In Cinematronics’ 1983 arcade game Dragon’s Lair, the player controls the hero Dirk the Daring.
Dragon’s Lair was created by Rick Dyer and animated by former Disney animator Don Bluth. Instead of drawing a conventional sequence of sprites, the game used full-motion animation stored on a laserdisc. Players guided Dirk through dangerous scenes by choosing the correct direction or action at carefully timed moments.
Dirk’s goal is to rescue Princess Daphne from the dragon Singe inside a castle filled with traps and monsters. The character’s name is sometimes confused with the title of the game or with the dragon’s name: Dirk is the human hero, Daphne is the captive princess, and Singe is the antagonist.
Dragon’s Lair was notable for bringing cinematic animation into arcades, though its branching scenes and precise timing made the experience very different from an ordinary joystick-based platform game. Its laserdisc hardware also made it visually distinctive while creating maintenance challenges for arcade operators.