Fan Games That Weren't - Part 3
Here at The Dizzy Fansite, we’re absolutely delighted to house over 300 fan-made Dizzy games, a few of which were released as far back as 1992.
Unfortunately, there were some fan games that were either lost in time or never saw the light of day.
The third part looks at Fan Games that were only released as Playable Demos.
Apologies if there’s any I’ve missed out.
DIZZY XX – HELL IN PARADISE ISLAND
Megacode Hackers Group – ZX Spectrum, 1995
One of the few Spectrum fan games that saw a demo-only release.
Dizzy XX let’s you explore a small island and uses graphics from various Dizzy games.
The game’s loading screen said that the full version would be released around January/February 1996.
One of the biggest problems with the Russian Spectrum fan games is that there’s little to no information regarding the game in question anywhere on the Internet.
It’s not known why the full version was never finished.
ARCANUM DIZZY
Ryan Lander – PC, 2000
An adventure game made using ‘The Games Factory’.
“Dizzy and Daisy have been captured by Zaks, Dizzy gets sent to his dungeon and has to find a way to escape his castle.”
Ryan was never heard from again since the demo’s release.
Which is a shame as the game itself had a lot of potential.
DIZZY – THE ULTIMATE CARTOON ADVENTURE REMAKE
Peter Teal/Tommy Pereira – PC, 2000
An adventure game made using ‘The Games Factory’.
All the graphics and voice samples used in this demo were done by Tommy, with the programming done by Peter.
Originally set to be an actual remake of the first Dizzy, but only this version was released with some of the map completed and the puzzles completely different, including an appearance from Theodore.
Sadly, we haven’t heard from Tommy since the mid-2000’s.
DIZZY AND THE Y2K PREDICAMENT REMAKES
Tommy Pereira – PC, 2000
Shortly after releasing ‘Dizzy and the Y2k Predicament’ for the Spectrum, Tommy considered having it ported to the PC and even onto the Commodore 64.
The one-level demo for the PC was made using ‘The Games Factory’ and was never finished.
Screenshots showing the loading screen and the work in progress for the C64 version was shown on one of Tommy’s old websites, but was never made available to download.
Sadly, we haven’t heard from Tommy since the mid-2000’s.
PLATFORM FEVER I & IV
Sam Walker – PC, 2000/2003
Both made using Multimedia Fusion.
As mentioned in Part 1, ‘Platform Fever I – Goldenegg‘ and ‘Platform Fever IV – Wild West Dizzy‘ were only released as demos, both containing one level each.
The original ‘Platform Fever I’ was said to have been completed but lost after Sam’s PC crashed.
DIZZY THE PRINCE
Remus M/Necromanthus – PC, 2004/2005
This playable demo started off in life as an online game using ‘Flash’.
It’s not known how big this game was going to be, but the demo itself gives you a lot to explore.
Eventually, you’ll reach a room with a picture of a demonic face with a message saying:
“and more is coming soon …”
Marking the end of the demo.
The full game was never finished.
In 2021, following the demise of ‘Adobe Flash’, Remus re-released the demo as a Windows downloadable.
DRAGONS 2
Miras/Stickens Software – PC, 2005
A fairly buggy adventure game made using ‘Game Maker’.
On this demo, one of the exits in the first level of the tower labelled ‘Ognisty teren’ cannot be accessed, meaning the game cannot be completed.
According to a friend of Miras, ‘Dragons 2’ itself was never actually finished.
We haven’t heard from Miras since the mid-2000’s.
DIZZY: ESCAPE FROM CASTLE ZAKS
Colin Pierce – PC/DizzyAGE, 2009
Made using the ‘DizzyAGE Engine’.
“Dizzy and the Yolkfolk have been captured by the evil wizard Zaks and imprisoned in his castle!
Now, Dizzy must save his friends and himself, aswell as stop Zaks’ evil plan to take over the kingdom!”
This game had spent several years on and off development, starting in 2009 and the latest build released in 2016.
We haven’t heard from Colin since then.
LEGEND OF DAISY: A DIZ TO THE PAST
Andy Goulding – PC/DizzyAGE, 2016
This DizzyAGE game is a parody of “The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past”.
“In 2014, Dizzy got very rich.
In 2015, he became a priest and moved to Ireland.
Now, Zaks has stolen his money and declared himself emperor of a police state!
Will Dizzy have to travel back in time in order to stop this menace?”
The demo has some very interesting areas to explore.
In 2020, Andy confirmed that the game was doomed to remain a demo and that he had bit off more than he could chew when it comes to wild ideas.
DIZZY’S NEW ADVENTURE
Verm-V – PC/DizzyAGE, 2018
Made using ‘DizzyAGE’, with some extremely stunning graphics by Luis Zuno.
There’s no story attached to the game and there isn’t really much else to add other than how amazing the demo itself looks and plays.
Verm-V confirmed on its Itch page that work on this game has been suspended but it will continue in the future.
No explanation has been given for why the game has been put on hold and it isn’t known if work on the project will ever resume again.
DRUNK DIZZY
Black Eagle Company – ZX Spectrum, 1995
Another Spectrum game.
We have absolutely no information about this game and how the full version would’ve looked.
DIZZY DIAMONDS
Peter Teal – PC, 2000
An interesting Arcade game made using ‘The Games Factory’.
