Dragon's Lair is an arcade port that should not have found it's way to SNES. The epic arcade game is turned into a problematic action game that has too many quirks to be quite as good as the original. The basic plot is old... princess is kidnapped by bad wizard and brave knight comes to the rescue. And this knight (you) have to fight monsters and avoid traps to rescue the princess who is end the end guarded by a dragon. Occassionally it is nice to play this old school story. But this is not one of those times and here is why: Gameplay: 3/10 Have you ever met a knight who could only swing his sword when standing up and not when he's jumping closer to flying monsters? Well.. here's your chance. Dirk (your character) in the original game is not limitted by such silly things. But here, you just have to deal. But if that wasn't enough, you really can't beat the game with the sword, like you can in the original arcade. You have to throw daggers... which if you ask me, a dragon can't be killed by daggers. Also, Dirk has the tendancy to fall of ledges just after jumping on to them because of the fact that he slides at the end of the jump. And to make it all worse, the game levels are so confusing that you end up unsure of where you are and what you are supposed to do before you get to the boss of the level. Graphics: 8/10 Despite all the gameplay problems, the rich graphics make the game a little more compelling. The scenes are well drawn and colorful. Dirk's movements are pretty smooth and look very good for an SNES game. The only problem is that Dirks attack motion is always down, which makes no sense. But you can get over that quickly. Sound: 4/10 The background music in this game is soothing. Which is not what you want in an action game. It is nice music and the sound effects are good. But the music just feels misplaced. Reviewer's Tilt: 5/10 Overall, this game looks good, but isn't good. The gameplay flaws are nearly too much to overcome, unless you are just a die hard fan of the original.
The arcade version of Dragon's Lair was a classic, it was pretty revolutionary for 1983, and it was one of the first laser disk games ever. But, I'm not reviewing the arcade Dragon's Lair, or the NES port (which is ha... Read Full Review
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