This 1985 release from Hewson Consultants is basically a futuristic variation of the classic Avalon/Dragontorc games by Steve Turner. It uses similar presentation and game mechanics to those games, with a central character moving around pseudo 3D rooms, exploring and solving puzzles.
Tag Archives: adventure
Defenders of Oasis, Game Gear
Not to be confused with Beyond Oasis on the Sega Megadrive, Defenders of Oasis is a turn-based Role-Playing Game for the Game Gear that is based on the “One Thousand and One Nights” middle-eastern folk tales, also known as “Arabian Nights“. It was developed and published by Sega in 1992.
The Lord of the Rings, ZX Spectrum
Developed by Beam Software and published by Melbourne House in 1986, The Lord of the Rings is a text adventure game made by essentially the same team who created the classic Spectrum text adventure, The Hobbit.
Was it the first official Lord of the Rings game ever made? Possibly. There were definitely many unofficial Lord of the Rings rip-off games on the market before this, but this is arguably the first properly-licensed Lord of the Rings game for home computers.
The Dizzy adventure series
The Dizzy adventures are well-known and much-loved on the ZX Spectrum. Created by The Oliver Twins, they feature an anthropomorphic egg called Dizzy who somersaults when he jumps and solves item-based puzzles, often in an attempt to rescue his friends, the “yolkfolk“.
Wonderful Dizzy, ZX Spectrum
Wonderful Dizzy is the eighth ‘core’ Dizzy adventure and was released in 2020 for the 128K ZX Spectrum only. It was designed by The Oliver Twins and published by Team Yolkfolk.
The game’s development was tied to the Kickstarter campaign for the ZX Spectrum Next and was first announced in 2017. The Olivers said that they would only go ahead with development of the game if the Kickstarter campaign for the ZX Spectrum Next reached its target, which it eventually did.
Crystal Kingdom Dizzy, ZX Spectrum
The seventh Dizzy adventure, Crystal Kingdom Dizzy was the final release in the core series – until Wonderful Dizzy in 2020. This one was developed by Visual Impact, with some input from Philip Oliver, and was published by Codemasters in 1992.
Dizzy: Prince of the Yolkfolk, ZX Spectrum
Dizzy: Prince of the Yolkfolk is the sixth Dizzy platform adventure game. It was designed and coded by Big Red Software and published by Codemasters in December 1991.
Spellbound Dizzy, ZX Spectrum
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.
Dizzy 3 and a Half, ZX Spectrum
Dizzy 3 and a Half was released for free on a Crash magazine cover tape (issue 84, January 1991) and basically serves as an introduction to (and a sales device for) Magicland Dizzy, the fourth Dizzy adventure.
Magicland Dizzy, ZX Spectrum
Magicland Dizzy is the fourth Dizzy adventure game and the first game in the series not designed and coded by The Oliver Twins. Instead it was designed by Neal Vincent and coded by Big Red Software, with The Oliver Twins retaining creative oversight.
