In DragonsDen you're playing as Den, a knight armed with a lance on a flying horse.

The controls are easy, move your joystick left and right, use the joystick-button to fly higher, normally the horse sinks automatically down to the ground.

The game is split into 6 stages. In stage 1 you must use your lance to hit dragon eggs on the ground.Once you hit them the eggs open and little dragons fly away and attack you. After all eggs are hit, you gain a lance. Hit the dragons once with your lance to kill them. 5 eggs, 5 little dragons.

The 2nd stage brings you to a catacomb where the screen scrolls from the left to the right and spiders cross your way. Avoid them. Stage 3 is almost the same, this time flying birds cross your path while a spinning blade hovers near the roof. Avoid the blade and avoid or kill the birds. Then, in Stage 4 you must avoid arrows until you reach the end of the catacombs.

There, in stage 5 a huge dragon egg awaits you. The dragon inside needs to get out of the egg. Kill the flying birds with your lance to crack the egg to release the dragon. At last, in stage 6 you must lance the dragon four times to kill it. If you're able to beat this flying dragon then you mastered the 1st level. The game repeats about 4 or 5 times, the monsters become more aggressive, gameplay gets faster until you face the final dragon boss. Defeat him and he falls in love with your flying horse.