Also known as Dizzy V (five), Spellbound Dizzy was once again designed and coded by Big Red Software and was first published by Codemasters in 1991.

Spellbound Dizzy was the biggest Dizzy game yet, with 108 screens to explore, and it had a slightly different graphical style to previous games. Message windows were made to look transparent, with background graphics shown as dark blue on top of which text was overlaid, which is a neat little detail that works well. Dizzy himself looked the same though.

The aim of the game is to collect magic stars to rescue the yolkfolk from an underground cavern into which they’ve been magically (and accidentally) transported. There are forty magic stars in total and some of them are hidden in hard-to-reach places, so require a degree of puzzle-solving and careful platforming to get to. To get each one of the yolkfolk home the wizard Theo needs five stars per person and something that belongs to them.

One change to the gameplay that caused concern among players was the fact that Dizzy lost health when falling from height, which greatly increased the overall difficulty of the game. Since the opening of the game requires Dizzy to bounce up high (using either bouncy mushrooms or a movable trampoline), this can quickly become a real problem. This fall damage feature was toned-down in subsequent games (let’s say that it was a “partial success”). Eating fruit restores some of Dizzy‘s health, but it’s in limited supply.

Spellbound Dizzy also features special events, like a mine cart ride (along with a daring Indiana Jones-like jump over a gap in the track – if you can get the cart moving), wind effects (that blow Dizzy upwards), and underwater sections where Dizzy can actually swim without dying instantly (if he has the flippers).

Like the previous three Dizzy adventures, Spellbound Dizzy came in 48K and 128K versions. The 128K version featured enhanced graphics, extended dialogue, and continuous background music.

See also: The Dizzy adventure series on The King of Grabs

More: Spellbound Dizzy on Wikipedia
More: Spellbound Dizzy on yolkfolk.com