The year was 1983. Arcades were the primary way I played video games, unless you count the Magnavox Odyssey pong clone sitting on our TV at home. I didn’t.
I remember stepping into the local arcade, a pocket full of quarters, and seeing this…amazing game. It was like a animated movie! The characters moved fluidly! I stepped forward.
Dragon’s Lair had my entire pocket of quarters within 30 minutes.
Now we can all relive the glory without the quarters via the Mac, as Dragon’s Lair comes out for the Mac platform tomorrow, November 8, 2012 for $9.99.
As one of the only three video games to be on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., Dragon’s Lair represents a watershed moment for many gamers. Video games at the time were blocky affairs, needing a lot of player imagination to fill in the abstract blanks. Dragon’s Lair was something different, a game that wasn’t limited by the graphics it could display, but rather limited to one directional button, essentially choosing a direction to go on the screen. Choose wrong and Dirk dies. Choose correctly, and Dirk barely makes it out alive.
According to Digital Leisure, the developer of this latest port, “This release of Don Bluth’s legendary animated arcade game features video transferred directly from the high definition film master, delivering the sharpest images and most vibrant colors ever – far better than the original laserdisc release.” Sounds good to us.
Originally a laser-disc powered game, Dragon’s Lair has since been released on a ton of consoles, including the Commodore 64, the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Nintendo DS, Microsoft’s Xbox 360, PLaystation 3, Playstation Portable, Windows PC, and–of course–iPhones and iPads. The latest move to Mac OS X is yet another reminder that the computers we love are now becoming as popular as any other platform, with scores of new games showing up every time we turn around. This, in our opinion, is a good thing.
Head on over to the Mac App Store tomorrow to grab yourself a copy of this highly celebrated game and relive it all again for $10. No need to bring any quarters, though.
-
- I saw this animation a LOT back in the day.
