Dragon's Lair

[Melf]

Dragon's Lair was a bona fide hit when it arrived in arcades back in 1983. Some twenty-odd years later, the verdict is still out about whether or not it deserves all the fame it's received. Is it a classic or just a glorified cartoon? Most likely, the world may never know. One thing we do know is that the Sega CD port was a watered down, grainy mess that was almost more than the the system's single speed drive could handle. Our full review tells the story, so read on young adventurer!

[Joe Redifer]

I still have the Sega CD demo disc for this game given to me by an EB employee back before it came out. It had one playable level. Instead I waited for the 3DO version, and now I have the DVD version which you play with the remote... works quite well, too. This game has never been one of my favorites, but the chicky-poo at the end sure is cute. You know she puts out.

[Rodger]

haha, yes I found the princess at the end to be overtly sexual. Shame you don't see more of her, could have added something 'special' to the game haha.

[Demonic Weasel]

For some reason I rather liked this game. Odd really.

[Rodger]

I wanted to like this game, I really did. I just found it so very frusterating with the iffy controls and the sometimes obscure rooms where it wasn't always clear the order in which to press the buttons.

That's the thing though with these FMV games, they straddle a thin line between being too easy or too hard. And on a system as the Sega CD where there are already more then enough of these games, you really have to shine to stand out.

[Henry Spencer]

Meh. I still think it's better than most of the FMV games ever released for the Sega CD. The CDi version is wonderful, I must say, it is much easier to play and the graphics are crisper, with better animation. It's probably the closest version to the classic arcade game!

[Joe Redifer]

The DVD version meets if not exceeds the arcade game. And it surely tromps the CDi version which was limited to MPEG-1 at 240p.

[Benjamin]

Isn't Dragon's Lair the reason Don Bluth's studio almost (or did) collapsed?

[CRV]

Isn't Dragon's Lair the reason Don Bluth's studio almost (or did) collapsed?

It went into bankruptcy because Cinematronics couldn't pay $3 million in royalties and fees, but it didn't totally collapse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Bluth_Productions

[j_factor]

Space Ace was better.

[GameUser-16-32-128]

The game is way too hard. I think it's way harder than the arcade the last time I played it. The timing sucks and there are no signals like in other FMVs to help you out just hi-lighted objects. What are you supposed to do? Swing your sword? Jump? Move left or right? I'm thinking about selling both this game and Space Ace on ebay, but they were part of my childhood. Oh what to do...

[GameUser-16-32-128]

Space Ace was better.

How could Space Ace have been better? Hell I couldn't get past the laser shooting from Borf in the first scene! It took me 100 tries before I could get past that! It actually took me one or two tries in the arcade!

[j_factor]

I meant in general, not necessarily on Sega CD. I haven't actually played the Sega CD version.