Was Dragon's Lair II doable by reflex?

[buttertweet]

I can remember when Dragon's Lair II came out in the arcades, I was 18 years old and pretty much at my prime when it came to gaming reflexes. But I remember having trouble catching the flashes in time starting around level 3 or 4, and by level 6 I could not keep up at all. I would just have to "learn the hard way," memorize, and keep the quarters coming. There would be times when I would even know the correct move coming up, and STILL be too late in moving. (I can't remember if the machine allowed spamming the controls or not.) Does anyone know what the shortest reaction times were programmed to be, and could someone with world-class reflexes theoretically make it all the way through the game (ignoring treasures and nasty tricks like ambiguous diagonal flashes)? I remember some darn quick flashes in Space Ace too...the roller skating scene is just brutal.

 

In my old age I much prefer the new Steam versions with the move guides, over the frustration (and quarterlessness) I experienced back in the day. They give you a much fairer amount of time to react.

[Flojomojo]

I'll bet you (or someone else with more patience than me) could learn to do it blindfolded, by sound alone.

[4ever2600]

Guilty since 1983!

[buttertweet]

Yeah, that's me too, I'm not quite as proficient as that guy who won Cliff Hanger on Starcade (he apparently played through the game blindfolded, using his FEET) but I can get through Dragon's Lair by heart. Well, except on the very hard setting in Daphne...I know what to do on the very hard scenes but still die most of the time.

What I was really wondering was, could someone with absolute top-notch reflexes and gaming skills get through DL2 on their first try, without ever having played before (let's assume we will tell them ahead of time where the treasures are, and which way to go on diagonal-looking flashes). Reflex didn't get me very far when I was 18, but my reflexes have never been that great. My gut instinct tells me that even the fastest folks will struggle starting around level 6, but that's just speculation. It depends on the minimum time given between the flash and "you lose." Also, having to choose one of 5 moves, with the visual cues appearing in various parts of the screen, is much more complex than looking for "stop" or "go" and hitting a single button, on a standard reflex test. I guess someone would have to do a Mythbusters-type experiment to find out.

[macdlsa]

Playing Dragon's Lair listening the audio only (and watchin' the screen at the beginning of every scene to see which scene is and which side Dirk's sword is ***necessary for mirrored scenes***) ?
Here I am [ clip ] !
We used to do this way since the '84, when the game had no more secrets for us [European Dragon's Lair, board Atari rev.D1]
... and we did the same also with Space Ace [Euro, board Atari &/or Sidam] , but NOT with the 1991 Elettronolo - Italy (not Leland - US) "Dragon's Lair II - Time Warp"... too much difficult to "catch" the correct move timings in certain levels, from the "Beethoven" scene to the "Mordroc's lair".

 

[doctorclu]

That is amazing.

 

Watching that video it is easy to remember why this game mesmerized us in the arcade. The action sequences were fun to watch.

Edited August 28, 2016 by doctorclu

[Aldo]

That is amazing. I don't know if this is considered the same, but a buddy of mine could play through Guitar Hero without looking at the screen and just listening to the song and playing along.