Posted By
Ulysses777
on 2020-06-30
12:17:24
|  Dizzy 1 for 264 series
Hi all, it's been a while...
Here is something that started out as a look at the Z80, and turned out into a conversion of the first Dizzy 'The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure' game.
This is a conversion of the Spectrum/Amstrad game engine, and thus has a few things missing from the C64 version, such as gradual falling and being able to drop items in mid-air.
Hope you enjoy 
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kdmlsrlc9uha06i/dizzy.zip?dl=1
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Posted By
Mad
on 2020-06-30
16:01:09
| Re: Dizzy 1 for 264 series
Wow guys you are crazy! Awesome!
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Posted By
MMS
on 2020-06-30
17:12:52
 | Re: Dizzy 1 for 264 series
yess! and even music
(I think it is the hardest from the series due to the limitation to keep only one stuff with you)
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2020-06-30
21:46:17
| Re: Dizzy 1 for 264 series
It's been a while... Like 11 years
This is a fantastic way to make your way back to Plus/4 World, I can't believe my eyes! Very nicely done, thank you so much for this release!
Is there more to the story of this conversion?
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Posted By
KiCHY
on 2020-07-01
08:36:30
| Re: Dizzy 1 for 264 series
Oh yeah, braingasm I always smile inside when I see a "famous" game appear on the Plussy, proving that this machine is not that bad others say.
Can you enlighten us about the conversion method? Did you use some kind of z80->6502 translator, or disassembled the z80 engine, understand it, then rewrote it completely from scratch for the 6502? Or perhaps some borrowed code from C64, just like the trees on the border? BTW I like that you tried to improve the ZX version as much as possible from other sources. You used different/more colors, used gfx assets for the borders from other versions, etc. Congrats!
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Posted By
Ulysses777
on 2020-07-01
10:25:36
| Re: Dizzy 1 for 264 series
It was done by disassembling and rewriting for 6502, as it started out by looking at how the original game and the Z80 worked. The border graphics were the only thing from the C64 version.
So it's basically the engine from the Spectrum version (using the original graphics and data tables), the border from the C64 version, and the music based on the Amstrad version
There was also a need to change some inefficiencies in the Spectrum version. For example, all of the interactive objects in the game (enemies, movable objects, items, scroll effects, extra lives, invisible triggers etc) are stored in a table of 256 entries of 20 bytes each (240 for objects, the last 16 reserved for explosions, which are dynamically generated). Each entry in this table is checked if the object is still active (not killed, triggered etc) and if the object location and current location match. If both match, then the appropriate routine is run for that object. On the Spectrum version, it scans through all 256 entries on every cycle of the game engine, which slows things down quite a bit, so on my version, it does this as a one-off and saves the memory locations of the matching objects and stores them in a temp area, with additions if necessary, such as dropping items etc. The game engine in this version then checks only this temp area instead of the entire table.
Another inefficiency in the Spectrum version is that on the above table check, it first checks if the object is active, followed by the location match check. But because everything in the game is active at the start, it does a lot of unnecessary location checks. This is also why on the Spectrum version, as you complete more puzzles and destroy more and more enemies, it gradually speeds up.
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2020-07-01
11:54:45
| Re: Dizzy 1 for 264 series
Ha, very interesting, thanks for sharing these details. I for one couldn't be happier
One thing, when you go two screens to the right, those two green platforms always disappear under me. Does anyone know what the player is supposed to do there to avoid this?
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Posted By
Ulysses777
on 2020-07-01
12:05:01
| Re: Dizzy 1 for 264 series
Jump over the gap between the two platforms 
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Posted By
Chronos
on 2020-07-01
12:22:39
 | Re: Dizzy 1 for 264 series
avoid the highlighted space:
About the game: Fantastic, but for me this old fashioned gameplay causes hard moments :D
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Posted By
Doug
on 2020-07-01
13:31:25
| Re: Dizzy 1 for 264 series
That is a very impressive job! It must have been a real labour of love. The result is beautifully accurate to, and yet somehow superior to, the original. Well done indeed! Brings back some great memories of those types of games - one pixel out and you're toast. Nearly (but not quite) as frustrating as those text adventures where you just can't figure out what the parser wants! Ah, the 1980s.... sigh.
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Posted By
Retro Recollections
on 2020-07-01
14:21:33
 | Re: Dizzy 1 for 264 series
I look forward to reviewing this soon! Fantastic work, thank you for your efforts.
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Posted By
MMS
on 2020-07-01
18:07:35
| Re: Dizzy 1 for 264 series
Well, this is the legendary gap! 
I saw several stucked and desperate guys on Spectrum forums just because of this issue
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2020-07-02
17:04:13
| Re: Dizzy 1 for 264 series
Chronos just released a single-file (and trained) version of this Is there anyone out there with no disk drive, just tape? Back in the day, this was a real concern
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Posted By
Luca
on 2020-07-03
02:47:47
 | Re: Dizzy 1 for 264 series
Ulysses777: I was slow in launching well-deserved congratulations on this fantastic release because unfortunately I am not going through a period of health worthy of the name, but right away I thought how beautiful this initiative was, and how significant it was in the history of conversions for Plus/4. Very good! You would like to know that on social networks even TGMS, author of the historical conversions of the Dizzy series, has appreciated your work!
And another thing that I really appreciate is the new tendency to an outline of a "cracking scene", thanks i.e. to Chronos, I will immediately download the trained version. It makes me proud, because I feel a bit the promoter of this trend, after having done it myself, and having somehow imported the International Standars to better organize this aspect of the scene, which was present since the ancient days but never taken in.
Well done everyone, love ya all! <3
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Posted By
Waz
on 2020-07-03
04:11:12
| Re: Dizzy 1 for 264 series
Just given this a quick play now. A very impressive effort to get this over to the Plus/4 based more on the Spec/Ams version.
Nice to base the music on the Amstrad version too rather than the C64 version's music, which I thought wasn't as good personally.
Still of course hard as nails, but then so was the original, so take that as a compliment
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Posted By
Gaia
on 2020-07-04
06:40:02
| Re: Dizzy 1 for 264 series
Amazing release! Welcome back Ulysses777 , what a great return, we missed you!
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Posted By
Rüdiger
on 2020-08-07
10:36:31
| Re: Dizzy 1 for 264 series
It is funny that this beautiful first game of the Dizzy series has now been converted on the Atari 130 XE (with 128 KB). There, however, the conversion was based on the C-64 version.
http://a8.fandal.cz/detail.php?files_id=7884
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Posted By
Luca
on 2020-09-22
12:49:52
| Re: Dizzy 1 for 264 series
Oooh look who's commenting your work now Ulysses777!
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Posted By
Retro Recollections
on 2020-09-22
14:20:23
| Re: Dizzy 1 for 264 series
Yes it was very kind of them to leave a comment
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Posted By
MMS
on 2020-09-22
14:35:43
| Re: Dizzy 1 for 264 series
Wow, even the Masters agree with the high scores! Congrats! (Oliver Twins is (are?) real legend AFAIS)
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