Reviews

1986 Electric Dreams Software (UK)
by Simon Dunstan

Dandy, in my view, is the most playable and graphically appealing Gauntlet clone, although a bit confusing at times due to the complexity of the background floors and other decorative elements, specially when the action gets a little bit frantic.
When the official Gauntlet version was release one year later, I was already familiarized with Dandy and was pleased to see how differently looking both games were, making one a sort of a sequel to the other without being the same thing all over again.
So for any Gauntlet fan out there who hasnt yet played Dandy, I think you will be pleased with it.

A flip-screen Gauntlet clone which originally had to be a porting of the old dungeon crawl game for the Atari 8-bit range.

Not one of the best in its class - action is pretty slow and not much varied, graphics can be confusing more than often, and sound is sparse. Moderately entertaining, but nothing essential.

by The RamJam Corporation (Simon Dunstan)
I sang in my mind The Kinks' omonimous song for all the time I've been playing Dandy, which luckily distracted me from the strident sound effects of the game - but it doesn't matter: a game awarded with a Your Sinclair Megagame, a Sinclair User Classic, a C+VG Hit! and with general very good ratings and reviews must be great! Well, not really. I think it's just good, and far from being the best Gauntlet inspired effort. It's playable as much as monotonous and lacking variety. Destroying a whole army of [creepy, well-animated, disquieting] spiders and, returning back to the same room, find it all again alive and ready to kill you is a bit tiring and demoralizing. Although, to be fair, there are a few spells scattered around which help to improve the flow of the action, and in some rooms you can destroy the lair of the spiders - chests full of bones - making them disappear forever. Still, I'm not captivated, engaged or intrigued. Nice and colourful backgrounds.
P.s. you can trade the treasures for energy.

This has nothing to do with Desperate Dan unfortunately, it is instead a Gauntlet-style game featuring Thor and Sheba. And it's not a particularly good Gauntlet clone, it's not terrible, there are worse out there, but it's slow, confusing, unfair as enemies respawn when you return to a screen you've cleared and the sound is very annoying. I think I would have liked this game if I bought it 30 years ago and it may appeal to Gauntlet fans, but it won't take you long to find a better clone than this I feel.