What was Cliff Hanger?

America met Miyazaki in an arcade in 1983, and nobody involved was allowed to say his name.

Cliff Hanger is a laserdisc arcade game released by Stern Electronics in September 1983, riding the Dragon’s Lair wave: an interactive cartoon played by hitting the right input at the right moment. Its cartoon is not American. Most of the footage is The Castle of Cagliostro (1979), with additional scenes from The Mystery of Mamo (1978), re-edited in Evanston, Illinois, into a new plot.

Because the Lupin name could not be used in America, the cast was renamed wholesale: Lupin became Cliff, Jigen became Jeff, Goemon became Samurai, Clarisse became Clarissa, and Count Cagliostro became Count Draco. The Mamo segments reuse that film’s existing Toho English dub; the Cagliostro segments were dubbed by an uncredited cast made for the game. A cabinet dip-switch even let operators suppress the hanging scene shown when a player failed.

Cliff Hanger laserdisc arcade game flyer — **CLIFF HANGER**Stern's 1983 laserdisc arcade game, built from footage of two Lupin films: American arcade players met Lupin as 'Cliff' years before the anime aired.

THE STRANGEST DEBUT IN ANIME

1983 to 1985

Before any official release

Cliff Hanger reached American arcades before any Lupin film or Miyazaki work had been officially released in the United States. For a generation of arcade kids, this renamed collage was anime’s first impression.

Starcade and The Goonies

The TV game show Starcade devoted a special episode to it, awarding a cabinet to the winner; two years later, Chunk is seen playing Cliff Hanger in The Goonies (1985).

The lost paperwork

Discotek Media considered including Cliff Hanger on its American Cagliostro Blu-ray, but the original game contracts were lost, and the feature was dropped. The game remains a licensed ghost: famous, documented, and legally un-reissuable.

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What was Cliff Hanger?

THE STRANGEST DEBUT IN ANIME

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