Played this game back in 1983. 2 quarters per game and I spent almost $10 in a few weeks. We used to play it on our work break outside the grocery store in a small gaming room. How I learned to win was I watched others play and saw how they advanced, and saw how a few won. When it was my turn to finally win I had other kids around watching my moves. Great memories.
50 years old and this was the coolest game in the arcades at the time, lost a lot of quarters on this game, but always loved watching someone who new how to play……
53 years old here... and couldn't afford this game when it came out... was always more expensive than the 0.25 galaga that I could play for 20 minutes or longer. Same with 1942... This game,, eating quarters and ending in 3 minutes!
I played the shit out of that game when I was a kid. The first time I freed princess daphnee was a huge deal. What a blast. Never did beat the second one
Everything you said in the intro is me :) I turn 54 this year and the last time I was able to finish the game was maybe 1985 or 1986 and never looked at my score, my goal was just to beat the dragon. I could finish it at any difficulty level.. This video in spired me to try finishing it again. PS: My favourite version on the Nintendo Switch the restored video quality is amazing.
I won back when I was a kid in high school. I'd never made it to the last scene so I had no idea what to do. All of a sudden some guy standing next to me told me what to do. I won the game and turned around and there were a ton of people who were watching me play that I didn't know were there. I looked to my side to see who had been helping me, but there was no one there. It was a very interesting experience.
My family would go to Wildwood, NJ every summer for a week vacation. Me and my cousin would spend 80% of our week in the arcade playing Dragon's Lair and Space Ace.
Awesome. Glad you were able to see the ending. There are other, arguably better, videos of it being completed at a better camera angle and nobody's arms getting in the way at the end. Buy hey, I was excited!
Hi Tom. That brings back memories! That's the same trick my brother used back in the 1980s to always get the high score! He would let the knight die intentionally near the end to score extra points. My brother played Dragon's Lair while I stood beside him playing Space Ace! Thanks for sharing!
I was 13 years old in 1983 as well. Rode my bike to the mall and spent many hours in the arcades. I remember when I could finish this game, what a feeling of success too since this game always had people watching. Gratz on your perfect game! I enjoyed watching it.
This was an awesome experience to watch you play and defeat it. You are a Jedi master my man. At 51 I remember this game very well. Put way too many quarters in it. Grew up in Arcades with my friends playing both electromechanical and golden age arcade games. Thankful to have nine arcade1up cabinets. A trash find gutted Space Invaders I put a 60-1 board in and nine EM games. Important to bring arcade nostalgia and history to my five adult children, spouses, significant others, and four grandchildren.
I played this a bunch of times when I was a kid Turnin 51 this year I usually got to the dragon but never could beat the dragon for some reason but I watched others Beat It it was cool I ordered the one up when it went on sale like 6 months ago I still have not opened it up and put it together but after watching your video makes me want to do it today great video thanks for the great memories
I remember when this came out., it was amazing. There was another screen on top and a huge crowd would be watching people play it. Not sure if that was a special edition cabinet. This and Space Ace, I used to lose big time 🤓 They were similar style games and both made by the same company. Space Ace came out 4 months after Dragon’s Lair. You should do Space Ace next 👍
Great memories! I turned 54 this year as well, amd I could SMELL the arcade I played dragons lair in as I watched you play. Stale air and my last quarter
Well done sir. I love seeing a kid at heart enjoying video games. I remember watching over the shoulder of an older friend trying to defeat the game at the arcade back in the 80's. I've never seen it done until today. thanks!
Thank you, man. Hopefully I'll still be able to play into my 80s games when I'm in my 80s! Until I posted this video I never realized how many people hadn't seen the ending. Glad you got to see it. There are arguably better videos out there that show the ending without my arms getting in the way. I couldn't help it though haha!!
This game really drew a crowd upon its arcade release in the UK. One was installed in the lower ground floor of ‘Oasis’ in Birmingham city centre. I may be wrong, but I recall that the game could be cheated and skipped forward in some way by giving the cabinet a well-timed shove. Thanks for uploading this, it reminds me of happy times and a mis-spent youth. 😊
It drew a crowd here in the US too. I never heard of shoving the game to skip forward. It was being played from a laser disc so maybe so. That machine weighed three times what I did back then so I sure wasn't moving it.
Long story short... I had the opportunity to choose my own home arcade game in 1987 (I was 16ys old). It came down to Dragon's Lair or the original Star Wars. I was a massive Star Wars fan and had literally had every Star Wars figurine and playset. My parents were told the Dragon's Lair was going to be very expensive to repair if anything ever went wrong. I'm 52 years old now and the Star Wars arcade game still sits in my living room. Blue dot in the middle of the screen but the audio still works. In hindsight, no regrets. I have all 10 of the top scorers on this machine and I have no doubts that had I got Dragon Lair it would not have lasted as long as the Star Wars did.
