Welcome to the first walkthrough for the American version of Dragon's Lair
for NES. Although it has come to my attention that the American version
differs in some regards from the PAL-version, I hope that this guide can
satisfy frustrated players with only the PAL-version as well.
The game is probably most famous for the dragon under the bridge in the
beginning. People thought this was hard and put away the game even before
entering the castle. I guess many of you did the right thing, because that
was only the beginning. Inside the castle dwells pure evil... Before you
check this game out, you should be aware of that Dragon's Lair has a
reputation of being one of the tougher Nintendo games released. To complete
this game, you need lots of dedication to learn where all the traps and
enemies appear, but also a huge portion of luck.
Even though there exist different opinions, most Nintendo players agree on
that this game is one of the worst NES-games ever made and I am probably
prepared to understand them to some extent. Your hero, Dirk, is extremely
awkward and weak and there are so many cheap hits that you don't know if to
laugh or to cry after a while. So why have I chosen this game to write about
then ? Well, I'm particularly interested in challenging Nintendo games and
how to complete the them. Since Dragon's Lair fits well in on this
description and the fact that very little information can be found about it
on the Internet convinced me to make this effort. Also, even though some
parts are very hard to get through, there are sometimes tricks to make it
easier. Therefor I think this walkthrough can still be of some use.
I'm not sure if my walkthrough ever will be read, but to all of you obsessed
souls out there who dare to confront this reincarnation of the old man, I
demand you to equip yourself with a will of iron, nerves of steel and
lightning reflexes. If you accept this extreme challenge, I hail you by the
metal of death !
**********************
* 2. Version History *
**********************
1.5 (09-02-2009) :
Added a nice strategy for the second bosses (the mine trolls). The new
method is both easier to perform and faster. Courtesy to Xandier for
sharing this finding with me and the public.
1.41 (11-01-2006) :
I changed email adress (I curse home.se) and I also changed some parts
in the introduction. I have come to painful insight of the the
relentless difficulty that offers Snake Rattle 'n Roll. It would not be
right to speak of Dragon's Lair's difficulty without mentionning Snake
Rattle 'n Roll.
1.4 (03-17-2006) :
Added a hint sent in by Luke J Martinez on how to get the highest score.
1.3 (11-14-2004) :
Well, I guess I learned my lesson - you should never call something the
final version. Thanks to Egil Kollind (I'm terribly sorry, but I've lost
your mail, so the spelling might be different), I have included a new
feature for the candles. Although it doesn't make the game much easier,
it is definitely a must to include in a walkthrough. Very cool indeed
that the game has something that looks like secrets.
1.2 (07-21-2002) :
Thanks to the very kind contribution of LaVey, the story as well as
the correct names of the items, levels and some enemies have been added.
I am also very greatful to Maxx, who enlightened me on how the 30-lives
cheat code works. I have also fixed a few things myself here and there.
Although spelling and grammar faults are probably numerous, I feel
confident enough about the content to call this the final version.
1.1 (05-20-2002) :
Mainly some spelling and grammatical changes as well as some redrafts.
If I don't get any mails with new information, this will be the final
version.
1.0 (05-06-2002) :
The original version
**********************************
* 3. Story (from the NES manual) *
**********************************
From deep within Mordroc's Castle, a foul stench rose up to mix with the
cold, damp midnight air; the telltale sign of the evil wizard's pet
fire-breathing dragon, Singe; the reeking breath of the beast that guarded
the Princess Daphne in the dark and deadly caves far below the surface. Dirk
the Daring walked steadily toward the castle gate. He felt no fear. Fear was
for cowards, not the most courageous knight in the land. No other would dare
enter this perilous castle where Mordroc had imprisoned the helpless
princess. But then, no other could match Dirk's unrelenting love for the
beautiful Princess Daphne. There was no other possible course of action. Now
was the time for heroes. Now was the time to enter the Dragon's Lair.
I would class this game as a mix of an ordinary 2d-platformer and a
memorygame. You have very small chances of getting past most of the
obstacles, if you haven't memorized their exact position and the right
strategy to get past them.
