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Enemies come from all directions, varying in size and health, and also appear on an on-screen radar that monitors the dragon's surroundings. The player has a full, 360-degree field of view, and can quickly look left, right, forward, and behind the dragon. The dragon follows the reticle movements, allowing the player to avoid enemy projectiles and obstacles. The field of vision can be directed with the aiming reticle on the x and y-axis, but the overall direction of travel is predetermined. The only time the game pauses is during boss battles. Progression through the levels is made at a predetermined pace, as the player is constantly set along a rail of gameplay. Gameplay consists of a player controlling a flying dragon and his rider through an aiming reticle that can be moved over the whole screen with the D-pad the player must shoot a variety of enemies (ranging from machines to monsters) in a 3D post-apocalyptic fantasy environment of barren landscapes and mysterious ruins of a fallen civilization. Over the course of the game, the plot is revealed through cutscenes using the game's own graphic engine. Panzer Dragoon spans six levels, each lasting about five minutes, with a variety of boss battles. 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. 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. In particular, its art direction and post-apocalyptic universe gained acclaim. 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. Panzer Dragoon received positive reviews in 1995 and in retrospective coverage. It was also the directorial debut of Yukio Futatsugi, who was 25 years old at the time of release. 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.Īs one of six games available at the Sega Saturn's surprise North American launch, Panzer Dragoon was the first game created by Team Andromeda.
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The game follows hunter Keil Fluge, who becomes the rider of a powerful dragon. It is the first game in the Panzer Dragoon series.
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Panzer Dragoon (Japanese: パンツァードラグーン, Hepburn: Pantsā Doragūn) is a 1995 rail shooter game for the Sega Saturn, published by Sega and developed by Sega's Team Andromeda studio.
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