Dizzy 1: `Talkthrough`

Hi, I'm new here and this is my first post. It may well be my only post if it doesn't garner interest. What I am hoping to do may sound strange or unusual to you but I hope this will not put too many people off contributing.

I am hoping to do what, so far as I can tell, is the first Dizzy: The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure `talkthrough`. What is a `talkthrough`? In theory it's an excuse for you to play Dizzy and for us to have a very involved discussion about the first game in the series. The idea is to discuss the game scene by scene event by event. What I hope is for us to team up and really investigate the game. Analyse how it works, what it's story is to try and identify clues and other details that might otherwise evade people when they're playing the game in the normal way people play games, ie as efficiently as possible. The idea is to slowly build a record of what happens where, what works and what doesn't, maybe even to discover things that have so far remained undiscovered. After all Dizzy: TUCA is about the only game I know of where only slight investigation reveals that there seems to be things that everyone would think should be possible but apparently no-one knows how to do them.

Because Dizzy is a delightful yet highly devious game, it makes you say 'That was really clever when they did that.' yet at the same time ask questions like 'Why did they do that, that way?', 'Why didn't they do this there?' The purpose of this talk through is to try and collectively answer these questions.

So, why do I think that idea may sound strange to you? Well it's because I have never played TUCA. I don't have it. I've played Crystal Kingdom and Treasure Island and ...Yolkfolk but this game isn't one I've played or can play in its original form. And it is the original versions of this game that this `talkthrough` is designed to discuss, this is because the DizzyAGE version is written, or so I understood, to write out many of those questions that might come up while playing this game this is written to ask and discuss those questions directly. The idea is only to investigate the original games in the hope of making new discoveries. I can't investigate these things myself. I can read online maps and watch online playthroughs and and do so and think, why don't they do this, why aren't they doing that? But I've no way of checking it myself, no way of knowing if they've checked it in the past and no way of knowing if I've had an idea that no-one has ever tested... which may happen, sometimes you can be removed from the game by the fact you're not playing it.

So thus this `talkthrough`. I expect if no-one is interested this thread will just die. But I also expect that they'll be people on Dizzy fansite who will need very little persuasion to play and discuss Dizzy so I expect they'll be people who are at least theoretically interested. That being the case I will start by reproducing the background information, firstly a reproduction of the poem that inspired it. This poem is well worth reading both for its self and for the extra dimensions it adds to the world of Dizzy in this game:
The Green Eye Of The Little Yellow God by J. Milton Hayes

There's a one-eyed yellow idol to the north of Khatmandu,
There's a little marble cross below the town;
There's a broken-hearted woman tends the grave of `Mad` Carew,
And the Yellow God forever gazes down.

He was known as "Mad Carew" by the subs at Khatmandu,
He was hotter than they felt inclined to tell;
But for all his foolish pranks, he was worshiped in the ranks,
And the Colonel's daughter smiled on him as well.

He had loved her all along, with a passion of the strong,
The fact that she loved him was plain to all.
She was nearly twenty-one and arrangements had begun,
To celebrate her birthday with a ball.

He wrote to ask what present she would like from Mad Carew;
They met next day as he dismissed a squad;
And jestingly she told him then that nothing else would do,
But the green eye of the little Yellow God.

On the night before the dance, Mad Carew seemed in a trance,
And they chaffed him as they puffed at their cigars:
But for once he failed to smile, and he sat alone awhile,
The went out into the night beneath the stars.

He returned before the dawn, with his shirt and tunic torn,
And a gash across his temple dripping red;
He was patched up right away, and he slept through all the day,
And the Colonel's daughter watched beside his bed.

He woke at last and asked if they could send his tunic through;
She brought it, and he thanked her with a nod;
He bade her search the pockets saying "That's from Mad Carew,"
And she found the little green eye of the god.

She upbraided poor Carew in the way that women do,
Though both her eyes were strangely hot and wet;
But she wouldn't take the stone and Mad Carew was left alone,
With the jewel that he'd chanced his life to get.

