''Cliff Hanger'' is a laserdisc video game that was released by Stern Electronics in 1983. It is an interactive movie, using animation from two ''

Lupin III , also written as ''Lupin the Third'', ''Lupin the 3rd'', or ''Lupin the IIIrd'', is a Japanese media franchise created by Monkey Punch. The series follows the endeavors of master thief Lupin III (character), Lupin III, grandson of gentleman t ...

'' films, and requires the player to respond to quick time events to progress the storyline. Most of the game's footage is from '' The Castle of Cagliostro'' (1979), with additional footage from '' The Mystery of Mamo'' (1978).

Plot

The game's plot is based loosely on ''The Castle of Cagliostro'' and follows the eponymous Cliff Hanger as he attempts to rescue Clarissa from the evil Count Draco (in some materials called "Dreyco" and in the instruction manual "Dragoe"), who wants to marry her. Cliff is aided in his quest by

Jeff Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes ...

(Dan Dunn) and

Samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

Development

The game was originally edited at Associated Audio Visual, Inc., in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...

. Jack Bornoff, was the editor, Paul Rubenstein, was editorial supervisor. The segments from ''The Mystery of Mamo'' use the original

Toho is a Japanese entertainment company that primarily engages in producing and distributing films and exhibiting stage plays. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. ...

/ Frontier Enterprises English dub, while the segments from ''The Castle of Cagliostro'' use an English dub that was created for the game by an unknown voice cast. ''Cliff Hanger'' uses a feedback loop to read frame details from the game laserdisc. This prevents the laserdisc and gameplay from ever going out of sync (a common occurrence in other laserdisc games as the disc players aged). The original version of ''Cliff Hanger'' shows footage from ''The Mystery of Mamo'' of Cliff being hanged if the player fails a quick time event. According to the instruction manual, a setting on the game cabinet's logic board would allow the individual owners/operators the option of not playing the sequence if they so chose.

Legacy

The game was considered for inclusion on the American

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

release of ''The Castle of Cagliostro'' by Discotek Media, but when it became apparent that the original contracts for the game were lost, it was left off the release. The television show '' Starcade'' featured a special episode where rather than playing the usual three games, the contestants played three rounds of ''Cliff Hanger''. The winner of the show, Mark Walsh, won a ''Cliff Hanger'' cabinet. In the film '' The Goonies'' (1985), Chunk is playing ''Cliff Hanger'' when he sees the Fratelli Brothers driving past while being chased by the police.Thegoonies.org
''Cliff Hanger'' helped expose many Americans in the 1980s to ''

'',

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist. He co-founded Studio Ghibli and serves as honorary chairman. Throughout his career, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Anime, Japanese ani ...

, and Japanese

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

in general, as it was released in the United States before any ''Lupin III'' or Miyazaki anime productions had officially been released theatrically or on

home video Home video is recorded media sold or Video rental shop, rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray. ...

References

External links

*
Dragon's Lair Project
*
The Dot Eaters entry
on ''Cliff Hanger'' and the laser game craze {{Lupin III 1983 video games Arcade video games Arcade-only video games Full motion video based games Interactive movie video games LaserDisc video games Lupin the Third video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Multiplayer hotseat games Stern video games Video games developed in the United States Adaptations of works by Hayao Miyazaki