Anyone who knew how to play this was king of the arcade back in the day. Mostly it was kids like me who had no idea how to get past the first few screens, but when the masters came out the case would attract everyone around just so they could see all the little parts of the story they had never seen.
Congrats Tom! Killed it! I did NOT know that about the orange water. Off to attempt switching right at the dark orange part… and screwing it up 200 times also! 😆
Wow!! They really don’t give you much of an epilogue for that either lol. She jumps in your arms and game over. Incredible job mate. I remember this game eating my lunch when I was a kid.
Howdy, This is my all time most Favorite Arcade Game, I'm also 53, will be 54 thus April 30th, I've played this game countless times, and now can beat it, with only one man, I don't remember my scores, but I gotta have at least come close to a perfect score, if not, gotten a perfect score, I'll have to play it again, and see what my score is, I've never played it before, to set a score, I just love playing the game, Glad I came across your channel, I'll be sure to subscribe, Stay safe, God Bless and game on my Friend 🕹 Peace
@@arthurok327you have to die twice to get the highest possible score when playing with three Dirks. If you play with five Dirks the maximum score possible is higher and you have to die four times.
Tom, I’m like you. I played this back in the early 80’s and only measured my victories by how many times I slayed the dragon. I just bought this Arcade1up machine a month ago and I love it. I’ve beaten it 3 times on easy mode with 3 lives so far. The only thing I can’t seem to remember is when Dirk jumps onto the falling wooden elevator, when are there 3 ledges and when are there 9. I know if I wait to jump off the 9th ledge I get more points but I can’t remember which time I can do that. Can you help me?
@eucharistman1 I'm not sure how I knew that, I just know, never try to go to the 9th jump off point, on the first falling floor, you will die every time, I have Dragon's Lair, so I'll play it again, and see when exactly you can get off at the 9th jump off point.. game on my Friend 🕹
I defeated the dragon at a pizza shop when I was around 13, after countless quarters. I never received a t-shirt that was promised for whoever defeated the dragon. Awesome memories though! Now I'm immersed in a world of classic arcade games, thanks to VR! It feels just like being a kid again!
Congrats on the perfect game. I got my first perfect game earlier this year (2023). I wish Arcade 1Up would have had online leaderboards in this cab. GG.
Wow, brings back some great memories. We are about the same age and I vividly remember when this game came out in the arcades. It is the first game that I can remember that cost 50 cents to play. I spent so much money on this game back then. I downloaded it on the Xbox when my son was about 13. I thought that he would love it like i did when i was his age. He didn't, LOL.
I haven't even watched this yet. The thumbnail alone was everything. You took me right back to Aladdin's Castle 1983. I loved gaming then and I love it now. Amazing setup!
Thank you. Yeah, I was pretty happy to win the way I did. I didn't have Aladdin's Castle around me in 1983 but rather Tilt and Goldmine. I'd like to make a Goldmine sign one day and put it in my arcade.
This is one I will always toss quarters at whenever I am around it! Excellent work hitting that high score, much better than I have ever been able to do. Congrats!
Played DL at the arcade a bit. I liked it, but I could never get very far. I wasn't very ggod at it. Happy to see the entire thing in your video, and happy you reached your goal! :)
I just found your channel and I watched you play all the way through. This game brings back such great memories and watching you beat it was amazing. Thank you for sharing!
Back in my arcade days I played that game so much I started trying to beat it blindfolded. Almost every room started with a sound cue so it was just a matter of recognizing the room by sound and then memorizing the timing of the move list. Some rooms required an almost simultaneous action with the first sound cue, which made it very difficult, but still possible. Of course, many of the mirrored rooms you simply had to guess whether your first move was left or right. And *that* was what made it impossible without some luck. I want to say that about 3/4 of the game could be beaten blindfolded, but my memory is foggy. Fun to watch the game play again after all these years. Thanks!
Playing blindfolded...now that's a challenge!! I might try that sometime for fun. But you're right, the mirrored rooms would require luck. 50/50 chance.
I remember playing this in the arcade when it 1st came out. It was so popular they put tv screens on top of the machine so all the people huddled around it could watch. It took me quite a few quarters to master it, and they charged an outrageous 50 cents to play compared to all the other 25 cent games! Hahaha! I didn't care for the sequel too much. I feel it was way too focused on button pressing to the point you couldn't enjoy playing the game. Great job killing the dragon!
Thanks you. Yeah, my local arcade put a second monitor on top too. So much fun back then. I never finished Space Ace or Dragon's Lair II. All three come on the Arcade 1Up version so I'll finally get to finish Space Ace and Dragon's Lair II. Just gotta do it.