When the ball was at it's height, on that still and tropic night,
She thought of him and hurried to his room;
As she crossed the barrack square she could hear the dreamy air
Of a waltz tune softly stealing thro' the gloom.

His door was open wide, with silver moonlight shining through;
The place was wet and slippery where she trod;
An ugly knife lay buried in the heart of Mad Carew,
'Twas the "Vengeance of the Little Yellow God."

There's a one-eyed yellow idol in the north of Kathmandu,
There's a little marble cross below the town;
There's a broken-hearted woman tends the grave of Mad Carew,
And the Yellow God forever gazes down. And the second piece of background is reproduced from the cassette inlay and printed again here for ease of reference in the thread. Both these pieces of text are instructive and intriguing and we will refer back to them frequently if this gets off the ground:
Dizzy: The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure - The Story

Dizzy was exploring the haunted forest, looking for berries, flowers and a piece of wood with which to make a club when he uncovered a mystifying stone slab. Brushing the dirt aside he was able to read (after a great deal of head scratching) the faint inscription.

The Avawiffovee Potion.

Dizzy remembered his Eggfather had spoken of such a potion. "It is the only way to rid our land of athletes foot,and it can also be used to destroy the Evil Wizard Zaks." Dizzy trembled with fear as he recalled these words. Zaks brought fear to the village, he cast spells that turned people old, made men blind and caused it to rain every Sunday during Cricket. Dizzy was determined to put a stop to all this, he would be the hero of the yolkfolk. He read on...

'fill a potion bottle with cooked Leprechauns wig, clouds silver lining, Vampire dux feather and some troll brew - cook the potion and throw it at Zaks to dissolve his reign.'

He covered it up and quickly made ready to liberate the land of KATMANDU.

Playing The Game

You have three lives, this can be increased by finding eggs. The bouncy mushrooms can be used to jump higher. Watch out for booby traps!

To defeat the Wizard you must light the fire under the cauldron and drop the ingredients into it. Then drop the empty flask into it and it will be magically filled and shot out.

Finally, smash this flask next to Zaks and you have won!

Hint: Try greasing the old rusty mining cart. Thanks, I hope this generates enough interest to bust this game wide open and spill any of its remaining secrets.

Well, the witch isn't around but who else is going to leave a large cooking pot just laying about?

This thread has so far gained neither spectacular enthusiasm or complete apathy so I'm going to proceed with the idea and people can try or not try the simply or complicated suggestions that I make because I can't play this wonderful game myself.

So scene one finds Dizzy standing between a large cauldron and a small wishing well. The set up is clearly for gameplay reasons, there's no real explanation for the presence of the cauldron but it's encouraging to the player to have some idea of what they have to do and where the have to do it. There's very little else of interest in this scene except for that very curious cloud: it's moving. They've bothered to spend game memory animating it, it's the only cloud in the game that doesn't either rain down on you or have a castle perched on top of it (ok, there's also a couple hiding the moon) . And it's moving.
That sort of thing attracts investigation in the logic of this talkthrough. Although there doesn't seem to be much you can do with it. Although I wouldn't put it past this game if it could, for better or worse, take it's lining back. Can that happen, can you give it the lining instead of putting it in the cooking pot?

Anyway the instruction tell us to light the fire first so, from here, we go right.

I hope you do the entire game, it's interesting to read other people's opinions, interpretations and perspectives on the game.

Thanks , I hope to do the entire game too although as I said I don't own it. It'll be more likely to get finished if it garners results from people who play the game. I don't really expect anything to drop out of that cloud though, but this is a Dizzy game and I know from experience of the ones I have played they can produce to surprising puzzles.

other great games by the same authors include: Super Robin Hood, Ghost Hunters, Grand Prix Simulator and Professional Ski Simulator: Aug 87

Yup, apparently they made other games and they want to tell us about them here before you're killed by... a bird. Or an apple falling out of that tree to the right of the screen.