Your goal is to, as the knight Dirk, get through an introlevel and four
standard levels, composed of different enemies, bottomless pits and quite a
few traps. Each level ends with a bosslike sequence. After each level you
will find yourself going down a shaft on an elevator. On one of the four
stops on your way down, you'll find the entrance to the next level. To
accomplish your mission, you have 6 lives at your disposal, but no
continues, passwords or saves. I suggest that you use your lives wisely,
because I have only found three extra lives and Dirk is very fragile...
Dirk is equipped with an energy meter that is lowered by some enemies, but
also by throwing the weapon he's equipped with. Most of the time you can
however be prepared for instant death upon impact with an enemy or trap.
The main thing to do is basically to try and stay alive and complete the
game (definitely easier said than done). For those who are easily amused,
I mention also that there is a High-score list. During normal gameplay,
you won't even be close to the highest score, so I suggest you don't
bother too much about it. Believe me, the game is challenging enough as it
is. If you still want to have a go for the high score, you can check out
section 11, which is about a high score strategy. Once you beat the game,
you can also try to find all the secret items that are revealed by using
the candle.
***************
* 5. Controls *
***************
Left: walk/crawl left
Right: walk/crawl right
Down: get down on hands and knees
Up: rise
A Button: jump, two different heights possible
B Button: shoot weapon
Shift: pause game
Start: use candle
************
* 6. Items *
************
I don't know who, but someone left some items in the dungeon. Perhaps the
not so lucky predecessors of Dirk ? The items are found in blocks with
letters on. All the blocks will be back if (rather when...) Dirk dies. The
content depends of course on the letter and is as follows (numbers in
parenthesis represent number of times found in each level, including level
0) :
A - Axes :
two times stronger than the dagger, try to keep these, same
trajectory as the daggers. The best weapon (0, 2, 1, 3, 1)
C - Candle :
used to light up a dark part of level two, but also use it during
level 1, 2 and 3 to make hidden items appear (0, 0, 3, 0, 0)
D - Daggers :
your first weapon, fly in a nice parabol towards the ground, but
too weak. The worst weapon (0, 1, 0, 2, 1)
E - Energy :
can almost refill half of your lifebar (0, 1, 1, 3, 0)
F - Fireballs :
strong like the axes, but much slower to throw. The second best
weapon (0, 2, 0, 2, 0)
G - Gold :
adds one gold bag to your collection (1, 2, 12, 6, 2)
L - Life :
adds an extra life (0, 0, 1, 2, 0)
P - Points :
gives you 400 points. I suggest you walk past this one without wasting
your time... (0, 1, 2, 5, 1)
Every time you finish a level, you get 10 bonus points for each gold block
you've found and been able to keep (you will lose them all if the Lizard
King bumps into you). Note that a gold bag found in an earlier level will
give bonus points even after completing a later level. But anyway, who cares
about the points ?
*************************************************
* 7. Enemies and traps (in order of appearance) *
*************************************************
Note I :
some of the enemies are not mentionned in the manual and their names
are therefor my inventions. The invented names are marked with (*).
Note II :
all enemies who throw / spit / emit something do this to the left.
Hurry to the right of them if it's possible !
Note III :
all enemies you can kill / destroy, except for the Lizardking, give
you 40 points (be it a bat or Singe) !
Collapsing Floor :
bears a moving Dirk, but makes him fall through if he stops. Instant
death. (level 1 and 3)
Vampire Bats (black) :
fly in a sinusoidal path towards our hero. One of few enemies that
doesn't kill Dirk right away (but 11 of them will). Can be killed by
one dagger. Regenerating. (level 1 and 2)
The Drawbridge Dragon (*) :
lives under the bridge in the introsequence. Shoots fireballs. Instant
death. Can (and must) be killed by 10 daggers. (level 0)
Prisoners (*) :
throw stones (can be destroyed by your weapon) which mean instant
death upon impact. Can not be killed. (level 1)
Poisonous Snakes :
spit poison at Dirk. Instant death. Can be killed by 3 daggers. The
first boss is 8 serpents. (level 1)
Rising And Falling Gateways :
instant death. Can not be killed. (level 1)
Moving Blocks :
goes up and down like the rising and falling gateways. Instant death,
but you can "overlap" with them quite a bit, meaning you can start
crawling under them before they go up in the roof. Can not be killed.
