Gaming Target - GameCube: Dragon's Lair 3D

Written by Kyle Williams on November 25, 2002

First Impressions: My Dirk is Daring too.

In 1983, after 18 long months of work, Don Bluth, Advanced Microcomputer Systems, and Cinematronics released the arcade classic, Dragon's Lair. The game was a full blown production, costing 1.3 million dollars for the 22 minutes of animated footage that made up the game. The technical marvel was a hit in the arcades and spawned a sequel and countless other laserdisc based games. For those of us that played the game in the arcade, Dragon's Lair defined going to the video arcade in the 1980's.

Of course, there wasn't a lot of depth to the game. All of the footage was animated and all of the gameplay was a simple matter of timing with the joystick and single button. In fact, if you memorized all of the correct patterns, you could beat the game with a single quarter and in under 20 minutes. It didn't matter though. Dropping your quarter into the slot was your ticket to becoming a part of a cartoon. That is all that was important.

This holiday season, Encore Software is hoping to recapture that magic with Dragon's Lair 3D, Dirk the Daring's first trip into the third dimension. While you will still find classic characters like the Giddy Goons, Crypt Creeps, and the evil dragon Singe, you will be treated over a dozen brand new creations from the mind of Don Bluth. In fact, Dragon's Lair 3D is going to be packed with material, both new and old. Everything about the production of Dragon's Lair 3D is screaming "more is better." More areas, more rooms and more enemies are the core of the game as the new title is seven times the size of the original.

Players of Dragon's Lair 3D will once again be taking the role of Dirk the Daring, a courageously goofy knight. It will be up to Dirk to breach the castle of the evil wizard Mordoc, face the dragon Singe and rescue the lovely Princess Daphne. Those of you that, like me, fell in love with the original animation are in for a special treat as the game is being book-ended with brand new intro and ending movies. It may not quite fill the void left by the once-planned Dragon's Lair movie, but it should be a great start.

Gameplay for Dragon's Lair 3D is also a departure from the original. When the game hits shelves this holiday season, players will be able to take complete control of Dirk in his quest to rescue the princess Daphne. It will be great to actually make Dirk jump, climb, run, swim and somersault instead of just watching the animated action. Fortunately, the game is maintaining the look and feel of the original through very well executed cel-shading and a fantastic set of animations. If pulled off correctly, every visual element of Dragon's Lair 3D will feel like it was pulled right out of a hand drawn cartoon.