DRAGON'S LAIR: The Story Behind the '80s Phenomenon
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Date: 2023-12-10
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Comments and reviews: 24
-jaklumen
Don is one of my Dad's cousins. I remember raving about this particular game (but saw Space Ace at the local Chuck E. Cheese earlier) and he told me as much. I thought maybe he was pulling my leg, but he'd been super faithful to follow his films. I looked him up in the geneaological records at the Marion G. Romney library in 1992 in what is now BYU-Idaho, and I found that it all checked out, that it was true.
There was a sequel: Dragon's Lair II. not as good, but still interesting. Anyways, I -was- there for this. I was there for the Great Video Game Crash of 1983. The games absolutely were slick for the time, but I remember reading Bluth saying (COMPUTE! magazine, I think) that the laserdisc setups were horridly expensive: something like a cool 10KUS$, or thereabouts. But I'd say it really did pave the way for the -game- extras you might find on a DVD of a movie. but of course none of them as fantastic.
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Don is one of my Dad's cousins. I remember raving about this particular game (but saw Space Ace at the local Chuck E. Cheese earlier) and he told me as much. I thought maybe he was pulling my leg, but he'd been super faithful to follow his films. I looked him up in the geneaological records at the Marion G. Romney library in 1992 in what is now BYU-Idaho, and I found that it all checked out, that it was true.
There was a sequel: Dragon's Lair II. not as good, but still interesting. Anyways, I -was- there for this. I was there for the Great Video Game Crash of 1983. The games absolutely were slick for the time, but I remember reading Bluth saying (COMPUTE! magazine, I think) that the laserdisc setups were horridly expensive: something like a cool 10KUS$, or thereabouts. But I'd say it really did pave the way for the -game- extras you might find on a DVD of a movie. but of course none of them as fantastic.
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-cowtipping7286
You'd put your 10p or whatever into this machine and 10 seconds later you'd be dead. It was quicktime events without the prompts. Looked amazing but boy were the arcade owners pissed about the maintenance of the machines (joystick rage) and moreso the players who'd play it one or two times then never return. It was a bad, bad game. Looked good tho. And it does say something to its staying power that I remember it being in our local 'arcade' into the late '80s maybe even early '90s.
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You'd put your 10p or whatever into this machine and 10 seconds later you'd be dead. It was quicktime events without the prompts. Looked amazing but boy were the arcade owners pissed about the maintenance of the machines (joystick rage) and moreso the players who'd play it one or two times then never return. It was a bad, bad game. Looked good tho. And it does say something to its staying power that I remember it being in our local 'arcade' into the late '80s maybe even early '90s.
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-scottdavis0801
I could play Dragon-s lair from begin to end. Yes, it was expensive to play, but it was the eighties. The demise of these laser disk games was that they were always breaking down. You would see them out of order in almost every arcade you went to. And they were terribly expensive to fix. So, the arcade owners would have 1 or 2 of these laser disc games sitting around losing money. Just the way I recall it.
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I could play Dragon-s lair from begin to end. Yes, it was expensive to play, but it was the eighties. The demise of these laser disk games was that they were always breaking down. You would see them out of order in almost every arcade you went to. And they were terribly expensive to fix. So, the arcade owners would have 1 or 2 of these laser disc games sitting around losing money. Just the way I recall it.
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-xkkz
That cash register paper game at 2: 19 is wild. But also it looks like the controls include a ZZYZX command. I thought it was referencing the spell XYZZY from Colossal Cave Adventure at first, but ZZYZX is actually the name of an abandoned -healing- town in the California desert founded in the 40s by a medical quack/evangelist. So I guess it's supposed to be a play on words between the two?
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That cash register paper game at 2: 19 is wild. But also it looks like the controls include a ZZYZX command. I thought it was referencing the spell XYZZY from Colossal Cave Adventure at first, but ZZYZX is actually the name of an abandoned -healing- town in the California desert founded in the 40s by a medical quack/evangelist. So I guess it's supposed to be a play on words between the two?
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-gaza74
I would say explore a hybrid solution, hand painted backgrounds could be mapped onto 3d geo to give that freedom of movement but the characters HAVE to be hand drawn! That is of paramount importance as it-s the emotional link to your audience ( people really expect that cell animated magic)Don Bluth is the best! Can-t wait to see the film!
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I would say explore a hybrid solution, hand painted backgrounds could be mapped onto 3d geo to give that freedom of movement but the characters HAVE to be hand drawn! That is of paramount importance as it-s the emotional link to your audience ( people really expect that cell animated magic)Don Bluth is the best! Can-t wait to see the film!
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-jaysunten
When this came out, I was 13. Fifty cents wasn't really practical on a $5 a week allowance. This game was incredibly hard to memorize. It lost me on a single dollar at Malibu Grand Prix in Oklahoma City that day.
This was a fantastic piece! Good work and very informative.
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When this came out, I was 13. Fifty cents wasn't really practical on a $5 a week allowance. This game was incredibly hard to memorize. It lost me on a single dollar at Malibu Grand Prix in Oklahoma City that day.
This was a fantastic piece! Good work and very informative.
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-ikeyasector
I seriously love Dragon's Lair. I must have been six when I first played it. I spent most of the time watching teenagers beat the game and finally did so myself when CD tech meagered with the PC sometimes back in the early 90's. I adore the animation to this day.