(level 2)
Vampire Bats (red) :
like the black bats, but need three knives to be killed. (level 2)
The Mining Car Trolls (second boss) :
two redskinned and bearded stone throwers, who hide in two mining
cars. Instant death. The number of daggers needed to kill them seems to
vary from time to time. Normally it is somewhere between 15 and 30 for
each one. (level 2)
Floating Skulls :
two types exist. One of them acts exactly like the black bats. The
other variety flies up and down while spitting stones and blocking the
path for Dirk. Instant death. If hit by a weapon they stand still, but
continue spitting stones. Be sure to hit them when they are high up so
you can get past under them ! (level 3)
Swinging Wall Pendulums :
cool trap which rotate 360 degrees in the third dimension. Instant
death. Can not be killed. (level 3)
Ghosts (*) :
fly up and down in a regular pattern (down, up, down, up, rest 3
seconds and repeat). Pass below when it settles for a moment on the
top. Instant death. Can not be killed. (level 3)
The Grim Reaper (third boss) :
shoots fire with his finger and emits skulls of the first variety from
his head. Can take six fireballs before going back to where he came
from. (level 3)
Flying Baby Dragons :
hatch from eggs on the last level and fly against Dirk while spitting
fire in front of them. They will home in on you and must therefor be
killed by 4 daggers or 2 axes/torches. They increase the speed if you
wait too long. (level 4)
Swamp Bubbles (*) :
drains energy. Can be destroyed by one dagger. (level 4)
Singe (fourth / last boss) :
blows smoke, either high or low, in the direction of Dirk, while
regularly emitting baby dragons. Instant death (what did you expect ?).
Can be killed by 20 axes (but seems to prefer living at Dirk's
expense). (level 4)
The Floating Lizard King (Mordroc) :
comes sometimes flying on the levels to steal your gold (and energy),
but can then be killed by 8 daggers. His appearance seems to be rather
randomized, although I can't recall ever having met him on level 3 nor
when I haven't had any goldbags left (that's a good reason for leaving
them alone). You can also meet him in his treasury (read below for more
info), although I strongly advice you not to go there, where he can't
be killed and where you die instantly upon impact. (level 1, 2, 4 and
the treasury)
*************
* 8. Cheats *
*************
By typing BATS on the High-score list you will start the next game with 30
lives. This cheat works unfortunately only on the PAL-version. I don't
think there is a corresponding code for the American version.
Note :
To lighten up the text, I have sometimes used shorter names for some
of the enemies. These are as follows :
Collapsing Floor - bad floor
Vampire Bats (black) - (black) bats
Drawbridge Dragon - dragon
Poisonous Snakes - snakes / serpents
Rising And Falling Gateways - gateways
Vampire Bats (red) - (red) bats
Mining Car Trolls - trolls
Floating Skulls - skulls (I and II)
Swinging Wall Pendulums - pendulums
Grim Reaper - reaper
Flying Baby Dragons - baby dragons
Swamp Bubbles - bubbles
Floating Lizard King (Mordroc) - Lizard Ling
Level 0 - The Drawbridge
========================
Go right until you're two steps right of where the chain holds up the
bridge. Kill the black bat that appears and jump right, upon which the
drawbridge dragon will come out from below. Turn around, jump back, duck
and crawl to the left of the screen. Turn around to the right, rise and
throw a few daggers at the dragon. Quickly duck under the fire spit out by
him. Repeat until the dragon is no more. Enter the castle while avoiding the
regenerating bats.
Level 1 - The Entrance Hall
===========================
Hidden items (in order of appearance)
-------------------------------------
to reveal the hidden items, just use the candle at the indicated place.
