Leading the way for all eggkind is Dizzy, a small character with big red gloves and a cheeky grin. Before his first appearance back in 1987, eggs were a neglected 'species', eggsploited by evil chefs who justified their poaching, scrambling and frying actions by claiming the eggs had a smashing time! Dizzy soon changed these outdated attitudes by standing up to human beings and showing them he too could walk, swim, fly and tell crap jokes!

This is no ordinary Dizzy game. This is a mega compilation with three brand-spanking new games and two classics from the Dizzy stable. I bet you're jumping up and down with anticipation, (what happened to 'eggcitement'? - Ed).

I'll put all you Dizzy fans out of your misery. The two old games are Kwik Snax, a fab arcade romp where our hero has to complete four levels of Pac-man-style chomping, and Panic Dizzy, a totally frustrating arcade game where Diz is in charge of a toy factory. By using his big lever he ensures shapes fall into the correct holes to create toys.

Now to the bit you've all been waiting for. The new games consist of two cartoon adventures and one arcade game. Dizzy Down The Rapids has the little fellow ina barrel being tossed from side to side as it careers down treacherous waterways. You paddle like mad to control the vessel and collect the bonuses that lie around the river.

There's also a shoot-'em-up element, where you bop evil trolls and crocs on the nose with rotten apples!

The special bonus cartoon adventure is Dizzy: Prince Of The Yolkfolk. In classic Dizzy style, you bound and spin around the screen solving problems for the you characters you meet.

The story goes like this: Dizzy and Daisy were baking a cherry pie for Grand Dizzy but all they found in their cherry store were the pawprints of Pogie the Fluffle!

'Quick, there he is, get him!' shouted Dizzy, and they chased naughty Pogie into the enchanted forest. Neither of them had a good sense of direction so soon they got lost, but found their way to a strange eerie castle in the deepest part of the forest (oo'er).

They popped inside in case Pogie had got there first, but being a nosey little egg, Daisy had to have a look around. She found a mystic spinning wheel, pricked her finger and started to fall asleep. 'Oh my!' cried Dizzy, 'what am I going to do now?'

You've got to help Dizzy put things back to normal, and become Prince of the Yolkfolk.

The trump card in this amazing compilation is Spellbound Dizzy, the biggest and best cartoon adventure yet. There are 105 action-packed screens to explore and lots of surprises to please fans everywhere.

One day, Dizzy was tinkering about in bedroom of his mate, Theo the Wizard, and found a book of magic spells. Of course he couldn't let an opportunity like this pass him by so he read a spell out loud. KERWHIZZ!

'Oh boring,' he moaned, as it seemed the spell had no effect.

Dizzy went home, but what a surprise he got! All the Yolkfolk had been magically spirited to the underworld. How was he going to get them back?

Every Dizzy sequel up till has now been exactly the same technically; only the stories and locations have changed. Big Red Software have gone for the jackpot with Spellbound. There are lots of new animation frames for Dizzy as he eats, swims, falls and holds his breath. To make the locations a little more interesting, the programmers have used attractive effects such as rain, bees and a runaway mine cart!

With 105 screens, Spellbound Dizzy is bigger than both Dizzy 3 and 4 put together! The puzzles are a little harder than the last game: It took me ages to work out how to get the mine cart going, but things never got so frustrating I wanted to switch off.

Being a hardcore Dizzy fan myself, I absolutely love Spellbound, and the whole pack, for that matter. At £10.99, you're getting amazing value for money. Mega-cartoon adventure action all the way.

NICK … 92%

'Nintendo have Mario, Hallowe'en has Michael Myers and Codemasters have Dizzy. All these characters have inspired sequels, but the one we're interested in is the latter. I may not bean very enthusiastic about Dizzy games in the past but deep down I'm very fond of the little egg. Admittedly, Panic Dizzy and Kwik Snax have been reviewed in these pages before, but the other three games are fresh and lively, and all five are up to Big Red's impeccable standards. The puzzles are frustrating, especially for people who may be playing these games for the first time, but believe me, all the answers will be staring you in the face. Dizzy's Excellent Adventures is a most triumphant game, especially at the price.'