Dizzy: Prince of the Yolkfolk

[Jerzy Bondov]

I had a very vivid dream about Dizzy Racing, which was like Mario Kart only better because Dizzy, and was extremely upset when I woke up and realised it didn't exist. It looked fucking amazing.

[Phil_A]

Just had a go on Spellbound, and embarrassingly got stuck almost immediately.

Was this one of the first Dizzy games to be farmed out to another developer? It just feels like the tone isn't right. The graphics look a tad more garish and less detailed than the other 16 bit versions as well. The trampette also seems to be quite, quite buggy. Sometimes it can end up stuck in a wall when you drop it, or just doesn't work properly at all.

[Jemble Fred]

I thought POTY was the first one to be made by Big Red Software?

[Replies From View]

No, funnily enough Magicland was the first to be developed by Big Red, but it was so in the spirit of Fantasy World that you wouldn't have guessed (the Oliver Twins were overseers in some form).  Spellbound was the first one designed by Big Red alone, and I think the graphics engine was updated for that.

Spellbound is where they first start meddling with the actual character - making him lose energy after falling a certain distance so you have to carefully position the trampettes before you do anything like go into a cloud.  It just wasn't Dizzy to me.  And I liked Dizzy always smiling, as per previous games, not scrunching his eyes after falling or doing a weird zigzag-mouthed chewing thing.  They just couldn't keep it simple.

Prince of the Yolkfolk was a welcome return to the Magicland formula but they messed it up even more with Crystal Kingdom.

[Jemble Fred]

I always adored the fruit-munching and head-shaking animations, myself, it seemed an exciting development at the time.

[Replies From View]

I always adored the fruit-munching and head-shaking animations, myself, it seemed an exciting development at the time.

EGG you said egg.

It was 'cause I didn't encounter Spellbound until I was an adult, by which time there was no development of Dizzy going on anymore.  All I really had as a child was great times with Fantasy World, and a brief go on Treasure Island, Magicland and Dizzy 1 (in that order).  If I'd been riding through Fantasy World, then Magicland, then Spellbound then I probably would have experienced those animations and character developments in much the same way as you.

Dizzy looks hot in scuba gear though, I have to admit.

[Jemble Fred]

Oh, that's pricked a nasty memory – the way you had to swap Amiga disks when you found the scuba gear, and it was 50/50 whether your game would continue properly when it loaded up.

[Replies From View]

Oh, that's pricked a nasty memory – the way you had to swap Amiga disks when you found the scuba gear, and it was 50/50 whether your game would continue properly when it loaded up.

Oh wait you didn't play Spellbound on the Spectrum then?  That's where I found the new animations to be ugly.  The Amiga version featured other new animations as well, if I remember correctly, like a different kind of jump when Dizzy was on the trampettes.  In general it seems like they were trying to vaguely tweak the Spectrum versions to resemble what they could do on 16 bit machines, without quite getting those differences to be anything other than jarring (for me).  Maybe the first signs that Dizzy wasn't being made for the Spectrum anymore.

*one youtube search*

Actually yeah, here's the Amiga version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nhKM7hT0ec

Compared with the Spectrum one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIFDai2g_Vg

[Jemble Fred]

I played every single possible version of every Dizzy game – well, Amiga and Spectrum, plus the NES and MegaDrive versions of 'Fantastic'. I've only fallen down on the fan-made games, because I've never had a PC. Funnily enough, just as this iPhone game was announced, I'd just started fiddling with Wine programmes to play the fan-made games on my MacBook, but this old laptop isn't keen to emulate the PC, it seems.

[Replies From View]

I played every single possible version of every Dizzy game – well, Amiga and Spectrum, plus the NES and MegaDrive versions of 'Fantastic'. I've only fallen down on the fan-made games, because I've never had a PC. Funnily enough, just as this iPhone game was announced, I'd just started fiddling with Wine programmes to play the fan-made games on my MacBook, but this old laptop isn't keen to emulate the PC, it seems.

