Dragon's Lair (NES)

Dragon's Lair
Developer: MotiveTime Publishers: CSG Imagesoft (US), Epic/Sony Records (JP), Elite Systems (EU) Platform: NES Released in JP: September 20, 1991 Released in US: December 1990 Released in EU: September 20, 1991 This game has uncompiled source code. This game has a hidden sound test. This game has regional differences. This game has a notes page

The NES Dragon's Lair is a rather underwhelming platformer based on Don Bluth's famous Laserdisc game.

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Notes

Source Code

While the US version uses a 128KB ROM, the Japanese and European ones use 256KB ROMs. As a result, the latter two have a lot of unused space filled with garbage, leftovers from MS-DOS executables, and more.

Still, there's a lot of source code within said garbage.

Combined Source

The Japanese and European versions contain different portions of their source code which can be compiled into one huge file, covering almost all of program banks 30-39. There are some differences between the two versions, and it appears the Japanese one was done earlier.

Regional Differences

Framerate improvements aside, several notable differences exist between the US/Japanese and European versions of the game.

Copyright Screen

US	Japan	Europe

The Japanese and European versions removed Don Bluth's and the registered symbol from the logo.

The European version added ™ and shifted most of the content slightly to the left, becoming out of center.

US	Japan	Europe

The Japanese version changed Don Bluth's to Sullivan Bluth's. The European version's Sullivan Bluth's text was different from the Japanese version and was readjusted.

The Japanese version only rewrote the copyright text, the European version recolored it from gray to blue and slightly adjusted it.

Title Screens

US	Japan	Europe

The logo on the title screen has the same aforementioned changes.

Splash Screens

These screens were added to the European version and appear as you enter each stage. Oddly, the dungeon does not have one. The splash screen for the Entrance Hall depicts a boss that was added for this version, detailed below.

Oddly, while these are still entirely functional in the Japanese version, they have been stubbed out with a rts.

Entrance Hall Boss

US/Japan	Europe

A giant snake boss was added to the European version, which replaces the multiple snake enemies at the end of the Entrance Hall. The boss shoots projectiles either directly at you or towards the floor as you try to hit it in the face.

Spider

US/Japan	Europe

For some reason, this spider enemy only appears in the European version. Touching it is an instant kill. Only seen in the Entrance Hall. They replace some of the snake enemies from the US version.

Flying Insects

In Entrance Hall, Bats fly out of the openings in the US version, while the European version uses flying insects of some sort.

Death Animation

When Dirk gets flattened in the European and Japanese versions, you get a unique animation of him getting stuffed inside his helmet with only his feet visible and walking around for a bit. In the US version, you get the usual skeleton death for everything.

The Elevator Shaft

The European version was made a bit harder here with added projectiles flying around the elevator shaft. Touching one is instant death.

The Mines

When approaching the boss, US version will not switch scenes, while Japanese version and European version will switch scenes immediately.

Whenever the boss is hit, it won't flash in the American version, but will in the Japanese and European versions.

Reaper's Domain

The vertical-moving skull enemies go down to the ground in the North American version, making them harder to avoid. The Japanese and European versions have the enemies move back up before they touch the ground.

North America	Europe/Japan

Also, the Grim Reaper's room was a bit different, in that the Japanese and European versions add holes to the floor.

Music

The music plays faster in the Japanese version. Also, as with most PAL games, the music plays a half-step/semitone flat of what the USA version sounds like. Some songs in the European version play faster compared to the USA version, while other songs play slower.

Ending Theme

A few notes were changed in the game's ending theme in the Japanese and European versions at about 0:24.

North America	Europe/Japan (Dendy)

Here are the notes from that bar written in MML for easier understanding,

US version:

E4+q. D4+8 D4+h. A3+q B3+q C4+q D4+w 

European/Japanese version:

E4+q. D4+8 D4+h. A3+8 B3+8 C4+q D4+q D+w

High Scores

There were a couple minor tweaks to the high scores between the US, European, and Japanese versions.

US	European	Japanese
SINGE	SINGE	SINGE
MTIME	MTIME	MTIME
CSG	SBIM	SBIM
SBIM	ELITE	EPIC
DAPH	DAPH	DAPH
TOM	TOM	TOM
DICK	DICK	DICK
HARRY	HARRY	HARRY

• The place for SBIM was swapped from 3rd place in the US version to 4th place in the European and Japanese versions.
• The 3rd (U)/4th (E/J) scores represent the publishers for their respective companies; CSG, Elite, and Epic.

Speed Differences

The Japanese and European version uses an MMC3 mapper. As a result, the game is more responsive compared to the US version which uses an UNROM mapper.

(Source: Displaced Gamers: The Hidden Source Code in Dragon's Lair (NES))

Controls

The international versions use B to jump and Start for the candle. Since the Famicom's Controller 2 does not have Select or Start buttons, these were remapped to Up and B respectively.

As a side effect, the jumping is much trickier in the Japanese version, especially when trying to perform precise jumps.

Ending

The European and Japanese versions make some rather unnecessary changes to the ending text.

North America	Europe/Japan

• The exclamation points in CONGRATULATIONS ! and OUR HERO HAS TRIUMPHED ! were removed. The latter text was moved to the right a little bit to better center it.
• The last line removes the question mark from the North American release.