DragonStrike (video game)

DragonStrike
Company type	Video game
Industry	Video games
Founded	1990
Founder	Louis Castle, Brett Sperry
Headquarters	United States
Products	DragonStrike (video game)
Parent	Strategic Simulations (publisher)

Adapted from the English Wikipedia article DragonStrike (video game), available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 9 August 2025

DragonStrike is a flight simulation game released in 1990, developed by Westwood Associates and published by Strategic Simulations. Drawing inspiration from the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy tabletop role-playing game, it takes place within the Dragonlance campaign setting. This title was made available on various platforms, such as Amiga, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, PC-98, X68000, and NES.

Gameplay

Blending flight simulation with a fantasy backdrop, DragonStrike places players in control of a knight mounted on a metallic dragon outfitted with a lance and mystical tools like a radar-like orb. The dragon itself can attack through magical breath, claws, or biting, while the rider engages enemies at close range using a sword. Adversaries encompass hostile dragons (both ridden and unmounted), manticores, wyverns, sivak draconians, and gas spores (beholderkin). The presence of terrain dangers and enemy archers introduces additional tactical complexity.

Completing missions successfully grants players enhanced hit points and unlocks access to superior dragons—bronze, silver, or gold—each affecting mission scenarios and their conclusions.

Plot

Set against the backdrop of Krynn during the War of the Lance, players assume the role of a young Knight of Solamnia progressing through ranks and advancing to more formidable dragon mounts. The storyline begins amid events following the earlier title War of the Lance, leading up to a decisive triumph for Paladine's forces.

The NES adaptation deviates by featuring a dragon without a rider as the main character and presents an alternate ending that differs from the original novels and tabletop campaigns.

Development

Although Westwood Studios had experience porting other SSI titles before, DragonStrike marked their inaugural original project for SSI. The game was designed by Louis Castle and Brett Sperry and launched in 1990.

Ports

In 1992, versions for the PC-9801 and X68000 systems were developed by Crosstalk. That same year, Pony Canyon released a version with the identical name for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Despite sharing the title, this NES edition differed considerably by adopting a top-down scrolling shooter format featuring only 14 missions, compared to the original’s 40.

Reception

DragonStrike achieved sales totaling 34,296 copies. In 1990, it received a perfect five-star rating from Dragon (magazine). Computer Gaming World lauded it as "a superlative and innovative product" that appealed to enthusiasts of both fantasy and simulation genres, although it did not support characters from the Gold Box series. Subsequent evaluations by the magazine awarded it four out of five stars in a 1992 science fiction game survey and over three stars in a 1994 review focused on strategic space games.

A reviewer from GameSpy remarked that Westwood was "hitting its stride" with this underappreciated title, emphasizing its notable VGA graphics and strategic gameplay rather than reflex-driven action. Despite its simplistic flight mechanics, the reviewer expressed interest in seeing a modern remake of DragonStrike.

External links

Evaluation featured in Compute!
Evaluation featured in Info