Some of the PC fan games are pretty good, especially the ones using the DizzyAGE engine (I think I capitalised the correct bit).  They seem to be the best ones yet at emulating the Spectrum look and feel, although they don't have colour clash which I think is a shame.

Winter World Dizzy (basically Fantasy World Dizzy with snow) was the first one I came across (just so happens to be via Wine on Ubuntu):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZu6ztpUVuU

[Jemble Fred]

Reminds me of what a shame it is that the new version has no SFX. You want that bouncy sound every time you jump, and the solidity of a sting every time you use/drop something. The iPhone game just has music.

[Replies From View]

Reminds me of what a shame it is that the new version has no SFX. You want that bouncy sound every time you jump, and the solidity of a sting every time you use/drop something. The iPhone game just has music.

You're really right.  In fact the version of Fantasy World that I encountered was the 48k one which didn't have music at all, just SFX.  I always find that version more gripping whenever I feel like opening the Spectrum emulator now.  What you got was the steady buzz of the Spectrum transformer or TV screen, punctuated by sound effects.  As a child I assumed the version I was playing was broken, as somebody at school said you could see the loading screen for Treasure Island Dizzy by clicking on the picture in the stairwell.  It just didn't happen on the 48k version - you got the text about his previous adventure, but not the picture.

The original Spectrum games are notorious for their pixel-perfect precision (not sure about the other ports, but it's notable that the "Amazing Illusion" in Fantasy World Dizzy isn't an illusion at all outside of the Spectrum) and despite wanting to play on the iPhone with original Speccy graphics I don't know whether the touch screen controls would be able to entertain that kind of pedantic gameplay.  I can see why they changed it, but I see what they're doing as an extension of the 16 bit versions (which didn't have the same approach to SFX if I recall correctly) rather than the 8 bit ones, which remain in their own bubble.

[Jemble Fred]

DP – site went fucky

[Jemble Fred]

I like touch screen controls, but not when they're strewn around the screen almost randomly like on this version. Just give us the four directions in one corner, and jump/enter buttons! In fact, you only need left, right, jump and enter! I don't want to have to try and remember that 'up' is in the bottom left corner, it's illogical.

[Replies From View]

I like touch screen controls, but not when they're strewn around the screen almost randomly like on this version. Just give us the four directions in one corner, and jump/enter buttons! In fact, you only need left, right, jump and enter! I don't want to have to try and remember that 'up' is in the bottom left corner, it's illogical.

I tried out a number of Spectrum emulators on my previous phone (an Android), and transferred my Dizzy files over to see how they'd work.  Unfortunately on full screen mode the multi-directional joystick, which was on the bottom left side of the screen, was a solid red sphere, so it obscured parts of the actual game.  First screen on Fantasy World, the fire on the left was completely hidden by the joystick.  So annoying because apart from that it was perfect, whereas the other emulators all had various speed and/or graphics glitches that rendered them useless.  I say that but it was still hard to get jump and a direction to happen at the same time.

I have Sonic 1 on my iPhone and I have to say I'm not keen on all the directions being in one place.  Maybe it's just been done particularly badly in that instance but I just find Sonic skidding around in all directions and I can't be arsed to get beyond the first stage.  I recently bought Prince of Persia Retro and found that the equivalent to the PC's "shift" button (used for keeping hold of ledges, and making the character move in tiny steps) being on the top right completely wrecks the gameplay.  When you're grabbing onto a ledge with a massive drop below you, you find you're holding that button with your right thumb, while the "up" button is immediately below it.  Shift your right thumb from "shift" to "up" and you let go of the ledge and drop down to death, so you need to counter-intuitively use your left thumb to press the "up" button on the right hand side of the screen.  So you have both thumbs stubbing one corner and you're in danger of dropping your phone suddenly.

It's damning with faint praise but to be honest Dizzy Prince of the Yolkfolk has one of the better touch screen controls that I've encountered.  Once you get the hang of it it's pretty intuitive, they just need to move "jump up" to the top left corner rather than bottom left.

[madhair60]

Or put them on a compilation for the DS which they should have done in the first place.  God Bless Flashcards.

