Space Ace

Dragon's Lair... IN SPACE!

Technically the first sequel (or maybe spin-off?) that was released after the first Dragon's Lair. This time we are Dexter, the Space Ace that together with Kimberly tries to stop the commander Borf from using a ray on earth that turns people to children. Dexter gets zapped before the start of the game and therefore there is a new mechanic where you can became the Space Ace at times to become the hero compared to the boy Dexter that are more avoiding the danger. Ace usually blows things up, or uses his strength to break free from traps. More dialouge than the other games, and it sounds like real voice actors. Sadly the talking actually makes it worse since boy Dexter gets grating, as does Kimberly. Also, each defeat makes Borf berate you. But since that is Don Bluths voice fine by me.

Overall... don't know. Fun to watch and more alternatives than the other games, but the talking is a bit annoying. So that was the Dragon's Lair Trilogy. Not much game, but the animation is fantastic so maybe it's worths its price if you like that.

Our heroes!

Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp

The flyer isn't the best

They released a direct sequel in the 90's with Dirk once again saving Daohne, this time from the wizard Mordac. Of course it starts in Dirks home with his 7-10 kids and mother-in-law that chases him to the castle where he finds a flying time-machine that apparently is the brother of Mordac and will take Dirk across time until he is able to defeat Mordac and rescue Daphne. Very interesting to look at and things happens constantly, which is problem since the game also encourage you to look for treasures you can pick up that isn't shown on the guide, you gotta look at the screen for that. And it feels disjointed, since the whole game stops with exception of Dirk that jumps or whatever to get it as the world looks frozen in some kind of time-spell and then it goes to the next portion of the stage. Also, the stages feels longer and since dying throughs you back to the start of the scene it feels harder. In the original the scenes were rather short in comparison.

You travel to the house of Bethoven, the garden of Eden and Alice in Wonderland and some more and frankly many figures looks like they copied Disney characters in this one. More frustrating, still looks good, but since so much more happen you miss out while eyes glued to the guide and where the treasures are, this actually more enjoyable to just watch. The extras menu also have some sketches for a stage they didn't finish and would have been some pirate ship. More voice acting and it's a bit better.

Dragon's Lair (Switch)

So where's the movie?

So I'm a huge fan of Don Bluth's movies like Secret of Nimh, Land Before Time and An American Tail. And the Dragon's Lair game have interested me for a while, but it wasn't until now I actually got it with the Trilogy HD version for Switch. Around $20 it was decent enough for three games, or more like 3 mini-movies. Basically you are Dirk the Daring that tries to get through the castle where the dragon have kidnapped Princess Daphne. The game doesn't tell you this so you pretty much must watch the commercial for it (thankfully included in the extras menu).  How do you play? As the scene plays out you need to react with the correct action either move or use your sword to avoid or destroy the danger in the room. Fairly simple concept and you can customize how you play the game, either making it look like a arcade cabinet with a screen protector over it, give yourself different amounts of life and/or have the rooms entirely randomized after you die or play it in a straight line. You will fight pitfalls, undead skeletons and other denizens of the castle until you reach the inner sanctum and you fight the dragon to get the key to unlock the glass bubble that have trapped Daphne. It's pretty much trails and errors unless you use the guide (which frankly, I did) cause it blips what you should do, but it isn't always clear if we are supposed to go up or at the side so the guide is rather good in that way. It of course limits a bit what you can see on the screen (even once in the treasure chamber blending into the background so I missed the mark), but if you wanna play through it that's recommended until you learnt every part. Or you can just watch it like a movie in the extras menu, since the player won't have time to appreciate the gorgeous art while playing, but this is a game where you would be better of watching a decently good player just go through it.

There's nothing really more to talk about since it's hardly a game, really, but it's nice to look at. The last thing in the extras menu is the interview with Don Bluth and two other producers on how they came to create this game and projects that was scrapped and even some bits about the Steven Spielburg cooperation that Bluth had which made them create movies that toppled Disney as the animation company in the later half of the 80's (until the Little Mermaid that is). The voice acting in the game is a bit rough, but since it was the animators giving the voice it's kinda understandable. Otherwise if you like the animation and find it interesting go for it.

Wait, you said Daphne was based on some Playboy-magazines?