Panzer Dragoon (video game)

Panzer Dragoon
The Japanese cover of Panzer Dragoon drawn by Jean Giraud, depicting Keil and the Blue Dragon
Developer(s)Sega (Team Andromeda)
Land Ho! (PS2)
MegaPixel Studio (remake)
Publisher(s)Sega
Forever Entertainment (remake)
Director(s)Yukio Futatsugi
Producer(s)Yoji Ishii
Tomohiro Kondo
Programmer(s)Junichi Suto
Artist(s)Manabu Kusunoki
Composer(s)Yoshitaka Azuma
SeriesPanzer Dragoon
EngineUnity (Remake)
Platform(s)
Release
March 10, 1995
  • Original
    Sega Saturn
    • JP: March 10, 1995
    • NA: May 11, 1995[1]
    • PAL: August 30, 1995
    Microsoft Windows
    • PAL: December 5, 1996
    • JP: March 14, 1997
    Xbox
    • JP: December 19, 2002
    • NA: January 12, 2003
    • PAL: March 21, 2003
    PlayStation 2
    • JP: April 27, 2006
    Remake
    Nintendo Switch
    • WW: March 26, 2020
    Stadia
    • WW: June 1, 2020
    Windows
    • WW: September 25, 2020
    PlayStation 4
    • WW: September 28, 2020
    Xbox One
    • WW: December 11, 2020
    Luna
    • US: December 21, 2020
Genre(s)Rail shooter
Mode(s)Single-player

Panzer Dragoon[a] is a 1995 rail shooter game for the Sega Saturn, developed and published by Sega. It is the first game in the Panzer Dragoon series. The game follows hunter Keil Fluge, who becomes the rider of a powerful dragon. The player moves an aiming reticle (representing the dragon's laser and Kyle's gun) and shoots enemies while the dragon flies through 3D environments on a predetermined track.

As one of six games available at the Sega Saturn's surprise North American launch,[2] Panzer Dragoon was the first game created by Team Andromeda.[3] It was also the directorial debut of Yukio Futatsugi, who was 25 years old at the time of release.[4] Panzer Dragoon received positive reviews in 1995 and in retrospective coverage. Electronic Gaming Monthly named it game of the month[5] and the best Saturn game of the year,[6] and named it the 140th-best game of all time in 2006. In particular, its art direction and post-apocalyptic universe gained acclaim.

Panzer Dragoon was ported to Windows and PlayStation 2, and was followed by Panzer Dragoon II Zwei (1996) and Panzer Dragoon Saga (1998) for Saturn and Panzer Dragoon Orta (2002) for Xbox, which includes the original Panzer Dragoon as a bonus feature. A remake of Panzer Dragoon was developed by MegaPixel Studio and published by Forever Entertainment in 2020 for Nintendo Switch, Stadia, Windows, PlayStation 4, Amazon Luna and Xbox One.

  1. ^ "Sega Hopes to Run Rings Around the Competition with Early Release of the Saturn". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 72. Ziff Davis. July 1995. p. 30.
  2. ^ "Sega Saturn launch takes consumers and retailers by storm; retailers struggling to keep up with consumer demand". BusinessWire. May 19, 1995. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
  3. ^ Kalata, Kurt (April 2008). "The History of Panzer Dragoon (p.1)". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on October 18, 2012. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
  4. ^ Robson, Daniel (April 8, 2013). "Flying through life: Meet the man behind Panzer Dragoon". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved August 4, 2013.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference egmreview was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "1996 Video Game Buyer's Guide". Electronic Gaming Monthly. 1996.


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