Sectorseven
Active member
First experience was probably around '93 with the Sega CD version. One of the better games on that system (what does that tell you?).
Dragons Lair - FIrst time you saw one.....
- Thread starter jonathan1138
- Start date
The first time I saw it was at the Pistol Pete's Pizza by Westridge Mall in Phoenix... probably around '88 or so (which would have made me 7 or 8 years old at the time).
I remember not really getting that it was a video game. I thought you just popped in a couple of tokens and got to watch a cartoon. So uh, yeah, I lost all of my lives on the very first screen.
I didn't play it again until CAX 2010, and still didn't really get it at the time. I think I lost all of my lives on the first screen again. It wasn't until the Dragon's Lair/Space Ace apps for iPhone were released that it really clicked.
Now I've got a Space Ace/DL machine in my game room. Love it.
I remember not really getting that it was a video game. I thought you just popped in a couple of tokens and got to watch a cartoon. So uh, yeah, I lost all of my lives on the very first screen.
I didn't play it again until CAX 2010, and still didn't really get it at the time. I think I lost all of my lives on the first screen again. It wasn't until the Dragon's Lair/Space Ace apps for iPhone were released that it really clicked.
Now I've got a Space Ace/DL machine in my game room. Love it.
MXV
Active member
I remember reading a big article on the game in Joystick magazine which also had tips to get through about a half dozen of the boards. I studied that thing every day and read the article hundreds of times which got me really excited to finally play one. The first place near me that had it was Showbiz Pizza in Darien, IL and it had a TV on the top for people to watch. When I walked in there and saw it I was so excited I damn near crapped my pants. My parents gave me my tokens and I waited my turn. While waiting and watching and remembering what I read I sort of got the idea of exactly how to play it but that didn't stop my 50 cents from being gone in about 5 screens.
I played it a few more times and sort of got the hang of it better but had a lot to learn. When Just Games got theirs I was over there multiple days a week and all day Saturdays as my cousin worked there so I got to play for free and it didn't take long for me to master the game. I have one in my collection as it was one of my favorite games of all time.
I played it a few more times and sort of got the hang of it better but had a lot to learn. When Just Games got theirs I was over there multiple days a week and all day Saturdays as my cousin worked there so I got to play for free and it didn't take long for me to master the game. I have one in my collection as it was one of my favorite games of all time.
lifereboot
Member
I read about it in a gaming magazine shortly before it was released on the Sega CD. I remember the artwork for DL being on the cover, and the article really talking the game up. I ended up buying a Sega CD and Dragon's Lair because of that gaming subscription.
I remember my mother had to have the "Electronics Boutique" gaming store special order the game as they didn't have any copies. When it arrived in the store, my mother insisted that I test out the game on their system. The TV was high and mounted to the wall, and the guy helping us handed the Sega controller over the glass counter.
I just kept watching Dirk fall through the bridge and get grabbed by the tentacle monster. I had no idea how the game worked.
The guy helping us was familiar with it since he was much older than me and had probably played it on the arcades, so he taught me how to press the sword button only once, and then up or right to climb up out of the hole and get through the castle gate.
My mother is the type of person that is really impulsive, and will return things for a refund if she thinks it's faulty. She had previously returned my Intellivision, Philips CD-i, and my Nintendo Game Genie because either I wasn't very good at the games or --in the case of the Game Genie-- she thought the product could damage the main system.
So she's threatening to walk out without buying it, but after the continue screen counted down the intro started up.
..."DRAGON'S LAIR! A FANTASY ADVENTURE WHERE YOU BECOME A VALIANT KNIGHT, ON A QUEST TO RESCUE THE FAIR PRINCESS FROM THE CRUTCHES OF AN EVIL DRAGON!" ...
I kind of remember my mom shutting up when she saw the look of complete awe on my face, and she bought it and the Sega CD.
It was a pain in the butt for my father to try and figure out how to get my Sega Genesis to "mate" with the Sega CD add-on. I remember a metal plate was screwed into the underside somehow and the edge connectors needed to match up perfectly. Also, there was a second power brick that was plugged into the Sega CD.
So we finally get it all hooked up and we power on the system and !!! Nothing.
The red LED light next to the Sega CD just blinked. The Sega half of the combined systems worked, but the CD part seemed... busted. We ended up bringing it back to the store. They couldn't figure out what was wrong with it either, and gave us a replacement. My father was able to connect this new one up much quicker since he had done it once already, and when I saw the Sega CD loading screen I was elated.
I ended up bringing my system over to a friend's house for a sleepover, where we took turns playing Mortal Kombat and Dragon's Lair. Every time I played DL I got a little further, and around 4am when most everyone else had fallen asleep, my friend Bill was the only one who witnessed me slaying the Dragon. It took me forever to figure out to hit the "sword" button to grab the magic sword, as I was always trying to press "right" since it was flashing and I was used to pressing towards flashing objects.
I've never seen an ACTUAL DL cabinet in the wild. There was one multi-game MAME machine at the "Golf and Games" in Warren, MI that had Dragon's Lair on it (you selected games from a roulette style menu). I put in a quarter and was pleased that I could still beat DL, although the moves required for the arcade version were slightly different than those used to beat the Sega CD version. Furthermore, there were a few scenes in the arcade version that I had never played before.
On this multi-game machine, once the game was beaten it went into a weird "Dragon's Lair Lost Levels" thing where the animations were low quality, and the scenes were connected in a way that didn't make sense. You would watch Dirk go through a door, but then he'd start at the same room again and watch him die? And then he'd start at the same room again and he'd go through a different door. It was pretty worthless and seemed like a failed experiment or an afterthought that was poorly added to the multi-game version.
