The Dizzy series of computer games was one of the successful computer game brands of the late eighties and early nineties. They were all based around a central figure, an intelligent egg-like creature called Dizzy.

The first game in the series, also called Dizzy, was released in June 1986 and billed as "the ultimate cartoon adventure". At this point, Dizzy was not specifically intended to be an egg; the shape had been chosen because it was easy to rotate and animate. Later games introduced the Yolkfolk (Dizzy's friends and family), along with other egg-related puns.

Most of the games were arcade adventures. Dizzy would run, jump, and roll around various locations in order to collect objects, interact with other characters, and solve logical puzzles. Dizzy and the Yolkfolk also appeared in a few action games, such as the maze game Fast Food, Kwik Snax and the action game Dizzy Down the Rapids.

The games were almost entirely developed by the Oliver Twins who later formed Interactive Studios.

Most of the games were released for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Atari ST and Amiga, with a few also ported to the NES, Megadrive, Game Gear, and DOS. Some were ported to the Russian Electronics BK-0010 and Radio 86RK.

Games in the series

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Official games

1986

• Dizzy - The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure (Dizzy)

1987

• Treasure Island Dizzy (Dizzy 2)
• Fast Food (Action)

1988

• Fantasy World Dizzy (Dizzy 3)

1989

• Kwik Snax (Action)

1990

• Magicland Dizzy (Dizzy 4)
• Dizzy Panic! (Action)
• Spellbound Dizzy (Dizzy 5)
• Dizzy Prince of the Yolkfolk (Dizzy 6)
• Bubble Dizzy (Action)

1991

• Dizzy Down the Rapids (Action)
• Fantastic Dizzy (Dizzy 7)
• Crystal Kingdom Dizzy (Dizzy 8)

1993

• The Excellent Dizzy Collection
  • Go! Dizzy Go! (Action)''
  • Dizzy the Adventurer
  • Panic Dizzy

Unreleased games

• Dizzy Pinball
• Wonderland Dizzy

Unofficial series

• Dizzy Journey to Russia
• Dizzy Return into Russia
• Dizzy and the Emerald Eye
• Dizzy Who: Into the Tardis
• Dizzy 3 and a half remake

Parody games

• Wibble World Giddy (available on an Amiga Power cover disk)

The Yolkfolk

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The yolkfolk were the egg characters who make up Dizzy's friends and family, and as such were the main characters in the series.

• Dizzy was the main character of all of the Dizzy games, and was the one controlled by the player. Like all of the yolkfolk, Dizzy was an egg with boxing gloves, and had no identifying features. First seen in Dizzy: The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure.
• Daisy was Dizzy's girlfriend in the series, and the object of several of the games was to rescue her from some terrible fate. Daisy was identified from the rest of the yolkfolk by her hair. First seen in Fantasy World Dizzy.
• Denzil tried his best to be the 'cool' one, and was never away from his music. Denzil could be identified from the rest of the yolkfolk by his walkman and shades. First seen in Fantasy World Dizzy.
• Dora was a late addition to the yolkfolk, and one of the youngest. Dora could be identified from the rest of the yolkfolk by the bow in her hair. First seen in Magicland Dizzy. Some sources say that she's Dizzy's younger sister.
• Dozy was the sleepiest of the yolkfolk, and was almost never awake. Dozy could be identified from the rest of the yolkfolk by the fact that he was always asleep, and often had floating Z's to show this. First seen in Fantasy World Dizzy.
• Dylan was a Hippie, and very interested in nature. Dylan could be identified from the rest of the yolkfolk by his hat. First seen in Fantasy World Dizzy.
• Grand Dizzy was a yolkfolk elder, and Dizzy's grandfather. Grand Dizzy could be identified from the rest of the yolkfolk by his walking stick and, in earlier games, his moustache. First seen in Fantasy World Dizzy.
• Danny was Dizzy's nephew from a neighbouring village. He appeared only once in a ZX Spectrum exclusive, Into Magicland - a five screen mini-adventure given away with the Christmas edition of Crash magazine in order to promote Magicland Dizzy.

Dizzy 9

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The Oliver twins and Codemasters who both own 50% of the intellectual property have expressed interest in resurrecting the series, however the twins concede;

The Oliver twins's software company, Blitz Games (with the permission of Codemasters) have experimented with their artists to demonstrate what the Dizzy series might look and feel like if revisited and produced a one minute video clip with an online petition to see if there was consumer interest. As of 2005, the online petition has gone down.

The creators have also expressed interest in re-releasing the existing titles to handheld platforms such as mobile phones.

Fan Created Games

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Through their Dizzy themed website, www.yolkfolk.com, the Oliver Twins have explicitly stated that they will normally tolerate fan created games based on the Dizzy franchise that are made freely available, respect the brand and include a prescribed license message. They offer hosting for such remakes and list several of them on their site.

Although Codemasters have not spoken about their approach to the property, other than not to allow free distribution of the genuine titles, and Blitz make clear that they do not consider their statement a definitive or binding legal text this has led to a comparatively high number of fan titles for the Dizzy series.

References

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• Games, No. 27, pp. 104-109, Australia

External links

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• Fantastic Dizzy (video footage of a possible future Dizzy game in 3D)
• Yolkfolk: Official Dizzy fansite
• Theo's Grotto: A Dizzy Games Resource
• King of the Yolk: The Unofficial Dizzy Fansite
• Dizzy Series at MobyGames.
• Pixel Dizzy

Computer and video game franchises | Dizzy

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