Presumably the "authors" in question are or include the Oliver Twins, it doesn't really say much to be the people who created the music and graphics for random other games. In case time has led you to forget or you simply aren't aware because you weren't playing Dizzy: TUCA when it first game out "Aug 87" means the game had yet to be released. They're telling the player about a game that was due for release a month after Dizzy. Special attention should probably be given to Ghost Hunters other games might seem pertinent to anyone who plays them but only that one seems to have a title relevant to an event in this game.

The scene its self introduces the player to two (two!) enemies. They don't want to player to get complacent obviously, even which they give them the first part of the puzzle to immediately solve. The first enemy is a bird, it's not quite clear what sort of threat they are meant to pose to Dizzy, presumably they'll either peck his shell open or try and cart him back to their nest. Either way contact with one mean Dizzy will lose a life as anyone playing this game for the first time will probably immediately discover.

The second enemy is an apple, they fall out of trees and hit Dizzy presumably cracking his egg shell and causing his yolk to spill all over the ground result in a loss of life. Which first time players will no doubt discover after realizing that they need to dodge the bird. So now you're on your last life and you've only come one screen from the start. Well done, Oliver Twins.

The only thing to be done here at the moment, as the foes are currently immune to all Dizzy might do to them is pick up "A Burning Torch" laying on the ground. There was once a time where everyone would recognize that a torch that isn't burning is a stick but these days there's a danger that if they just called it "A Torch" some players might think it was a flashlight and wouldn't know what to do. Which is take it back to the scene you've just come from and light the fire under the cauldron as directed in the instructions. Which would be very satisfying if not for the fact that you may well just have lost two lives in the process.

After this it's not sure what we just do next (Hint: Try greasing the old rusty mining cart.) OK, that's all well and good but as a first time player we have no grease and no idea where any might be. Now a first time player might well be tempted to go right here, it worked before and a lot of games only scroll right from the start. But that would be a mistake at this time and it could be a very costly one. As it is we are going to pretend Dizzy can see the land around him while we can't and we go left.

Now, I had hoped I would be able to come here and tell you all about the village of Cigam in the vicinity of Kathmandu. But no, the writers appear to have made it up along with a lot of other details about this game. It may be why they deliberately spell the name of the place `Katmandu` minus the 'h'. Nevermind what research reveals is perhaps more important.

So we move left from scene 1 dodging the pesky spider which we'd probably be suspicious off even if we hadn't learned that moving critters in Dizzy tend to be a threat to him. Although how strong must the fangs of these things be to penetrate his shell. Alternatively the bugs scare Dizzy enough to cause him to jump and fall dangerously. This however seems highly unlikely.

Anyhow we dodge the spider and enter the centre of Cigam, the Oliver Twins may have invented the village but they've named it after a fairly old convention of reversing the letters of the word "magic". Due to other traditions surrounding the word it might be worth typing either or both on your keyboard a few times. One tradition says that saying the word `Cigam` three times protects each evil magic for a time which would no doubt be very useful for Dizzy in this game. At the very least the name explains why a witch would leave her cauldron here and why Dizzy would come here to make the potion.

Sitting on a table (I think it's a table) is a very unmagical object, it's "A Mucky Grease Gun". Hooray, now we just need an "old rusty mining cart." As first time player we've no idea where one of those is but left has been doing well so let's keep on that way.

[quote data-userid="1227" data-postid="81841"]

they’ve named it after a fairly old convention of reversing the letters of the word “magic”.

[/quote]

Interesting. I've never noticed that before.

[quote data-userid="595" data-postid="81844"]

Interesting. I’ve never noticed that before.

[/quote]

Yeah me either, I normally notice stuff like that too.

Keep the commentary coming please DCT, enjoying them. Its good to see stuff that I missed or see in a different way.

And an extra life. If you can get to it without getting slain by that bird flying around. Otherwise it may very well be game over at this point.

If I've read the map correctly this scene is otherwise most unexciting although it does contain the first scene which has two exits, although by the look of it the one we want looks like something that a new player would quite easily overlook the first time playing the game.

Because it's not a complete bust let's take the high road, even though we know we eventually need the low road.

Thanks for the encouragement you two, and others who are reading and enjoying but don't actually feel the need to say anything.

