In 1983, video game manufacturer Cinematronics Inc produced an arcade game that was predicted by many to be the first in a line of new video games that would take the industry to the next level with regards to graphics. The game was called Dragon’s Lair and was one of the first ever LaserDisc games to be released. It even spawned a sequel called Dragon’s Lair II: Timewarp.
But it ended being one of the last LaserDisc games, too. And probably the most well known.
While many people expected that the video game industry would embrace this new style of game, it didn’t happen. What was the genesis of Dragon’s Lair and LaserDisc and why did it fail to catch on?
LaserDisc
LaserDiscs were like CD-Roms in look and similar to an old vinyl record album in size. They first appeared on the market in 1978 about 2 years after VHS video cassette recorders and about 4 years prior to the CD. I recall seeing LaserDisc consoles available in stores but don’t recall any of my friends owning one and I never saw one in action.
While they looked cool and the actual LaserDisc themselves were shiny and futuristic looking, the VHS quickly took over the market and pushed not only LaserDisc but Betamax VCRs out of the way, too. At a time when technologies were starting were getting smaller – cassette tapes and compact discs to name two – the LaserDiscs were very large by comparison.
LaserDiscs never really caught on and eventually disappeared from the market. This was largely the result of the LaserDisc units and discs themselves being expensive to make and purchase, certainly more so than VCRs and tapes, which themselves weren’t cheap for the time either. I recall laser disc players being $100 – $200 more than VCRs at the time.
From a video game perspective the lack of long term success with LaserDisc-based games in arcades occurred for additional reasons.
Dragon’s Lair Graphics
Check out this video below which illustrates in 10 minutes every scene in Dragon’s Lair. The first thing you’ll notice is that it appears like you’re watching a cartoon movie and not playing a video game.
While the graphics are very good as is the sound, it is a very different game play compared to other video games of the time. Normally video games appear to be a series of random responses by the video game computer that are dependent on what you the video game player does first. Every time you play the game, the experience is different. And it tends to get more challenging as you progress in the game ie. you move to a higher level, the enemies move faster or shoot more frequently, etc.
With Dragon’s Lair however, it’s almost like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel for those of you who remember those books: You have 1 correct option for each choice but if you pick the wrong one, you die and have to start over. Also, the game play doesn’t really get more difficult over time. It’s just a series of video clips put together.
Game Play
I first noticed Dragon’s Lair when I walked into one of my favorite local arcades and saw a group of people crowded around one particular game for some reason. I wandered over to take a look and it was Dragon’s Lair.
Background: Dragon’s Lair has a medieval setting and the star of the show is Dirk The Daring, the main character in the game and the person that you control when playing. Your goal? Rescue Princess Daphne from the evil dragon named Singe. The princess has been locked in the castle of an equally or perhaps more evil wizard named Mordroc. If you spent enough time in an arcade with the Dragon’s Lair game, you would constantly hear a voice emanating from the game when it wasn’t being played, explaining the game to anyone within earshot, to encourage them to play.
Controls: A directional joystick to move Dirk around along with a Sword button to control and use Dirk’s sword when necessary.
Cost: I recall our local arcade charging 50 cents – 2 quarters – per play, which was rare at the time for a video game. Other games almost always cost 25 cents. The cost for Cinematronics to actually produce the game was a reported $1.3 million (over $3.4 million in today’s money). The cost to purchase the Dragon’s Lair game for your arcade was around $4,200 in 1983 (about $11,100 in today’s dollars).
Characters: The 2 main characters in the game are fairly stereotypical for video games of the time. The hero is a guy and the damsel in distress is a blonde woman. Fairly predictable in that regard. Dirk is also portrayed as somewhat of a bumbling hero who frequently frowns when frustrated, whereas Daphne is the one-dimensional attractive, helpless female who is completely reliant on Dirk to save her.
Quirks: Given that it was a new game technology for the time, it wasn’t 100% able to keep up with the requirements of the game. Some movements from one scene to the next would require you to wait for a second or longer for the new scene to load. Given that the Internet didn’t exist at the time and no one was used to this, it was very noticeable and kind of odd. Other video games just continued moving at all times and the only time you’d take a break was to move to a new level (ie. on Pac-Man or Donkey Kong) but was done in a way that seemed logical and expected. And they’d typically play music to keep you occupied while you waiting and set up the next part of the game. With Dragon’s Lair, you just waited for the next scene to suddenly appear.
My Dragon’s Lair Experience
Having played Dragon’s Lair after first noticing it in my local arcade FUTUREWORLD, I watched other people play it for awhile to try to learn the game. I tried to learn the first few moves when the game started before playing it myself. I immediately knew it wasn’t going to be a game I was particularly interested in or would get hooked on. Part of it was the 50 cent cost but I quickly realized that the game was about memorizing the correct moves more than anything else.
So if the game required you to move Dirk to the left and you moved in another direction, you died. If you did the correct move but too late, you died. If you didn’t press the Sword button soon enough, you died. It was fairly predictable over time and the game play could be learned with practice.
Being 1983, there was no Internet to turn to for cheat codes. Fortunately video game magazines existed and although I didn’t buy them I remember hearing some kids playing Dragon’s Lair and referring to the most recent copy of a particular magazine and suggested that the game play was explained in there. I later went to the closest magazine store, found the magazine in question and quickly flipped through to learn a few moves that I wasn’t familiar with.
Other than the fact that I couldn’t be bothered to wait in line to play Dragon’s Lair along with the higher 50 cent cost, I lost interest in it quickly and was quite happy to walk past the console and watch others play the game. Especially those who had clearly memorized the correct moves better than I had so I could simply watch them progress rather than spending my own quarters.
Final Thoughts
Dragon’s Lair was a game that I played several times and got bored of quite quickly. The graphics were cool but Dragon’s Lair was more about memorizing a series of moves than playing a video game that appeared outwardly to be random and different every time you played it.
The 50 cent cost turned me off too. Why would I pay 50 cents (I was 13 years old…money was in short supply for me) for a game that lasted several minutes at best when I could play a game that I really liked with admittedly inferior graphics but that was more fun and random?
Within a few weeks/months of Dragon’s Lair being introduced at my local arcade, it wasn’t unusual to see it unused. Its popularity at least where I grew up died out pretty quickly.
And it should be noted that in 1983 when Dragon’s Lair first appeared, the big video game crash occurred which certainly didn’t help.