“The Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy” is an adventure game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in November 1991.
It was also later released on the controversial “Aladdin Deck Enhancer” with updated features.

Created by Philip and Andrew Oliver (Dizzy Enterprises) and published by Codemasters/Camerica.

The game was originally set to be released for Christmas in 1990.
But because of Nintendo suing Camerica and Galoob over the “Game Genie” at that time, the release was delayed for 11 months.

The game had only sold 125,000 units, instead of the expected 500,000.
Despite this, it was was awarded the “NES Adventure Game of the Year 1991” by Game Players Magazine and given the coveted “Parents Choice Award”.

In October 1993, the game was re-released as “Fantastic Dizzy” for the Amiga, Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and PC DOS/IBM.

It was also part of “The Big 6” compilation for the Amiga CD32.

There were plans to release the game on the Nintendo Game Boy and the Super Nintendo (SNES), both of which were unfinished and never released.

In 2019, a prototype of the Mega Drive version was discovered.
— More on the Mega Drive prototype

In October 2020, the NES version was re-released as part of a compilation called “The Oliver Twins Collection” for the Evercade.
— More on the Evercade release

This game served as a ‘greatest hits’ of all the past Dizzy titles as some of the puzzles and situations were re-used.
Despite not being able to save your progress, many Dizzy fans still see Fantastic Dizzy as one of the best adventure games in the series.

You start the game with 3 lives, a damage bar and can carry up to 3 items.

One of the major objectives of the game is to find all 250 magic stars (or 100 magic stars on the original NES cartridge version) scattered around the map.
Finding all the stars will remove the force-field blocking the way to Zaks’ Tower where Daisy is being held captive.

There are several places for Dizzy to visit, such as:
— The Yolkfolk Treehouse Village
— The countryside
— Keldor town
— Keldor castle
— The abandoned mine
— The graveyard
— Blackheart’s pirate ship
— Carber Bay
— Zaks’ castle

The game scrolls horizontally, but most areas do not scroll vertically.
When Dizzy jumps to an off-screen platform, a new screen is loaded.
As gameplay continues, the scenery cycles between night and day.

Also scattered around the map are scrolls where you get to play a sliding puzzle mini-game called “Puzzle Swap”.
Upon completing the mini-game, Dizzy will be given an extra life by Theodore.

There are also other mini-games you will come across along the way:
— The Mine Cart Ride
— Bubble Dizzy (like the original Bubble Dizzy game)
— The Archery Game (you will need the “Crossbow” in your inventory to complete the mini-game)
— Dizzy Down the Rapids (NES version only)
— Showdown in Zaks’ Tower
NOTE: ALL magic stars that appear in the mini-games must be collected too.

The cheat menu features an unused mini-game called “Puzzle Hole” which is similar to the “Puzzle Swap” extra life game.
But this mini-game appears to be impossible to beat, because you can only move one tile at a time, with a time limit on top of that.

On the 8-bit versions, a volcano can seen in the background near the mine entrance.
To make the area more challenging, the volcano endlessly fires rocks that Dizzy must dodge to prevent damage.
The volcano does not appear in the 16-bit versions.

The Mega Drive version has a secret bonus involving an item called “Prince’s Secret Sign”, which can only be found by giving the “Pigmy Cow” to Prince Clumsy after giving the “Gold Coin” to the Shopkeeper to obtain the “Green Bean”.
The Secret Sign can be used in the secret cave underneath the graveyard.
When used, purple rain appears in the cave and the player is rewarded with a high score (its known as the “Purple Rain” bonus).