I take it that typing 'magic' or 'cigam' in the previous scene yielded no results. To be honest on the one hand I'm not surprised on the other I can imagine multiple permutations this could be performed in and may not have given enough information.

I still don't really expect much but things that theoretically could affect whether or not the game recognizes the possible secret are:

1. The case the letters are typed in.
2. Whether or not the game is paused.
3. Whether or not the word 'cigam' is visible on screen.

As I said not I'm expecting that sort of thing to make any difference nevertheless the testing of them is rather why this is being written. I can't test them so I'm sending them out to people who can and might enjoy doing so.

<gasp> I can see it, I can see it. When you play games like this sometimes it's hard not to feel ever so slightly god-like. We can see where Dizzy needs to go from here even if he can't so the natural move is to promptly turn Dizzy around and go back the way we came for no reason that would be obvious to him. Dizzy has no free will whatsoever. So off we go and grease the mine cart, we don't even need to worry about the apple unless we're careless, if we fall off there's the games first mushroom because it's just to high to bounce back under normal conditions. After we've got the mine cart moved which blocks our path in its currant position (picking up that life on the way) and nearly flattens us as we move it we may want to come back for the "Free Acme Bird Seed" before the Roadrunner gets it. We can than dispatch those two birds that have been making a nuisance of them selves since we started. Apparently they're very fickle if you find them they don't want to bother you anymore. Once we've done that we return to the mine leaving the seed at the entrance (what sort of bird's do you get underground(?)). We know we're looking for a leprechaun's wig and although we have no further clues as how to find it logic would suggest that if we've been advised to gain access to the mine, as the result of our endeavor suggests, than we are probably expected to enter it in some way. So in we go.

I always figured the seed was poisoned. Or Dizzy dropped an anvil on them while they were eating. {yolkfolk}:joy:

That or something similar is certainly plausible since it seems to be a trap set by Wile E. Coyote. I'm rather surprised the Oliver Twins can put that there without inviting some sort of lawsuit.

So we've entered the mine and we're looking for a leprechaun's wig, or a wig owned by several leprechauns, since when did mythology have leprechauns wearing wigs? Anyway we have no idea where to go and, in theory, we could end up finding any of the other ingredients, or none of them, such is the nature of adventure.

The mine contains lots of lifts to scale otherwise inaccessible heights and they really slow the game up, this leads to impatience on the part of many players and I suspect this may be deliberate of the part of the designers as impatient players tend to crash into the nearest enemy. There is no place for such recklessness in this talkthrough, we're liable to miss things.

The first life is here to carry Dizzy between the entrance and the two levels of this opening room of the mine. It's not very attractive it contains one spider (the first horizontal mover) that we can currently do nothing about, on item and just to make things difficult three exits.

The aforementioned item is "The Graveyard Key" and what an illogical, unhelpful place to leave it. I mean it's an important item, and in some ways its nice to find it now. But there are so many items it would be more logical to be here and better places for the key that would make the game more challenging and effective. It's probably tempting to pick that up as your hands will be full but since common sense says the graveyard will probably be above ground and it's this close to the entrance it's best to leave it for now.

Now where to go next, decisions, decisions. Left, looks nice and shiny, lets go left.

<yawn> This screen is is a bit- arrgghh a bat!

This scene isn't very exciting it basically seems to be a transitional scene between the mine and the area next to it which seems to have inspired the Crystal Kingdom of the later game. There's nothing to be found here except a bat you need to dodge and an extra life which is especially useful if you fail to do so.

There's a bit of a gameplay problem with the mine which makes me wonder if I'm tackling this talkthrough in the right order, but more on that later. For now we continue to go left.

Yeah you don't need to go that way. Go back right.

Yeah, obviously we're trying to find a leprechaun's wig which we find this way so we do. What you mean is that we don't need to go that way yet. Which when you're playing Dizzy and know what you're doing having played before you know the difficulty we're about to hit. For the purposes of this talkthrough we don't know that until we discover it. Fortunately, if I've read the map correctly, we'll discover it as soon as we hit the next screen.

