| Dragon's Lair |
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''Dragon's Lair'' was one of the first Laserdisc Video Game s, 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 a fully realized character, as opposed to a pixel-based sprite, which at the time were comparatively limited in the amount of detail they could sport. The game's enormous contrast with other Arcade Game s of the time 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 attract mode of the game displays various short vignettes of gameplay with the accompanying narration: "Dragon's Lair: The fantasy adventure where you become a valiant knight, on a quest to rescue the fair princess from the clutches of an evil dragon. You control the actions of a daring adventurer, finding his way through the castle of a dark wizard, who has enchanted it with treacherous monsters and obstacles. In the mysterious caverns below the castle, your odyssey continues against the awesome forces that oppose your efforts to reach the Dragon's Lair. Lead on, adventurer. Your quest awaits!" 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 Actor s in order to keep costs down. Don Bluth , the artwork in ''Dragon's Lair'', such as this frame of Princess Daphne, was the highest quality ever seen in an Arcade Game when it was released.]] 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 (Hi-Tech Card) that allows replacement of the rather fragile Pioneer player with a modern Sony LDP series laserdisc player. LEGACY The game led to the creation of a short-lived Television Cartoon Series (in which the originally nameless Dragon was given the name Singe). Thirteen half-hour episodes were produced. The show was generally run of the mill, but boasted an unusual feature: before each commercial break a narrator would ask what the viewer would do to solve the problem facing Dirk. After the commercial break, the outcomes of the various choices were shown, with Dirk invariably overcoming the obstacle through a course of action not mentioned by the narrator. ''Dragon's Lair'' led to the creation of numerous Video Game s for home systems. Since some original sequences did not fit in the ports for those systems, they were re-released only in a virtual sequel called Escape From Singe's Castle ; 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. A simple Platformer adaptation of the game was also made for the Nintendo Entertainment System and SNES , although most are disliked by gamers for shoddy game construction. For instance, in the NES version Dirk is given a life bar, but being hit by bats is the only thing that won't instantly kill him. The game inspired a sequel (disregarding the ''Escape from Singe's Castle'' as one), '''', 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 in 1992 , mixing original footage with scenes from Time Warp that were not included in the original PC release due to memory constraints. ReadySoft released ''Dragon’s Lair'' for the Apple Macintosh on CD-ROM in 1994 . '' The Dragon's Lair Deluxe Pack '' was released for Home Computer s containing all the FMV for all three games. Though it contains all the video including some scenes cut from the North America n version of the game, the gameplay was reported as lackluster. In late ''. All the scenes from the original arcade releases were included and optionally the player could select new scenes that were animated in 1983 , but not included in any previous ''Dragon’s Lair'' release. The games were also updated to include higher quality video, authentic scene order and a new difficulty selection to make it more challenging for ''Dragon’s Lair'' pros. Also produced were DVD-ROM versions for Windows PCs, but unfortunately these versions suffered from a hacky mish-mash of DirectX units and had numerous compatibility and performance issues. '''' was developed in 2002 , as a 3D interpretation of the game for Microsoft Windows , Xbox and GameCube . A comic book mini series based on the game, but incorporating elements from the cartoon series as well, like Dirk's horse Bertram, was released in 2003 by Crossgen Publishing, concurrent with a mini series based on Space Ace. A version of ''Dragon's Lair'' is featured prominately in the 2005 film '' The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants ''. SCREENSHOTS |
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