# Arcade1up - CES 2021 - Dragon's Lair - CONFIRMED!

**Source:** RetroRalph  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2021-01-11  
**Duration:** 4m 0s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6RtU9JkOkU

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## Analysis

Retro Ralph reviews Arcade1Up's Dragon's Lair cabinet announced at CES 2021, praising its faithful recreation of the original arcade cabinet design including angled marquee, sword control panel detail, and coin door replica. The cabinet will include Dragon's Lair, Dragon's Lair 2, and Space Ace with online leaderboards and authenticated original Laserdisc rip footage.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Arcade1Up Dragon's Lair cabinet replicates the original arcade's angled marquee design, sword control panel detail, and coin door — _Direct visual comparison shown between render and original arcade cabinet; RetroRalph describes specific design elements_
- [HIGH] The cabinet will include Dragon's Lair, Dragon's Lair 2, and Space Ace — _RetroRalph explicitly states all three games are listed on the cabinet render_
- [HIGH] The cabinet will use the original Laserdisc rip without cropping or modification — _RetroRalph states 'They're going to make sure they use the original Laserdisc rip' and mentions many versions exist with cropping_
- [HIGH] The cabinet will be online enabled with global leaderboards — _RetroRalph explicitly mentions 'online enabled' with 'access to global leaderboards'_
- [MEDIUM] There is mystery surrounding the 'cell phone thing' display element on the cabinet that will be explained — _RetroRalph notes 'there's some mystery behind what this is going to actually be' and mentions discussing with 'john on the one up weekly'_

### Notable Quotes

> "Dragon's Lair is the game you played as a kid, but totally sucked at."
> — **Retro Ralph**, opening
> _Sets up the game's cultural context as a notoriously difficult arcade title_

> "I think they did a really good job... I'm really impressed that they're going the extra mile to try and make these look like their arcade counterparts."
> — **Retro Ralph**, mid-video
> _Establishes RetroRalph's positive assessment of Arcade1Up's design fidelity_

> "for me i'm not the biggest dragon's lair fan but it will look really cool in the game room this is one of those it's going to be hard not to buy because of the fact that looks so cool"
> — **Retro Ralph**, conclusion
> _Indicates that aesthetic appeal alone may drive purchases even among non-fans_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Arcade1Up | company | Arcade cabinet manufacturer producing the Dragon's Lair cabinet; known for home arcade cabinet recreation |
| Dragon's Lair | game | Classic laserdisc arcade game being ported to Arcade1Up cabinet; iconic 1980s arcade title |
| Dragon's Lair 2 | game | Sequel to Dragon's Lair, included in Arcade1Up bundle |
| Space Ace | game | Laserdisc arcade game by same developer as Dragon's Lair; included in Arcade1Up cabinet |
| Retro Ralph | person | Video content creator reviewing the Arcade1Up Dragon's Lair cabinet announcement at CES 2021 |
| Derek D | person | Mentioned as someone associated with Dragon's Lair wishes; unclear role but referenced as person of interest |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Cabinet design fidelity and aesthetic recreation, Arcade1Up product line and CES 2021 announcements, Laserdisc arcade game preservation and authentication
- **Secondary:** Online leaderboards and connected arcade features, Original arcade cabinet nostalgia and recreation market

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.82) — RetroRalph expresses enthusiasm for the cabinet's design fidelity and appearance, with some measured criticism about not being a huge Dragon's Lair fan but acknowledging the aesthetic appeal would make it hard to resist purchasing

### Signals

- **[announcement]** Arcade1Up officially announces Dragon's Lair cabinet at CES 2021 with multi-game bundle and online features (confidence: high) — RetroRalph confirms CES 2021 announcement with render imagery and specific feature details (leaderboards, original laserdisc, three-game bundle)
- **[product_strategy]** Arcade1Up prioritizes faithful cabinet design recreation including angled marquee, control panel sword detail, and replica coin door (confidence: high) — Side-by-side comparison shows RetroRalph explicitly noting angular marquee replication, sword detail preservation, and plastic coin door inclusion
- **[technology_signal]** Integration of online leaderboard functionality and unclear display element ('cell phone thing') represents technology additions beyond original arcade (confidence: medium) — RetroRalph mentions 'online enabled' with 'global leaderboards' and notes mystery around display element to be explained by Arcade1Up staff

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## Transcript

Alright guys, it's a big day for Arcade 1-Up, and the next cabinet up is Dragon's Lair. That's right, Derek D. They're answering those wishes for Dragon's Lair. Dragon's Lair is the game you played as a kid, but totally sucked at. But yeah, it's a fun game. It did cost a lot in the arcade, if you guys remember. It was like a dollar in my arcade, so I used to try to use my quarters sparingly, so I wouldn't play Dragon's Lair as much but it is actually a really fun game to play and it has a super iconic looking cabinet we're going to show you what the cabinet looks like right now so on the left this is the arcade one-up render of the cabinet and you'll see it's got the one on the right is the actual arcade version those angles those really awesome angles that the marquee had are replicated here in the arcade one-up one and you know it was pretty simple the design if you look on the right of the arcade cabinet just had the Dragon's Lair artwork which this does here it's got the control panel and the control panel had that really cool sword in the front so if you look they replicated the sword there in the front as well and the control panel artwork looks very much identical to the control panel artwork and then if you look at the one on the right that's the real arcade one it just had a coin door and so they're going to have a plastic uh coin door right here you know replica coin door which is pretty neat and obviously the front of the original arcade didn't have anything but they're going to have the games that are listed on here which is dragon's lair dragon's lair 2 and spacey so you're gonna get uh all of those games but i'm pretty excited and then if you look at the the one on the right the arcade it had an alphanumeric screen now they've got like a cell phone thing right here this is this there's there's some mystery behind what this is going to actually be so we're going to tell you know talk with john on the one up weekly and see like you know what this is exactly uh and then the speaker grills you know they kind of look similar so it's that square uh you know sort of a square ish look to it So I think they did a really good job Like this is another one where I like really impressed that they going you know they going the extra mile to try and um you know make these look like their arcade counterparts you know this one is very very close when you look at it you know there's a couple of angular differences but but if you love dragon's lair and you're a fan of dragon's lair i think they kind of nailed it out of the park here which is pretty damn cool so we'll see what's going on with this alphanumeric screen obviously they're not providing you a phone uh or anything like that but there's going to be some way for you to do this. And then the other cool thing is it will be online enabled. So there'll be access to global leaderboards and everything. So you can see how other people are progressing through Dragon's Lair and see where you stack up, which I think is really cool. And then also on this version, they're going to make sure they use the original Laserdisc rip. So there's a lot of versions of Dragon's Lair out there where they're not using the original video footage. They've done like some cropping to it and things like that. This won't be that way. this will be actually the authentic experience as far as the video should be exactly how you imagine it now i don't know if they're going to remaster the video but as far as the video the the actual footage will be identical to the arcade cabinet you remember playing so anyways i'm excited about this let me know what you think in the comments below is dragon's lair cabinet that you would consider picking up i think this would just i gotta admit for me i'm not the biggest dragon's lair fan but it will look really cool in the game room this is one of those it's going to be hard not to buy because of the fact that looks so cool i said it i said that it looks really cool and so they kind of made this one of those ones where how cool would it look in your arcade with other cabinets so anyways that's it guys if you like the video give us a thumbs up consider subscribing to the channel put your comments below want to know what you guys think and that's it guys we will see you on the next one We'll see you next time.

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: f108d98a-5a2b-45b0-b1b7-69fdac23f67d*