Dragon's Lair was the first laserdisc video game, released June 1983 by Cinematronics. It featured polished Disney-like animation created by former Disney animator Don Bluth, for the first time allowing players to control an engaging character, as opposed to a sprite composed of blocks. It created a sensation when it appeared, and was played so heavily that many machines often broke due to the strain of overuse. It was also arguably the most successful game on this medium and is aggressively sought after by collectors.

Overview

Dragon's Lair features the hero, "Dirk the Daring", attempting to rescue "Princess Daphne" from the evil dragon Singe holed up in a wizard's castle. The screen shows animated cartoon-like scenes, and the player chooses the next scene by selecting a direction and/or sword-action with correct timing.

The game has often been criticized for its lack of interactivity, because it is based entirely around full-motion video (FMV). However, it has still endured as a classic of gaming due to its importance in gaming history by introducing FMV into games. Despite criticisms, it is one of the most successful arcade games in history.

A quote from a Newsweek article (August 8 1983) best captures the level of excitement displayed over the game during that time:

"Dragon's Lair is this summer's hottest new toy: the first arcade game in the United States with a movie-quality image to go along with the action... The game has been devouring kids' coins at top speed since it appeared early in July," said Robert Romano, 10, who waited all day in the crush at Castle Park without getting to play, "It's the most awesome game I've ever seen in my life."

Development

Dragon's Lair began as a concept by Rick Dyer, president of Advanced Microcomputer Systems. A team of game designers created the characters and locations, then choreographed Dirk's movements as he encountered the monsters and obstacles in the castle. The art department at AMS created storyboards for each episode as a guide for the final animation.

The game was animated by veteran Disney animator Don Bluth and his studio. Development was done on a shoestring budget, cost US$1 million dollars and took seven months to complete. Since the studio couldn't afford to hire any models, the animators used photos from Playboy magazines for inspiration for the character Princess Daphne. The animators also used their own voices for all the characters instead of hiring actors in order to keep costs down.

Due to her translucent costume, curvaceous figure and impossibly erect nipples, Daphne became something of an object of fixation for pubescent male fans of the game.

Technical

The original laserdisc players shipped with the game (Pioneer LD-V1000 or PR-7820) often broke under the strain imposed by the game (the game skipped tracks to display what happened based on the players actions). Though the Pioneer players were fine in quality, laserdisc players just weren't built to undergo the strain Dragon's Lair imposed. The fact that the game was immensely popular and almost continuously played didn't help matters. As a result, the player often had to be repaired or replaced.

It is rare to find a Dragon's Lair game intact with the original player. A kit is available that allows replacement of the rather fragile Pioneer player with a modern Sony LDP series laserdisc player. Collectors describe this player as "rock solid."

Legacy

The game led to the creation of a short-lived television cartoon series and the creation of numerous video games for home systems: A non-linear arcade interpretation of Dragon's Lair and Escape from Singe's castle with elements of platform and puzzle, was made by Software Projects for 8-bit machines in 1986. Some versions were also made for Game Boy.

The game inspired some sequels: and Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp, released in 1991. It also led to the creation of 1984's Space Ace, another game animated by Don Bluth and his crew. Light versions of these games were ported for Amiga and Atari ST by Readysoft.

was made for Amiga and DOS around 1995.

The Dragon's Lair Deluxe Pack was released for home computers containing all the FMV for all three games. Though it contains all the video including some scenes cut from the North American version of the game, the gameplay was reported as lackluster.

was developed in 2002, as a 3D interpretation of the game for Microsoft Windows, Xbox and GameCube.

External links

• The KLOV entry on Dragon's Lair with screenshots of game
• The History of the game
• Dragon's Lair wiki project
• MobyGame's entry on the Dragon's Lair series of computer and video games
• MobyGame's entry on Dragon's Lair 3D
• Dragon's Lair Project - Information on various Laserdisc games
• Daphne Emulator - A Multiple Arcade Laserdisc Emulator