[Jemble Fred]

As it's touch screen, one thing that occurred to me as I was playing was that it would be fun to dispense with 'Enter' altogether, and just be able to prod or swipe objects from an inventory, to where you want to use them. Maybe a bit ambitious, but it would be a lovely touch for the series on the new platform, and better than just jabbing the button until you're in the right place to use something.

[Replies From View]

As it's touch screen, one thing that occurred to me as I was playing was that it would be fun to dispense with 'Enter' altogether, and just be able to prod or swipe objects from an inventory, to where you want to use them. Maybe a bit ambitious, but it would be a lovely touch for the series on the new platform, and better than just jabbing the button until you're in the right place to use something.

Would that require an inventory button or would the items be visible on the screen once picked up?  It could work, but I do wonder how much can be changed and at what point a game stops being a Dizzy game.  Do you just need a roughly egg-shaped protagonist and some witty exchanges between characters?  Sometimes it's the presence of a treehouse complex that makes it feel right, sometimes it's the Yolkfolk, and sometimes it's just simple things like a particular font being used for "EXIT AND DON'T DROP".  But Dizzy has shown itself not to be limited to these things, so I guess it has to be about the humour of the storyline and dialogue, much as it is for Monkey Island.

If I had to accept that Dizzy isn't owned by the Spectrum and I can't have my 8 bit graphics and colour clash, what do I feel Dizzy has to be in order to stay Dizzy?  It's hard to say.  It's weird to think that Codemasters were thinking in the early 90s of a 3D Dizzy game, along the lines of Mario 64.  That's just the way things were going back then and I don't think there's any danger of that happening to Dizzy now because he is decidedly retro.  Which just begs the question even more, I suppose:  rather than update him to high res graphics for the iPhone shouldn't they pin him at least to 16 bit limitations of the early 90s?

[Jemble Fred]

To me, Dizzy is first and foremost about the usage of items and the lateral thinking required to proceed, with the wit and the characters coming a close second. It's an RPG platformer, basically, and there's just been nothing to take its place for the last 20 years in my opinion. I've never quite understood why – having played the majority of platformers of every gaming generation – practically all of them have been lobotomised in comparison, like just the worst elements of Dizzy (collecting coins and avoiding monsters), with none of the intelligent puzzling.

[Replies From View]

To me, Dizzy is first and foremost about the usage of items and the lateral thinking required to proceed, with the wit and the characters coming a close second. It's an RPG platformer, basically, and there's just been nothing to take its place for the last 20 years in my opinion.

Would Monkey Island with a Dizzy sprite pass as Dizzy?  A serious question.

[Jemble Fred]

I'm not sure, I've always popped that in the Broken Sword point-and-clicky genre, rather than platformer. But I'm no expert on Monkey Island.

[madhair60]

The closest thing to Dizzy these days would be one of the "Metroidvania" games, like the recent Cave Story, and that is fuck all like Dizzy.

[Replies From View]

I'm not sure, I've always popped that in the Broken Sword point-and-clicky genre, rather than platformer. But I'm no expert on Monkey Island.

No you're right, sorry, didn't read your definition properly.  Monkey Island is point-and-click walking in 3D directions, whereas Dizzy is a 2D platformer (or was fortunate enough to stay that way because the 90s didn't manage to grab him like they did Mario).  It's more about that than how the inventory is used, I think.

[Jemble Fred]

I'd say that any videogame character which can't cut it in both 3D and 2D is dead in the water, to be honest – and Dizzy's characters, stories, world and puzzles can definitely cut it in 3D. It just needs that puzzle magic we had in the third and fourth games especially, and The Oliver Twins getting in there and bringing back some of their original mastery.

[Replies From View]

I'd say that any videogame character which can't cut it in both 3D and 2D is dead in the water, to be honest – and Dizzy's characters, stories, world and puzzles can definitely cut it in 3D. It just needs that puzzle magic we had in the third and fourth games especially, and The Oliver Twins getting in there and bringing back some of their original mastery.

