Play Dragon's Lair (Japan) Online

Guide a bumbling knight through a dragon’s castle where every wrong move ends in cartoonish disaster—timing’s tight, and the NES somehow makes his flailing sword swings look fluid.

File size: 256 bytes

Game Overview

Dragon's Lair on NES is basically the great-grandparent of those "press X now!" moments in modern games. You play as Dirk, this hilariously clumsy knight stumbling through a dragon's castle, and every second feels like you're steering a Saturday morning cartoon. The animation's surprisingly smooth for an NES game—Dirk flails his sword, leaps awkwardly over pits, and occasionally gets roasted by the dragon when you miss a timing.

It's way harder than it looks. The first time I played, I thought it'd be like watching a cartoon where you occasionally tap a button, but nope—you've got maybe half a second to react before Dirk faceplants into a trap. After a few tries, you start memorizing the castle's cruel little surprises. The princess better be worth all these flaming boulders and collapsing bridges.

Fun fact: This was originally an arcade game with gorgeous laserdisc graphics, so the NES version feels like someone redrew the whole thing with crayons. Still weirdly charming, though.