Customer Reviews

Dragons Lair DVD

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

OK, let's start by mentioning that there are TWO versions of this DVD. There is a DVD-ROM version which requires Windows 95/98 to run, and there is THIS version (called DVD-VIDEO) which does NOT require a computer to run. Both versions are manufactured by Digital Leisure.

Here is the scoop on both versions...

DVD-ROM version:
-Requires Windows 95/98 to run. (I don't know if it will work with Windows 2000 or Windows Me)
-Has smoother game play. From what I have heard from other people, the game play on this version is practically flawless.
-I don't think that this version has the "watch" feature, which lets you view the entire animation without actually playing the game.
-I think that this has random game play. If you remember the arcade version, the scenes were always played in a random order.

DVD-VIDEO Version:
-Does NOT require a computer to run.
-When I use this on my Sony DVD player that is hooked to my TV, the game play is painful. There are 2-3 second gaps between moves that makes the game almost unbearable. However, when I play this on my computer's DVD drive, the game play is quite good. There are still gaps between moves, but only about 1/4 of a second or so.
-Has a "watch" feature that lets you view the entire animation without playing it. This is very cool!
-Works on MOST DVD players, except some Toshiba models.
-No random game play. You must play the game sequentially.

WHY I BOUGHT THIS VERSION:
Even though the game play is better on the DVD-ROM version, I decided to buy the DVD-VIDEO version for a couple of reasons...
-The "watch" feature was important to me. I wanted the ability to just sit back and take in the whole beautiful animation without having to do sword, left, left, sword, etc.
-I wanted this purchase to last. In other words, I didn't want to be forced to buy a new version of this product when I switch my computer system over to Windows 2000 (or whatever Bill Gates comes up with next).

ABOUT THE ACTUAL GAME:
What can I say??? This game is an arcade classic, and a personal all-time favorite of mine. The images on the DVD look EXACTLY like they did in the arcade. I can not tell any difference. It is awesome, and I love it!!!

Myself being a HUGE fan of Don Bluth's animation, having played the arcade version TO DEATH as a kid, and managing to play just about every home version from the first attempts, (dust off your memory here) the Commodore 64 version by Electronic Arts, the NES, Super NES, & Game Boy versions, if you could call them that, (none of which bore any resembelance to the original laserdisc arcade version) to the early Amiga, IBM PC, & MAC diskette versions (pre CD-ROM) which were basically digitized and compressed versions of the arcade game, to every imaginable CD-ROM version, IBM PC, Sega CD, 3DO, Atari Jaguar, and the PC DVD ROM, I have been searcing for that "holy grail" original arcade version of Dragon's Lair since the game was brought home....So far, there is NO perfect arcade version that gives you the TOTAL ORIGINAL ARCADE MOVE INPUTS AND SCREEN VARIATIONS, however, Digital Leisure has done the best versions on PC DVD ROM, and for home DVD Players with this version, the play is solid, and ALL the animation is in tact. Any other gripes aside, the one second pauses are really not a big deal, because as any fan of the arcade version knows, most of the pioneer Laserdisc players were pretty faulty to begin with...so just consider it a "genuine faulty arcade feature" ;-)...secondly, and what I believe to be the most important reason to own this DVD, is the comprehensive history of Dragon's Lair and Space Ace....this section is compiled from TV news broadcasts and interview sessions with Bluth and company from 83-84, which contains deleted game footage, early production designs, and interviews with arcade patrons with hairdews and outfits that will make you embarrassed to be a child of the 80's! TRULY WORTH THE PURCHASE!

Lets get this out of the way first, if your looking for an arcade perfect version of Dragons Lair you still haven't found one with this DVD version. There is a second pause EVERY time you make a move whether it is correct or not, and some slight changes have been made since the arcade, such as the falling disk scene and the lightning knight scene. The game has been simplified with a yellow box that tells you when to make a move instead of your own intuition and the in-game flashes that occasionally appear. Also a lot of the levels have less moves per level than the arcade did. I figure that this was to make the pause bearable but all it does is make the game even more simple than it used to be. Also the death scenes will sometimes end so fast that you don't get to see the whole thing. One last complaint is that the scenes are no longer randomly generated as a result of the DVD limitations,(or so the manual says). Besides all these flaws though, if any old school gamers like me wanted this game more for the Don Bluth animation then playing, rejoice because there is a movie mode included which will play the whole game pause free and is the real reason to pick up this classic game.

