Dragon's Lair
59K plays 1992 #Action
Dragon's Lair is an interactive film LaserDisc video game developed by Advanced Microcomputer Systems and published by Cinematronics in 1983, as the first game in the Dragon's Lair series. In the game, the protagonist Dirk the Daring is a knight attempting to rescue Princess Daphne from the evil dragon Singe who has locked the princess in the foul wizard Mordroc's castle. It featured animation by ex-Disney animator Don Bluth.
Most other games of the era represented the character as a sprite, which consisted of a series of pixels displayed in succession. Due to hardware limitations of the era, artists were greatly restricted in the detail they could achieve using that technique; the resolution, framerate and number of frames were severely constrained. Dragon's Lair overcame those limitations by tapping into the vast storage potential of the LaserDisc but imposed other limitations on the actual gameplay.
The success of the game sparked numerous home ports, sequels and related games. In the 21st century it has been repackaged in a number of formats as a retro or historic game.
From Wikipedia's article Dragon's Lair (1983 video game), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Keyboard controls
| SNES | Player 1 | Player 2 |
|---|---|---|
| D-pad | ↑↓←→ | IKJL |
| A | Z | M |
| B | X | N |
| X | A | U |
| Y | S | H |
| L | Q | Y |
| R | E | O |
| Select | Shift | B |
| Start | Enter | Space |
Hotkeys
- 1 Quick save state
- 2 Quick load state
- 3 Change save slot
Gamepads are detected when you press a button. Remap any key from the emulator’s Controls menu (gear icon).
Online, both players use the Player 1 keys (or a gamepad) on their own computer. Saving, loading and pausing are off while you play online.
Live chat
Connecting…
Keyboard controls
| SNES | Player 1 | Player 2 |
|---|---|---|
| D-pad | ↑↓←→ | IKJL |
| A | Z | M |
| B | X | N |
| X | A | U |
| Y | S | H |
| L | Q | Y |
| R | E | O |
| Select | Shift | B |
| Start | Enter | Space |
Hotkeys
- 1 Quick save state
- 2 Quick load state
- 3 Change save slot
Gamepads are detected when you press a button. Remap any key from the emulator’s Controls menu (gear icon).
Online, both players use the Player 1 keys (or a gamepad) on their own computer. Saving, loading and pausing are off while you play online.
2.0 Could be better
Players 54 · 170 votes
No critic scores found for this game: this is the players' rating.
Review scorecard
- Graphics 2.0 out of 5 Overall fallback
- Sound 2.0 out of 5 Overall fallback
- Control 2.0 out of 5 Overall fallback
- Fun Factor 2.0 out of 5 Overall fallback
Overall fallback: Players 54 · 170 votes. The same 54/100 overall rating fills missing categories using the face scale; these are not separate category scores. Player rating; no critic scores available.
What the reviews talk about
Key wordsimmersivefun
What the critics said
Dragon's Lair received recognition as the most influential game of 1983, to the point that regular computer graphics looked "rather elementary compared to top-quality animation".
— Dragon, 1984
From the Reception section of Wikipedia's Dragon's Lair (1983 video game) article, under CC BY-SA 4.0. The words are the critics'; their full reviews are on the publishers' pages.
Full reviews
Play online
Play with a friend on another computer. Host a room and send them the link, or list it in Open rooms for anyone to join; they play as Player 2 and you both see the same game.
Press Start Game first.
Go live
Let anyone watch you play, live in their browser. They see your game as you play it, and your online game when you host a room.
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