Dizzy the Adventurer

Dizzy the Adventurer Title Screen

  • Publisher: Camerica
  • Developer: Codemasters
  • Released: 1993
  • Game Type: Adventure
  • Players: 1
  • Product Number: Unlicensed
  • Rarity: A+ (Super Ultra Rare)
    Game Ratings:
    OVERALL: 8

    This game was released for the Aladdin Deck Enhancer and is not available as a stand-alone cart.


    Dizzy the Adventurer Screen 1 Dizzy the Adventurer Screen 2

    Introduction:
    The egg-cellent hero with a heart of yolk makes his third appeareance on the NES. Dizzy the Adventurer is a port of the computer title Dizzy, Prince of the Yolkfolk and was the pack-in game for the Aladdin deck enhancer. After the great titles Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy and Treasure Island Dizzy, this third entry adds some improvements to make it another excellent game from Camerica and Codemasters.

    Story/Objective:
    One day Dizzy and his pal Daisy were searching for her pet Fluffie when they came across the secret entrance to the castle of the Evil Wizard, Zaks. Dizzy and Daisy decided to explore the evil castle and managed to find a spinning wheel in one of the towers. For some reason Daisy wanted a closer look so she accidentally pricked her finger on the wheel's spindle and suddenly collapsed into a deep sleep. The spinning wheel was cursed by Zaks and Daisy fell into a sleeping spell (sound familiar?). Dizzy tried to wake her up but was discovered by Zaks' troll and imprisoned in an underground cell. Dizzy must somehow escape from his prison and find a way to wake Daisy up from the spell.

    Gameplay:
    Dizzy's quest to save Daisy will take him to several locations in the countryside. The gameplay works just like King's Quest; walk to different areas, gather items then use those items at the right time. You can only carry three items at a time, so if you're already full of items you need to put one down (preferably someplace safe) to get any other object. Some of the items you come across have no use in the game, so be on the lookout. Throughout your mission you'll also run into various other characters you can talk to, and many of them will give you hints and items for your journey. You can also find cherries for bonus points, but the main items to look out for are stars. In order to save Daisy from the spell you have to collect all 50 stars that are scattered across the land. However there are a few hazards (falling into water, getting burned, or running into the gold troll in the castle) that'll scramble our hero, and you only have three lives. The game ends if you lose all three lives or once you complete your quest.

    Graphics & Sounds:
    The graphics are pretty good. Dizzy himself looks great and has some cute animations, especially when you fall from a great height. The other characters are pretty good as well. During the talk scenes you get a close up of each character, and they really reflect their various personalities well. Some nice touches are slao featured, such as the SPLASH that appears when you fall into water. A bit of flicker does occur in some instances, which can cause entire sprites to disappear. As far as the audio goes, the music is excellent; the background tunes are catchy and fun to listen to, and they change after certain events occur as well. Plus they fit in with the setting and how close you're getting to the end. There's not much in the way of sound effects, but you won't miss them. There is a scratchy voice clip on the title screen that says "Let's play Dizzy!" when you push the Start button, but it's nothing special.

    Controls:
    The controls work very well. Moving Dizzy around is no problem, though trying to jump forward while on a narrow ledge can be tricky at times. The item interface takes some getting used to, but it's not too bad. The real quirk is sometimes when you jump to a higher or lower ledge Dizzy rolls forward, sometimes off a platform into the water leading to some unfair deaths. It's a little frustrating, but it can be avoided if you're not too careless with your jumps.

    Challenge & Playability:
    Dizzy the Adventurer is a fun game to play through. There's just so much charm and personality that you can't help but have a good time. The fact that you can only carry three items at a time means you have to set several items somewhere and remember to come back for them, which is not too much of an annoyance. The game's main flaw is that it's way too easy and short. Once you figure out the puzzles, you can breeze by this game in no time at over. On the other hand if you lose all three of your lives, you don't get any continues; you have to start all over, but you probably won't need to worry about that too much. There's also little reason to play this game once you cleared it.

    Conclusion:
    The bottom line is Dizzy the Adventurer combines great graphics and sounds with a lot of personality and charm to produce another high-quality cart from Camerica. This game would have been better if it was a little tougher or even a lot longer, but as it is, Dizzy the Adventurer is still a great cartridge. It may look like a kids' game, but adults will get some enjoyment out of it. This game is definetly sunny-side up.

    - Review posted on February 25, 2006