Congrats! Spent a ton of quarters on this in the arcade and did win it once as a kid! I tell ya, I was able to close that chapter in my life with a smile. Hope to see you do it with the sequel too.
I remember being able to go through the entire game on my first man, getting all the way to the final sword swing and then dying. I would repeat that over and over till my final man and then end the game. It was maxing out the score as far as I knew. I wish I knew what the score was but it's been like 40 years ago.
Yeah, I don't know what my max score back in the day was either. The max possible score would've been dependent on the difficulty level and number of Dirks you had at the time. The website "The Dragon's Lair Project" is the ultimate resource to learn anything Dragon's Lair related, including max possible scores and breakdown of score by each level. Here's the link: www.dragons-lair-project.com/games/pages/dl.asp
I used to play this quite a bit when it first came out, but never actually ever saw anyone slay the dragon. Most couldn't get past even 3 or 4 screens. Well done!
Very nice! I'm 53 and love it. I think I missed the scene where dirk jumps through the metal teeth and meets the lava men. Idk. Dragons lair and Space Ace are available on blue ray. Best quality and gameplayabilty I have found closest to the true arcade cab. Have them both on Sega CD. Cheers.
My man is living the dream. I like this and the other cabinets you have nearby. I remember Dragon's Lair was 2 coins to start and at that time it was a lot of money especially since I'd die in less than a minute.
I honestly am living the dream! I've got 15 of my favorite games from my childhood in my home now. Yes, .50 was a crazy amount of money. Die 10 times faster for twice the price? Yes, please!!! Over and over.
I played this all of the time back in the day. I always went for the high score as i heard the high score in the city was like 470k or something. I would make it all the way to the last move and die on purpose to accumulate more points. Always had a crowd of people watching me. Ahh...memories
I played DL so much, that i could slay the dragon while facing away from the cabinet (hands behind my back), I would have others come up and ask me to move so that they could play, the look on their face when i told them that thay would have to wait until i was done, was priceless.
In 1983 or 84 Alhambra CA my friend Ron and I spent many a quarter learning the game. We used to test each other at home on each screen solution LRSUD or whatever. Eventually, at the bowling alley on Valley, he finished the game without dying, and I did it with one life lost. The greatest achievement of my life!!
Dragons Lair was beyond real in graphics. I recall it from the local burger joint, that had an arcade section. The graphics and storytelling combined made it such a unique experience❤
Nice brother!! 🍻 I have this on my MAME machine running Daphne. I've tried for years, but Singe always gets me on the second or third life. So frustrating... You should submit this to Twin Galaxies and get your name in the record books. No body has submitted this for the 1Up yet.👍👍
nice ❤ i still havent beat the dragon but ive been enjoying my cab , pt2 surprised me; VERY addictive "just one more checkpoint" type deal- kind of different from the first game but still good
I was 13 too when it came out in 1983 too. Agreed, nothing like anything I'd ever seen before. You mean I get to play a cartoon? Here's my .50. Damn, it's over already? Ahhh, the memories.
I used to love this game when I was an avid arcade I spent hundreds of dollars trying to complete the game but never got to the very end. My game back in those days was Defender which I won several local contests....My high score 4,700.000 turning the score over more than 4 times....they used to have it that the last 10K before the score flipped every Baiter you hit or person you saved you'd get a free ship....I was pretty good at Stargate the followup game to Defender and also Robotron and Missle Command I was best in my area
First game I ever beat in an arcade in front of a crowd. '81 or so. Not that clean, though. Lot of hammering away at the lizard king and whatnot. Brought that memory back. Thanks.
We are almost 43 and 44. We have just learned about this game. We suspect it never came here or by the time we were older it had disappeared. We are clueless why this didn't spawn succesors and be continued with franchises like The Terminator or any other. It looks amazing but also very hard. How are you supposed to know what to do? Just keep pushing coins in it I suppose. Wow. Well done!
In most cases, you look for something to flash on the screen. If it's something in the scene, you move the joystick in that direction. If it's Dirk's sword that flashes, you press the sword button.
The success of Dragon's Lair spawned the next laser disc game from the same company called Space Ace. Dragon's Lair II was in the works, but the video game crash shelved those plans until it was finally released in 1991. This Arcade 1Up version I have here has all three games on it. There were also other laser disc games released by different companies during the mid-late 80's.
373,879 is a very solid score! When I was 15 in 1985, I participated in a Dragon's Lair score tournament in our local arcade and won with a score over 385,000 (can't remember it exactly, it was 38 years ago!). My prize was 25 dollars worth of gaming tokens! BTW, looks like you were playing on easy difficulty. There are a few more moves in hard mode (such as requiring to quickly move forward on the Black Knight scene among others). My competition then was playing on hard mode and the extra moves is why my score was higher. I always set my Arcade1Up Dragon's Lair on Hard difficulty since that's what I was used to in the arcade.
