The story in
Space Ace is somewhat more interesting, and Bluth says in an interview on the DVD that he wanted to answer all the interest kids had in space games by moving away from the swordplay of
Dragon's Lair. Playing Ace, you find your girl has been stolen by an evil Bad Guy who has a raygun that turns people into little babies. At the beginning of the game, Ace is hit with the ray, so he spends the game changing into a little boy named Dexter until he can power-up and become Ace again.
Where the Dragon's Lair games had you choose one of five options (4 directions plus your sword), Space Ace has the added depth of branching paths. This way, you don't always have just one place to move, and the animation is supposed to change depending on your decision. It works, and the less linear gameplay could be held up as a reason to like Space Ace over the earlier games. However, since the gameplay is all about watching animation and responding to visual cues, you notice right away that Space Ace looks like hell! The colors are bad, the animation is scratchy, and everything is rush-rush-rush, like they didn't have the time to draw enough frames for every scene.
Extras on the DVD include interviews with Bluth on TV from the 80's (hilarious!) and interviews about the creation of the games. It's very funny to listen to a talk-show host compare Space Ace with Tron and hear Don Bluth saying that Tron is incredible, but that he thinks live animation is where videogames are going. Don, I'm glad you made a million in the movies, 'cause that prediction didn't exactly play out.
