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dragon's lair

Dragon's Lair on iPhone: Fire-blast from the past

Equipped with a great video player and easy touch controls, the iPhone is fast becoming a spot for Laser Disc arcade games of yore to get a second life on the go. First came Space Ace early this year, but for a roll of quarters, iPhone and iPod Touch users can now reach back into their bowling alley/arcade memories and get Dragon's Lair, which was released this week, on the App Store, too. It's a perfect adaptation of the Don Bluth-animated game that I remember all too well from many, many weekends at Chuck E Cheese.

For … Read more

Space Ace is pretty ace on iPhone

One of the first games I got for my Amiga was Space Ace. Although most of the original game from the arcade was missing and the graphics were made from actual 2D sprites and not an actual cel-animated cartoon, I still played the hell out of it until I could beat it in less than fives minutes in my sleep.

Space Ace was originally released for arcades in 1984, following the huge success of Dragon's Lair. Both games were Laser Disc-based and were essentially controllable cartoons. Well, at least that the was illusion they so successfully cast.

Former Disney animator Don Bluth created the art and animation for the games and each featured gameplay in which at certain points during the animation, the player was required to press a single button or move the joystick in a single direction to progress.

Basically, the animation was playing and you had to make the right choice, with the right timing, to keep it playing.

Although I always preferred Dragon's Lair, Space Ace added the ability to transform your character from a meek wimpy wimp into the huge, musclebound hero archetype. Changing your character in this way usually added a new puzzle to whatever sequence you were in the middle of. Given the game some added replay value.

On Thursday, Digital Leisure announced Space Ace's availability on the iPhone app store for $4.99. I never played the original arcade game to the very end, but as far as I can tell, the whole game is here. … Read more

Photos: Greatest arcade games of the '80s

Imagine you have a time machine, a pocket full of quarters and a Walkman with Siouxsie and Smiths cassettes (OK, you can bring your own). Your mission is to travel back to the '80s, the golden age of arcade games, and play your favorite one.

Which would you pick?

Would you sidle up to Asteroids, Frogger, Centipede, Donkey Kong? ... Need to jog your memory? Check out this News.com gallery of the classic games of the 1980s.