When I first saw this at the arcades, I was mesmerized by the animation. Never knew who Don Bluth was until then. Was glad to play and beat it when I was older.
I've never seen a play thru of the whole of DL - when i used to play it, never used to be able to get thru the first few scenes. That is a lot of muscle memory and twitch memory you've got in there! That was one thing I remember about DL and space ace, sometimes you didn't know what you were meant to do because there were few prompts so literally it was learn by trail and error and feeding coins in! The only one of that genre I got any way through was super don quixote which I think I got to around a third max. Nive play through!
Never got a perfect game, but sure remember the first time I killed the dragon! 1984 at an arcade called Aladdin's Castle in the Phoenix Village Mall in Fort Smith, AR. Two good friends (Kelly and Jeff) were all rotating taking turns to see who could get through it, good times. Thanks for the memory Tom!
Bravo !! Remember that game back in the day was ultra hard not many people played it again after a couple of goes at it... That was amazing to see that well done 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I finally got that achievement on the Steam version (no visual cues). I never could stomach the earlier version for home: Escape from Singe's Castle. The old CRT's have a charm of their own.
I was blown away when I saw DL in the arcade. You control a real cartoon. Amazing.
I was blown away when I saw Cuphead in the computer. You control a real cartoon. Amazing.
QTE's in 1983
When mario 64 came out on the n64, it was the same feeling. mind blowing.
Played this game back in 1983. 2 quarters per game and I spent almost $10 in a few weeks. We used to play it on our work break outside the grocery store in a small gaming room. How I learned to win was I watched others play and saw how they advanced, and saw how a few won. When it was my turn to finally win I had other kids around watching my moves. Great memories.
That's exactly how I learned...watching others. It was a great time. Now you can google the entire move list on google haha. That's no fun!
That wasn’t at Dino’s in St. Paul was it?
i have never seen anyone play Dragon's Lair like this. I was completely engaged the entire run ! Thanks for sharing !
Thanks, man. Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you for letting me experience what I tried to do as a kid for years.
You’re most welcome! Happy New Year! 🎉
Double that. Game always bewildered me.
Same here, lots of quarters, barely got anywhere!
When I saw this and Space Ace in the arcades back then, I watched others play for what felt an eternity. Golden age!❤
50 years old and this was the coolest game in the arcades at the time, lost a lot of quarters on this game, but always loved watching someone who new how to play……
53 years old here... and couldn't afford this game when it came out... was always more expensive than the 0.25 galaga that I could play for 20 minutes or longer. Same with 1942... This game,, eating quarters and ending in 3 minutes!
You and me both would be building rocket ships, brother!
I played the shit out of that game when I was a kid. The first time I freed princess daphnee was a huge deal. What a blast. Never did beat the second one
Everything you said in the intro is me :) I turn 54 this year and the last time I was able to finish the game was maybe 1985 or 1986 and never looked at my score, my goal was just to beat the dragon. I could finish it at any difficulty level.. This video in spired me to try finishing it again. PS: My favourite version on the Nintendo Switch the restored video quality is amazing.
I won back when I was a kid in high school. I'd never made it to the last scene so I had no idea what to do. All of a sudden some guy standing next to me told me what to do. I won the game and turned around and there were a ton of people who were watching me play that I didn't know were there. I looked to my side to see who had been helping me, but there was no one there. It was a very interesting experience.
My favorite game of all time! It was light years ahead of anything that was in an arcade at the time it came out.
My family would go to Wildwood, NJ every summer for a week vacation. Me and my cousin would spend 80% of our week in the arcade playing Dragon's Lair and Space Ace.
Wildwood is something that sparks a ton of nostalgia from my childhood. The Jersey boardwalks had the best arcades! 😂
Many a coin had been spent BUT never saw the games played all the way through. I now have 40 years later. Many thanks!
Awesome. Glad you were able to see the ending. There are other, arguably better, videos of it being completed at a better camera angle and nobody's arms getting in the way at the end. Buy hey, I was excited!
Hi Tom. That brings back memories! That's the same trick my brother used back in the 1980s to always get the high score! He would let the knight die intentionally near the end to score extra points. My brother played Dragon's Lair while I stood beside him playing Space Ace! Thanks for sharing!
I was 13 years old in 1983 as well. Rode my bike to the mall and spent many hours in the arcades. I remember when I could finish this game, what a feeling of success too since this game always had people watching. Gratz on your perfect game! I enjoyed watching it.
This was an awesome experience to watch you play and defeat it. You are a Jedi master my man.
At 51 I remember this game very well. Put way too many quarters in it.
Grew up in Arcades with my friends playing both electromechanical and golden age arcade games.