I've checked out a Let's Play of Cave Story to see what madhair60 meant:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJbAs-sSX4A

There's something distinctly late 80s / early 90s about that, and I like it a lot.  There are obviously some graphical limitations being imposed etc, but the main character has a naive or well-meaning look about him - probably also essential for Dizzy, who altruistically goes around doing things for people and then seems to take his reward as some kind of unexpected bonus.  Or maybe he'll just stop at nothing to get laid by Daisy.

I think there are lots of ways Dizzy could be new and fresh and yet still feel right.  I've recently been loving looking back at Curse of Monkey Island, with its lovely painted backdrops and cel animation characters.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nExk_lHH6Y0  I mean that was a deliberate attempt to do a 2D animation style at a time when virtual reality style 3D modelling was becoming all the rage, so it's a kind of retro but it still has so much more charm to it than the current remake of Prince of the Yolkfolk.

[madhair60]

Did anyone ever play Cosmic Spacehead?  It was a bit like a weird, segregated Dizzy, with the puzzle/inventory elements totally seperate from the platforming.  Very good, mind - had the same sort of dialogue/humour.

[Replies From View]

Did anyone ever play Cosmic Spacehead?  It was a bit like a weird, segregated Dizzy, with the puzzle/inventory elements totally seperate from the platforming.  Very good, mind - had the same sort of dialogue/humour.

Checking it out now.  I love Let's Plays for some reason (I'm also a sucker for DVD commentaries).  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxb1edWF3w0

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

Did anyone ever play Cosmic Spacehead?  It was a bit like a weird, segregated Dizzy, with the puzzle/inventory elements totally seperate from the platforming.  Very good, mind - had the same sort of dialogue/humour.

Nice! I was just searching my memory for the name of this game, but you've saved me a job.

Spoiler alert

I remember giving a balloon to a giant alien to clear the way forwards (although the answer to this puzzle was actually on the game's cover.)

[close]

[Jerzy Bondov]

I had a MegaDrive cartridge with both Fantastic Dizzy and Cosmic Spacehead. You had to reset the console to swap between them. Both of them I felt were great adventures spoiled by having to dodge some little nobheads whenever you wanted to go anywhere, but by that point I'd been spoiled rotten by Monkey Island, my favourite game. Now I've got a bit more patience I think there's definitely a way to mix puzzles and action, and have both be satisfying. The template for this is, inevitably, Dizzy 3 and 4.

[Replies From View]

Had another go at the iPhone Prince of the Yolkfolk just now.

The "directionless jump" button is definitely in the wrong place, but I'm happy with the rest of the controls being where they are.  Directionless jump needs to be easily accessible by both thumbs, not just the left one.  As it is I find it really easy to go from walking right to jumping right because I can prod the directionless jump button with my left thumb as I'm walking.  This isn't as easy at all when walking left and wanting to jump left - it involves you needing to stop walking and pressing the designated "jump left" button.

Far better if the "directionless jump" button was at the very bottom and in the middle, equally accessible by both thumbs.  This would make it feel like a space bar, which is often used for this purpose in games like this.

A positive thing:  I like that Dizzy speeds up after walking for a while.  Traversing long stretches of land back and forth can be the killer for Dizzy players.

Another bug I've found, as well. 

Spoiler alert

I put the thorn down to defeat the evil Dizzy to the right of the spanner (normally I put it to the left)

[close]

, and then went up to the top screen and,

Spoiler alert

before letting him step on the thorn

[close]

, had a go with the knob at the top to see what the dialogue box would say.  It was different to any earlier versions,

Spoiler alert

suggesting a bluff puzzle about glove colours

[close]

, which I liked.  Carried on walking

Spoiler alert

so the evil Dizzy stepped on the thorn and was killed

[close]

, then went down to pick up the spanner, whereupon it behaved as though the trapdoor was now open (which it wasn't), and I fell through.  No problem insofar as there is no life limit, except that now the evil Dizzy was back alive again, and what's more

Spoiler alert

the thorn was now invisible

[close]

- possible to pick up and put back down, but it no longer had any effect on the evil Dizzy.

Rendering the item sequence unfinishable.  Which is bad.