Complete runthrough: Dragon's Lair

cool.

Cool, now how about Space Ace? :)

Don Bluth rocks!

This is available as a DVD now...you can play the game with the menu buttons for your DVD player. I picked it up at gamestop for about 10 dollars...probably less than most people spent on it in the arcade.

And I've beaten it. Mind-boggilingly frustrating. Oh...there's also a "play" button that will just go through the whole game for you (it's only about 15-20 minutes long that way).

Space ace here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwcV-7dz7DA

Oh so many quarters lost to that game when it first came out. lol The Dragons Lair Project has loads of information on it and lots of other laser games. The complete walkthru shows you all the moves to get through the game. http://www.dragons-lair-project.com/games/related/walkthru/lair/easy.asp

Laserdiscs were actually great for certain kinds of games. MACH 3 was one of my favorite games - the format was great for rail shooters where you were going through the same environment every time anyway. MACH 3 was basically an Afterburner clone with photo-realistic graphics (because it was really just video). It worked really well, though.

There was another LD game that I loved; some sort of futuristic motorcycle racing game set at night. Anyone remember the name of it? It always racks my brain every time I try to think of it.

wow, that wiki page reads like a communist newsletter, i've seen harsher things written in nintendo power.

I had closure on the game over 20 years ago, but that video sure brought back memories. I must have beaten the thing at least 100 times. It was all about memorizing when to push the joystick in a certain direction.

The arcade had the regular game with the screen the player looked at, and there was another big screen on top of that for people waiting in line to watch, and just specators in general. Once I beat the game, people started paying me to beat it for them, just so they could watch it from beginning to end. It was 50 cents and I'd usually get $1.00, earning myself 50 cents per game, and sometimes beating the game as many as 10 times in one night.

Space Ace came afterward, but wasn't nearly the hit that Dragon's Lair was. And so ended the laserdisc gaming trend. But both games were beautifully animated by Don Bluth and his team and seeing this video reminded me of what it was like to be a gamer in the spotlight. People would literally cheer whenever I got the key from the dragon's neck. Good times.

Now I wonder if someone will post a Space Ace video? I never did have a chance to finish that game, because it never came to my town, and I could only play it while vacationing (and one year it was at the state fair, where I played it a few times at the outrageous price of $2.00 per play).

Sloop -- read the comments above yours. I posted a link to Space Ace.

Jeff-- do you mean Star Rider? It was an awesome game. I only got to play it a few times but I remember it being amazing for the time.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9768

Ugh! Way to bring back nightmares. I don't think I ever got past the burning ropes at the very beginning (hey, I was only 10). Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't this the first game to cost 50¢? Still seems like a rip-off to this day...

It's worth mentioning that what you are looking at there is an edited version of the laserdisc footage itself, rather than the way the arcade game played. In the arcade version, the drawbridge scene had been edited out, and the resurrection segments at the begining of each scene were only used if you died on the previous scene.

The drawbridge scene was always on the laserdisc, but it wasn't used in the arcade game. Most of the home versions included the footage, and a few years ago a guy named Dave Hallock wrote new program code to include the scene on an original machine (I've even seen his code in use in an arcade).

Wow. Just had a flashback to my birthday party at ShowBiz Pizza around the time this game came out. Really awesome to watch, but frustrating to play.

PST: It's "the Wikipedia entry". A Wiki is anything that allows the user to edit pages at will.

Ironically, the Wikipedia page on Wikis is locked right now.

OFF TOPIC RESPONSE TO JOHN:

John,

When I capitalize it, it's a proper noun and short for "Wikipedia." To be perfectly proper, it should be "Wikipedia" above, but an edit at this stage will result in the post re-appearing for all of our RSS readers, and that annoys them.

You're right that a wiki (lowercase) is the general term for this type of group-editable page.

Don Bluth owns me! Seriously, my entire life's ambition was inspired by Don Bluth's work. Secret of NiMH is, by far, my favorite animated film, and Bluth's work put subsequent Disney and anime films to shame... and I friggin love anime. Titan A.E. was literally like casting pearls before swine.

The last bit from Resident Evil 4 always reminded me of the rapids. I also think that games like Shenmue, Sword Of Berserk, and RE 4 borrowed heavily from the contest sensitive actions of Dragon's Lair.

