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What'd I Miss? Panzer Dragoon

Posted by Nadia Oxford

Despite appearances, the console wars today just aren't as fierce as the days when we knocked out each other's teeth arguing for the Super Nintendo against the Genesis. The transition to the 64/32-bit era was especially fierce, with Nintendo boasting about the benefits of cartridges over CDs (and convincing idiots like me) while Sega thought it had nothing to fear from a young stallion named the Sony Playstation.

In the end, I got a Nintendo 64. When I couldn't resist the pull of Mega Man anime cut scenes any longer, I got a Playstation. By that time, the Sega Saturn was grabbing its chest and gasping for air and we all looked up from our copies of Final Fantasy VII just long enough to laugh at its suffering. Being something of a Nintendo fangirl during the Hedgehog-Plumber wars, I thought, "Ha ha, Sega. I never needed your stinky games anyway."

Except for Panzer Dragoon. I needed that one very badly.

Ever since I was too young to be significant (what, like I am now?), I've been big on dragons. It pained me to pretend I didn't care about missing the opportunity to slice through the skies as a soldier mounted on the most awesome steed created by human imagination, but I think I did a good job even if it cost me a little piece of my soul.

I'm pretty well over my system bias. Nintendo, just give me my Mario and Zelda...and call me if you ever decide to stop being stupid about the Mother series. Microsoft, give me awesome downloadable games and I'll overlook the 13-year-old who named himself "jOO FuRn@ce." Sony, just give me your leftovers and try not to talk too much. Sega...give me some Panzer Dragoon. You are working on some new games and an adaptation of Panzer Dragoon Saga, right?

...

Oh God. There is no justice in this world.

I have, of course, played Panzer Dragoon Orta and I know I can find the Windows version of the original game easily enough. But in this age of drop-of-a-hat remakes, Panzer Dragoon is the series that deserves refinement and retooling with the love given to Bionic Commando Rearmed and Final Fantasy IV DS. Unfortunately, the original team members scattered to the four winds and have taken their dragons with them.

Panzer Dragoon is one of a handful of series that you can truly say was unique. Its rugged world was instantly distinguishable from tens of thousands of post-apocalyptic worlds ruled by evil Empires. And there's never any mistaking Panzer Dragoon's Miyazaki-inspired dragon designs for another rip-off of Anne McCaffrey's flying pony brigade, AKA the Mary Sues of Pern. The bond between the dragon and its rider isn't overstated or mucked up with a lot of softcore erotica.

Hardcore Gaming 101 has a very excellent write-up about the entire Panzer Dragoon series, including two spin-offs I never knew existed: a Game Gear abomination and an anime adaptation that had the potential to be excellent, but instead was stunk up by the presence of a whiny hero and a blind girlfriend who can (of course) sense the feelings of monsters, including "RRRR" and "I HUNGER."

Drag on, dragons. Wherever you are.

Related Links:

Independent at a Price: Sega and Platinum Games
FMV Hell: Sonic CD
Sega CD on iPhone: I Like Where This Is Going


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Comments

Amber Ahlborn said:

Seriously, I could have written this almost word for word.  The Nintendo fan girl Sega hate, the buying an N64 first but getting a Playstation for Mega Man and FF7, the love of dragons, though I played Panzer Dragoon Saga, not Orta.  Honestly though, I'm not sure I trust Sega to remake their old franchises anymore.

September 4, 2008 9:38 PM

John Constantine said:

Seconded, Amber. Sega really does seem to have turned over a new leaf these days, fostering creative developers to make original content alongside utilizing killer licenses (Gearbox making Aliens? Awesome.) But treating their own franchises well is not the new Sega's forte. It's sickening that they haven't gone out of their way to re-release Panzer Dragoon Saga, but reassuring that they haven't entrusted the franchise to anyone without roots in the series.

Sidenote: I miss you Team Andromeda. Smilebit too.

September 4, 2008 10:22 PM

Demaar said:

I was the reverse. Sega fanboy that bought a Saturn and then got a PS1. We would have made great rivals, you and I.

Anyways, Sega. Yes, they certainly took a turn for the worse after the whole Dreamcast thing ended. They seem to have dusted themselves off now, but mostly in publisher form. Maybe they should start licensing out IPs like other Japanese companies?  Maybe I would have cared a teensy bit about Lair if it was set in the Panzer Dragoon universe... and wasn't rushed out... and had waggle shoe-horned in... nevermind.

September 5, 2008 4:37 PM

Nadia Oxford said:

Amber: Perhaps we are twins and our parents separated us because two of us at once is poison. :(

September 6, 2008 12:35 AM

Chris G. Daniel said:

Panzer Dragoon is amazingly awesome, but do yourself a favor and forget about the anime. It is one of the worst animes to ever see a US DVD release.

September 10, 2008 10:11 PM

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about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia's prized possession is a certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

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