Fantastic Dizzy USA

Fantastic Dizzy USA (The Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy outside Europe & Australia) is a 1991 video game developed by Codemasters. It is part of the Dizzy series. It was published on several platforms, including Mega Drive/Genesis, Master System, Game Gear, Nintendo Entertainment System,^[1] Amiga, and MS-DOS.

The game was planned to be released in time for Christmas in 1990, but because of a legal action between Codemasters and Nintendo over the Game Genie the title was released in April 1991, making it miss the Christmas rush it was originally slated for. It sold 125,000 units instead of the expected 500,000.^[2] The game was awarded the “NES Adventure Game of the Year 1991” by Game Players Magazine and given the Parents Choice Award.^[2] Almost all of puzzles are from the previous games.

Plot – Fantastic Dizzy USA

The evil wizard Zaks casts a spell on the Yolkfolk and kidnaps Dizzy’s girlfriend Daisy.^[3] It is up to Dizzy to undo Zaks’ doings and rescue Daisy from the castle in the clouds.

Characters – Fantastic Dizzy USA

Fantastic Dizzy USA contains all 16 characters in the series. While most of the Yolkfolk were harmed by Zaks, others have different problems. Other characters include Good Wizard Theodore, Blackheart the Pirate, the Palace Guard, Prince Clumsy, Rockwart the Troll, Shamus the Leprechaun and the Shop Owner.^[4]

Locations – Fantastic Dizzy USA

There are several places for Dizzy to visit, including the whole complex of the Yolkfolk secret treehouse, the mine, the neighbouring city of Keldor, a pirate ship, a castle, the grasslands, Carber Bay, the cemetery and finally Zaks’ Cloud Castle.

The game generally scrolls horizontally, although some mini-games/sections scroll vertically. When Dizzy climbs a ladder or jumps to an off-screen platform, a new screen is loaded. As game play continues, the scenery cycles between night and day.

Gameplay – Fantastic Dizzy USA

The game is hard to qualify in a genre: while it seems at first a platform game, Fantastic Dizzy USA is vulnerable to all enemies while unable to eliminate them, and puzzles are completed by bringing an object to a location (in the same fashion as Gods and adventure games), and also has to capture all 250 stars scattered in the game. The game can also be seen as a union of all the previous games where the player can find a lot of familiar puzzles (e.g. elevators, magic beans) and places (e.g. mines, deep sea) as well as several arcade minigames based on older games in the series (like Bubble Dizzy).

Fantastic Dizzy Track – 1

Fantastic Dizzy Track – 2

Fantastic Dizzy Track – 3

Fantastic Dizzy Track – 4

Fantastic Dizzy Track – 5