Line #23 Trivia/DragonsLair


1	!!Both games
2	* MarthDebutedInSmashBros: At least in Latin America, as the animated adaptation was the only part of the franchise who was brought out in Spanish, as only ''Time Warp'' was somewhat known there, but not the first one.
3	* WhatCouldHaveBeen: There were plans for [[https://twitter.com/DonBluth/status/664179126303985664 seven more games with this playstyle by Don Bluth]] but due to UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 leading Cinematronics to go bankrupt, and to a lesser extent Creator/DonBluth by freezing the royalties to his animation studio, they were mostly scrapped. The only games that got made regardless of this was ''VideoGame/SpaceAce'' and ''Dragon's Lair II'', and the only other game that came close to getting produced was ''Sea Monster and Barnacle Bill'', [[https://t.co/kL2ki3mol4?amp=1 seeing that it's the only one with concept art and a magazine advertisement]].
4
5	!!''Dragon's Lair''
6	* DummiedOut:
7	** The opening scene has Dirk being chased into the castle by eye stalk creatures. Originally, it was playable, instead of just the prologue.
8	** ''Dragon's Lair'' didn't '''initially''' have the "only one way to beat the scene" scheme (the thing which was averted in ''VideoGame/SpaceAce'' later): it indeed included more exits and versions of the same scene. Not only that, but it included completely different revival and game over scenes! Of course, all that was redummied back into the game with the release of ''20th Anniversary Edition'', yet in a really, really [=VHSish=] quality compared to the main game.
9	** In an earlier version of the game's attract mode, there was a clip where a gargoyle is tossing a spear at Dirk. This was from a scene that was ultimately never finished. It got remade and was added into the ''20th Anniversary Edition''.
10	** [[GangplankGalleon The Pirate Ship]]. In the ending scene when Dirk is emptying his bag full of treasures a jolly roger flag is visible among them. Worth noting that the PC-only game, ''Curse of Mordread'', has a pirate ship level that might have been what that was supposed to have come from.
11	* MoneyDearBoy: Don Bluth agreed to make the game only because he needed extra money to pay off the animators for ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH''.
12	* NoBudget: Initially, this game was produced on a shoestring budget of $1 million. Only one professional actor, Michael Rye, was invited (and only the attract mode gives him showtime as a narrator), while the others were voiced by the animators themselves: Dirk, for instance, was voiced by Dan Molina, the film editor, who in turn would later do the sounds for Fish Out of Water in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle''. Daphne's voice originally belonged to Vera Lanpher, who was the head of the clean-up department. All the soul the staff had put into the development, however, paid off magnificently [[UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 but only for a short time]].
13	* NoExportForYou: In Latin America, partly due to the cost of both the machine and the pricing for games, as the game required 50 cents (two quarters) to play in the United States, while the sequel (the only game who was brought in that region) required at least in some Latin American arcade centers a whopping amount of ''four tokens''[[note]]Depending on the exchange rate, it could be as about ''two dollars'' per game.[[/note]] to play, and the fact the game was in English without any kind of subtitles, in either English or Spanish.
14	* PortOverdosed: Almost every console and computer in the 1980s got some version of ''Dragon's Lair'', and the Laserdisc version has been ported many times, too, to Windows, early CD consoles, DVD players, and even the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor (!). It is one of the most ubiquitous video games in history.
15	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
16	** Given the games WorkingTitle below the game would have been very different.
17	** The SNES sequel to ''Dragon's Lair'' was planned to be ported to the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis as ''Dragon's Lair: The Adventure Continues'', but the port was canned for unknown reasons, presumably due to Taito's American branch going under. A prototype ROM has been dumped and shows that the port was nearly finished.
18	* WordOfGod: The designers went through ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}'' magazines for the inspiration of Daphne.
19	* WorkingTitle: The Secrets of the Lost Woods
20
21	!!''Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp''
22	* AcclaimedFlop: Due to being released around that time when ''Franchise/{{StreetFighter}}'' and ''Franchise/{{MortalKombat}}'' came out, as well as the start of the Console Wars that made things even worse, Possibly leading the game to flop and many Dragon's Lair Fans as well as many Don Bluth Fans being unaware that there was a sequel to the first game until years later. It's unknown if this is true but seeing the evidence and timing it seems possible. It didn't even get as many re-releases on home consoles as its predecessor did, even in the wake of FMV games for home consoles.
23	* ActingForTwo: Mordroc, Daphne's mother, the Time Machine, the Cheshire Cat and the Card Soldiers are voiced by Hal Smith.
24	* CrossDressingVoices: Daphne's mother is voiced by Hal Smith, the same voice actor as the villain of the picture!
25	* DevelopmentHell: Production on ''Dragon's Lair II'' started in 1983, but UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 caused Cinematronics to freeze royalties to Creator/DonBluth's animation studio, driving them into bankruptcy and shelving the project for years before its eventual completion and release in 1991.
26	* RefittedForSequel: ''Dragon's Lair III'' is made of unused footage from ''Dragon's Lair II'' combined with new footage.
27	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
28	** The prototype version of ''Dragon's Lair II'', despite not having deleted scenes like its predecessor, actually had an entirely different soundtrack.
29	** The developers originally planned to include a longer battle sequence at the end if the player managed to collect all the treasures, and a shorter one if he missed any, but this idea was scrapped in the final version and the longer sequence is used regardless. In the final release of the game it was made mandatory to pick up all the treasures; if the player misses any, at the end of the game it loops back to the first treasure missed. [[https://vimeo.com/150957289 The animation for the shorter fight can be found here.]] This shorter fight was included in the recent home versions of ''Dragon's Lair II'', where it replaces the battle scene used in the final in the "Director’s Cut" mode.
30	** There was originally going to be a level set on a pirate ship, but the model for the ship was lost when production resumed, and the level had to be scrapped.
31
32	!!The as-of-now upcoming movie
33	* CareerResurrection: An attempt at one. Should the film be completed, it'll be Don Bluth's first in [[WesternAnimation/TitanAE over 20 years]], but only time will tell how successful it will be.
34	* DevelopmentHell: As of this writing, there has been very little word on the project since the pitch presentation was finished. This could be because Bluth is busy starting up a university to teach students about animation.
35	* DoingItForTheArt: It ''is'' a Don Bluth production, after all. He's made it abundantly clear that he wants to, once again, remind people of the potential of classical hand-drawn animation, not to mention crowd-funded the project so as to avoid the ExecutiveMeddling that ruined his career in the 1990s.

Context Trivia / DragonsLair