STORY

Oh Dizzy, what have you done?

While visiting your old pal Theodore, you came across one of his spell books that he had left lying around. And not just any spell book... this is a REALLY powerful spell book, full of REALLY, REALLY powerful spells. And while Theo is a talented wizard... you, Dizzy, are not. So as you read the spell from the open spell book, you had no idea of the chaos that would follow.

Now, your friends - Denzil, Dozy, Grand Dizzy, Daisy, Dora, Dozy, Pogie, and even Theo himself, have all been sent to the Underworld. Of course, you can't leave them there. So you do the only thing you CAN do, in order to save them: you read the spell again, sending yourself into the Underworld. Now you must find Theodore, and figure out a way to save your little buddies.

GAMEPLAY

In Spellbound Dizzy, poor Dizzy really has his work cut out for him. He has to rescue all 8 of his friends. Theo can help him out by casting a spell to send the Yolkfolk home - but for each of them, Theo needs 5 stars and a special item connected with that Yolkfolk.

This remake was made by Peter Teal and the DizzyAge team, and is very faithful to the original version, but with a few extra bells & whistles thrown in, to make the game more enjoyable.

As with all Dizzy games, you are able to explore the world, looking for items to help you complete your tasks and progress through the game. In the beginning, you can only carry 2 items at a time, but after you find a handy bag, you will be able to carry 4 items. You are also on the lookout for 40 stars (5 stars to rescue each of your friends), some of which can be really hard to find. The number of stars you have, is shown at top left of screen, separate from your inventory items.

You begin the game with 3 lives, which are shown as 3 eggs at the top. For each egg life, Dizzy has a health bar, and if Dizzy falls too far, drowns, or gets burned by fire or acid drops, his health bar decreases. Luckily, eating fruit will top us his health bar.

However, exploring the Underworld is no easy task, and it requires a lot of to-ing and fro-ing. And the Deep Pit will become quite tedious after a while. It requires Dizzy to jump of one edge of the cliff, hopefully landing on the trampette below (if you miss the trampette, you fall too far, and get hurt), picking up trampette, placing it at other end of the pit, and jumping a few times until you can get out of said pit. In my opinion, a bridge across the pit would have taken a lot of the tedium away. Still, it's only a minor complaint - the game is still fantastic.

So what are these extra bells & whistles I mentioned? Well, the game is now very customisable. One thing I love, is that you can choose to have Fall Damage set on or off, and can change it from the game Options menu. Considering the frequency we have to travel through the Deep Pit, it's a very welcome feature!

Controlling Dizzy

Left & Right            - Z & X

Jump                      - Space Bar

Interact \ Inventory - Enter

Save \ Quit \ Menu - Escape

GRAPHICS

I love the bright, colourful, cartoony graphics in this game - it makes it so much fun to play. Dizzy's movements are very smooth, and his unique style of somersaulting is fun to watch. If he falls too far, he gets stunned, and shakes his head, which is a nice touch. Fire in the torches flicker, as though really alive. The minecart ride is very smooth, and it's hard not to shout out 'WHEEEEEE' as Dizzy travels along. One thing I loved here, is Dizzy's ability to go underwater. He can stay underwater for a short time, without an aqualung, and he pulls the most hilarious faces as he's running out of air. Of course, if you want to swim underwater, you also need some handy flippers!

If you're not completely happy with the graphics, you can even tweak a few options to suit your preference. Like I mentioned earlier, this remake has had some extra bells & whistles thrown in. You can choose to have Dizzy with his trademark red boxing gloves and red boots, or you can choose to have him completely white. You can even altar the colour scheme, switching between classic Spectrum, Amstrad, or Commodore.

SOUND AND MUSIC

Music is very bubbly and cheerful, and inspired you to keep playing. However, if you don't like the music, you can toggle it between Spectrum or Commodore music (another lovely feature that was added to this remake). I loved the sound effect of Dizzy jumping - it's just right for the game. The strange crackling buzz sound as Dizzy is hurt, is also effective.

SUMMARY

Spellbound Dizzy is an excellent remake that I highly recommend to every Dizzy fan. I love the story of Dizzy having to rescue his friends from the Underworld. Having to find 5 Stars and a special item for each of the Yolkfolk adds a nice level of challenge, although having to travel through the Deep Pit so often does get tedious after a while. It's easy to control, and the extra features are lovely additions. Colourful graphics and bubbly music make it a lot of fun to play, with the minecart ride animation being one of my favourite moments. The 'Save' feature is very handy, since you don't have to start back at the beginning each time. Being able to turn the Fall Damage on or off is extremely helpful when crossing the Pit. Now go and save the Yolkfolk.