Panzer Dragoon Remakes Coming In 2019
Sega’s Saturn had some good games, even if the machine itself was a flop in the US. The problem is that due to multiple factors, most people will never play those games. The main issue is that the Saturn’s chipset was needlessly complicated (due to their bolting a 3D chip onto it at the last minute) and emulation of that hardware is very hard as a consequence. Also, most software companies never seem to save the source code of anything. Ever.
If you can’t bring back the originals, why not remake them? It’s a question no one inside Sega was asking until now. Polish publisher Forever Entertainment has announced a deal with Sega to remake Panzer Dragoon parts 1 and 2 for modern consoles.
“The new version of the game will be characterized by a completely new graphics compatible with today’s standards and several modifications of the game, making it more attractive to modern players, while remaining faithful to the original in terms of story,” said Forever in a public statement. That’s about what we’d expect.
The original Panzer Dragoon was a rail shooter where you piloted a dragon (deliberately breaking the sci-fi trope that just about every other rail shooter had at the time). Two games were released in 1995 and 1996, and became instant classics. Only one game in the PD series is currently playable today: Panzer Dragoon Orta for the original XBox, thanks to the XBox One’s backwards compatibility.
Of course, the REAL treasure is Panzer Dragoon Saga, an RPG released in limited quantities in 1998 back when just about everyone had thrown their Saturns in the trash. There is no word yet on a remake of THAT game, but it will currently set you back $600 for an original copy. Do this one next, guys.