The objective is to simply collect all the diamonds on the level to complete it.
But its not as easy as it sounds, as Dizzy is running at super fast speeds in this one and he must avoid all the enemies.
Peter only managed to get as far as making one level for the game.
DIZZY RPG
Steve Harrington/DOBE – PC, 2000
This was the first Dizzy fan game made using RPG Maker 2000.
“Two children head to the Enchanted Forest and read instructions that revive an ancient Demon!
Then moments later, the Yolkfolk start to go missing, leaving Dizzy to find out what has happened to them.”
What’s available on this demo is absolutely astonishing, like most RPG games would be.
Just a real shame that the full game was never finished.
On a side note, sometime in 2006, somebody made a hacked version of this demo where Dizzy had to search for Chaos Emeralds.
I can’t find any proof of this game anywhere, but I’m certain it did exist as it was posted on one of our previous Community Forums with the game itself using music from ‘The Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy’.
WHO WANTS TO BE A DIZZY MILLIONAIRE?
Andrew Joseph – PC, 2000
Somehow I don’t think I need to explain what inspired this game.
Made using ‘The Games Factory’.
On this demo, you can only answer 5 questions and win (not literally) up to £100. (Although it was meant to say £1,000.)
The full version was never finished, but it did become inspiration for a similar fan series that Adam Markey started years later called ‘Dizzy Trivia‘.
JUNGLELAND DIZZY
Adrian Room/Pixel Dizzy – PC, 2003
This was the first fan game to be made using ‘Game Maker’.
On this demo, you must help Dizzy escape from a small temple.
The game map for Jungleland was meant to be bigger than that, including the temple.
Adrian did make great progress with this game and shared other screenshots for it (now lost).
Time constraints meant that the full game was never completed.
However, Adrian’s ‘Game Maker’ engine was later re-used by Bubblefox for their own fan games.
Then heavily modified by Raidas Mazeika who released it as ‘GMDiz Engine‘, for his own fan game ‘Valley of Golden Suns Dizzy‘.
On a side note, the Jungleland demo was also hacked by Firemark for his own fan game, ‘Dragons‘.
DIZZY RPG
Bubblefox – PC, 2005
Not to be confused with the other ‘Dizzy RPG’ demo released by Steve Harrington.
This demo was made using ‘Game Maker’.
“Dizzy woke up one morning and Daisy was missing.
“Oh no, not again” he mumbled as he went outside. Dizzy telephoned Theodore, who told him that a great Dragon had caused destruction upon some of the Egg Islands, and had captured Daisy in the process.
So Dizzy attempted to head off to the Egg Islands to find out more and the bridge was broken.
It was obvious that someone is hindering Dizzy’s attempt to rescue Daisy.
So he went back home to find some way to fix the bridge, remembering that he left his axe in the woods…..
Your mission is to take Dizzy across the Egg Islands and onto the main land of Yolkland, learning skills along the way in order to defeat the evil that has captured Daisy and destroyed many people’s lives in the process.”
The full game was never completed, and we haven’t heard from Bubblefox since the mid-2000’s.
DIZZY: THE NEXT GENERATION
Bubblefox – PC, 2005
I wasn’t sure whether or not to include this game.
It was made using ‘Game Maker’ and the game itself takes place 30 years after the original series.
Even though it isn’t marked as a demo and most of the game is playable, the version we have has a major bug where the second exit outside the abandoned castle doesn’t work, making it very likely that the game cannot be completed.
It’s not known whether or not Bubblefox ever made another bug fix, but if they had, its nowhere to be found on the Internet.
What’s more, Bubblefox has not been seen in the Community since 2006.
DIZZY QUEST
David O’Flynn/JDC Studios – PC, 2016
Can’t remember if the game was made on ‘Multimedia Fusion 2’ or ‘Clickteam Fusion’.
“The Evil Wizard Zaks has Escaped and Scattered the Diamonds that are needed to seal him back into his Tomb.
Help Dizzy Battle through 7 Different Stages to Collect all 7 Diamonds to Seal the Evil Wizard Zaks back.”
Only one of the seven stages was finished for the demo.
David had planned to have this finished by late 2016, but it wasn’t to be due to time constraints.
A shame really as this was one of the most fun arcade games we’ve seen.
DALR
Łukasz Kur – PC, 2017
I never really found out what ‘DALR’ stood for.
But it was made using ‘Clickteam Fusion’.
Not only did Łukasz release this as a playable demo, but also as an open-source engine for Clickteam Fusion users, but it will require certain extensions before the game’s file can be opened.
Full details of the engine can be read on the game’s page (link below).
SPLINTERED REALMS DIZZY
Ben Wright – PC/DizzyAGE, 2021
Made using ‘DizzyAGE’.
I’m fairly reluctant to add this demo here, even though the game’s Itch page hasn’t been updated since June 2021.
The game takes place after the events from Ben’s previous game, ‘Iron Tower Dizzy‘.
“After defeating the Evil Wizard Zaks at the summit of his Iron Tower, Dizzy and Daisy need to find a way to the ground safely.
Unfortunately, the method they choose causes its own problems!
Can you save the rest of the Yolkfolk from parallel dimensions?”
In 2025, Ben confirmed that he managed to get 80% of the game completed before burning himself out.
He hopes to have it finished someday.