A - right before the first two gateways
P - right after the first two gateways
F - after the third prisoner
A - before the second set of two gateways
F - after the last prisoner
Walkthrough
-----------
Walk immediately just to the right of the first prisoner and wait until the
second one has thrown two stones in front of your feet. Hurry behind the
second prisoner and be prepared to take out a serpent that will appear just
after him. Crawl under the two gateways (watch out for the pattern of the
second one) and rise up. Advance and anticipate a serpent that will soon
appear. Go to the right of the stone throwing prisoner and wait for him to
throw two stones before trying to get the energy (if you need it). The step
right next to the prisoner marks the FIRST CONTINUE POINT.
Continue past the hole that spits out bats and be prepared for another snake
just after the fourth prisoner and another one upon jumping down the ledge
you're on. Light the candle to find some hidden axes and then crawl under
the first of the two gateways in front of you (same pattern as the second
gateway you passed a little earlier), rise, jump over the small pit and wait
for the prisoner to throw two stones before you crawl under the second
gateway. Continue crawling (to avoid the bats) until you reach another step.
This step is the SECOND (and last) CONTINUE POINT.
Wait for the last prisoner to throw his two stones and continue to the
right. If you somehow missed the axes before, you can light your candle to
find hidden fireballs just above. Crawl under another bathole and then rise
and walk to reach the first boss.
Boss 1 - The Eight Snakes
-------------------------
Start throwing your weapons as soon as the boss music begins. When you kill
the first serpent (it's the same kind of serpent you've already met - three
daggers or two axes / fireballs will do the job) another one will appear to
replace it. Stand still and kill it and two more snakes to the right in
this way. The fourth will not be replaced and you can now begin your fight
against the one to the left. Kill it and then hurry to the right. A new
serpent will come out near the roof. Jump and throw daggers to kill it. Two
more snakes will then appear to the left. Kill them too and exit to the
right to enter the first elevator shaft.
Elevator Shaft 1
----------------
Note :
the elevator shaft will be the same whether you redo a level or if it's
the first time you get there.
You will go down a shaft on an elevator that makes four stops along the way
down. At each stop there is a possibility to jump off onto a ledge (if you
go all the way down, the elevator will stop and you need to jump of in order
to continue). The ledges at the odd stops (1 and 3) are always to the right
and the ledges at the even stops (2 and 4) are always to the left. This is
important to know, since the stops are very short and you need to be
prepared when it's time to get off. In the following shaft-sections I will
just refer to each stop as 1, 2, 3 and 4 and tell you were they lead. Let's
begin with the first one !
The Treasury
============
I start out by strongly recommending you not to enter this room ! The game
is already hard enough without this painful place. Even though I consider
this room to be completely useless I will describe what to do here anyway.
So, upon entering the room, the Lizard King will fly against you, but this
time instant death awaits you if he touches you. Your goal is to get under
the King and get to the right side of the room, climb the throne and jump
and catch the blinking gold block (be sure to jump when it's lit) to the
right of the throne. Then you need to get back under the Lizard King and
exit to the left (you can not exit crawling, the same goes for all other
levels, you have to walk out). To keep the King from killing you, you need
to constantly throw your weapon at him. He will then stop his attack and
slowly move backwards. This is the time to move a _few_ steps forward. After
a while he will try to attack you again, but just keep throwing your weapons
at him to keep the distance. To get under the Lizard King is a very delicate
task. There are two ways to do this. The first way is to stand on the bottom
ledge and jump up and down while throwing daggers. He will then fly up a bit
and, if you are very accurate and very lucky, you can crawl under him. The
second way is to climb up and stand on the throne and repeat the same
tactics, but this time walk, instead of crawl, under him when he is high up
in the air. If you manage to get out alive (you need to get the gold block
to be able to exit) you will be at the top of the same shaft you entered the
treasury from.
If you haven't lost any goldbags (you haven't bumped into the Lizard King
during the game), you won't get any gold bags even if you collect the
blinking gold block (but you will still need to get it in order to open the
exit).
A few final words of advice. If you for some reason missed the level
entrance, I suggest you jump down the shaft rather than enter this place.
You will then restart at the top of the shaft with one life less - a very
wise decision considering the alternative. I can't stress enough that to
get out alive of the treasury is extremely hard and the result is so
incredibly lame that I feel like crying when thinking about it. Why would
you even consider getting back the gold that Mordroc will take from you
on the next level anyway ?
