Dizzy was Europe's favourite 'egg as computer game character'. He is an egg, who has been known to wear red boxing gloves, an explorer's hat, and sometimes carries around a staff about his height with a carved eagle perched on top. Dizzy, like most other main characters in such games, is always the one to solve everyone's problems.
The
Dizzy games were created by the
Oliver Twins (who later became
Codemasters). The games themselves are like a cross between an
adventure like
Monkey Island, and a
platformer like
Mario. Useful objects litter the
landscape ready to be put to use in solving problems. Even when put in a
dungeon,
Dizzy is supplied with the items needed to get out. (more than once) The games were very
addicitive, and annoying, there were arcade bits where a jump had to be timed just so, and of course if you couldn't figure out the problems first time, you'd be doing it again after you died.
He was released originally onto the spectrum, and mainly in Europe, only three or so of his 16* games being released in the United States.
The final 'official' game, Fantastic Dizzy was released in 1994.
The full list of his games are:
Dizzy: The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure
Dizzy 2:
Treasure Island Dizzy
Dizzy 3:
Fantasy World Dizzy
Dizzy 3.5:
Into Magicland
Dizzy 4:
Magicland Dizzy
Dizzy 5:
Spellbound Dizzy
Dizzy 6:
Dizzy Prince Of The Yolkfolk
Dizzy 7:
Crystal Kingdom Dizzy
Dizzy 8:
Bubble Dizzy
Dizzy 9:
Dizzy Down The Rapids
Dizzy 10:
Fast Food
Dizzy 11:
Kwik Snax
Dizzy 12:
Panic Dizzy
Dizzy The Adventurer
Easter Eggstravaganza
Fantastic Dizzy
And there are numerous other
fan-made games.
The other yolkfolk, include (but are not limited to:) Dizzy himself, Daisy his girlfriend, Dora, Dylan, Denzil, Dozy, Danny, and the Grand-Dizzy.
But why is he an egg? Well an interview from an issue of 'Your Sinclair' may help.
JP Why is Dizzy an egg?
AP But I know why he's an egg.
JP Why?
AP I'm not telling you. I know the answer so I'm going to
win the argument.
JP Tell me!
AP Not 'till we start the argument.
(You already have! -Ed)
JP Why is Dizzy an egg? Of all the things in the world why
did they go for an egg? Why not a courgette, or a stick of
celery, or a fluffly animal?
AP But they don't do somersaults, that's why Dizzy's so
appealing. According to David Darling, one of the main
reasons for Dizzy's success is the fact that he can turn
somersaults.
JP Monty Mole somersaulted.
AP Ah, but that was a mole. There hadn't even been a
somersaulting egg. The Codies wanted a character so Philip
Oliver drew a nice big face, then the face needed to move
so they gave it arms and legs. Philip Oliver admitted that
he's not a very good graphics designer, so all he could
come up with was a big face that mutated into an egg. And
what's wrong with eggs? They don't hurt anyone. But I'm not
sure he's officially an egg.
JP The Codies call him an egg, and certain sad people keep
making crap egg jokes.
AP Eggsactly!
JP I can't believe you just said that. Anyway, that's why
he's an egg, is it?
AP Yep, and I don't think there's anything wrong with
having a heroic egg.
JP So why are the games crap then?
AP They're not, the kids like 'em and buy 'em, so they
can't be.
JP They like 'em cos they're fluffy and innoucuous, like
some pop songs. The fact that they're best-sellers doesn't mean they're any good at all.
AP But people aren't going to buy games which they think
are crap. You might think they're crap but the people who
are buying them obviously don't. You're just taking the
high intellectual ground. Dizzy games are among the best
games coming out at the minute. And they make money. We are
living in a mterial world.
JP But when the Codies put some thought into things, they
can come up with something like Steg. Dizzy is just an easy
way out.
AP Did you know that Andy can knock cups off people's heads
with elastic bands?
JP Can he? If we put this little plastic cup on Linda's
head, will he be able to hit it from over there?
AP Well yeah, but shouldn't you finish drinking the tea
first?
JP No of course not, that'd take half the fun out of it.
(Oi! -Ed)
* Yes I know about the Amstrad Action coverdisk Dizzy game, but it was simply a modified version of a game.
Sorry about this, but DJGibbon was rather incomplete, and has not been on in a rather significant amount of time.