Play Dragon's Lair on snes Online

Dirk swings his sword through gothic castles, tossing axes at bats between awkward jumps—it’s janky, but nailing a mid-air knife throw just feels right. The dragon breathing fire in the pixelated background almost makes up for the spike traps that keep killing you.

Developer: Motivetime Ltd.

Genre: Action

Released: 1993

File size: 350 bytes

Game Overview

Dragon's Lair on SNES is nothing like the arcade original—instead of quick-time events, it’s a full-on action platformer that feels like a weird, slightly janky cousin of Castlevania. You play as Dirk the Daring (who somehow looks both heroic and permanently confused), slashing through skeletons and tossing axes at bats across 24 levels of gothic castles and dragon-infested dungeons.

The sword feels a little stiff at first, but once you get the hang of throwing knives mid-jump, it clicks. Some of the platforming is brutal—expect a few cheap deaths from spikes you didn’t see coming—but the pixel art has this eerie charm, especially when Singe the dragon shows up breathing fire in the background. It’s not perfect, but there’s something oddly satisfying about chipping away at its weird, clunky combat.