Thankful to have nine arcade1up cabinets. A trash find gutted Space Invaders I put a 60-1 board in and nine EM games.
Important to bring arcade nostalgia and history to my five adult children, spouses, significant others, and four grandchildren.
it was 10p over here in the UK
I played this a bunch of times when I was a kid Turnin 51 this year I usually got to the dragon but never could beat the dragon for some reason but I watched others Beat It it was cool I ordered the one up when it went on sale like 6 months ago I still have not opened it up and put it together but after watching your video makes me want to do it today great video thanks for the great memories
That game was and still is ahead of it's time. I am shocked that a game designer hasn't done another animated action game like this.
Good job, dude. I haven't played Dragon's Lair in probably 35 years, but I probably suck at it as much today as I did back then lol.
You and me both. I think I probably set records for the quickest game over.
I remember when this came out., it was amazing.
There was another screen on top and a huge crowd would be watching people play it. Not sure if that was a special edition cabinet.
This and Space Ace, I used to lose big time 🤓
They were similar style games and both made by the same company.
Space Ace came out 4 months after Dragon’s Lair.
You should do Space Ace next 👍
Great memories! I turned 54 this year as well, amd I could SMELL the arcade I played dragons lair in as I watched you play. Stale air and my last quarter
My stepfather had Dragon's Lair on his PC back in 1994. It took me all summer to finally beat!
Well done sir. I love seeing a kid at heart enjoying video games. I remember watching over the shoulder of an older friend trying to defeat the game at the arcade back in the 80's. I've never seen it done until today. thanks!
Thank you, man. Hopefully I'll still be able to play into my 80s games when I'm in my 80s! Until I posted this video I never realized how many people hadn't seen the ending. Glad you got to see it. There are arguably better videos out there that show the ending without my arms getting in the way. I couldn't help it though haha!!
This game really drew a crowd upon its arcade release in the UK. One was installed in the lower ground floor of ‘Oasis’ in Birmingham city centre. I may be wrong, but I recall that the game could be cheated and skipped forward in some way by giving the cabinet a well-timed shove. Thanks for uploading this, it reminds me of happy times and a mis-spent youth. 😊
It drew a crowd here in the US too. I never heard of shoving the game to skip forward. It was being played from a laser disc so maybe so. That machine weighed three times what I did back then so I sure wasn't moving it.
Congratulations bro great job, I could beat the game but not with a perfect game like that. Great job. I like space ace and part 2 as well.
Thanks. Space Ace and Dragon's Lair II also come with this cabinet so you get all three
Congratulations !!! Dragons lair, Spy Hunter, and Karate Champ ate my college tuition by the time I got to Junior High. 😂😂
Long story short... I had the opportunity to choose my own home arcade game in 1987 (I was 16ys old). It came down to Dragon's Lair or the original Star Wars. I was a massive Star Wars fan and had literally had every Star Wars figurine and playset. My parents were told the Dragon's Lair was going to be very expensive to repair if anything ever went wrong. I'm 52 years old now and the Star Wars arcade game still sits in my living room. Blue dot in the middle of the screen but the audio still works. In hindsight, no regrets. I have all 10 of the top scorers on this machine and I have no doubts that had I got Dragon Lair it would not have lasted as long as the Star Wars did.
That was awesome! I have never seen that complete game! Too Cool! Thanks for sharing!!
Anyone who knew how to play this was king of the arcade back in the day. Mostly it was kids like me who had no idea how to get past the first few screens, but when the masters came out the case would attract everyone around just so they could see all the little parts of the story they had never seen.
cool thanks for showing d.l. one of my favorite arcade games. i got a perfect on one in the 80s but it had 5 lives.
Congrats Tom! Killed it! I did NOT know that about the orange water. Off to attempt switching right at the dark orange part… and screwing it up 200 times also! 😆
Wow!! They really don’t give you much of an epilogue for that either lol. She jumps in your arms and game over. Incredible job mate. I remember this game eating my lunch when I was a kid.
Howdy,
This is my all time most Favorite Arcade Game, I'm also 53, will be 54 thus April 30th, I've played this game countless times, and now can beat it, with only one man, I don't remember my scores, but I gotta have at least come close to a perfect score, if not, gotten a perfect score, I'll have to play it again, and see what my score is, I've never played it before, to set a score, I just love playing the game,
Glad I came across your channel, I'll be sure to subscribe, Stay safe, God Bless and game on my Friend 🕹 Peace
I didn't know you had to die twice to get a perfect score ??
@@arthurok327you have to die twice to get the highest possible score when playing with three Dirks. If you play with five Dirks the maximum score possible is higher and you have to die four times.
@tomball3611 Thank you for that information, I only play with 3 Dirks, so I'll remember to die twice..
