There are two CD-ROM versions -- what are the differences?

We have two versions of Dragon's Lair available for CD-ROM -- the Dragon's Lair Arcade Authentic and Dragon's Lair 20th Anniversary Edition.

The Arcade Authentic version contains only Dragon's Lair but all moves, timing, scene order and scoring is identical to the arcade release and will play full screen without a window.  It also includes an arcade cabinet mode to simulate the look of the arcade machine and includes interviews with the creators of the game.   The Arcade Authentic version is Windows 95/98/Me/2000 and XP compatible.

The Dragon's Lair 20th Anniversary Special Edition contains an upgraded version of Dragon's Lair Arcade Authentic in addition to Space Ace and Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp Arcade Authentic and is Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP compatible.

Hints

When playing Dragon's Lair remember that you control Dirk The Daring's reactions to the events that unfold throughout the game.  You don't directly control Dirk's movement but rather you must make the correct moves at the appropriate time for Dirk to survive the scene.   This means that just by pressing "Right" doesn't mean Dirk will move right.

When the game begins, Dirk walks over a drawbridge towards the castle but a board breaks and he falls through. As Dirk's hanging from the bridge, you must press the spacebar (to use the sword) to scare the tentacles away and run into the castle. If you continually get dragged into the water by the tentacles, you are not making the correct move, or you are not making the move at the correct time. Try pressing spacebar repeatedly when the game begins. At first you will hear "Bad Move Beeps" (low pitch) until it becomes the correct time for the Sword move to be made, at which time you'll hear a "Good Move Beep" (high pitch) meaning the correct move has been made and it is accepted. You should get past the tentacles and run into the castle. Once in the castle, you will need to make two "Right" moves to avoid the falling rocks.

Whenever you press a key there are two possible sounds you will hear from the computer: a low pitch beep means that you haven't made the correct move or that your timing is off; a high pitch beep means you have made the correct move and it has been accepted.

If you find that you are continually dying at a certain point in the game then you know that you must make a move just before this point.  You can try all of the five combinations (Up, Down, Left, Right, Sword) and one of them will work.  Sometimes the timing is tricky with several moves close together but if you watch the video closely and listen for "Good Beeps" then you notice when you've passed one move and need to make the next move.

DL 20th Anniversary playing only deaths

On some computers Dragon's Lair 20th Anniversary Edition will skip ahead in the video and jump to the death sequences without allowing you to make any moves on some computers.  The problem is caused by third-party video playback codecs that have been installed in your computer.  Three confirmed problem-causing codecs are "SLD", "Elecard" and "MainConcept mpeg1/mpeg2 splitter" (included with Soundforge 7.0) -- if you have any one of these, uninstall them and the games should work for you. 

We have a new version available for download that will solve the problem in most cases.  If you are still experiencing this problem, use can use mmview.exe to view all the the multimedia plug-ins in your computer and disable them.  Look for types "Codec(Video)" that are not from Microsoft and relate to mpeg1 playback and these may be the ones causing the problems. 

The Correct Moves

The following are the correct moves for Dragon's Lair (Deluxe Pack V2.10).  We suggest you only read further if you're completely stuck on a move.  Note that many scenes can be played in "normal" and "reversed" (left to right).  If you're playing a reversed scene then all the Left and Right moves below should be reversed.

S=Sword (space bar)

DRAWBRIDGE
S

END OF CORRIDOR
R,R

TENTACLES FROM CEILING
S,U,R,D,L,U

SNAKE ROOM
S,S,S,U

SWINGING ROPES OF FIRE
R,R,R,R

POOL OF WATER
L,U,R,U,L,U,S,R,U

BUBBLING OOZE IN KETTLE
U,S,D,S,R

THE GOONS
S,R,S,U

SLIDING STAIRS
L,S,L,L

THE SMITHY
S,S,L,S,S

GIANT SPINNING BATONS
U,S,D,U

CLOSING WALL
U

ROOM OF FIRE
R,U,L,L

METALLIC FLYING HORSE
R,L,R,L,L,L

CHECKERED FLOOR KNIGHT
R,L,U,L,R,L,R,S

HAUNTED HALLWAY
U,S,U,S,L,S

LARGE WOODEN PLATFORMS
U,U,S,R,R

BATS
S,L,U,S,L

THE LIZARD KING
L,R,R,R,R,R,U,S,S,S,S

DRINK ME
R

CHECKERBOARD CORRIDOR
D,U,L

METALLIC BALL
R,U,R,R

WHIRLPOOLS/RAPIDS
L,R,L,R,R,L,R,L,R,L,R,L,R

LAVA FIELD OF THE MUDMEN
S,U,U,U,U,U,U,U

PHANTOM KNIGHT
U,L,L,R

ROLLING BALLS
D,D,D,D,D,D,U

FALLING PLATFORM
L or R (as appropriate) when the platform pauses.

WIND ROOM
R

THE ROUND CAGE
U,U,L

THE DRAGON'S LAIR
L,L,L,L,U,D,R,U,S,S,L,S