Dragon’s Lair holds a nostalgic, geeky place in my heart, mostly because I remember the shock it created after it hit the arcades when I was a kid. It wasn’t like playing Pac-Man or Zaxxon or Defender with their sprite-based graphics, it was like playing a full-fledged cartoon due to the laserdisc system which ran the game. And even though the gameplay wasn’t all that great – the player hit a 4-way joystick and sword button at the correct time corresponding to the animation onscreen – it was still like playing a game from the future.
Well, I’ve played many iterations of Dragon’s Lair since then, including a pretty bad version on the Commodore 64 and a playable version for DVD (which I played on my PS2). A prized possession of mine is the Blu-ray version, signed by the creators of the game, including animator Don Bluth and screenwriter Gary Goldman. But having a near-perfect (the touchscreen controls aren’t ideal) version on my iPhone, with all the animation from the original arcade game, is just astounding to me. And a reminder of just how far technology’s come.
And yeah, all those things that the Cornfather mentions in that second panel are pretty cool, too. 😉
• Dragon’s Lair Trailer (which I watched over and over when I ran out of quarters at the arcade)
Hehe CF in glasses=cute. I wish at this time of the morning I had more to add to the subject of the strip/blog, but I still have a lot of waking up to do before I can do that. I will say that I’ve played Dragon’s Lair back in the arcade days, but it was about a handful of times. I mostly played Mortal Kombat, and X-Men and Metal Slug.
Games have come a long way as far as graphics (and the all-around package) go, and it’s sometimes mind blowing to see how real everything in a game looks now. I look forward to what the future holds for games, as well as gamers.
PS: Also, I like CF’s scowl in the last panel. 😛
i’m a big Metal Slug fan, too, Spanky, and an X-Men cabinet at UCLA took more of my quarters (and the quarters of my friends) than i’d like to admit. as far as games coming a long way, it’s so true. they can now create games with polygons that look almost as good as the animation in Dragon’s Lair. can’t wait to see what the next generation of consoles produces.
AAAAAAAAAAWH, Spanky beated me to it.
The one arcade game that hed real impact on me was Alien VS. Predator 2. I loved being a predator with Drake like marine in tow and mowing down Aliens…
Imagine my dissapointment when movie went allmost all the way to hell. Not only Predators were hunting unarmed people, alins were evolving waay too fast and dont even get me staring on queen in second movie. Laying eggs without her backside accesorry? Kiss-kiss pregnant women and they turn into alien incubators? Ok, its off my chest.
Back to the strip. I had the same raction as Cornfather in last panel. EXACTLY the same. But I get your excitment about Dragon´s lair Jefbot.
so close, Maryz! 😉
yeah, the AvP videogames were pretty cool, but yeah, let’s now even get started on the movies. (c’mon, it’s established that Predators like the heat and AvP was set in the Antarctic?) i didn’t even bother with “Requiem.”
glad you could appreciate my (and jefbot’s!) excitement over Dragon’s Lair, even if you don’t share the same enthusiasm about it. 🙂
Great strip Bot. Sadly I am too young to really have played any arcade box games. I had digdug and pacman for my computer when I was little. And DDR is great. But pinball is still my favorite retro game. XD
Dig Dug and Pac-Man are, of course, classics and i salute you for at least playing them on your computer, DJ. and ooOOoooh, pinball. i was never a pinball wizard or anything but i was pretty good at it back in the day. would love to put a pinball machine in my office. 🙂
What’s with the old man glasses??? 🙂
heheh. that’s the Cornfather in “smart” mode, sacobin.
I was picking new glasses today. Wasnt wearing them for almost ten years and I forgot what my eyesight is exactly so when I asked my doctor she gave me a paper for optic to pick new if I want them, so I thought, WTH? cant hurt to have them ready.
I picked ones that make me look real smart by the way.
the glasses i wear currently are probably 60% stylish, 40% nerdy, though the buddy holly/rivers cuomo glasses i had previously were pretty much 100% nerdy.
Oh man, Dragon’s Lair is a game that consumed WAY too many hours of my childhood. Don Bluth is a god!
and with The Secret of NIMH, The Rescuers and An American Tail on his resume, too? fuhgetaboutit! Don Bluth is indeed a god, Kev!
