Though I'm not sure how. The gates, that's those light blue things, are apparently made of iron. If you come here with the horseshoe magnet you can clear them out of the way. Not sure why this is helpful, as you still need to go just about everywhere to activate other areas. Unless the purple platforms also respond to the magnet. That's the first thing I want to know. Do they?
The second thing I want to know is if this response is automatic, should Dizzy bring the magnet in here or if it requires you to actually use the magnet and if so from what distance? It may be a mixture, that would be useful to know. So how does the magnet, according to its function her, actually work?
I had no idea the horseshoe magnet did anything. I thought it was a red herring item. It certainly is not needed in the maze but I will try it out there sometime to see what happens.
I can't get the magnet to do anything to the gates in the Spectrum version. Ive dropped it next to, on top of, and a distance away. I've jumped into and walked for a few seconds. I've even dropped in and left the screen. The gates do nothing (nor the platforms). So it's either from a different version or your information is wrong DCT.
So it appears invisibabe may have been wrong about the horseshoe magnet, I'm a bit wary of giving up on this idea thought as it seemed so perfectly logical. It is, of course, possible that this was an idea about getting through the labyrinth that was dropped from the original game but has somehow reached the ears of certain players. Before I abandon this idea completely I'm going to run through a list of all the things I can think of that might be how the magnet operates at this point:
1. Test it on the gates beneath your feet. 2. Test it on the gates ahead of you 3. Try walking into gates as if their enemies. 4. Test even if it works in opposition to what has been described, if some gates don't move when they normally would if you're carrying it. 5. Test it next to gates. 6. Test it at a distance from gates and, here's one I'm very curious about 7. Even test it from neighboring screens.
I have plans for what else this magnet may do but they don't look promising if it doesn't work here.
I've done all those and nothing. I am completely convinced it does nothing. The Olivers even said in their Treasure Island video that they always put at least one completely useless item in their games.
Well, they said in their video for this they were always looking for ways to make better use of the memory and put one more puzzle in so those concepts rather clash it seems.
Well, they said in their video for this they were always looking for ways to make better use of the memory and put one more puzzle in so those concepts rather clash it seems.
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Yes, but a puzzle needs the puzzle, outcome and object to solve it all in memory space, which obviously takes up more memory than the item alone. And having a red herring object is a puzzle in and of itself of course. Plus there are occasions in games where a puzzle has been taken out to save memory / make the game play better, but the object gets 'left behind' in the code as it can be more aggro to remove it than to just leave it. Back in the days of Dizzy, every byte was important - don't forget, for the Spectrum you only had about 41K of usable memory (48K RAM less 7K screen memory) - what can you get into 41K these days?
Ah, interesting answer. In the case of the Horseshoe Magnet the latter seems more likely than the former though. But the suggestion for using the magnet here not only seems perfectly logical surely it would take less memory? The amount of memory this labyrinth must take up much be huge.
I the most illogical puzzle in the game the statue of the broken-hearted woman has lost her broken heart and it needs returning to her so she'll let you into the tomb of her lover. It seems a broken-hearted guardian is more generous than a heartless guardian.
Once in the tomb we have access to an extra life and some dry bones, that's that thing on the floor that looks a bit like a dead turtle, there's another one in the waiting room and yet another where the rusty bolt cutters were used and, at this stage it might be worth testing the horseshoe magnet on these too given that they're rather conspicuous.
I the most illogical puzzle in the game the statue of the broken-hearted woman has lost her broken heart and it needs returning to her so she'll let you into the tomb of her lover. It seems a broken-hearted guardian is more generous than a heartless guardian.Since it is a statue I would think your not giving it to her but using it on it. Maybe putting it into a heart shaped slot on the statue that then opens the grave. Like a key. It just doesn't explain it since this game doesn't have narration like the later Dizzy games do. Why it is a broken heart instead of a mended heart though is strange. Once in the tomb we have access to an extra life and some dry bones, that's that thing on the floor that looks a bit like a dead turtle, there's another one in the waiting room and yet another where the rusty bolt cutters were used and, at this stage it might be worth testing the horseshoe magnet on these too given that they're rather conspicuous.I'm pretty sure those are piles of chains not bones. At least the one near where the bolt cutters is used certainly is. Magnet does nothing to any of them.
As mentioned it doesn't make sense. The "narration" here is the quote from the poem that gives the clue to what you have to do. So a mended heart would be meaningless. It's just that the mechanism you describe makes no sense in the world of the story; why would anyone want to get into Mad Carew's grave and why would it be accessible?
I'm aware those aren't bones, I just describe them as such because there's a enemy from Super Mario Bros. 3 that looks very like them in isn't 'asleep' form. It's a joke. Not sure they're chains though. Whatever they are the one(s) where you need to use the bolt cutters must secure the part you cut, which is a chain, to something or the raft wouldn't be secured either.
Partly, I know where to go but I've been busy and I struggling find the energy to interrupt what I've been doing and write about a dead man's grave. Where very little happens. I'm kind of on the home stretch now and am sort of milking it.
The Oliver Twins seem to have decided that Mad Carew, the soldier from the poem they're working off, got an elaborate two level chamber as a grave. And there's "A Sharp Diamond" next to it.
Logically, this should be the emerald he acquired and was killed over (the poem does not record the eye being taken back) leaving the diamond to be found in the diamond mine, where the key is or the purse of gold. That would make much more sense.
There's also a stalactite that wants dispatching and what seems to be the counter cog to the portcullis of the castle, nice forward think there. It includes a rope that looks very cutable but, alas, Dizzy has nothing to cut it with. Someone, we imagine Zaks, has tortured another person to death down here. A rather strange use of someone's grave.
And there's that automatic trapdoor "trap" being the operative expressive. Except the trap doesn't seem to work it springs open to block Dizzy's progress instead of Dizzy's return with is what you'd expect it might do and thus uses memory and makes you wonder why the room wasn't designed differently.
There's not even need to try the magnet here, even if it could attract the trapdoor back to its original position, where would you stand to position it?
Maybe it might be worth checking the pick on the pile rubble blocking Dizzy's path here, although it looks rather big to give way to that. If that actually worked at least the magnet could be checked.
I used the magnet and the pick and a ton of other items on the trapdoor and surrounding area when I originally played the game. Figured there had to be a way past it but I was wrong.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if the diamond and the emerald eye were originally switched but because the eye is used in the cemetery and the diamond in the mountain they swapped them to make the game more complex (to make it so you had to carry them farther).
NOOTRAC reveals that the word box is solid. If you go to the right past the door you enter a blank screen and fall onto the big tree. Left past the skeleton you fall onto the mine.
I don't think its a waste of memory at all. It adds to the mystery and illusion of the world being bigger than what is in memory. It would be a bit boring if the tomb was simply blocked off from all sides. It's touches like these that polish the game and set it above average.
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