The Dizzy character, for those that do not know, is a mascot style character that was somewhat popular in North America during the 1990’s. Anyone that grew up gaming in the 8 and 16-bit days knows a quality mascot has to have a hook to bring in fans. Gamers from this period saw marsupials, blue collar workers, robots, and even prehistoric mascots during this period. Dizzy was different though, he came to gaming in the form of an egg. Yes, an egg.
Developed by the Oliver Twins who are still prolific in gaming in a meaningful way, and published by Codemasters, and sometimes Camerica depending on your location on the planet, Dizzy certainly had plenty of games under his belt. Dizzy almost rivals Mario in his ability to be acceptable in other genres than just side scrolling action platform games. Fantastic Dizzy is a title that was available on many platforms, including the Sega Genesis, but not the Japanese Sega Mega Drive. Weird tidbit there.
According to Indie Retro News the discovery of the Fantastic Dizzy for Sega Genesis prototype was found on the server for the “English Amiga Board” among other Sega Genesis related files.
Fantastic Dizzy is a 2D side scrolling action affair that saw release on everything from the Nintendo Entertainment System to the Commodore Amiga line of computers and CD32 among others. In the United States and Europe it seems Dizzy was prolific on the Sega platforms as well hitting the Sega Genesis, Game Gear, and Sega Master System (I believe this last one is Europe only where the SMS was still quite popular).
This prototype is a little different than what saw release though. These are a chance for fans to enter a time capsule and see some of the steps of development and how the game could have been if released sooner. Unfortunately, this prototype seems to be missing quite a bit including no title screen, no audio, no intro, the score doesn’t work, and many more things.
What is different in a good way is the extra life puzzle is apparently quite different and you have unlimited lives as you play.
Fans of the Dizzy character will want to grab this one and check it out. Head over to Yolkfolk.com to grab your copy.