Level 2 - The Gold Mines
========================
Hidden items (in order of appearance)
-------------------------------------
C - in the opening in the roof between the first two moving blocks
P - two blocks to the right of the hidden C
P - after the first set of two moving blocks
A - before the first pit
L - after Singe's Dragon's Breath
Walkthrough
-----------
Get down on your knees and start crawling to the right towards a moving
block going up and down. Get under it and light the candle in the cavity
right after, if you need to refill the candle. Continue under a set of two
moving blocks right next to eachother, while avoiding the bats as much as
you can. Go down a few steps and continue crawling under another set of two
moving blocks (FIRST CONTINUE POINT) and a lonely moving block.
You will soon come to a set of two moving platforms. Before riding the first
of them, light the candle to get axes if you need. In order to ride these,
you need to _walk_ as it moves over the pit ! I repeat, you can not stand
still and hope that the platform will transport you to the other side. Once
you reached the second platform, you're at the SECOND CONTINUE POINT.
A third pit with a set of upwinds (referred to as Singe's Dragon's Breath in
the manual) coming up from it will now be in front of Dirk. Make a big jump
when a new set of winds starts to blow and cross the pit by pressing right on
the controller. This has to be done pretty quickly though. Then light the
candle to reveal a hidden extra life ! Jump up two steps and continue
crawling to the right. Suddenly it will become dark, but don't worry, just
continue to the right until you stop. Rise and light the candle. In front of
you is a bridge that is shooting out and going back over a gap. Cross it, but
be careful not to go to fast - there is chance to fall into the pit if you
don't slow down once in a while. Take the candles and the energy and continue
down a few steps to another two moving platforms. Cross them and be careful
not to go too fast here too. The platforms don't stop when they change
direction, making it sometimes difficult to time the boarding on the other
side. If you finish off by a small jump, you can avoid this problem. The
light will come back once you are on the other side of the second pit and
you have arrived at the second boss.
Boss 2 - The Mining Car Trolls
------------------------------
The second boss are two trolls, each hiding in a mining car. They hide
and reappear as follows: hide _about_ four seconds, throw one stone, hide
_about_ one second, throw another stone, hide four seconds etc. They appear
alternatively, with the rear one appearing first, then the front one, etc.
When the fight starts, crawl so that your face covers the vertical bar of
the mining car stopper. Wait until the rear troll has thrown his first two
stones. Advance as far right as possible while crouching. Then rise and turn
around. If you moved too far, you will "bounce" back. Then rise and move two
steps to the right before turning around. If done correctly, you will now be
in a safe position to the right of the rear troll. Just fire away with your
weapon from that position. You will hit whichever troll that is up.
Note : there does not seem to be a fix number of hits to take the trolls
out with, but it varies between something like 15-30 daggers. It seems to
me like you need less hits if you hit them every time they appear. Or maybe
some hits cause more damage than others ? This is indeed a bit strange...
Elevator Shaft 2
----------------
1 - Level 0
2 - Level 2
3 - Level 3
4 - The Treasury
Level 3 - The Hall Of The Grim Reaper
=====================================
Hidden items (in order of appearance)
-------------------------------------
P - under the second arc from the start
A - under the third arc from the start
G - before jumping on the ledge of the first pendulum
E - after the first set of two pendulums
L - after the axes
F - before the second ghost
E - after a hard passage with two skulls II
P - before the visible daggers
A - over the first floor support after the visible daggers
E - after the hidden axes
P - under the second arc after the skull II garding a big pit
P - under the same archway as the above P
Walkthrough
-----------
Light the candle under the third arc from start if you need axes. Then walk
and take out the skulls as they appear, but be sure to stand on a place
where the floor is supported from below, otherwise you will fall through the
it. You will soon come to a skull II, which you should hit when high up in
the air (jump and throw weapon). On the next ledge, which has a good floor,
you will meet your first pendulum, this one is easy although you will die if
it passes you even if you duck. Then make a small jump to the next ledge,
without getting to far in on it. This ledge has a set of two pendulums
mounted in height. Just duck and follow the lower one on your hands and
knees. Light the candle now if you need energy and then stay down as the
skulls will miss you. Be careful as you continue (that is : don't stop in
the middle), since there is some bad floor (the last one for a while) right
before the next ledge, where you'll meet your first ghost. Walk (not crawl)
under it and duck as soon as you jumped down to the next ledge (to avoid
the Skull I). Right after the axes, there is a hidden extra life if you
light the candle. Then comes another set of two pendulums. You need to jump
over the lower one in order to progress. Pass another ghost and be prepared
for an annoying passage over a pit. Make a low jump to get on the moving
platform (FIRST CONTINUE POINT), follow it and jump off with another low
jump. You can't avoid the daggers on the other side, but it doesn't really
matter.
