can you still play Aladdin Deck Enhancer carts on an NES that have a Blinking Light Win installed?

[Edmond Dantes]

So I'm into the Dizzy series lately and thought about buying the NES releases, but at least one--Dizzy the Adventurer--is a Deck Enhancer exclusive.

And I don't wanna spend a lot of money for a game I might not even be able to play.

So I wanna know your experiences first.

[Gameguy]

Two questions first. Is Blinking Light Win actually good in the long term? I've heard of some failing so does this actually work better than stock connectors over time?

Second, are the Dizzy games actually worth playing? Every Dizzy game I've ever played was almost insufferable, I'm surprised to hear anyone say they're into them. Basically every Code Masters game i can think of, except Micro Machines and Mig 29(I think this is the right game), is mediocre to terrible.

[peeingas]

Despite what some sources say, you can actually play the aladdin games on a toploader. You just need to press reset after the initial scrambled screen. I'm guessing you need to do something similar with other deck variants.

[Edmond Dantes]

Two questions first. Is Blinking Light Win actually good in the long term? I've heard of some failing so does this actually work better than stock connectors over time?

Second, are the Dizzy games actually worth playing? Every Dizzy game I've ever played was almost insufferable, I'm surprised to hear anyone say they're into them. Basically every Code Masters game i can think of, except Micro Machines and Mig 29(I think this is the right game), is mediocre to terrible.

My BLW has so far been a blessing. My stock NES connector (which it had since purchase in the late 1980s) was bad about losing the read on carts even during mid-play, it was making me not wanna play NES games, but so far the BLW has not had a problem... except that when you first get it, it REALLY likes to hold onto any cart you stick into it. This however gets better the more often you switch out games.

As for Dizzy... they can, I think, be an acquired taste and not for everybody.

I've so far only played two, both via emulation: Dizzy 1 - The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure (a title that might be regrettable after they made sequels if the first one is the "Ultimate") for Commodore 64 and Dizzy 2 - Treasure Island Dizzy (I went with the NES version, tho I did also peek at the Amiga and Commodore 64 versions).

I personally do get caught up in the adventure and puzzle solving elements, but I'll admit with both I did reach a point where out of frustration, I started using save states. Especially with Treasure Island Dizzy, which unlike the other games, does NOT give you extra lives--you die once and its back to the beginning for you. Which is kind of bum as at times you have to experiment (one of the thirty coins the game asks you to find, for example, is hidden in what looks like a normal enemy, and other similar-looking creatures will kill you... but this one will transport you to a secret area. That's just B.S.)

So yeah, the games can be full of B.S.... but they can also be a lot of fun. And I do feel like the series gets better as it gets on. The third game goes back to multiple lives and an inventory screen where you just choose what you want to drop/use instead of the items working on a rotation like in Treasure Island (though Fantastic Adventures goes back to the rotation system... that's weird). It can still suck to die experimenting. Also Dizzy sometimes has a tendency to roll if you jump and land on a slanted surface... that's apparently intentional, but apparently he's not quite a roly-poly little eggy on consoles (he didn't feel as such on the NES to me).

I would also recommend downloading the manuals, because it does help to have an idea what goal you're working towards, so you're not just randomly walking around.