Wish they showed the death animations too. Those were just as much of a treat to watch. And I love how Daphne was the quintessential trophy damsel in distress. Her design says she could only be good at one thing, and speaks volumes of the male-driven attitudes of that era. Sure, games like Tomb Raider objectify women who still tote guns or do high kicks, but Daphne was literally just an object. She doesn't even stand on her own two feet throughout the duration of the entire game. Now that's ol' skool!

Though i haven't beaten many games this is one that actually have beaten. not in the arcades 20 years but when they released during the pc-cdrom craze about 10 years ago. when your not blowing through 50 cents per try and don't have to worry about getting back in line when lose it becomes much easier to play.

uhh update for the guy asking about a space ace run through its on the site too just check the right side of the page.

Nice to see Dragon's Lair and Space Ace posted in their entirety (and it's shocking to see how short they really are, all told). Now we need a "start to finish" video for Brain Dead 13...

Ah.... anyone remember cliffhanger? I never could get passed the damn ninja room...

What I'd like to see is Dragon's Lair on the SNES posted from start to finish.

Ha ha...what an awful game that was.

Cliffhanger was my favorite laserdisc game. I never did get past the ninjas, but I did see someone get really far in it.

The japanese anime it is based on is called Castle of Cagliostro (or something) or Lupin III (Japanese title). An early Miyazaki film.

As for Star Rider, it was an awesome game, but it was not a laserdisc game, it was an early, flat shaded polygon game.

I played Dragon's Lair on the C64 and Amiga 500. Talk about dealing with loading times. Even had to "poke" to get infinite lives on the C64 version. Loading from 5.25" floppy...no fun. As for the Amiga version (which was essentially the arcade version), it took 6-11 disks...don't remember exactly, but it was a lot.

Interesting this should come up, because I just bought DL 1 & 2 on DVD off of ebay a week or so ago because I've wanted to play them for a long time. I didn't like Space Ace all that much though.

If you think the Arcade version was hard, try the C64 version. It is much more picky about when you push the direction/button. However, it's more versatile, as there are parts that are real-time controlled.

Funny that this video just got posted on this site. I just bought Secret of NIMH on Sunday, and while watching it, I thought about Dragon's Lair, and I wondered if I would ever see all the awesome animation in the game. My wish has been granted. Thank you Joystiq!

I wish Bluth had done more animation like Dragon's Lair and less of the cutesy American Tail stuff. If he had then maybe his heyday would have lasted longer. The guy broke away from Disney only to get sucked back into their cliches.

If you're interested, check my link to learn about the game he never made, The Sea Beast.

The arcade version of Dragon's Lair was totally cool. At the time, there was nothing else like it and you really felt like you were playing a cartoon. The control was 'unique' but certainly not overly frustrating. You simply had to figure out the pattern required to complete each scene, and exploit the proper sequence at the proper time. It was one of the few games you could actually solve. And it was totally satisfying to complete.

I do have to agree, the countless home versions have lost something in the translation. The control never felt right outside of the arcade version.

It's funny, I still recall my first encounter with Dragon's Lair. I was trying out for a TV game show called Starcade, and they received a unit which they placed in their game room (shown at the beginning of each show). We were able to play it free of charge, as often as we wanted.

Hey, thanks for mentioning Cliffhanger (based on Lupin III). It's easily one of my favorite laser disc games! And it pretty much used the same control scheme as Dragon's Lair.

Perhaps my least favorite, as far as gameplay was concerned was Atari's Firefox. Fly among the clouds from the movie and shoot crude graphic radar circles overlayed on the screen.

It's about time someone told it like it is! Dragon's Lair is a fantastic cartoon, but an utterly horrible video game.

JR

What I would like to see is video of that weird 3D/hologram game that was like this, but about a time traveling cowboy that went through floating portals. Anyone remember that? I blew so many quarters cause it was a HOLOGRAM!!!!

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=10124

Time Traveler!!!


yes that game was terrible also

i was wondering if anybody new how to beat the big bat in the bell tower in dragons lair,, for xbox,,it says sound but i ring the bells alot and nothing happens thanks for the help

how can i beat the bat in the bell tower on xbox dragons lair