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I seriously love Dragon's Lair. I must have been six when I first played it. I spent most of the time watching teenagers beat the game and finally did so myself when CD tech meagered with the PC sometimes back in the early 90's. I adore the animation to this day.
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-jerbkazzaz3398
That little blurb at the end there made me do a double take, a company whose content makes me laugh/transcend reality on a near-weekly basis was in the vicinity of a place I interned at for a couple months. Keep up the good good work y'all!
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That little blurb at the end there made me do a double take, a company whose content makes me laugh/transcend reality on a near-weekly basis was in the vicinity of a place I interned at for a couple months. Keep up the good good work y'all!
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-luvmenow33
Dragons Lair was the first game I ever saw in which the arcade owners would hookup a monitor to the cabinet and place it on top of the machine because the machine always had a crowd of people around it watching the person play.
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Dragons Lair was the first game I ever saw in which the arcade owners would hookup a monitor to the cabinet and place it on top of the machine because the machine always had a crowd of people around it watching the person play.
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-butterflyguitar
This was great! I had this game on CD, and I don't think I got past the first room of the castle. I was doing good just to get past the drawbridge. :P I would love to see more mini-docs like this!
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This was great! I had this game on CD, and I don't think I got past the first room of the castle. I was doing good just to get past the drawbridge. :P I would love to see more mini-docs like this!
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-VHSHunter
Great video thanks for sharing, I have recently published some game play of 'Dragon's Lair TimeWarp' which the successor of the original Dragon's Lair and it was published on the Philips CDI platform.
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Great video thanks for sharing, I have recently published some game play of 'Dragon's Lair TimeWarp' which the successor of the original Dragon's Lair and it was published on the Philips CDI platform.
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-curiousottman
I used to play this game in the arcade in 83. It was incredibly popular. I remember it being the first arcade game that cost 50 cents, double what the other games cost. It truly was a phenomenon.
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I used to play this game in the arcade in 83. It was incredibly popular. I remember it being the first arcade game that cost 50 cents, double what the other games cost. It truly was a phenomenon.
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-HelveticaBold1
Seeing Dragon's Lair as a child in the 80s changed my life! I ended up studying art in college because of it. I own several OG animation model sheet from the game. thank for making this video.
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Seeing Dragon's Lair as a child in the 80s changed my life! I ended up studying art in college because of it. I own several OG animation model sheet from the game. thank for making this video.
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polygon
4: 59 -Dragon-s Lair itself wasn-t the future of video games-
I disagree seeing as how ubiquitous quick time events have become. It seems as if many games are unable to tell stories without them.
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4: 59 -Dragon-s Lair itself wasn-t the future of video games-
I disagree seeing as how ubiquitous quick time events have become. It seems as if many games are unable to tell stories without them.
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-giggleloop13
Dragons Lair is one of those games that I never really played, but that I have a huge fondness for because of the art style. (I had a crush on Princess Daphne) Great video, Simone! -
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Dragons Lair is one of those games that I never really played, but that I have a huge fondness for because of the art style. (I had a crush on Princess Daphne) Great video, Simone! -
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-RossLlewallyn
I really enjoyed this! A delightful encapsulation of this title in its context. I also liked the clip of you at the end. It's a good reminder of the humans who make these things.
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I really enjoyed this! A delightful encapsulation of this title in its context. I also liked the clip of you at the end. It's a good reminder of the humans who make these things.
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polygon
A few days ago I listened to an episode of the Polygon Show and had the same thought as when watching this video: Simone has such a soothing voice. Also, what an interesting topic!
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A few days ago I listened to an episode of the Polygon Show and had the same thought as when watching this video: Simone has such a soothing voice. Also, what an interesting topic!
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-JantaDaThorien
Oh MAN do I remember how unbelievably frustrating Dragon's Lair was. It was such a cool looking game, and it was just unplayable. Great video, Simone!
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Oh MAN do I remember how unbelievably frustrating Dragon's Lair was. It was such a cool looking game, and it was just unplayable. Great video, Simone!
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-heartofwolf12
I had a version for the old Macintosh that I played as a kid in the 90s. I could never save the damsel, but I got a lot of nostalgia out of it.
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I had a version for the old Macintosh that I played as a kid in the 90s. I could never save the damsel, but I got a lot of nostalgia out of it.
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polygon
I had a friend next door whose dad had a laser disc, so I used to go over and play dragons lair with his tv remote, this was in like 2009 lmao
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I had a friend next door whose dad had a laser disc, so I used to go over and play dragons lair with his tv remote, this was in like 2009 lmao
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-RaeLovesGrimm000
I actually met one of the animators who worked on Dragon's Lair and some of the other games, Will Finn, the other day
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I actually met one of the animators who worked on Dragon's Lair and some of the other games, Will Finn, the other day
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-eringladstone5205
I really enjoy these informative videos! I get excited whenever I see a new one and hope there's more to come!
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I really enjoy these informative videos! I get excited whenever I see a new one and hope there's more to come!
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-IgnatRemizov
This Simone persona is so much better than the Simone persona from the Q and A sessions and Video Game Theater.
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This Simone persona is so much better than the Simone persona from the Q and A sessions and Video Game Theater.
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polygon
What was the clip of the random cartoon? Looked like it could have come from some version of Gulliver-s travels.
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What was the clip of the random cartoon? Looked like it could have come from some version of Gulliver-s travels.
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