Tom, I’m like you. I played this back in the early 80’s and only measured my victories by how many times I slayed the dragon. I just bought this Arcade1up machine a month ago and I love it. I’ve beaten it 3 times on easy mode with 3 lives so far. The only thing I can’t seem to remember is when Dirk jumps onto the falling wooden elevator, when are there 3 ledges and when are there 9. I know if I wait to jump off the 9th ledge I get more points but I can’t remember which time I can do that. Can you help me?
@eucharistman1 I'm not sure how I knew that, I just know, never try to go to the 9th jump off point, on the first falling floor, you will die every time, I have Dragon's Lair, so I'll play it again, and see when exactly you can get off at the 9th jump off point.. game on my Friend 🕹
I defeated the dragon at a pizza shop when I was around 13, after countless quarters. I never received a t-shirt that was promised for whoever defeated the dragon. Awesome memories though! Now I'm immersed in a world of classic arcade games, thanks to VR! It feels just like being a kid again!
Incredible gameplay, congratulations. Dragon’s Lair is one of my all time favorites.
Thanks, man. I appreciate it.
Congrats on the perfect game. I got my first perfect game earlier this year (2023). I wish Arcade 1Up would have had online leaderboards in this cab. GG.
Thanks! Congrats on your perfect game! The only other 1Up game I own is Star Wars and it doesn't have online leaderboards either.
Wow! You are now the man, the myth, and the legend! OUTSTANDING!
Well done on your perfect game / full run through, AND capturing it on video! Nice cabiet too... looks to be in great condition.
I never got more than a few screens. Can’t wait to watch this!
Cool. Great job. Maybe wear a camera for a better view of the action(?)
So much nostalgia with this game. I remember beating the dragon for the first time
The smile on your face when you finally did it says everything.
Thanks. That was an honest reaction. I was genuinely happy at what just happened. Been wanting to do that for 40 years!
Very nice! I always wanted to see dragons lair finished because I did space ace when I was younger and was sooo proud when I did maybe 30 years ago 😂
Wow, brings back some great memories. We are about the same age and I vividly remember when this game came out in the arcades. It is the first game that I can remember that cost 50 cents to play. I spent so much money on this game back then. I downloaded it on the Xbox when my son was about 13. I thought that he would love it like i did when i was his age. He didn't, LOL.
Hi Tom, Would love to see some more videos about your mancave/home arcade. love how you play man.
Used to love the crowd behind me when I played this game. Lots of quarters, but I did learn to beat the game and then never failed.
Damn, Tom. Thats a sweet collection. Also, Congratulations dragon slayer.
It's lovely to see a like-minded soul enjoying Dragon's Lair some 40 years on from release. Well done, Tom.
I haven't even watched this yet. The thumbnail alone was everything. You took me right back to Aladdin's Castle 1983. I loved gaming then and I love it now. Amazing setup!
Thank you. Yeah, I was pretty happy to win the way I did. I didn't have Aladdin's Castle around me in 1983 but rather Tilt and Goldmine. I'd like to make a Goldmine sign one day and put it in my arcade.
@@tomball3611 That sounds amazing. You're living the dream, Tom!
Congrats man. My childhood!
Congratulations! Awesome Job!
Thank you!
This is one I will always toss quarters at whenever I am around it! Excellent work hitting that high score, much better than I have ever been able to do. Congrats!
Thank you! Same here. I'll throw quarters at one even though I have one at home now!
Memories of watching some young kid in the arcade beat this. I never did. Thank you!
This video was so fun. Thanks for sharing. For some reason it makes me think of Ready Player One.
Played DL at the arcade a bit. I liked it, but I could never get very far. I wasn't very ggod at it. Happy to see the entire thing in your video, and happy you reached your goal! :)
I just found your channel and I watched you play all the way through. This game brings back such great memories and watching you beat it was amazing. Thank you for sharing!
Back in my arcade days I played that game so much I started trying to beat it blindfolded. Almost every room started with a sound cue so it was just a matter of recognizing the room by sound and then memorizing the timing of the move list. Some rooms required an almost simultaneous action with the first sound cue, which made it very difficult, but still possible.
Of course, many of the mirrored rooms you simply had to guess whether your first move was left or right. And *that* was what made it impossible without some luck.
I want to say that about 3/4 of the game could be beaten blindfolded, but my memory is foggy. Fun to watch the game play again after all these years. Thanks!
Playing blindfolded...now that's a challenge!! I might try that sometime for fun. But you're right, the mirrored rooms would require luck. 50/50 chance.
I remember playing this in the arcade when it 1st came out. It was so popular they put tv screens on top of the machine so all the people huddled around it could watch. It took me quite a few quarters to master it, and they charged an outrageous 50 cents to play compared to all the other 25 cent games! Hahaha! I didn't care for the sequel too much. I feel it was way too focused on button pressing to the point you couldn't enjoy playing the game. Great job killing the dragon!