Pass another ghost and jump down to a new ledge with a set of two pendulums.
Pass them by jumping over the lower, duck under the upper and quickly jump
over the lower one again. Then stay as close to the pendulums as possible.
You'll see another skull II, but he can't hit you if you placed yourself
right. Hit him as high up as you can and move as far right as possible on
the floor support. Ignore the fireballs, since it will expose you to some
unnecesary danger. Be careful with the bad floor and continue to the next
floor support, where you're out of reach for the second skull II. Throw a
weapon to stop it and then walk under it. Just to the right is some hidden
energy if you use the candle. Fall down the ledge and pass another pendulum
and remember the extra life (easy to get). You will need it, because the
next section is tricky if you don't know how to do it ! But first you crawl
under another ghost and another high pendulum (SECOND CONTINUE POINT).
Walk off the ledge and light the candle when standing on the first floor
support after the daggers. This will reveal hidden axes. It is extremely
important to get those ! You can also get some hidden energy right after.
When you're done, continue walking past the bad floor and stop on the floor
support right before the pit. Over the pit are two moving platforms, which
will stop as soon you land on them. Time your jump so you first land on the
upper platform. Move to the right to see a skull II, that you should stop
as high as possible (as usual). Then fall down to the lower platform, from
which you hopefully can reach the other side. If you first land on the
lower platform, you'll make it utterly difficult for yourself. It is
possible to make the jump to the other side, but you need to have an
extreme precision to stop the upper platform as close as possible to the
right side of the pit. That is because you must finish off by a low jump if
you don't want to jump into the stones from the skull II. Watch out for bad
floor as you move on. You will reach a ghost and a set of pendulums. Even
though the ghost and the pendulums seem to be close together, you can stand
between them. To get past the pendulums, you jump over the lower, duck
under the upper and jump over the lower again (same pattern as a bit
earlier). Then get past a skull II on the other side (CONTINUE POINT
THREE).
Jump on the moving platform behind the skull II and jump off it on the other
side. Another skull II will then appear, but if you walk under it right away
it will not kill you. Now prepare yourself for the Grim Reaper !
Boss 3 - The Grim Reaper
------------------------
The Reaper is blue and the only vulnerable part is its head. From its finger
it shoots out sets of four fireballs (the first time only three), either
high or low, while emitting skull I from its head.
If you come all the way here, you should be able to bring this one down as
well. Simply duck (in this way you can avoid both the low and the high
fireballs) and wait just below his shooting finger. Once he's done with a
series of fireballs, jump once and aim at his head. Then avoid the next set
of fireballs and repeat. Six fireballs will be enough.
Elevator Shaft 3
----------------
1 - Level 4
2 - Level 1
3 - The Treasury
4 - Level 3
Level 4 - Singe's Cavern
========================
Hidden items
------------
No hidden items on this level. :-(
Walkthrough
-----------
I'm not sure why this level is called a cavern, because it looks more like
you're in a swamp than anything else, but nevermind !
