Panzer Dragoon Saga

1998 · RPG · Sega Saturn

Overview

Panzer Dragoon Saga (1998) is Team Andromeda's four-disc Saturn role-playing game, in which the mercenary Edge rides a shape-shifting dragon — critically adored, barely printed and never re-released.

Deep Dive

The series' rail-shooting is replaced by a role-playing game. Edge, a mercenary and the only playable character, explores on foot and flies his dragon across open areas. Battles are random encounters fought in real time, built around three action gauges that charge continuously. The dragon can be reshaped at any time, trading attack, defence, agility and spiritual power against each other. The game can be finished in under 20 hours, short for an RPG of its time.

Developer Story

Directed by Yukio Futatsugi, Saga was built by about 40 people — twice the team of Panzer Dragoon II Zwei — who programmed everything from scratch without graphics libraries. Two staff members died during its troubled development. It was released in Japan on 29 January 1998 and in North America on 5 May, and its 92% GameRankings average is the highest of any Saturn game.

Did You Know?

Sega initially made 20,000 North American copies, which sold out in two days; Europe got about 1,000. English copies now sell for hundreds of dollars.
Director Yukio Futatsugi has said Sega lost the source code, which is one reason the game has never been re-released.