Treasure Island Dizzy is a flip screen, platform, puzzle and adventure game written by Philip and Andrew Oliver (aka The Oliver Twins) and was published by Codemasters in 1988 for a bargain price of £2.99. As with all Dizzy games, it was pretty much ported to every available system of the time. It was the second game in the famous Dizzy series and is my personal favourite - simply because it was the only Dizzy game I ever completed!
Strange that this game has often been called the worst of the series because of the high difficulty level - you only have one life whereas the other games in the series give you multiple lives. This means that you could potentially be almost at the end of the game, and if you make one simple mistake like dropping the snorkel (required so that you can breathe under water) whilst under water, you'll die and will have to start the game from the beginning. There's no save game option!
...and so the adventure begins!
The aim of the game is to simply escape the island. This involves you playing the titular character Dizzy (who is essentially an egg with feet and hands), picking up various objects scattered around and using them in the correct places. You're ultimate goal is to get a boat, an engine, petrol and an ignition key that will enable you to leave the island and head off for freedom. Sounds simple enough, but to do this you will also need to collect 30 gold coins. Some coins are easy to find, others are hidden behind various background objects like plants, boulders, windows etc. Collecting the coins is a bit like a side quest to the main adventure, but ultimately even though you can build the boat and leave, you still need to have the 30 coins to actually complete the game.
The game is a classic example of the excellent quality of some of the 'cheapo' games available to computer users in the late 1980's. It's fair to say I got more enjoyment out of this game than a lot of the full priced releases of the time by some of the larger software houses like US Gold and Ocean. Despite the poor graphics that were obviously ported directly from a Spectrum (complete with monochrome hi-res graphics with colour clash), the game is wonderful, and I still think the Commodore 64 version has one of the best theme tunes ever to grace a computer game.
You'll be needing a Woodcutters Axe to drop under the bridge
A snorkel... Possibly the most important item in the game. Just don't drop it when you're in water.
To get the gold, you'll need the Infrared Detonator and some dynamite
Exploring a ship wreck!
An underwater cavern....
A pirates secret cavern.
This guy will sell you the boat and parts you need to escape.
The boat. Still need an engine, and petrol to escape.
Maybe one day I'll get to actually finish the other Dizzy games! What's scary is that I was 11 years old when this game came out.... I'm now 37!
For now, have a listen to one of the jolliest pieces of music that has ever come out of the SID chip in a Commodore 64.