If you have the axes or fireballs, this level should be doable, but with
the daggers, you're definitely in for some trouble. Duck and shoot as soon
as you enter to kill a newly hatched baby dragon. A little further awaits
another one, which will hatch as you approach it (you can't kill it if it's
not hatched). Go back and duck when you see it starts hatching to get more
time to throw weapons at him. Jump over some water while trying to avoid the
bubbles. If you have the daggers, you need to do a small jump to the ground
(not stay on the upper ledge). Otherwise you can be almost certain to be
skelletized by the next baby dragon. If you have the axes / fireballs you
can do as you please ! Kill the third baby dragon and continue. There are
axes here, that are almost impossible to avoid as you will soon see (but
since it's the best weapon, we don't mind, do we ?). Hatch the fourth baby
dragon and hurry back over the water and wait for it there. Jump over to
the island it hatched from, to find the fifth baby dragon. Hatch it, go
back, wait for it, kill it, but you know that by now don't you ? The sixth
awaits you on the next island as well as the seventh (FIRST, and only,
CONTINUE POINT).
The eigth is on the island after and the ninth another island away. After
the ninth it is time for a critical moment in the game. On the next island
you'll see a dagger block. If you pick that one up, you can just as well
reset the game... To avoid taking it, do this : at the boundaries of the
ledge you're standing on are some black, vertical lines. Stand so your toes
are between the first and second lines and then jump. As you land on the
next island, you'll hatch the tenth (and last) baby dragon, so you need to
jump back in order to kill it, before doing this precise jump again.
Continue to the right to face Singe.
Boss 4 - Singe
--------------
Prepare yourself for a _very_ hard and uneven fight against what most likely
is the hardest enemy ever created for a Nintendo game. Hopefully you have
the axes. If you don't have the axes, you still have a microscopic chance to
beat him, but it's sort of like finding the famous needle in a haystack... I
would just reset and retry to save time if I were you. Singe is a green,
firebreating dragon with a brewer's drop, who fills the right hand of the
screen from bottom to the top. Even Dirk looks small in comparison to Singe.
Luckily for Dirk, Singe does not move around and spit fire, but sits calmly
and puffs smoke in Dirk's direction while emitting baby dragons from his
enormous belly. I will straight away tell you why Singe is so incredibly
hard. The small smokepuffs mean of course instant death to Dirk and they
come flying quite fast against you. For a normal hero, this would not be a
problem, but for Dirk, who is so incredibly slow and badly controlled, they
are extremely hard to avoid. The first couple of times you'll have about a
50-50 chance to survive each smokepuff (either you duck under or jump over,
depending on if it has a high or a low trajectory). If you consider that you
have to avoid something like maybe, let's think positively, 50 smokepuffs to
beat him, you'll have about one chance in 10^15 (1 with 15 zeros after it,
or one million billions if you prefer) to beat him. Add to this the baby
dragons who kill you once every now and then. The baby dragons add much to
the difficulty if you use daggers. What I can help you with is a general
strategy against Singe, but even then it will be extremely hard even for the
most skillful player to win (although a lot of training will definitely help
you).
When the screen starts to flash and Singe appears, turn around and hurry
almost as far left as possible and then face him again. The first few
smokepuffs are often the hardest to avoid, so stay concentrated. If it's a
low one, jump over it and throw a few weapons against his head, the only
vulnerable part of Singe. If you are too far to the left, you're weapons
won't reach far enough and you'll have to approach Singe one step or two.
If it's a high one, duck to avoid it. At the same time you can take out the
baby dragons. In the beginning it seems to me that the smokepuffs are puffed
out rather randomly, making them hard to foresee. If you manage to survive
the first, let's say, ten puffs maybe, Singe will blow more and more high
puffs and very rarely two low ones in a row. That is why the beginning is
harder. Now, here is a piece of advice that I find useful. Always stay down
after a high smokepuff, but as soon as Singe opens his mouth, you rise and
if it's a low puff you jump over it, while you go back down if it's a high
one. If it's a low one on the other hand, you won't have enough time to
duck, rise and jump if it comes another low one. I normally cross my fingers
and duck anyway, because I find it very hard to do the right thing if I'm
standing when Singe puffs. The advantage is that you will stay focused
during all the battle and you can continue shooting the baby dragons while
rising. Also, this prevents you from pushing the wrong button by mistake.
