Lost In Translation/Dragon Breed

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This page is a stub for arcade games that are part of the Lost In Translation series using information based on MAME (version 0.113u2).
For an example of preferred content and layout please refer to Out Run or The Ninja Warriors.


Dragon Breed
Dragon Breed marquee.
No screen shot.
Manufacturer Irem
Released 1989
Control
Method
8-way Joystick
4 Button(s)
Main CPU V30 (@ 8.000 MHz)
Z80 (@ 3.580 MHz)
Sound CPU Stereo
YM2151 (@ 3.580 MHz)
DAC
Video
Details
Raster (Horizontal)
384 x 256 pixels
55.00 Hz
512 Palette colours
Screens 1
ROM Info 12 ROMs
1,507,328 bytes (1.44 MiB)
MAME ID dbreed · dbreed72

About The Game

Dragon Breed is a horizontally scrolling shoot-em-up arcade video game.

A superb and innovative game from the same gaming stable that gave the world "R-Type", Irem. Dragon Breed differs from other shoot-em-ups through its interpretation of the 'ship' that appears in other games of the genre; in Dragon Breed, the player controls a figure who rides a fully articulated and superbly rendered dragon. What makes this a particularly inspired move is that the Dragon's body - which is invulnerable to enemies and enemy fire - can be used as both a shield and a weapon; the player can move the dragon in such a way that its tail can be used to surround its rider and protect him from his enemies. Any contact the enemy has with the dragon will also deplete the enemy's power and eventually kill it. The dragon can also be 'powered-up' in a similar fashion to the space craft of other shoot-em-ups.

At various point throughout a level, small areas of land will appear at the bottom of the screen. These often contain power-ups and the player can fly the dragon down to the platform, dismount, and move around on foot.

Additional Technical Information

Players : 1

Control : 8-way joystick

Buttons: 2

=> [A] Shoot, [B] Jump

Trivia

The game borrows quite a few game design elements from Irem's "R-Type" classic shooter series!

This game was only sold as a conversion kit, although many distributors would pre-install these kits in generic cabinets, and sell them to the public that way. This is a JAMMA compatible title, so any JAMMA cabinet could be a proper Dragon Breed cabinet. The control panel to this title has a single 8-Way joystick, with fire and jump buttons on either side of it (so you can play either left or right handed). The marquee for this title is a highly detailed scene of a knight riding a green dragon, while being attacked by what appears to be a group of carnivorous fish. Although you may encounter this title in a cocktail cabinet (as the circuit board supports the screen flip for the second player), there were no specific graphics made for a cocktail cabinet (So the game will appear either unmarked, or perhaps with a few of the graphics from the upright kit jury rigged into place).

Pony Canyon / Scitron released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Dragon Breed - PCCB-00006) on 21/10/1989.

Tips and tricks

Secret Invincibility

  1. Turn DIP 2-7 ON.
  2. Reset the game with holding Player 1-Button 2.
  3. You will be able to start a game with invincibility.

Dragon Breed Power-ups

  • Red : the dragon breathes a flame. The flame gets longer if more power-ups are collected.
  • Yellow : the dragon's body starts to fire tiny yellow crescents in all directions.
  • White : the dragon shoots up to four miniature dragons, which home in on enemies.
  • Blue : the dragon fires downward bolts of electricity from its underside.

Cabinet and Artwork

Ports

Computers
Box art for the Activision port of Dragon Breed.
Commodore Amiga ("Dragon Breed", 1989, Activision)
Atari ST (1989)
Amstrad CPC (1989)
Commodore C64 (1991)
Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1991)
Amstrad CPC (1991)


Soundtrack Releases

Album Name Catalogue No. Released Publisher Comments
Dragon Breed PCCB-00006[1] 1989-10-21 Pony Canyon/Scitron CD version.

External Links

References

The contents of this page are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
The sources used include MAME (version 0.113u2) and history.dat (revision 1.28 - 2008-10-18).
Please see http://www.arcade-history.com for credits.