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GAME · 1983 · USA

Dragon's Lair

11 archived facts 3 topics

Released in 1983, Dragon's Lair is an arcade game.

11 Interesting Facts About Dragon's Lair

Interesting Facts (9)

  1. #001

    While editing, director Don Bluth routinely watched work-in-progress animation in its original film format, both on a 1-inch monitor and on a full-size cinema screen. As a result, he was consistently unhappy with the picture quality of later game versions, since none matched the film until the HD release.

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  2. #002

    A cut scene would have had Dirk fight a string of gargoyles hurling spears at him as he crossed stepping stones, finally finding an exit inside a treasure chest. It reached the pencil-test stage and could have been remastered for the home video releases, but it simply wasn't fun to play and stayed cut.

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  3. #003

    The book department handed co-authors Steve Miller and Sean K Reynolds a single printed copy of the novel rather than a digital file, fearing the authors would leak spoilers.

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  4. #004

    Nalavara had no hoard, because she was not truly a dragon and cared only about vengeance, so the adventure's core premise of racing rivals to a dragon's treasure had to be discarded.

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  5. #005

    'Dragon's Lair' became the first video game to feature stereo sound, even though the audio itself was recorded in mono. In arcades, sound effects triggered by player input alternated between the speakers.

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  6. #006

    The game inspired a Saturday-morning cartoon. Before each commercial break, Dirk was offered several options, such as jumping for a rope, standing his ground against some goons or turning right down a tunnel. When the show returned, viewers learned the outcome of each action with the phrase "If Dirk had done this..." and a clip showing the poor adventurer's demise had he chosen the wrong path.

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  7. #007

    Rich Baker, the Forgotten Realms creative director, proposed the adventure's premise in a design meeting: a dragon already slain, with its traps and minions intact, and several rival adventuring groups racing the PCs to the hoard.

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  8. #008

    The ghazneths, antagonists of Death of the Dragon, were left out of the adventure and given no stats because they are effectively unkillable, revive as undead when slain, and can only be defeated with the help of Cormyr's royal family.

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  9. #009

    Because only one print copy existed, Miller and Reynolds had to pass it back and forth, and they could not search the text for names or location descriptions.

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Production Story (1)

  1. #010
    Contains a major spoiler — show

    The spoiler the book department guarded was the death of King Azoun IV of Cormyr, who kills Nalavara in the novel but dies in the fight; Azoun had ruled Cormyr since the first published Forgotten Realms product.

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Deeper Meaning (1)

  1. #011

    The production company couldn't afford to hire models for Daphne, so it drew inspiration from photos in Playboy magazine. The game's developers also supplied the voices.

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