Dragon's Castle Version 1.00
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Intro
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Welcome and thank you for downloading version 1.00 of my remake improvement project of the game 
"Dragon's Lair" for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) entitled "Dragon's Castle". This 
project was inspired by an episode of the hit internet show "Angry Video Game Nerd" (or AVGN). 
Prior to beginning work on Dragon's Castle I was primarily working on remakes of old games I had 
played as a kid (Space Invaders in the arcades and Fishing Derby on the Atari 2600), and then it 
occured to me that remake improvement projects were largely uncommon since most people that did do 
remakes tended to focus on games either highly regarded by the internet and gaming communitity or 
games that they themselves had enjoyed.

I had been wanting to try my hand at making a 2D platforming game also which seemed like the perfect
fit for me. So in June 2011 I began work on this remake.

Dragon's Lair on the NES is highly regarded as one of the most difficult and horrible games on the
system. After watching the episode of AVGN focusing on this game, I felt that the game had alot of
potential and that with a bit of work it could be improved into something alot better.

100% of the work on this project was done by me from June 2011 - June 2013. This work included sprite
conversion, level design, coding, conducting testing, sound work, music development and artwork.


Goal
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The goals of this project was:

* The conversion of all 5 levels from the original
* The creational of 4 additional levels of my own design
* The conversion of all tile textures from the original
* The porting over of all enemies from both the NTSC and PAL versions of the game, including the bosses.
* Inclusion of all music present in the original
* Use of original sound effects where appropriate, and or use of new more appropriate/better sounding
  sound effects.
* Provide a more richer, enjoyable play experience that is not as hardcore in difficulty as the original

In this version of the project all 5 levels of the original have been converted over including all
enemies in the NTSC and PAL versions of the game. Note that levels 1 & 2 in the original have been 
combined into a single level with the battle with the dragon of the draw bridge removed.

Controls have been signficantly improved over the original and now provide for a more quicker response to
gameplay situations.

Note that the music present in levels 0, 2, 4 and 6 was created by myself and is thus copyrighted to myself
Jason Free.


Controls
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Below are the default controls for the game. Note that you can change all movement and combat related
controls in the options menu by selecting "Redefine Keys":

Z - Shoot
X - Jump
F - Toggle Full Screen
P - Pause/Unpause game
Arrow keys - Movement
Down key - Crouch

Note that whilst all controls by default are mapped to the keyboard you can change them to different
keys, or to a joystick if you wish. I have provided the ability to set the deadzone for joysticks if
you prefer to have "analog" enabled, though it is highly recommended to switch it off whilst playing,
as it tends to cause problems with the controls. However if joystick is set to "Off" in options then
your joystick wont interfere with anything.

Differences To The Original NES Game
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The following are the changes made to the game in this project:

* Entirely new levels, for levels 0, 2, 4 & 6. Each complete with new music tracks developed by myself.
* Wooden spikes now only kill if you are under them when they come down.
* Moving blocks are now larger and thus easier to jump onto.
* Most enemies now no longer kill the player on contact, same goes for enemy projectiles.
* Transitioning from standing to crouching is much faster (instant).
* Player movement, shooting and jumping vastly sped up.
* New crouching graphics (not the best but it does the job).
* New graphics for some items where appropriate.
* New sounds throughout the game. Original sounds used when appropriate.
* New improved ending.

And most importantly:
* A LEVEL EDITOR!!!

Don't like my levels? Well go make your own.


Contact Details
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If you have any feedback or questions regarding this project feel free to contact myself Jason Free at:
hockland@hotmail.com

Also if you encounter any bugs let me know and I'll get right onto it.


Acknowledgements
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MotiveTime - For their work on the original versions of this game

The Angry Video Game Nerd - For bringing this game to my attention.


Download Links To Past Projects
--------------------------------

Fishing Time - My remake project of the game "Fishing Derby" on the Atari 2600:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?v2cnp6vv27u0csz

Space Invaders - My remake of the arcade version of Space Invaders:
Download link coming soon