I loved this game when it first came out but you are correct, there was no real gameplay here. Every now and then some arcade wizard would already know exactly what all the moves were and it was impressive to watch but also a massive spoiler. I know that I didn't stay interested in actually playing the game for very long because at that time I could do 4 plays on one of the other games for the price of one play on this one. They did a good job figuring out how to maximize their money from this box in the arcades, that's for sure.
Do you remember the awful original home versions of this game? One of them was damn near unplayable on NES and made a lot of people upset, still does to this day, but what did they care? They already had your money.
RE: Dragaons Lair Classic Laser Disc Game Ported to Sega Dreamcast