![]() I remember my brother and I watching the report breathlessly as it showed screen shots of people playing. I was 13 years old and at Myrtle Beach SC on summer vacation when I saw a news report on the then groundbreaking new game that allowed you to guide the outcome of a cartoon. I will always look back on Dragon's Lair with great nostalgia. Others before me have done a good job detailing the basics of the game so I will focus on my personal experience playing the game. Want to get the WII version of the game as it not only has this one, but also has the sequel and Space Ace. This game is a fond memory of my childhood so it still holds a special place for me. I am guessing the disc can only hold so much, or perhaps these two levels moved to fast or something? Not sure, but they were a couple of my favorites in the arcade so their omission made me sad. The rope swinging level with the fire ropes and the level with the circular disc that shoots downward. That game was also disappointing as it did not include two of the rooms featured in the arcade game. If you ever have seen a Sega CD you know the look of the game, as any movie sequence looks as if it has a film over it. ![]() I would later own the game on the Sega CD and it was so easy to win and it did not look nearly as good as the arcade game. You have to find and rescue the princess in this castle and make it to the dreaded dragon's lair. Going through the various rooms of the castle where they mention an evil wizard along with the dragon, but you never really see him. I was always able to get through that room with the wall that was closing up! Still, I enjoyed watching it and playing it. Instead, I would usually get killed again and again, occasionally making it through a room. You just hit the controller at the right time. I am guessing I could never wrap my mind around the fact you simply guide Dirk the same way every time. Don't let the simplistic gameplay stop you from enjoying what is a piece of history in animation. ![]() You can buy it for a standard DVD player (along with getting interviews with Bluth and a 'watch' mode so you can enjoy the animation without entering moves) or the DVD-ROM version (which is more faithful to the arcade by not replaying the 'resurrection' scene before each new scene and randomising the scenes but lacks the extras of the regular DVD). Thankfully, after 17 years, we finally have a 'perfect' home version thanks to DVD technology and Digital Leisure. It's no wonder this game is one of only three arcade games in the Smithsonian (Pong and Pac-Man are the other two). Dragon's Lair's animation was top notch and kept quarters rolling in simply to view the beautiful animation on screens once reserved for simple computer pixels. Don Bluth was certainly a genius for coming up with something so simple and addicting, even though Laserdisc games in general never went to far in the industry. Sure you couldn't directly control Dirk the Daring's moves, but you're decisions instead at key moments were the difference between Dirk being one step closer to Daphne (the Princess) and the decaying skeletal remains of failure. ![]() ![]() What they fail to realize is that this was more than a game, it was innovation in the field of animation. I can see how the "hardcore modern gamers" would hate this game. ![]()
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