Dragon's Lair

For those of you who don't know (and I pity you) Dragon's Lair was a stand-up arcade game that came out in the 80s. It was a unique game in that the graphics were far and away better than anything we had ever seen before. They were like an animated movie. It was spectacular. It was also insanely hard. I don't know anyone who's has ever made it past the first few minutes of gameplay. Your character Dirk approaches the door of the castle and....you die. I had no idea how. You just died. As I shoved quarter after quarter in the machine I (finally) managed to sidestep the daggers that came out and open the door after which...I died. Over and over this went. I bet you I would blow $20 in quarter on this game...every time I saw it. And I never did get past that door. I was both infuriated and obsessed.

I won't tell you how much time and money that I wasted on Dragon's Lair when I was a kid. It was more money then time though. When your gameplay experience is only 10 seconds long it doesn't add up to much time playing. But the graphics kept drawing me back. As you know I'm an animation junkie and this was Don Bluth's work. I loved this game and I hated it.

This was actual gameplay graphics

When Jeff and I were in Disney World we went to DisneyQuest, their four story arcade. After you paid the door admission, all the games were free. I parked myself at Dragon's Lair and managed to get past the door to find the skeleton, which killed me. Jeff pulled me away to ride the bumper cars or something, and for that I thank him. Otherwise I could still be standing at that machine today, trying to see what's beyond that skeleton.

It was Jeff who saved me again as we stood in GameStop and I noticed that they now have Dragon's Lair for the Wii. It's the original game, plus sequels for $25 used. I begged. I pleaded. I whined. It wasn't pretty. I wanted that game. It was Jeff who pulled me away again. But I still think about it. Playing Dragon's Lair on the Wii, able to spend as much time as I need to advance in the game. Finding out what the sequels were like. Although I'm still confused as to how you can have sequels for a game no one ever won...or played more than 10 minutes on.

Epic Mickey

Jeff and I were in Target this past week and noticed as we walked in that they had a couple video games listed for relatively cheap (half price actually). I was shocked to see that one of the games was Epic Mickey, which I've been drooling over for months now. Ever since I saw the graphics on this game I've been lusting after it. Even at half price (Half!!!), we hesitated. Our budget doesn't have a ton of wiggle room. In the end though, we asked the clerk for assistance and dropped the coveted game into the cart. We were going to buy.

Jeff and I had played Kingdom Hearts when it first came out and had been instantly hooked on it. I'm a huge Disney fan (we both are) and the mix of Disney characters, puzzles, and fighting had hooked us. We played almost non-stop for the entire first weekend. We only left the couch for bathroom and sleep breaks. So we knew that another Disney game would suck us in just as much. And it did.


Epic Mickey is not just a fighting game and not just a character game. It has dimensions to it. Your character, Mickey, has to fight his way through the Wasteland (a deranged version of Disneyland) to set about making things right. He had originally tipped an entire container of thinner into the world, creating the great Thinner Incident. Now Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (Mickey's real-life predicessor) has taken over the world. Mickey must turn things back to the way they were before. He is equipped only with a paint brush which can wield either paint or thinner. Thinner makes things go away, Paint makes them appear. It's that simple...mostly. There are things you need to uncover to move forward, there are gears that need to be painted before they can turn. We just recently learned that you can remove sections of the floor and trap creatures beneath it by thinning and then repainting.


I love the fact that the game is set in Disneyland (albeit an odd looking one). We've already had to face the clocktower from the "It's a Small World Ride." We're currently wandering our way through Tomorrowland trying to get the People Mover to work. Many of the parks rides are there, in some form or another. Main Street is a twisted place called Mean Street with buildings so accurate I could recognize them from their real-life counterparts even without signs. "Hey look the ice cream shop." The graphics are downright stunning. The first time I saw Mean Street (with the tilted off kilter castle in the background) I gasped. It was amazing looking. Ostown (a take on Mickey's Toon Town) is just as colorful and interesting look as the land is in Disneyland.


The characters are fun. The puzzles are challenging. The only complaints I can think of about the game are the same ones that I had with Kingdom Hearts. Disney lays out the path a little too easily sometimes (it is a kids game after all) and that there are often too many hints, which hinder smooth play. There is a lot of dialogued hints which must be passed before you can get to game play. In Kingdom Hearts they were from Goofy and Donald. In Epic Mickey they come from The Gremlins (characters created by Roald Dahl incidentally) that are helping Mickey through the land.


Jeff and I have no idea how far we have progressed through the game at this point. We might be half, we might have just scraped the surface. All of the Disney games we've played are like that. I enjoy the complexity though. My feeling is that we have a long way to go. And I'm not upset about that. I'm excited to figure out the puzzles. I'm excited to see the way the rides have been corrupted. And more than anything I'm excited to see what the world looks like whole. I love Disney's story-based video games. This one is now at the top of my list.

Other worlds

The first time I saw the box for American McGee's Alice, I knew I had to buy it. Not only is Alice in Wonderland one of my favorite stories but the dark images in the game fascinated me. I have strange tastes, I love whimsy and darkness. Best if both are together. And who can pass up this version of the Cheshire Cat. Creepy and bizarre.

I love games for the look of them. I love animation for its otherworldly quality. Alice did not disappoint. Jeff and I played the game for hours, exploring the world and killing things. It was bloody and violent but more than anything it was intriquingly and beautifully rendered. I have often bought items for their visuals. I've always called myself a writer but in the last year I have realized how much imagery moves me. A picture or some graphics will make me buy things that I normally wouldn't.

So imagine my delight when I went to Cabinet of Wonders today to see this image.

Not only that, this beautiful image is a game called Mechinarium. (or will be soon) An interactive world that I can enter and move the characters around in. I can play with these paintings. There are more beautiful images just like this to explore. I'm already saving my money for when it comes out. And have no doubts, I will take a break from WoW to spend some time in this world. The game is being created by Amanita Design studio and is supposed to be out this year.

The game image drew me for a number of reasons. It combines all of my favorite things. Like the fish in Shaun Tan's The Red Tree, the mixture of dark and whimsy is intoxicating. It the same mixture that brought me to Polish surrealist Jacek Yerka when I was only 18. If you want other worlds, this is the man for you. I bought two of his books with the little money I had after looking at his images. I can almost see his influence in this upcoming game. At first I thought he was the designer.

So more games to play, more images to enjoy. I better start saving my pennies.