Thanks you. Yeah, my local arcade put a second monitor on top too. So much fun back then. I never finished Space Ace or Dragon's Lair II. All three come on the Arcade 1Up version so I'll finally get to finish Space Ace and Dragon's Lair II. Just gotta do it.
Inacreditável feito, jogo extremamente difícil e maravilhoso, parabéns!!!
Muito obrigado. Estou feliz que você gostou! Sim, este jogo é difícil, mas divertido!
Congrats! Spent a ton of quarters on this in the arcade and did win it once as a kid! I tell ya, I was able to close that chapter in my life with a smile. Hope to see you do it with the sequel too.
Thank you for sharing. This game brings back great memories
Yeah, always takes me back to simpler times when I play.
I like the audio on this game. All the yells and noises he makes made me giggle. Nice job Tom!
I remember being able to go through the entire game on my first man, getting all the way to the final sword swing and then dying. I would repeat that over and over till my final man and then end the game. It was maxing out the score as far as I knew. I wish I knew what the score was but it's been like 40 years ago.
Yeah, I don't know what my max score back in the day was either. The max possible score would've been dependent on the difficulty level and number of Dirks you had at the time. The website "The Dragon's Lair Project" is the ultimate resource to learn anything Dragon's Lair related, including max possible scores and breakdown of score by each level. Here's the link: www.dragons-lair-project.com/games/pages/dl.asp
Congratulations on beating Dragons Lair ! My name is 🇨🇦 J-MON and I'm currently ranked #14 in Arcade1up s Rolling Thunder 🥰
Love, love, LOVE Rolling Thunder! Congrats on your ranking. Pretty dang awesome!
Congratulations on your perfect game!
Thank you! 40 years in the making!!
Holy shit man. That’s a hell of an achievement. This game is not easy, even with complete memorization.
Be proud of this brother!
THE RECORDS BE THERE TO BE BEATEN...and the imposible always its posible...congratulations bro
I used to play this quite a bit when it first came out, but never actually ever saw anyone slay the dragon. Most couldn't get past even 3 or 4 screens. Well done!
Thank you!
That was epic. Thank you for sharing. ❤
You're welcome! Glad you enjoyed it.
Very nice! I'm 53 and love it.
I think I missed the scene where dirk jumps through the metal teeth and meets the lava men. Idk.
Dragons lair and Space Ace are available on blue ray. Best quality and gameplayabilty I have found closest to the true arcade cab. Have them both on Sega CD.
Cheers.
🦎 🔥 i use to play this game at the mall every weekend.... Lots of quarters gone forever...lol ❤
Congratulations!
My man is living the dream. I like this and the other cabinets you have nearby. I remember Dragon's Lair was 2 coins to start and at that time it was a lot of money especially since I'd die in less than a minute.
I honestly am living the dream! I've got 15 of my favorite games from my childhood in my home now. Yes, .50 was a crazy amount of money. Die 10 times faster for twice the price? Yes, please!!! Over and over.
I played this all of the time back in the day. I always went for the high score as i heard the high score in the city was like 470k or something. I would make it all the way to the last move and die on purpose to accumulate more points. Always had a crowd of people watching me. Ahh...memories
I used to do the exact same thing.
I played DL so much, that i could slay the dragon while facing away from the cabinet (hands behind my back), I would have others come up and ask me to move so that they could play, the look on their face when i told them that thay would have to wait until i was done, was priceless.
I hope they come out with space ace and Dragons lair 2 I want to collect all of these!!
This Arcade 1Up machine comes with Space Ace and Dragon's Lair II as well. All three on one machine!
Well played!
Thank you!
In 1983 or 84 Alhambra CA my friend Ron and I spent many a quarter learning the game. We used to test each other at home on each screen solution LRSUD or whatever. Eventually, at the bowling alley on Valley, he finished the game without dying, and I did it with one life lost. The greatest achievement of my life!!
The one Arcade1UP I own is Dragon's Lair... I've yet to achieve a perfect game myself. Awesome!
i had it on sega cd, man such a hard game, impressive skills. thanks for finally seen the whole game.
Thank you!
Congrats that was awesome!
Thank you!
Yay! Happy for you pal. 40 years in the making! Un coup de maître !
Thank you!
@tomball3611 I absolutely loved it but was very lame at it lol.
Dragons Lair was beyond real in graphics. I recall it from the local burger joint, that had an arcade section. The graphics and storytelling combined made it such a unique experience❤
Nice brother!! 🍻 I have this on my MAME machine running Daphne. I've tried for years, but Singe always gets me on the second or third life. So frustrating... You should submit this to Twin Galaxies and get your name in the record books. No body has submitted this for the 1Up yet.👍👍
Thanks, man. Haha, I'll look at Twin Galaxies. I didn't know they'd accept submissions for Arcade 1Up cabinets. Thanks for the heads up!
