My childhood was spent in the 80's. The cold was was at an all time high. Pop culture exploded with Michael Jackson. Spielberg and Lucas were at the top of their game. Saturday morning cartoon's where treasured alongside a bowl of Pac-Man Breakfast Cereal. Arcade's ruled across North America. Every city center and small town had one.
In the movie theaters of 1982, a huge offering of blockbuster genre films rolled out. E.T., Blade Runner, Tron, The Thing and Rocky III hit the screens. There was also a delightful animated feature film released. One that would have a lasting impact on future artists. To this day it remains one of the greatest animated film's of all time.
Don Bluth's The Secret of Nihm.
My family and I watched it recently once again on blu-ray. What a fantastic film. In today's "wink-wink" to the audience and hardy laugh fest animated features, The Secret of Nihm is a masterpiece. Flowing with style and filled with heaping amounts of substance. There is a "NO B.S." stance this film takes. There is humor, sadness, tragedy and hope. Watch it today and it will knock your socks off. When I saw this film back in the day, as a child, it made such a lasting impression. It is my favorite animated film of all time. Don Bluth became one of my heroes afterwards.
A year later, Dragon's Lair hit arcades across North America. Animated by Don and his team at Bluth Productions. Like The Secret of Nihm, it was gorgeously animated with a classical style that had been all lost by the Walt Disney Studios.
However as a child, to play Pac-Man, Galaga and Donkey Kong at the time with those sweet pixel graphics, then to see a Dragon's Lair arcade cabinet seated beside them. Wow! It blew my mind away. From pixels to flowing beautiful movie images was incredible.
I would only play Dragon's Lair a handful of times in 1983. It would be ages until home adaptations started appearing, most notably the classic Commodore Amiga version from ReadySoft. So, Dragon's Lair would have a lasting impression, like The Secret of Nihm, only more special because of the game's unobtainability.
Today is a differnet story.
You can obtain and play the game anywhere. Your Android or iPhone mobile devices. You can easily purchase a blu-ray remastered edition or download the classic off the PlayStation Network.
The Android Market edition of Dragon's Lair arrived a little over a month ago. It is based off of the recent HD remastered edition. The game has never looked, sounded or played as well.
In Dragon's Lair you "control" Dirk The Daring on his quest to rescue the Princess Daphne from the evil Singe The Dragon. Your "control" of Dirk are reactionary movements to the dangers you encounter. Heck, this game is the origin of "quicktime events", that are in every blockbuster game today. Control does feel limited, however as a mobile gaming experience, Dragon's Lair provides a great play and value for the consumer. It is a great game to play on the go with it's simplistic controls and casual length of game play.
The player encounters a series of rooms within the Dragon's evil castle. These rooms flow randomly to keep the game interesting, as no two games play alike. Challenges await Dirk from magical weapons, pits of lava, to a Lizard King, on your way to Singe and his ever expanding treasure room. The beautiful Princess awaits Dirk's rescue. Oh my, the child within me giggles in delight. Oh what joy!
It's interesting that arcade games of the past, have become such entertaining, casual mobile gaming experiences. Dragon's Lair is another great example. Hopefully Bluth's other games Space Ace and Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp find their way onto the Android Market soon.
Dragon's Lair is available for $4.99 and is worth every penny.