In my opinion, Dragon's Lair is a bit of a funny animal, but I definitely want one in my collection someday.
I remember my mother had to have the "Electronics Boutique" gaming store special order the game as they didn't have any copies. When it arrived in the store, my mother insisted that I test out the game on their system. The TV was high and mounted to the wall, and the guy helping us handed the Sega controller over the glass counter.
I just kept watching Dirk fall through the bridge and get grabbed by the tentacle monster. I had no idea how the game worked.
The guy helping us was familiar with it since he was much older than me and had probably played it on the arcades, so he taught me how to press the sword button only once, and then up or right to climb up out of the hole and get through the castle gate.
My mother is the type of person that is really impulsive, and will return things for a refund if she thinks it's faulty. She had previously returned my Intellivision, Philips CD-i, and my Nintendo Game Genie because either I wasn't very good at the games or --in the case of the Game Genie-- she thought the product could damage the main system.
So she's threatening to walk out without buying it, but after the continue screen counted down the intro started up.
..."DRAGON'S LAIR! A FANTASY ADVENTURE WHERE YOU BECOME A VALIANT KNIGHT, ON A QUEST TO RESCUE THE FAIR PRINCESS FROM THE CRUTCHES OF AN EVIL DRAGON!" ...
I kind of remember my mom shutting up when she saw the look of complete awe on my face, and she bought it and the Sega CD.
It was a pain in the butt for my father to try and figure out how to get my Sega Genesis to "mate" with the Sega CD add-on. I remember a metal plate was screwed into the underside somehow and the edge connectors needed to match up perfectly. Also, there was a second power brick that was plugged into the Sega CD.
So we finally get it all hooked up and we power on the system and !!! Nothing.
The red LED light next to the Sega CD just blinked. The Sega half of the combined systems worked, but the CD part seemed... busted. We ended up bringing it back to the store. They couldn't figure out what was wrong with it either, and gave us a replacement. My father was able to connect this new one up much quicker since he had done it once already, and when I saw the Sega CD loading screen I was elated.
I ended up bringing my system over to a friend's house for a sleepover, where we took turns playing Mortal Kombat and Dragon's Lair. Every time I played DL I got a little further, and around 4am when most everyone else had fallen asleep, my friend Bill was the only one who witnessed me slaying the Dragon. It took me forever to figure out to hit the "sword" button to grab the magic sword, as I was always trying to press "right" since it was flashing and I was used to pressing towards flashing objects.
I've never seen an ACTUAL DL cabinet in the wild. There was one multi-game MAME machine at the "Golf and Games" in Warren, MI that had Dragon's Lair on it (you selected games from a roulette style menu). I put in a quarter and was pleased that I could still beat DL, although the moves required for the arcade version were slightly different than those used to beat the Sega CD version. Furthermore, there were a few scenes in the arcade version that I had never played before.
On this multi-game machine, once the game was beaten it went into a weird "Dragon's Lair Lost Levels" thing where the animations were low quality, and the scenes were connected in a way that didn't make sense. You would watch Dirk go through a door, but then he'd start at the same room again and watch him die? And then he'd start at the same room again and he'd go through a different door. It was pretty worthless and seemed like a failed experiment or an afterthought that was poorly added to the multi-game version.
In my opinion, Dragon's Lair is a bit of a funny animal, but I definitely want one in my collection someday.
The first time I saw one was at the Playland Arcade in State College, PA. It got lots of attention when it first came out.
I dropped a lot of quarters in that place and in Dragon's Lair. I did make it through the whole game eventually.
I dropped a lot of quarters in that place and in Dragon's Lair. I did make it through the whole game eventually.
XXI21
Well-known member
Fall '83, Voyager I Arcade, Monona WI... DL ground-zero Day 1... I was there!
Big crowd. Not much of an actual paying line though. And I was not in it... ever. It was out of this location in a matter of a few weeks. Maybe it did better on campus locations... don't know. Certainly can't argue with the game's success nationwide.
The 4-bit charge to play aside, the game represented so many negative things about the industry and video game play to me... That's just me though...
I know hate is a strong word (especially when applied to a video game), but...
Big crowd. Not much of an actual paying line though. And I was not in it... ever. It was out of this location in a matter of a few weeks. Maybe it did better on campus locations... don't know. Certainly can't argue with the game's success nationwide.
The 4-bit charge to play aside, the game represented so many negative things about the industry and video game play to me... That's just me though...
I know hate is a strong word (especially when applied to a video game), but...
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hasenfang
Well-known member
The first time I saw the game was in Aladdins Castle in Chicago Ridge Mall. I entered into the arcade and right by the door a huge crowd was gathered around playing this game. I made my way to the token machine and got the tokens I could afford at the time and made my way over to the action. I remember watching the the game being played on the monitor on top of the game(s) and thought I am ready for this action. I muscled my way up the game and put my token in line to get in on the action. To this day I think that is probably the worst arcade experience of my life. I am not sure if it is because of my age (at the time) or stupidity or a little of both, but I did not understand the game play and I went down in flames (badly) in front of this huge crowd. I remember being devastated at how badly I had done and vowed to go back (when the crowd died down) and get some practice in. Every time I went the game was packed I watched the "good" players and tried to play like them. I did get better, but I was still terrible.
I am a fan and it is on my list of games I would pickup if I could find one at reasonable price. The hunt continues....
I am a fan and it is on my list of games I would pickup if I could find one at reasonable price. The hunt continues....
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Saw my first DL at Sportland in Ocean City, MD. That and everything else the world had to offer! I wonder if that super deluxe Galaxy Force 2 is still working...
