“
Magicland Dizzy”
("Dizzy 4") is the fourth adventure game in the series.
Developed by Big Red Software and published by Codemasters for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC 464, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST and PC DOS in March 1991.
The game was also released as part of both the 8-bit and 16-bit “Dizzy Collection” compilations.
Aswell as being released on “The Big 6” compilation for the Amiga CD32.
To promote Magicland, a five screen mini-adventure was released on the Spectrum called “Dizzy 3 and a Half – Into Magicland”.
It was exclusively given away in the January 1991 edition of “Crash” magazine.
--
More on Dizzy 3 and a Half
This game included the same gameplay format as Fantasy World, such as the simple inventory system and talking to other characters.
You start the game with 3 lives and can carry up to 3 items.
This is also the first Dizzy game in the series to include a health bar, which drains when touching various hazards such as flames and bats.
The main objective is to rescue all 6 members of the Yolkfolk
(who all previously appeared on Fantasy World), including a new character called Dora
(Dizzy’s sister).
Once rescued, you will need to find a way of defeating Zaks again.
The other major objective is to collect 30 diamonds, some of which are hidden behind railings.
These diamonds also replenish your health, very useful when your health bar is very low.
The game has an infamous reference to “Pac-Man”, involving the ghosts in the haunted swamp and the “Power Pill” item.
An amusing mistake is seen on the Spectrum and Amstrad versions.
The “Eat-me Cake” item can be seen levitating above the water on “The Drawbridge” screen.
While Magicland was being developed, the team working on it were given a 2 page document called a "Whinge Sheet", which listed a number of issues found while the game was being tested.
Ironically, the misplacement of the "Eat-me Cake" was not included in that list.
The Commodore 64 version has an unusual bug which involved dropping the “Ancient Lamp” in a small indentation in the floor on the right hand side of the “Cracks of Gehenna” screen.
Dropping the lamp there teleports Dizzy into the sky above the rightmost “Haunted Swamp” screen.
The Amiga version has a hidden credits screen which only appears when the player presses the “DEL” button while the Magicland loading screen is displayed.
However, this doesn’t work on the “Dizzy Collection” release of the game.
“Wonderland Dizzy”, a game that has similarities to Magicland was released on the Nintendo Entertainment System
(NES) in October 2015.
--
More on Wonderland Dizzy
Grand Dizzy