Good man Tom , I was born in 1983 , a life time ago :-) , all the best from Ireland
You were born when this game was first released. Thank you sir, and all the best to you!
I have the IIRCADE version in my office!!!! Never had a perfect game, but beat it plenty, nice job!
nice ❤
i still havent beat the dragon but ive been enjoying my cab , pt2 surprised me; VERY addictive "just one more checkpoint" type deal- kind of different from the first game but still good
If I was going to sell my cabs this would be the last one to go
I haven't gotten very far into Dragon's Lair II, but will soon. Can't wait!!
Same
I was 13 in 1983...Dragon's Lair was definitely a VERY different game from the ones I used to play......
I was 13 too when it came out in 1983 too. Agreed, nothing like anything I'd ever seen before. You mean I get to play a cartoon? Here's my .50. Damn, it's over already? Ahhh, the memories.
I used to love this game when I was an avid arcade I spent hundreds of dollars trying to complete the game but never got to the very end. My game back in those days was Defender which I won several local contests....My high score 4,700.000 turning the score over more than 4 times....they used to have it that the last 10K before the score flipped every Baiter you hit or person you saved you'd get a free ship....I was pretty good at Stargate the followup game to Defender and also Robotron and Missle Command I was best in my area
First game I ever beat in an arcade in front of a crowd. '81 or so. Not that clean, though. Lot of hammering away at the lizard king and whatnot. Brought that memory back. Thanks.
We are almost 43 and 44. We have just learned about this game. We suspect it never came here or by the time we were older it had disappeared. We are clueless why this didn't spawn succesors and be continued with franchises like The Terminator or any other. It looks amazing but also very hard. How are you supposed to know what to do? Just keep pushing coins in it I suppose. Wow. Well done!
In most cases, you look for something to flash on the screen. If it's something in the scene, you move the joystick in that direction. If it's Dirk's sword that flashes, you press the sword button.
Check out Space Ace and Brain Dead 13!
Also, this game was built to chew through quarters.
@@mylz17 And of course, Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp, which is way, way better than Dragon's Lair I.
The success of Dragon's Lair spawned the next laser disc game from the same company called Space Ace. Dragon's Lair II was in the works, but the video game crash shelved those plans until it was finally released in 1991. This Arcade 1Up version I have here has all three games on it. There were also other laser disc games released by different companies during the mid-late 80's.
16:10 -- Robin: It _IS_ the key to the greatest treasure in all the land!
Indeed :)
373,879 is a very solid score! When I was 15 in 1985, I participated in a Dragon's Lair score tournament in our local arcade and won with a score over 385,000 (can't remember it exactly, it was 38 years ago!). My prize was 25 dollars worth of gaming tokens!
BTW, looks like you were playing on easy difficulty. There are a few more moves in hard mode (such as requiring to quickly move forward on the Black Knight scene among others). My competition then was playing on hard mode and the extra moves is why my score was higher. I always set my Arcade1Up Dragon's Lair on Hard difficulty since that's what I was used to in the arcade.
When I first saw this at the arcades, I was mesmerized by the animation. Never knew who Don Bluth was until then. Was glad to play and beat it when I was older.
I've never seen a play thru of the whole of DL - when i used to play it, never used to be able to get thru the first few scenes. That is a lot of muscle memory and twitch memory you've got in there! That was one thing I remember about DL and space ace, sometimes you didn't know what you were meant to do because there were few prompts so literally it was learn by trail and error and feeding coins in! The only one of that genre I got any way through was super don quixote which I think I got to around a third max.
Nive play through!
Never got a perfect game, but sure remember the first time I killed the dragon! 1984 at an arcade called Aladdin's Castle in the Phoenix Village Mall in Fort Smith, AR. Two good friends (Kelly and Jeff) were all rotating taking turns to see who could get through it, good times. Thanks for the memory Tom!
Awesome stuff! Congrats on the perfect game!!
Thanks! I really appreciate it!!
That video game was ahead of its time!
Bravo !! Remember that game back in the day was ultra hard not many people played it again after a couple of goes at it...
That was amazing to see that well done 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thank you very much! I didn't know so many people had not seen the end of the game.
Its just amazing how this game plays and looks
Some people say the replay value isn't there, but I find it just as much fun as I did back then! Love, love, LOVE this game.
I finally got that achievement on the Steam version (no visual cues). I never could stomach the earlier version for home: Escape from Singe's Castle. The old CRT's have a charm of their own.
I played this in the late 80s and was blown away with it
dirk the daring!