I knew that there was a reason I liked you besides the comic, Jeff; I’m a “Don Bluth is a(n animation) God!”-type person too!
Dragon’s Lair iced me in no longer than two minutes. Every. Freaking. Time. Still, I think many of us will fondly remember that ol’ laserdisc (did you know the cabinet was a *laserdisc* cabinet??) for a long time to come.
Mayhaps I should settle the score on *my* PS2!
Oh, and Secret of NIMH, for the record: waaaaaaaaaay better than the book. Seriously. It read like Charlotte’s Web, but with vague, inconsequential references to animal experimentation.
I also STILL have to sing “You can’t keep a good dog down…” at work sometimes.
Um, “You can’t keep a good dog down!” is from All Dogs Go To Heaven; but, yeah, it’s still by Don so it’s all good…
Nothing from Secret of NIMH was as catchy. 😛
i just wish he’d do something on par with his past films! Troll in Central Park, Pebble and the Penguin, even Titan AE just didn’t live up to his previous genius. 🙁
I rember Titan AE from few years back. I went to borrow some video and was pretty much beaten up and wanted some sci-fi regardless of what it was. I took it home somehow failing to notice its animated and when I fired it up I got laughed at by my dear family members for watching cartoons. They went somewhere and I watched a pretty enjoyable movie. Idea behind movie was genius in my opinion.
BTW, it was few years back and now I watch more animated stuff than back then with all Megas XLR, anime, DCAU and the like on the net.
Yeahhhh, they’ve gotten pretty weak. I did like Titan, but it almost felt like someone else, y’know? Treasure Planet felt more fully realized than Titan, and that was even from their pre-Pixar purchase TRIPE decade.
Y’know what we should do to fire the old man up again? We should hold- a wawwy!
The last panel should be accompanied by the sad trombone: wa-wa-wa-wahhhhhh.
if JEFbot ever gets turned into an animated series or feature, i’ll have to remember that, E.
Dragon’s Lair was unique: Addicting, mesmerizing, yet frustrating as hell. I can’t recall how many times I screamed: “I DID move to the left!!!”
glad you share in my enthusiasm for the game, Jeff! and yeah, the iPhone game will give you a similar experience in frustration. heheh.
Very funny! … sadly the advancements for AT&T have not gone as well! LOVE my iPhone, hate their service!!! …But at least I can watch YouTube and play games! Excellent job Jefbot!
i’m with ya, man. while kinda okay over the past week or so (knock on wood), AT&T service around my place is usually unreliable at best.
Cornfather looks too funny in his old man reading specs. 😛 Good one!
Thanks for the trip in the Way-Back Machine with that link to the trailer. While I never actually played that game, I marveled at my brother playing it. I can still feel the gloomy darkness of the liquor store where the game was stuck in a corner along with Ms Packman and the excitement of seeing something that looked so cool as a GAME! Previously, only cartoons looked like that!
Speaking of games, we got the Wii for the kids along with the new Mario Bros and some doggie game for my 4 yr old daughter. They’ll be lucky if we wait till Christmas instead of hooking it up and playing at night when they are asleep!!! Gotta make sure we have all the correct cables and that everything works, right???
glad you like the “studious” Cornfather, Shanna.
and i totally understand about you watching the game rather than playing it. i did the same thing a lot of the time, mostly because the game was expensive (50 cents at the time vs. 25 cents for most games), so i would just watch people play to get the pattern down before plunking in my money. and yeah, it was a lot of fun just to watch the beautiful animation!
i concur: you gotta make sure that Wii’s working. make sure you play through all the games, too. wouldn’t want disappointed kiddies on Christmas. 😉
Ah. Dragon’s Lair and the good old days, when a great afternoon was spent at the 7-11 with a buck for a slurpee and a bag of chips and $2 worth of quarters.
ahh, yes. those were the days, SL.
They have Dragon’s Lair on the iPhone?!?!?! Must…have…now.
I love the Cornfather’s glasses! Great touch!
yep! Space Ace, too! i think i’m gonna pick that up now that i’ve gone through Dragon’s Lair a couple times, JK.
