From laserdisc to solid state ROM, Digital Leisure has announced that they will be releasing Dragon's Lair for the Nintendo DS. The 24-year old game (that still looks good today, with its Disney inspired artwork and animation) will ship with a handful of new features, many of which take advantage of the Nintendo DS.

The game will be playable either book-style (dual screen) or top-top (single screen). Digital Leisure is also promising both d-pad and touch screen support, as well as voice recognition, and support for the much ignored Rumble Pak. Toss in a "Home mode," which includes sequences not found in the original arcade, and even old fans of the series have some to look forward to. 

I think what fans have the most to look forward to, however, is that ths isn't the Dragonstone developed Dragon's Lair 3D that was released on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox a few years back.

"Dragons Lair: The fantasy adventure where you become a valiant knight, on a quest to rescue the fair princess from the clutches of an evil dragon. You control the actions of a daring adventurer, finding his way through the castle of a dark wizard, who has enchanted it with treacherous monsters and obstacles. In the mysterious caverns below the castle, your odyssey continues against the awesome forces that oppose your efforts to reach the Dragon's Lair. Lead on, adventurer. Your quest awaits!

The Nintendo DS version will have a plethora of unique features while still maintaining the original game play, quality and style of the arcade release. Following is a breakdown of features specific to the handheld release (all of which are controlled from a settings menu):

Nintendo DS Specific features:

· Dual Screen (book-style) full-screen action

· Single Screen (top-down) full-screen action

· D-Pad & Touch screen support (in both Dual Screen & Single Screen modes)

· Voice Recognition

· Rumble Pak Support

· Arcade & Home modes: This feature allows you to switch between the Arcade and Home versions of the game (Arcade default). The differences between the two are that the latter includes the additional sequences that were not in the original Arcade game.

· Game Statistics: Displays your lives and overall score

· Lives: Choose between unlimited, standard 5 lives or sudden death single life mode

· Difficulty: Easy or Hard. The Hard option complicates things by adding additional moves in certain sequences and mixes up the scenes for less linear stage progression. Timing of moves is also affected – achieve higher scores

· Visual Move Guide On/Off: Toggle this option on to bring up a visual clue that shows whether you entered the right move or not. A red circle means you entered the wrong move or your timing is off, a green one lets you know you did it right.

· Watch mode (learning mode – video mode): All game scenes without deaths – all game scenes with deaths scenes, in addition to an option where the player can choose to watch a specific scene