Dragon's Lair goes HD

By Tim Surette, GameSpotPosted Jun 14, 2006 12:22 pm PT

Digital Leisure is bringing Dragon's Lair back to PCs this fall; original game's sound also remastered in 5.1 surround sound.

When it came to graphics, none of the other old-school arcade games could touch Dragon's Lair. Though the gameplay was simple--a few timely joystick movements--the laser-disc-based game drained quarters because it was an interactive cartoon with its images drawn by former Disney animator Don Bluth. The animated game is coming back to PCs this fall, this time in high definition. Digital Leisure, a Canadian interactive software creator, will release the Dragon's Lair HD later this year for $59.99. The new adventures of Dirk the Daring will be playable in three resolutions and remastered in 5.1 surround sound, and it will have a watch mode for those who don't feel like controlling the action. For more information, including trailers and preorder details, head over to the Digital Leisure Web site.

30 Comments

  • Zert41

    Posted Jun 25, 2006 10:02 am PT

    i remember a game called "braindead 13", what was like an interactive movie too

  • Telerez

    Posted Jun 18, 2006 10:40 am PT

    The best game ever made for that era.. I spent rolls and rolls of quarters and just loved the game so much.. Its awesome that they are gonna do an HD version. and I agree, all of these old games should get some redos for the PC.

  • jcohenx

    Posted Jun 15, 2006 8:50 am PT

    Go to www.amazon.com before you waste your money. There are at least 10 products that will be just as fun as this for under $10, including Space Ace.

    Wasn't there an anime game just like this too, where you play a thief that gets attacked by ninja's, helicopters, etc. I remember a sequence where a helicopter chases you down a sewer pipe where a random samurai just happends to be wandering around. The samurai jumps and slices the blades off the helicopter exclaiming, "Damn, I've cut another useless object." What a riot!

  • jcohenx

    Posted Jun 15, 2006 8:42 am PT

    $60 is way too high a price for this. The replay value will be nearly nothing and the HD is not worth the extra money. I admit that it has a high "retro" appeal but not for $60. It's not like they had to do a lot of development. The game is already scripted and ready to go. I'd bet that a big chunk of the COGS goes to licensing the product from Disney.

  • vaejas

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 3:50 pm PT

    Watch Mode? You read right folks... it's a $60 movie.

    Can't even call this retro, because LD gaming was far ahead of its time. Daphne ain't worth any more coins for me.

  • Vulpis

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 3:09 pm PT

    Funny...aren't there *already* DVD versions of Space Ace and Dragon's Lair, though, to be played via the remote? I seem to recall seeing them at EB years ago. Frankly, this 'HD' version of it sounds like mostly a gimmick, as I can't see it providing any improvement in visual quality, unless the whole thing was 'remastered' or something.

  • Blazer88

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 3:00 pm PT

    Dragons Lair was hot in its day,.but yeah,..$59 is alot I would say.

  • xbox_1

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 2:28 pm PT

    Dragon's Lair 3D on Xbox was the first (and one of the few) games to support HD. In fact, it was the only one on the console to support 1080i.

  • Genexi2

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 2:24 pm PT

    Something like this would do a lot better for sale on Xbox Live! Arcade for a cheaper price then that.....I cant picture PC gamers picking this up, it just aint PC material...... I'd most certainly pick it up off Live! if they took that route instead (even if they didn't HD/5.1 it)

  • bison_tuesday

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 2:11 pm PT

    The fact that I could care less about DL aside, $59 for a polished port on a dusty old arcade game is pretty steep.
    I will probably get flamed to hell and back for saying this, but I always thought that full motion video games (such as Dragons Lair, Night trap etc) were nothing more than a pimple on the adolecent face of gaming.

  • serotonin0

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 2:07 pm PT

    If it wasn't a PC title then it would defeat the purpose cause DVD players don't display in HD. $60 is rediculous though. It's a remake, plain and simple. $20.

  • Donkeljohn

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 1:52 pm PT

    Don Bluth rules. His animation in Xanadu was some of the best blending of art and [sur]reality. Unfortunately, Titan A.E. was a little too baditude to have been worthy of Secret of NIMH work.

  • mgall80

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 1:47 pm PT

    Sounds great, I loved DL game and cartoon....but 60 bucks? Ouch. Should be a 19.99 DVD title and play on DVD players and controlled via your DVD remote. Doesn't need to be on a PC.

  • Zilch06

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 1:42 pm PT

    *snicker* Hoo boy...this oughta be rich...

  • bart3215

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 1:33 pm PT

    $60 is too much for a pc game.

  • Chirico_Cuvie

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 1:23 pm PT

    Back in the arcade daze of 1983, Dragon's Lair was legendary, I remember watching dudes playing all the way through on the 2 bucks it cost to play at the time. The arcade owners would sync up big monitors above the cabinet so the crowds could watch. Nobody knew what laserdisc was or how a computer controlled player could jump to sections of the platter for every scene. It looked like you were playing a cartoon, and that's what made it almost magical.

    As for this HD version coming out, it was as inevitable as HD pornography. Every digital video format gets a Dragon's Lair port. Expect to see Dragon's Lair 2, Space Ace, Mad Dog McCree 1 and 2, Space Pirates, Drug Wars and all the other LD games of old. Where's Cliffhanger, Thunder Storm FX, Road Buster, Strahl and Tme Gal? If this disc is actually 60 bones, then it better be a collection of all the Digital Liesure titles on one disc. Otherwise it's a big rip-off.

    Personally, I'm waiting for Sewer Shark HD, and maybe Lodestar: The Legend of Tully Bodine HD.

  • Fallout_red

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 1:19 pm PT

    I know it HD but isn't $59 a bit too high!?

  • killjoi

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 1:04 pm PT

    lol @ teek

  • killjoi

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 1:04 pm PT

    That was one horrible game.

  • teekazeek

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 1:01 pm PT

    I thought Dragon's Lair was an extremely bad game.

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