Commodore 64 Longplay [375] Dragon's Lair II: Escape from Singe's Castle (EU)

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Played by: MadMatty

Dragons Lair II C64 conversion developed and published by Software Projects Ltd. in 1987.

"In this adaptation of the arcade classic, you continue where Dragon's Lair part one finished. Dirk, having rescued the fair Princess Daphne, decides to go back through the Dragon's Lair and relieve Singe of some of the gold that is in the castle which is under the protection of the cunning and lethal Lizard King. You will need lighting reflexes and judgement to fight the Lizard King and avoid the giant rolling marbles. In this adventure you will be rushed down the rapids in a barrel and sent down the corridors on a magical flying horse and other dangerous deeds will present problems for you. Finally, direct Dirk to freedom through the realm of the mud monsters who will come alive from the very earth itself to enslave Dirk and turn him in mud like themselves, navigate the dangerous terrain and jump across the chasm and freedom is yours."

Much like the first game, the 8 bit home computers were never going to be capable of reproducing the arcade video real time gameplay so why bother trying. Well try they did and the result is this adaptation very loosely based on the source material.

The game recreates rooms and actions from the original game giving us nine levels of action to play through. Watching this video you would think its a very short and easy game but that couldn't be further from the truth. The odd level is self explanatory but those where you have to avoid objects and enemies requires very specific button presses with very specific timing with absolutely no clues to help you. No flashing yellow areas in this game. You get a few lives and can earn more but you can quickly burn through them as you try to figure out the button combination for each level.

Overall, for 1987, this is a good effort to get something that resembles the arcade game into 64k. Much like the previous game, it is very frustrating and even with infinite lives, is a challenge to finish. The sequel is a little improved over the previous game focusing more on the action elements. Rob Hubbard does the music this time which sounds a little better but also a little weird at the same time with a particular sample that sounds out of place.

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