This screen is basically two scenes, if you look above your head you see a ceiling and then above that a passage containing an extra life and what is either a water droplet or a very small ice stalactite, as a watcher only I can't tell which it is but imagine it can be identified by with item is used to dispatch it. I think it's the former.

Meanwhile, looking around, this is a spooky looking room just ahead of the egg is a ugly looking shape that puts this viewer it mind Dry Bones except, fortunately in this case, it doesn't move and can't harm Dizzy in any way. Unfortunately the unsurpassably wide pool of water ahead can and the raft helpfully perched on it is unhelpfully chained to the shore, Even more unhelpfully, Dizzy has low concentration and even when you do get it unmoored Dizzy will make no effort to stay on it without being instructed by the player which is most unhelpful so now we go back to where we came from.

Now, the problem with the mine, apart from the fact that Kathmadu isn't knowing for its mining community, is that it is basically a basement of clutter almost nothing you find down here can actually be used here. The Oliver Twins appear to have a love of mines which is presumably why they keep putting them in their games and why, due to the fact Dizzy can only carry one item at a time we have to come down here a lot in order to bring all the stuff hidden down there out, notwithstanding this puzzle that's keeping us from the wig we need.

But we're here now so maybe we should explore a bit more, lets go right.

This is probably the main reason I should have taken us right first, it's the screen that identifies where we are, after that we can pretty much proceed as I just did and am about to next except it would be at this point I would probably feel the need to explain that Kathmandu doesn't have any diamond mines, and despite the tag it all seemed like one mine to me, and that it's a bit like a cluttered basement. As it is I've done all that and I'm left instead with two frightening bats, both of which need avoiding, some nasty bones in pothole in the ground which also need avoiding (one of my maps identifies them as "fire" but the don't look very like fire) and a "Ghost Hunters Laser" because "Who ya gonna call?, Ghost Hunters!" The borrowing here is hardly subtle and presumably it's no less subtle in the game "Ghost Hunters" which they are advertising for the second time, has anyone ever player that game here, clues might be present?

Any way we are going to leave to the left and go down into the depths of the mine. We are not going to take the proton accelerator pack, err "Ghost Hunters Laser" because we obviously aren't going to encounter any ghosts as there is no such thing so it can't possibly work. And anyway "I ain't afraid of no ghost."

Ooh, a haunted chimney, <snigger>, honestly, what next vampires?

There's probably some sort of ghost story attached to this place, something to do with that rather large skeleton just under where we're standing, next to those mines carts which... honestly who put those mine carts there? I know it's a mine you would expect to see mine carts but, really? There's nowhere they can go and it's hard to see how they could have got here. There doesn't seem to be any where they can go to the right except maybe on the elevator although they seem to big to get off at the top which may be a miscalculation on the designers' part.

I suppose they are meant to proceed to the left into the screen where according to the map there is nothing there (more on the possible limitations of the game map later). Now I going to ask a question and I'd like an answer before I continue. Is it possible to get to the mine carts. Obviously there appears to be nothing there except a skeleton that may or may not pose a danger to our life levels. Obviously from this angle it looks inaccessible but on reflection it looks no more so than the mine entrance so is it possible to step or jump in there? Obviously if it isn't known to be I'd still think it worth checking to find a way in because it's one of the most graphically large areas of the game so far they've spent a lot of memory on that.

Anyway this is a chimney of some description apparently, I'm not sure what that means it sure doesn't look like any chimney I know. At the bottom of the screen there are someone those bones that seem to fracture Dizzy and one of my maps label as fire, fire would make sense here at least.

What is it with this mine in this scene there are mine carts that don't go anywhere in the last one some sort of winch that hard hard ground below it. There's "A Plastic Raincoat" here too. Goodness knows why but it could be useful. Let's proceed down the chimney.

"Arrgghh a ghost"

Nope, no way in there. I would guess the mine carts can go to the left past the skeleton. Or they were blocked up in there with the skeleton like in The Cask of Amontillado (which would also explain the ghost).