Contents
- Who Is Dizzy?
- Who are the Yolkfolk?
- What about the Bad-guys?
- Who else have been in a Dizzy game?
- What is the history behind the Dizzy games?
- Dizzy Timeline
Who is Dizzy?
Ok, lets start with the basics. Dizzy is an egg. He lives with the rest of the yolkfolk in houses built high in the tree-tops. He's an adventurer, and over the course of the years has had fantastic adventures in many different lands. The main objective in his games is to pick up items and use them in a supposedly logical way to solve different puzzles and open up new areas for our hero to explore (where he finds more items and harder puzzles).
Who are the Yolkfolk?
The Yolkfolk are Dizzy's friends and family. Sometimes you have to save them to complete the game and sometimes they help you out by giving you items. The complete list is as follows: -
Daisy
Daisy is a cheerleader and Dizzy's girlfriend. Dizzy usually has to rescue her from the evil wizard Zaks in the official games.
Denzil
Denzil is the cool one (so cool, in fact, he has been trapped in ice). He is usually found listening to his personal stereo. No-one really knows what kind of music it is that he actually listens to.
Dylan
Dylan is best described as "a hippie". He is always laid back and can be quite funny at times (especially when he was turned into a bush). There has been a few dodgy rumours involving Dylan, Glenda, and "certain illegal substances", but no real evidence has ever been found.
Grand Dizzy
Grand Dizzy is the eldest of the Yolkfolk and always has some 'pearl of wisdom' or a comment about the way of the world when he was younger. Some Dizzy fans think that the character in the first 2 dizzy games is actually Grand Dizzy when he was younger and his grandson stars from Fantasy Land onwards.
Dora
We didn't meet Dora until Magicland Dizzy. In the games, she is always getting herself turned into a frog and this is always fixed by getting a handsome prince (usually Prince Clumsy) to kiss her.
Dozy
If it isn't instantly obvious how he got his name then I will say this; He is always sleeping. Dizzy and Dozy don't always see eye to eye, because dizzy is always asking him to help with his adventures and Dozy is always too sleepy to oblige.
Pogie
Pogie is the pet of the Yolkfolk. He isn't always officially regarded as one of the Yolkfolk because of the obvious reason that he isn't an egg. Daisy is his keeper and he often causes a lot of trouble for her. This cute ball of fluff can be quite stubborn so you'll have to bribe him with something tasty.
What about the Bad-guys?
Zaks the evil Wizard
Zaks is the main bad guy in two of the dizzy games and is Dizzy's arch enemy. He fires powerful lightening bolts out of his fingers. He lives in a large floating fortress called Castle Keldor.
Rockwart the Troll
Rockwart is a troll in the service of Zaks. Rockwart has two weaknesses; he is very stupid and is afraid of fluffles like Pogie.
The Dizzy Dopplegänger
Conjered by Zaks from a mysterious mirror world where chess pieces come alive, the Dizzy Dopplegänger is a reflection of Dizzy. He can only do what Dizzy does but in reverse. He has a deep hatred of the real Dizzy as the dopplegänger believes that he should be the one in the spotlight.
Vampira
Vampira is Zaks' grandmother. She has a taste for egg-yolk and would like very much to munch on the members of the Yolkfolk. She is a vampire and obviously afraid of the usual vampire killing stuff; Wooden Stakes, Holy Crosses, Cloves of Garlic etc.
And the other characters?
Many other characters other than the Yolkfolk have appeared in the dizzy games. Here are some of them.
Theodore the good Wizard
Theodore is a rather more friendly character then Zaks. As far as his magic goes, any spell he casts that is more complicated than boiling water carries a serious risk of backfiring. On the spectrum he appears only in Spellbound Dizzy and in the game, with the help of Dizzy, he casts the spells to free the Yolkfolk.
Glenda the good Witch
Glenda is a witch who lives on an island and was only seen in Magicland Dizzy. Although she prefers to keep to herself, she is rather friendly to visitors and isn't adverse to helping out Dizzy when he is in need. She has a cat familiar.
Shamus the Leprachaun
Shamus was a Leprachaun and he was only found on the spectrum in Spellbound Dizzy (but he did appear in fantastic dizzy later on various formats). When he appears he is not always friendly and can be quite spitful. He usually demands an item (such as a four-leafed-clover) before he will let you pass.
The Shopkeeper
This guy has the highest prices in Khatmandu. We first met the shopkeeper in Treasure Island Dizzy and he has since been spotted in Fantasyland Dizzy and, later, Fantastic Dizzy.
Blackheart the Pirate
Blackheart is one of those characters that acts behind the scenes. He was first mentioned way back in 1987 in the story to Treasure Island but didn't appear in the game itself. Furthermore, he didn't actually get a game appearance until 1990 when he had a short cameo in Bubble Dizzy.
External History
The little white egg was created by the Oliver Twins and published by Codemasters. First released in June 1986, Dizzy took time to achieve sales but soon became a best seller. The first Dizzy was titled "Dizzy — The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure".
The Oliver Twins had previously programmed a graphics program called "Panda Sprites". It had the ability to rotate an image through any number of degrees and save it out. As a result, they were itching to make a game where the main character somersaulted through the air. The result was Dizzy.
Some would ask "Why an egg?". Well, when the Oliver Twins tried to rotate an image they found that if the image was too detailed the result would be chaos, so they decided to keep things simple and as a result dizzy is the easy to draw shape we all know and love. Somebody later told them that Dizzy's shape made him look like an egg so the pair turned him into one in time for his first release.
Timeline
- 1986
- Dizzy — The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure released
- 1987
- Treasure Island Dizzy released
- Fast Food released
- 1989
- Fantasy World Dizzy released
- Kwik Snax released
- 1990
- Magicland Dizzy released
- Dizzy Panic! released
- Bubble Dizzy released
- 1991
- Dizzy Down the Rapids released
- Spellbound Dizzy released
- Dizzy: Prince of the Yolkfolk released
- The Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy released
- 1992
- Crystal Kingdom Dizzy released
- 1993
- Go! Dizzy Go! released
- Dizzy The Adventurer released