Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp

This article is about the official 1991 arcade sequel. For the 1980s home conversion of further scenes from the original (sometimes referred to as "Dragon's Lair II"), see Escape from Singe's Castle.

Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp
Dragon's Lair II arcade flyer
Publisher(s)	Digital Leisure
Platform(s)	Laserdisc, DSiWare
Release date(s)	June 16, 1991 DSiWare NA December 20, 2010 EU July 7, 2011
Rating(s)	ESRB: T PEGI: 7

Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp is a 1991 laserdisc video game by Don Bluth. It is regarded as the first "true" sequel to Dragon's Lair. It takes place years after the timeline of the original Dragon's Lair. Dirk has married Daphne, and the marriage has produced several children. When Daphne is kidnapped by the evil wizard Mordroc in order to be forced into marriage, Dirk's children are clearly upset by the abduction of their mother, and Dirk must once again save her.

Overview

As with the original, Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp consists of an animated short film that requires the player to move the joystick or press a fire button at certain times in order to continue. The game follows a traditional damsel in distress storyline where Dirk the Daring must find and rescue Daphne with the help of a well-spoken time machine. Strangely, it seems that the time machine is (or has been possessed by) the brother of Mordroc, the foul wizard that has kidnapped Daphne. As the title suggests, Dirk travels through several dimensions and historical eras searching for Daphne, some are inspired by classic stories and fairy tales such as Alice in Wonderland and Sleeping Beauty, to prevent Mordroc from enslaving Daphne to his whim with the dreaded Death Ring. Voice actor Michael Rye reprises his role as the narrator in the attract sequence, as he did with Dragon's Lair as well as Space Ace.

Development

Development on the game began in 1983 after the success of the original Dragon's Lair, and finally reached arcades eight years later, hence Leland Interactive's credit on the title screen. Gameplay differs from the original in two important ways. First, it's linear, as opposed to the randomized sequences of rooms from the first game; "dying" in the sequel also forces you to resume from a checkpoint in the level rather than starting a randomly different level as in the original. Second, golden treasures are scattered throughout the game; getting each treasure is optional and requires an extra move, but the player is awarded extra points. The developers originally planned to include a longer battle sequence at the end if the player managed to collect all the treasures, and a shorter one if they missed any, but this idea was scrapped in the final version and the longer sequence is used regardless. In the final release of the game it was made mandatory to pick up all the treasures; if the player misses any, at the end of the game it loops back to the first treasure missed. As well, unlike in the first game, the actions the player must do are prompted by a brief flash of what Dirk should use or where he should go next.

DVD release

Dragon's Lair II was released on DVD on April 17, 2007.

Blu-ray release

Following the release of Dragon's Lair and Space Ace in HD for Blu-ray, Digital Leisure said they were working on a Blu-ray version of Dragon's Lair II for some time in 2008. The disc was released on June 2, 2009.

An easter egg on the Space Ace Blu-ray allows the player to play the first scene of Dragon's Lair II in Blu-ray format.

Stages

• Stage 1; Dirk must flee from his angry mother-in-law while getting past creatures and obstacles in Singe's old castle, not the least of which are not one, but two ravenous snakes, one of which is inexplicably wearing a Tam o'shanter, in order to reach the time machine that will allow him to pursue Mordroc.
• Stage 2; In prehistoric times, Mordroc takes a moment to taunt Dirk as he battles pterodactyls, a T-rex, and two winged centaurs that carry Daphne away. As this happens, the tiny island they are on gradually crumbles into the sea.
• Stage 3; In 1865, Dirk is materialized in Alice Liddell's house and goes through the looking-glass that hangs over the fireplace. He tumbles into Wonderland where he faces Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Queen of Hearts, her army of playing card soldiers, the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, the Jabberwocky and the Cheshire Cat.
• Stage 4; In the Garden of Eden, Dirk has to escape from guardian angels, the advances of a morbidly obese Eve, a half-hungry, half-smooth-talking snake, and finally, the ruin of Eden itself when Eve eats the forbidden apple.
• Stage 5; In 1804, Dirk is shrunk to the size of a mouse in Ludwig van Beethoven's study, where he must avoid the predations of the composer's persistent, hungry cat, not to mention the sheer chaos of his creative gust.
• Stage 6; In Ancient Egypt, Dirk finds what appears to be Daphne (wrapped completely in linen bandages) but is actually Mordroc in disguise, leading Dirk on a wild goose chase as he explores an ancient tomb while narrowly avoiding poison gas, spiders, giant bats, flesh-eating acid, and an undead mummy.
• Stage 7; At Mordroc's castle, Daphne becomes a large monster when the evil wizard puts the Death Ring on her finger. Dirk must avoid the monstrous Daphne's mindless attempts to devour him, get the ring off her finger, restore her to normal, and defeat Mordroc at the same time.
• Final Stage; Although Mordroc is finally defeated, Dirk must fight off the wizard's surviving minions and safely escape the crumbling castle with Daphne.

External links

• Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp at the Killer List of Videogames
• Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp at MobyGames
• Detailed Info on Dragon's Lair II: TimeWarp