Magicland Dizzy - Abandoned Times

Publisher	Codemasters
Developer	Codemasters
Release date	1992
Genre	Platform Adventure

Magicland Dizzy is a platform adventure game developed by the Codemasters. The game was originally released for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and the Amiga 500 in 1990 before being released for PC in 1992.

The game is set in the fantasy world of Dizzy, and it follows the adventures of the titular character as he attempts to rescue his friends (who are all under evil spells) and save Magicland from the evil wizard Zaks. It has very nice crisp & colourful graphic for a game of its time as well as some nice music. The game features no sound however.

The game is a combination of puzzles and platform jumps, allowing you to carry three items at a time (out of dozens) to help you solve the obstacles along the way. Beware though: the game has quite a few red herrings i.e. items that have no use and are just there to fool you!

The game is not too complicated but when stuck it can get a little frustrating because there is no save function and it can be easy to lose lives by tracking back & forward across the land.

TRIVIA

OUR VIEWS

WALKTHROUGH

This was the first Dizzy game not designed by the Oliver Twins.
The ZX Spectrum & Commodore 64 versions look quite different but are still essentially identical.
Magicland Dizzy is also called Dizzy 4 by some since it was the 4th Dizzy game released.
Magicland Dizzy was supposed to be released for the NES as Wonderland Dizzy but never released due to budget reasons … until in 2016 the Oliver Twins released the source code.
Into Magicland, a prequel to this game, was released on the ZX Spectrum to promote the game.

Shortly after our first PC entered the living room we were handed a disk labelled “DIZZY” from my brother’s friend from school. On it were all Dizzy games released at the time and Magicland was my favorite. The others were fun as well but the game just felt slightly more engaging than Prince of the Yolkfolk. As such it has a special place in my heart.

For someone who has never played Dizzy, these games will seem very tame and rather slow. It’s one thing trying to solve a puzzle, it’s another to keep dying over and over just by moving from screen to screen. As such, while it’s a classic, it’s not something I can see a lot of kids enjoying unless they get help from a walkthrough.
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