If you grew up in the 80s when there was such a thing as an arcade, you probably remember what the selection of games was like. Most games had blocky graphics and music that sounded more like beeps than, well, music. Granted, just having those was truly amazing, though I imagine they seemed downright primitive compared to Dragon’s Lair.
Dragon’s Lair was one of the first games to utilize Full Motion Video (FMV) and Laserdisc technology. It was animated by the studio of ex-Disney animator Don Bluth, who many may know for the animated classics An American Tail or The Land Before Time. There wasn’t much of a budget for the game, so the few voices required were provided in-house by untrained staff and the music was fairly limited. When they couldn’t hire any models to base the character of Princess Daphne on, the animators used the models out of an issue of Playboy… and it shows. Despite these limitations, Dragon’s Lair quickly became the game that everyone tried to copy.
A knight named Dirk the Daring enters an evil wizard’s castle to rescue the beautiful Princess Daphne from the dragon Singe. As you can tell, the plot is fairly straight forward to the point of being cliché. The controls, on the other hand, were something different. As each scene plays, the player has to use hints given to figure out their action, say swinging the sword or dodging a trap. Success means the scene continues to play, cues given for the next action. Failure results in a scene plays where Dirk falls victim to whatever fate awaited him. Considering each action requires observation and quick reflexes, Dirk will probably be suffering. A lot.
The game would be nothing without the animation. Bluth’s studio did an excellent job bringing life to the game’s world. The adversaries encountered range in quality, from being intimidating to goofy but still nonetheless dangerous. Dirk naturally has the most depth of any character, showing to be a knight in over his head, a bit clumsy and cowardly but yet “daring” enough to venture on. Daphne is a bit of an oddball, coming off ditzy and overly cheerful given her predicament, not to mention striking some fairly suggestive poses… which was explained earlier.
While Dragon’s Lair was technically impressive back in 1983, it perhaps hasn’t aged well as a game. FMV games fell by the wayside back in the mid-nineties, probably playing a big role in the Sega CD’s failure (and probably the Phillips CD-i, but who cares about the CD-i anyways?) Games with quick time events (QTE) seem to be going this way, being more of a frustrating “Press X Not to Die” mechanic than anything else. In the end,Dragon’s Lair unfortunately comes off more as an interactive movie than actual game.
However, this doesn’t mean Dragon’s Lair hasn’t created itself quite a legacy. It has been ported or adapted to almost every freaking system including many modern services like Google Play or Apple’s iTunes. It was followed up by a sci-fi themed spin-off titled Space Ace and a weirder sequel, Dragon’s Lair 2: Time Warp, as well as a 3D remake, all with animation provided by Bluth’s studio. It is one of three classic games currently on display at the Smithsonian Institute, the others being Pac-Man and Pong.
Don Bluth has wanted to do a film adaptation of Dragon’s Lair for years, but unfortunately it currently sits in Development Hell. Considering most animation nowadays is done on computer, Hollywood is a bit leary of a traditionally-animated film. This sounds like the perfect project for a Kickstarter.
(Update 10/26/2015) Called it.
Links to where Dragon’s Lair is currently available.
Google Play
iTunes
Steam
Nintendo DSi Ware
Playstation Store
XBox Live