I can’t tell you how much I LOVED the images and animation of Dragon’s Lair, but hated the interface. It seemed too much to me to be more of a timed multiple choice exam. If you want to do this, joystick right. If you want to do this, joystick up. The rest of the time, wait — not always completely intuitive. I hope the version for iPhone is better.
nope. it’s pretty much the same gameplay as the arcade version, Stan. only the controls are worse, though they do tell you which way you need to press, and when. the visuals are just as sweet as you remember, and that makes it all worth it. definitely recommended for old school Dragon’s Lair players.
Wow bot, it’s nice to see that you appreciate the simpler things in life. Really great strip, man. Very funny. …as usual. 😉
thanks, dude. 🙂
So…your saying being able to play Dragon Lair on your phone…is better than something else that could find a planet we can harvest minerals off of to make even better video and computer games, hardrive space, faster computers….
well….all I can say is..yay…
I think big JefBot.
I think Big.
although sometimes i can’t help but kick it old school, especially when it comes to classic arcade games, i can totally appreciate the bigness of your thinking, ZL. totally. 🙂
heh heh. i’m too young 2 2 even know wat exactly an arcade is (bt den, my town never had any arcades)…bt i’m not really a gaming geek (i go 4 comics n movies. of all kinds), da only games i’ve played are mario, age of empires and recently some dumb game i could’nt make head or tail of dat my frnds 4ced me 2 play called; crisis.
it saddens me that arcades have mostly gone the way of the dodo, faehiir; i have so many awesome memories of wasting time in those places as a kid. but i’m glad comic shops still exist! i try and visit mine (House of Secrets, in Burbank) at least a few times a month.
I love that ‘D’OH’ face. ^^
thanks! seemed appropriate. 🙂
Oh man, I can’t even count how much money I’ve wasted on Arcade Games…
Some of my favorites were Metal Slug, Pac-Man, Star-Wars flight simulator, The Original Super Mario Bros., House of the Dead… man there’s too many to name!
But all good times…
yes! all the games you mentioned took many of my quarters too, Leon. I’ll add Joust, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Ms. Pac-Man, Phoenix… phew! you’re right: too many to name! 😀
pong!
yay, pong!
Wow, I found your site through a link on “What the F&#S? was that?!” and I love it. XD I read all of it up to the 2009, and am working my way through it right now…even though I’m sick and should probably be studying for my exams…nahhhhh. And Cornfather mentioned the Death Coil of doom…I mean Hadron Collider…
thanks for reading JEFbot and watching WTFWT?!, Ahero! funny, seems a lot of people find my strip when they’re sick and end up reading through the archives. hopefully, the Death Coil of Doom won’t end the world before you finish reading through the 2009 strips and/or get over your sickness. 😉
Sonitan before, me with my glasess, Ahero and JBF300 now…
Whats becoming of this site – a health frustration reliever?
Update: Made a 96 out of 100 on my honors english exam I didn’t study for….and am still sick. But…I’m almost done with the 2009 comics. 😀 And am also neglecting another exam that I should study for. By the way…Cornfather’s expression in panel three kills me everytime. XD Great job, Jefbot. 😀
lolz….finally….my new iphone will arrive today….waahahahahah…(but i have a bad case of toothache…)….now my inside gums are in high pain and it itches like crazy
well, if you have any love for Dragon’s Lair, i suggest it be one of your first purchases for the new iPhone, JF3. i’m having a lot of fun with Space Invaders Infinity Gene and Zenonia, too.
ugh. tooth pain is the worst. you been to the dentist, yet?
hahahahha…3rd panel was the best…i agree with JB…all those achievement means nothing if i cant play games the way i want…harharhaharhr
yup. though i do admit to staring at pictures from the Hubble all the time.
ouch
i guess laughter isn’t always the best medicine, is it, JF3? 😉
Well i come again to say only this… i want to play Chuckie Egg on my cell 😀 … its one of the first and most fun/adictive games on spectrum ever… you cant go any more old school than that 😛 cheers shootzee-sensei, funny as always.
P.S. oh and im so adicted to nippon anime that ive even learned to speak japanese… to bad i cant move to japan 🙁 – Im such a geek ^~^ hehe
If you were a kid today, I’m not even sure you would speak. Well, except anything that wasn’t in a video game.