|
|
 |
|
Dragon's Lair: A
Laserdisc Nightmare
It's a bit unfair to
call Cinematronics' 1983 game Dragon's Lair a flop. The game was
immensely popular during the early '80s. However, a popular game can
still be a flop in terms of gameplay. Dragon's Lair's popularity
wasn't due to the game so much as to the innovative technology
behind it. A laserdisc was used to add movie-quality animation to
the game. Players were captivated by the remarkable animation, which
was produced by former Disney animator Don Bluth. It might be more
accurate to describe Dragon's Lair as a fad, not a flop.
The game's downfall was its near-total lack of gameplay. The
player didn't really control the game; rather, the game controlled
the player. Dirk the Daring, the animated hero, combs Singe the
Dragon's castle in search of Princess Daphne. Players were required
to push the joystick and press the sword button in the proper
sequence at the proper time in order to advance to the next scene.
Success at Dragon's Lair was a matter of simply memorizing the
patterns necessary to complete each scene; once all the scenes were
complete, there was no reason to play the game again (except to
impress other arcade zombies). Once mastered, Dragon's Lair could be
finished in about 10 minutes.
|
|
|
The downfall of Dragon's Lair was its
near-total lack of gameplay.
| Another problem was the
technology at the time of the game's release. In 1983, Dragon's Lair
arcade games were both expensive and unstable. The average arcade
owner could rarely afford more than one or two units, and those
units were often in need of repair. So, Dragon's Lair's lack of
availability to gamers helped bury the already sinking game.
The popularity of Dragon's Lair soared quickly but faded almost
as abruptly. Subsequent and similar games, such as Dragon's Lair II:
Time Warp, Space Ace, and Cliff Hanger, were produced, but they
never garnered gamers' attention like the original.
|
|
| |
.gif){kind=small}
.gif){kind=small}
