How to play Dragonfire online
- Run left and right: left and right arrow keys
- Duck under high fireballs: down arrow key
- Jump over low fireballs: Space bar
- Jump from a crouch (for fireballs that come close together): hold the down arrow and press Space
- Choose a game variation: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Second player: in two-player games the players take turns; player 2 uses F/H to run, G to duck and A to jump
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0–9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0–9 loads it
Gameplay
According to the story in the manual, dragons have driven the royal court out of the castle and taken the king’s treasury. Each round has two parts. First you see the castle from the side: the prince starts at the tower on the right and has to cross the bridge to the tower on the left while fireballs fly at him at two heights. High ones you duck under, low ones you jump over.
Once across, the view switches to the dragon’s storeroom, seen from above. The treasure is scattered around the room, and a dragon paces back and forth along the bottom, breathing fire up at you. Touch each item to collect it. When the last one is gone, an exit opens at the upper left. Escape through it and you are back on the bridge, facing a new and tougher dragon. You start with seven lives, and every hit from a fireball, on the bridge or in the storeroom, costs one.
| Treasure | Points |
|---|---|
| Jug, lamp, goblet | 10 |
| Helmet, candelabra | 60 |
| Chest, harp | 200 |
| Diamond, crown | 400 |
Game variations
There are four variations, each for one or two players. The difference is which dragon you meet first. Variation 1 starts with the slow green dragon, variation 2 with the smarter blue one, variation 3 with the angry red dragon, and variation 4 jumps straight to the fast orange dragon. In a two-player game the left player goes first.
Tips
- Cross the bridge quickly. The longer you stay on it, the more fireballs you have to deal with.
- Use the tower as a safe spot. If a bad pattern of fireballs is coming, run back to the right-hand tower and wait for a better moment.
- Run towards fireballs when you jump. Your jump carries further when you are moving towards the fireball.
- Keep moving in the storeroom. Standing still makes you an easy target. Head straight for the next item.
The story behind Dragonfire
Dragonfire did not start out as a fantasy game. Early in development it was called Cheese and was a cat-and-mouse game about collecting pieces of cheese. The dragon and the prince replaced that idea, but the treasure room still works a lot like the original cheese hunt.
The Atari 2600 version came first, in 1982, and Imagic ported it to the Intellivision the same year. Versions for the VIC-20, ZX Spectrum, Apple II, Commodore 64, ColecoVision and TRS-80 Color Computer followed in 1983 and 1984. Electronic Games magazine suggested it as a good first fantasy game for younger players, and it received a Certificate of Merit at the 1984 Arkie Awards for its audio-visual effects. In 2003 Bob Smith released the game’s source code into the public domain.
Similar games to play next
- Demon Attack – Imagic’s best-known shooter, from the same year
- Riddle of the Sphinx – an Imagic adventure with treasure and traps in ancient Egypt
- Atlantis – another Imagic classic, defending an underwater city
- Adventure – Atari’s original quest for a lost chalice, with dragons of its own
- Pitfall! – more jumping and treasure hunting, this time in the jungle