Dragons Lair - FIrst time you saw one.....

jonathan1138

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Hey all. Wanted to bring up Dragons Lair this morning. Bought one in from Kyle Dracup - he downplayed the fully restored part to me. When i got it i was in shock (and still am). The machine is absolutely beautiful - from top to bottom this thing shines and looks like new, and plays great. Many thanks to someone who clearly loves these Laserdisk relics and keeps them going.

As to DL in general - i think that its cab is the nicest looking one ever made (at least compared to the cabs i have seen). Really attractive "Furniture" qualities to it. Cinematronics did a good job on this one. I love the Marquee - how it pops out at you.

The game? I have my memories of it - but not as much as other games, probably due to the cost back then for a kid, and, the game was always crowded. The first time i saw it there were at least 30 people surrounding it, and for months after, it remained that way. I was in Awe - i couldnt believe what i was seeing. I also remember all of the DL's i saw had a second monitor at the top - i thought that was very cool. Over the years i had a respect for the game but never played it much.

So, Got the game from Kyle and loving it. It is a very good game - provided you know its all about memory and enjoying some good animation and story telling. Having alot of fun with it.

Back to the subject - i find it fascinating that everyone who stepped foot into an Arcade back then ALL have a "I remember when i first saw Dragons Lair" story...."...So to prove my theory - do you have a first time i saw Dragons Lair story?
 
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Back when it was released I saw them all at Circus Circus in Reno. They had a huge Laserdisc row including: DL, dedicated space ace, mach 3, firefox, astron belt, cliff hanger and several others.
Took me a long time to get the nerve to play it.

Jon
 
I first saw it at Langs Bowlarama in Providence RI back when it first came out. I didn't like it then and I don't like it now.

I believe those laserdisc games were a big part of the downfall of arcade video games.
 
They had a huge Laserdisc row including: DL, dedicated space ace, mach 3, firefox, astron belt, cliff hanger and several others.
Took me a long time to get the nerve to play it.

Exactly the same at my local putt-putt. They had other arcades to compete with so had to have the latest and greatest to keep the crowds popping in and this is what did them in financially in the end.

Great game, as a kid the dollar or 50cents per play kept me from playing it except for super saturdays (5 bucks for 50 tokens, a hot dog and a drink, and unlimited mini golf but it had to be purchased by noon or one on saturday-- we would buy several of the packages and sell the unlimited golf cards for 5bucks each) or when they had the all night / all you can play lock-in for 15 or 20 bucks (food included and the # of people was limited to 20 or so to prevent overcrowding). I was never very good at the game. Most of my tokens seem to have went into 720º and Bubble Bobble anyway...
 
I remember when it came out and there was a big crowd around it, and they put a monitor on top so people could see the game play.

I never really played it much, though. When Space Ace was released I kept playing it until I got through the whole game. I preferred Space Ace to DL.
 
I don't remember the first time specifically, but I'm guessing it was at the local Showbiz Pizza. They also had a M.A.C.H. 3 cockpit.
 
I saw it the first time when it was released at Lunar Landing Arcade in North Olmsted, OH. It was a big deal because it was the first of it's kind and there was a long line for it. I played it only once because it was 50 cents which was pretty expensive at the time and I died in like 30 sec cause I had no idea what to do. After the initial interest it pretty much sat there unplayed until the arcade closed around a year later.
 
I first saw them at a distributors convention in Chicago (it was at the Rosemont Expo Center). They had about 20 of them there. The visual impact of the game was stunning, but the game play sucked. After playing one for about 20 minutes, a guy wandered over and started talking with me. We chatted for about half an hour about the graphics and the game play. When he left he shook my hand and told me his name was Don. I found out later it was Don Bluth the animator.

I still think it is one of the most visually appealing games ever built, and the game play still sucks. They blew it when they went with a random room layout.

ken
 
Showbiz Pizza in Orlando, Fl in '83 or '84. And as some else said "30 seconds" Haven't played one since.
 
I remember when it came out and there was a big crowd around it, and they put a monitor on top so people could see the game play.

This is exactly how I remember it, at the local CEC. .50cents to play. Absolutely loved the game. Recognized the name, Don Bluth, (from the T.S.O. Nimh) and thought the animation was fascinating! I loved this game and Space Ace. I never played DL 2 in the arcade.
 
Saw it for the first time at Starship Video in Upland, CA in 83 and fell in love with it (and laserdisc games in general) ever since.
 
Local Laundromat walking distance from my house. Must have played it and star wars almost everyday summer 83.
 
At the local arcade with a crowd around it. I was maybe 8 or 9 and everyone playing it would get frustrated and walk away from it. When I finally got to play it was late at the mall and my mom was getting a haircut I pumped probably 8 tokens in it, before another kid came up and said you can't get past the beginning without slamming the joystick as it was broken. He showed me how to get past the beginning slamming almost punching the joystick, and after that I thought screw this I am going to play spyhunter.
 
The "GoldMine" which was the local arcade at the mall back in the day.....
They had it right as you walked through the entrance of the mine shaft. Just sitting there for all to see, ........I remember being BLOWN AWAY!!
Until I played it and died in about 20 seconds flat!! :) Then I hated it!! :)
Never played it until years later when DL2 came out...
Now both are on the the top of the list to own!
 
Saw one in my local mall and immediately became obsessed with destroying the game as fast as I could. I would save every penny and go straight to the arcade when I got my allowance.. I eventually became good enough to where I could kill the dragon on my first Dirk. My local bowling alley eventually got a Dragons Lair, then a Space Ace, and I played it there also (Never got into Space Ace though).

I once played at a large arcade in Colorado on vacation when the game was still new, it had a tv monitor mounted on top of the machine so people could watch you play... I played the game and had a small crowd around me while I played.. I was glad I didn't break under the pressure and killed the dragon on my first man :) I'll never forget that, lol.

I still love DL, but it's too repetitive for me now to get a dedicated machine.. and I think it emulates just fine on blu-ray on my PS3.
 
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