You can actually control Dirk pretty well while he's rising. I know that
this strategy sounds a bit weird, but try it and I think you'll see what I
mean. However, don't forget that this will be a very hard fight anyway and
you'll have to be prepared to die and die and die and ... just to get to
that one lucky time when everything works. Good luck !
**************
* 10. Ending *
**************
To give or not to give ? That is the question. Since a complete
walkthrough needs to contain all interesting info about the game without
leaving anything out, I say give.
The very cheap ending (I guess noone was supposed to get this far) simply
consists of a small picture with Dirk holding Daphne in his arms and the
text (in the same italic as on the High-score list) "Congratulations ! Our
hero has triumphed ! Daphne is saved from Singe´s evil clutches. May you
both live happily ever after ?...". Yep, that's it ! No credits, nothing
more. Then you get to enter your name on the High-score list (if you have
enough points, that is) and you're back at the title screen again.
***************************
* 11. High Score strategy *
***************************
In this section I present a fool proof strategy on getting the highest
score. I publish it with courtesy of Luke J Martinez. Thanks for your
empathy Luke !
"It is possible to achieve a score higher than Singe's 89,999 points.
Many people may be amazed this is even possible, and furthermore, the way
to attain this fate is so obvious, it can easily be overlooked, which is
another reason I enjoy Dragon's Lair.
One can start at the beginning of the game by not moving Dirk at all, but
by throwing a knife at the bat that appears and keeps reappearing over
the moat. Everytime the bat is hit 40 pts will be added to one's score.
Keep hitting the reappearing bat with a knife over and over, all while
not disturbing the serpent under the moat. Getting the best high score is
tedious and takes several hours & lives, but I eventually reached my goal.
I believe a better location is in the snake's lair (second level), at the
first hole in the wall spewing bats, also known as the "first checkpoint".
Three come out at the same time here compared to the one bat at the moat.
There is also an Energy nearby. Just be sure to die before the checkpoint
so to start at the beginning of the level again.
It is also important to leave enough points to earn for the rest of the
game, otherwise achieving a score of over 99,999 pts will result in the
resetting of one's score, meaning the score will roll back to zero! A good
time to stop hitting the bats over and over is when a score of 90,000 pts
is achieve; the typical score one acheves when playing unconsciously is
5,000 pts, or less, therefore, hardly ever over 5,000 pts. Leaving room
will allow one to accumulate other points throughout the rest of the game,
because sometimes earning points is unavoidable, like when defeating Death
and Singe. Without this knowledge beating Singe's score can be tricky!
Here is the rundown: 562 bats will be hit every life that is spent. Three
lives will be needed to reach 90,000 pts, therefore 2,250 bats will need to
be hit. Throwing knives is an expenditure of energy, so don't hold the
button down to recklessly throw them; limit one knife to one bat."
This is the first walkthrough I've ever written and I'm sure it's the last
one as well. This walkthrough is written entirely by me, but I have tree
contributors and a few more acknowledgements to do. First of all I would
like to thank LaVey Charkus Veros and Maxx a million times for the very
much needed help with some info found in the manual and for clearifying
how the 30-lives cheat code works, respectively. Also, good work Egil for
finding out the secret use of the candle and Xandier for coming with an
improved way to beat the mine trolls. Thanks also to CjayC for posting
this walkthrough on gamefaqs.
**********************
* 13. Copyright Info *
**********************
Please do not post this walkthrough on your web site without my permission.
This is supposed to be a free guide, so don't sell it. I don't mind if you
copy and paste this information for personal use, but if you want to use it
for any other purpose, you need to contact me first. You are under no
circumstances aloud to change any if its content. Thanks!
This seal contains a secret message that proves I'm the rightful owner of
this document, so please don't try and break any of the rules above !
Without the right matrix, one that I have randomly chosen, you won't be
able to decipher the message.
Do you have any feedback on this walkthrough ? Is there something I
missed ? Since I'm writing this walkthrough in a foreign language, I would
also very much appreciate all grammatical or spelling errors you can find
(I'm sure there are tons of them). You can contact me at ktwo[at]graffiti.net
with feedback and questions.
