Dragon’s Lair: The Legend For Game Boy Returns
Dragon’s Lair was an arcade hit of a different breed: it was the first to use a laserdisc to display full-motion video, and gameplay amounted to choosing a path every few seconds that would allow the animation to continue. Because of its unique nature, it was impossible to replicate on home consoles at the time, and for some time afterward.
Home ports of Dragon’s Lair would usually be a different game entirely. The less said about the NES version the better, which attempted the best possible graphics it could in exchange for gameplay that was almost impossible. If you needed a Dirk the Daring game at home in the early 90s, your best bet was the Game Boy and Dragon’s Lair: The Legend, a simple platformer reinvention of the arcade plot.
You don’t save Daphne this time by dodging boulders or slashing monsters — you do it by roaming around and collecting all 194 fragments of something called the Life Stone. Dragon’s Lair: The Legend has 11 distinct regions to explore, each filled with moving platforms, spike traps, and the aforementioned stone fragments that are mandatory to gather. Note that if you owned this game in the US, this is a reprint of the European version where the difficulty was tweaked.
•No Fall Damage: Unlike other versions, Dirk no longer dies from high falls, allowing for more freedom in platforming.
•Extra Lives: For every 42 Life Stones collected, Dirk gains an extra life (up to a maximum of 10).
•Refined Jumping Mechanics: Instead of infinite jumping by holding the button, players must tap repeatedly to achieve the same effect, preventing unintentional exploits.
Canadian retro publisher Incube8 Games is reprinting Dragon’s Lair: The Legend in Complete-in-Box and Digital Edition formats. The physical Standard Edition costs $44.99 and Includes a sealed box with a clear cartridge, cartridge protector, instruction booklet and sticker sheet. Plus, the game’s PCB board has been silkscreened to display the Dragon’s Lair logo. If you order the digital version, you’ll get the ROM with a PDF of the instruction booklet and cover art.
Preorders for Dragon’s Lair: The Legend are live now at the Incube8 website. The game starts shipping in April.
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