Remember Dragon's Lair from the arcade? This is the same game but you play it with your DVD remote control. The video quality is top-notch, but the gameplay leaves much to be desired. I expected the game to pause when you make a wrong move (in order for it to seek the disc for the death scene), but this DVD actually pauses when you make CORRECT moves. The pause is about 1 second long. It makes levels such as the chessboard/knight excruciating painful to sit through. I don't understand why there's a pause if you make a choice whose animation sequence directly follows the move. In short, I'd only recommend this DVD for die-hard Dragon's Lair fans. If Space Ace performance is anything like this DVD's, I'll be sure to skip buying it. What I'd like to see is a re-release of all of the Don Bluth LD games on one DVD, with all of the performance bugs worked out.
* the search for the ultimate Dragon's Lair home experience continues...

Anyone in their mid 20's will remember this game. Some more fondly then others. And I don't mean that in a bad way. But a lot of us lost all our allowence trying to get Derk to save the princess. I frown when I try and imagine exactly how many dollars I spent doing just that. Anybody who was in arcades in the 80's either played this game, or watched people play this game. The graphics were light years ahead of their time, the concept was stunning! For as simple as it was, it ate huges ammounts of mine, and a lot of other peoples quarters. Back then, I was just never that good at it, and all it is, is a game of memory right? I had played the original PC version, it was on floppy discs. It had good graphics and the animation was great, but it wasn't the arcade experince. I was VERY happy [to say the least] when I saw it on DVD. Almost 20 years after my inital encounter I was still impressed. While not as awestruck, it brought back childhood memories of extreme frustration from playing it, but still wanting to find more quarters to plop down. Once you get the pattern down, this game is a snap. There's not much to it, and to boot it's a very short game. To beat it takes all of what? 15 minutes. But it's still good good goodness! It's a perfect game to pull out every 6 months to see if you remember the pattern. The animation is so wonderful to watch. Not many things, especially video games can stand the test of time like Dragons Lair has done. And the DVD is a perfect translation of one of the greatest arcade games ever! I can't recommend this highly enough, if you remember it from the arcade BUY IT. If you're too young, BUY IT any ways, you will be pleasently surprised

I know that it's not the cutting edge of arcade play(Anymore) but I thought that some would be interested in knowing that the controls to play this game/DVD map over perfectly when using it on the PlayStation2.

The DVD version of this game is the best version yet. The transfer looks fantastic, and (depending on your DVD player) it can move faster and more smoothly than the original arcade version.

For the aggrevated people who felt cheated because they couldn't figure out when and how to make the moves, this version also has a hint icon so you can perfect your timing.

When my brother first bought this for the Sega CD, I was the happiest guy alive! But when the motor in the system fried, I felt awful! I was hoping that one day, I'd be given another opportunity to play it again. Now that it's out for the DVD, one word: SWEET!!! With all the scenes present, plus some more things, this will put back on the smile on my face. Dirk the Daring is the dorkiest, but funniest game character of the 1980s. I'm sure that fans of the game will be pleased with it like me.

I bought this game with hopes that it would be a great addition to my dvd collection. Sadly I am embarrassed to tell people I bought it because as a game it just ISNT FUN to play. I loved the arcade version of Dragon's Lair and had hoped the transition to dvd would be a smooth one. It was not. The animation was great, however key scenes had been cut or trimmed down so that the story line seemed choppy and hard to follow. One second you're in one room and then all the sudden you're in the next. Fans of the arcade version will remember the falling platform, in the dvd game this sequence has been drastically cut down. Why didn't they include the full arcade story along with the complete death scenes? This dvd version should not be called Dragon's Lair because it's not fun to play and it doesn't capture the feel of the arcade game.

Getting Dragon's Lair on DVD is a real blast. The cost of the DVD is a fraction (and I mean small fraction) of what I spent playing the game in 83/84 at the arcade.

I ran the dvd on my Xbox and also my standard el-cheapo korean clone DVD player, it played like the original and brought back some real memories. I would recommend it to any game freak out there, the additional material is excellent.

On the reported second delays commented in other reviews, I was hesitant on getting this DVD due to these but I am happy to say I did not experience these issues at all. To those people.. buy a console (PS2 & XBOX) and run it on this, incidently the DVD is not region coded.

What a buzz I finally finished the game and take great joy in "up, right, sword, up, down" all night long.