Dandy

Dandy is a dungeon crawl maze game released in 1986 by Electric Dreams Software. Based on the 1983 Atari 8-bit original designed by John Howard Palevich, it is considered one of the first games to feature four-player simultaneous cooperative play and directly inspired the arcade classic Gauntlet. One or two players control warriors Sheba and Thor as they fight through 15 dungeons, collecting treasure, food for energy, keys to unlock doors, and magic spells with random effects. Monsters emerge from spawn boxes that must be destroyed to prevent endless respawning. The game features flickscreen movement between fixed screens rather than smooth scrolling. To complete the game, players must collect all treasure in each dungeon to obtain codes that form a final puzzle.

ZX Spectrum

Released in 1986, the ZX Spectrum version was developed by The RamJam Corporation, with code by Simon Dunstan and illustrations by David Rowe. The game received generally positive reviews, earning a Your Sinclair "Megagame" award. Crash awarded 84%, Your Sinclair 9/10, and C&VG 10/10. Critics praised the attractive, colorful graphics and addictive gameplay, though some noted the controls could be difficult to see at times. The game features AY sound effects adapted from the Amstrad CPC version and includes music by Foxx. As a Gauntlet substitute released before the official conversion, Dandy was well-received as "very playable and very addictive - especially with two players." It remains a solid and enjoyable dungeon crawler on the Spectrum.