Panzer Dragoon (video game)
Panzer Dragoon is a 1995 rail shooter game for the Sega Saturn, published by Sega and developed by Sega's Team Andromeda studio. 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.
| Panzer Dragoon | |
|---|---|
The Japanese cover of Panzer Dragoon drawn by Jean Giraud, depicting Keil and the Blue Dragon | |
| Developer(s) | 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 |
| Series | Panzer Dragoon |
| Engine | Unity (Remake) |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | March 10, 1995 |
| Genre(s) | Rail shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
As one of six games available at the Sega Saturn's surprise North American launch, Panzer Dragoon was the first game created by Team Andromeda. It was also the directorial debut of Yukio Futatsugi, who was 25 years old at the time of release.
Panzer Dragoon received positive reviews in 1995 and in retrospective coverage. Electronic Gaming Monthly named it game of the month and the best Saturn game of the year, 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.