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Panzer Dragoon is a series of video games by SEGA, created first by its internal Team Andromeda and later, the Smilebit development team. Aside from the RPG Panzer Dragoon Saga, the games are of the rail shooter genre. All games follow the story of a lone hero or heroine fighting an evil empire in a post apocalyptic world, while riding a Dragon. The games are notable for using their own language — "Panzerese", consisting of a mixture of Ancient Greek, Latin and Russian language. Words in these languages were a hobby of Yukio Futatsugi, one of the core designers of the first game. This pseudo-language is used during cutscenes (in a manner similar to the 'Cityspeak' in the film Blade Runner or Simlish from The Sims).

File:Panzer Screen Shot.jpg

Panzer Dragoon Orta screenshot, showing Orta riding the dragon through episode 2: "Altered Genos".

The Towers

In each game except Panzer Dragoon Orta the ultimate goal is to destroy one of the Towers. The Towers were created by the Ancients to control the environment of the planet to better inhabit the creatures they created. The ultimate goal of the Heresy Program is to destroy all the towers and free the world from The Will of the Ancients. The Towers are similar to computer networks because all the towers are controlled by Sestren, an alternate dimension created by the Ancients to control all of the towers. In Panzer Dragoon Saga rather than destroying an individual tower, Azel opens the gate to Sestren for Edge to destroy Sestren and therefore destroying all of the towers. Along with Azel, all drones, Abadd and Orta included, have the ability to open the door into Sestren.

In addition to controlling the environment, the Ancients also gave the Towers the job of limiting the human population. This may have been to avoid pollution, over population, wars, or mass cultivation and deforestation; the Towers would be the humans' saviours and destroyers. The Ancients achieved this through the creation of bio-engineered monsters. Within each tower, millions of these immortal creatures slept, bred for the sole purpose of destruction. Upon the Towers' activation, the creatures would be released, en masse, and destroy any human resistance, according to Ancient plan. Of course, some of the Ancients objected to this plan, and attempted to destroy the towers. They failed, but the attempt caused the Towers to be fitted with a guardian dragon. Strongest of the monsters created by the Ancients, the dragons would defend the Towers from anything.

Games

Panzer Dragoon

This first game in the series was released on the Sega Saturn in 1995, and later released on PC. It follows the story of Keil Fluge, a member of a hunter party who encounters a fight between two dragons, coloured black and blue. The rider of the blue dragon is mortally wounded in the battle and entrusts his mission, as well as his dragon, the Solo Wing, to Keil. Keil must stop the Dark Dragon reactivating an ancient ruin ….

This chapter would introduce the basic features of the traditional gameplay that the Panzer series would be known by, starting out as a rail shooter giving the player a choice of two main offences: a lock-on laser weapon, and a rapid fire gun weapon, as well as the ability to swing the cameras around to shoot the enemies coming from all directions.

Panzer Dragoon was one of the few games available at the Sega Saturn's accelerated, surprise launch.

The game was later ported to Windows PC and in 2006 adapted slightly for Sega's Japanese PlayStation 2 "AGES 2500" series.

Panzer Dragoon Zwei

Panzer Dragoon Zwei (also known as Panzer Dragoon II) was released for the Sega Saturn in 1996. This game is a prequel to Panzer Dragoon. It followed the story of Jean-Luc Lundi who discovered a mutant coolia, whom he names Lagi, who has a green glow at its throat, and is growing wings. Lundi refuses to kill Lagi, defying his villages custom that mutant coolias be killed. Together, Lundi and Lagi ride towards the horizon, chasing after a great airship called the Shelcoof, which is responsible for destroying Lundi's village while he was away.

This game introduced the berserk ability, where the player builds up a bar that gives them the ability to unleash a powerful attack. It also introduced the ability to choose multiple routes through levels, and these routes could cause the dragon to change shape, and alter the ending depending on the player's choices.

Panzer Dragoon Saga

Panzer Dragoon Saga (known as Azel: Panzer Dragoon RPG in Japan) is the sole RPG in the series, released for the Sega Saturn in 1998. Edge is a guard at an excavation site of the Empire, and while fending off an attack from a monster, encounters a girl embedded within a wall. The site is then attacked by the traitor, Craymen, who murders Edge's companions and takes the girl, still a part of the wall and asleep. Edge is attacked by one of Craymen's henchmen and falls into a deep pit, splashing into the reservoir deep below the surface. There, he encounters a dragon and begins his quest for vengeance...and to discover the truth behind the girl that was found ….

Panzer Dragoon Saga was developed as an RPG, rather than a rail shooter. It translated the Panzer Dragoon game's shooting features into an RPG battle system and greatly expanded the world the player could explore. The player's experience of the game was greatly enhanced by the distinctive soundtrack throughout the game.

Due to its release towards the end of the lifespan of the Sega Saturn, very few U.S. copies (6,000) were initially produced for its launch in May 1998. US game magazines such as EGM gave the title rave reviews and Saturn owners preordered the game in decent numbers. As a result, a shortage of the game was apparent from the release with many stores unable to meet their preorders for the title. Almost a month later in June, Sega released a second batch of 12,000 copies to meet demand, and then later in the Summer another batch of 12,000 copies reached the market. Sega went as far as to have a small advertising campaign in various print magazines using a cut-out Edge face mask to promote the new shipments of the game.

Panzer Dragoon Orta

Panzer Dragoon Orta is an Xbox game, released in late 2002 in Japan and in early 2003 in America and Europe. It was the first game in the series that was not developed directly by Team Andromeda; rather, it was developed by Smilebit which had been founded by former members of Team Andromeda.

Panzer Dragoon Orta follows the story of Orta, a teenage girl being held captive in a town. When the town is attacked by the Empire, Orta is rescued by a Dragon, and encounters a drone named Abbad. While tracking the drone, she discovers the truth behind her own origins, and helps to free the world from the tyranny of the Empire.

This game introduced several updated features, such as the ability to morph the dragon at will, and maneuvering abilities from Panzer Dragoon Saga. This game is unique (especially amongst rail shooters) in that there is a veritable treasure trove of unlockable content to be gained after completing the main story. These unlockables included:

• A group of sub-missions, one series of which is devoted to the story of Iva Demilcol. Iva is an Imperial child whose father is rumored to have been killed during a raid on the Empire's gunships by Orta and her dragon and Iva's subsequent mission leads him to seek revenge. This gives the player a curiously sympathetic look at the Empire, which is otherwise portrayed as the stereotypical evil ruling power of the world demonstrating that Imperial citizens were just as afraid of the Dragon's awesome power and its "Arrows of Light" as the dragon's riders have been of the Empire's war machines.
• "Box Game", a bonus mode first introduced in Zwei where the player can select different dragons, riders, and various cheats to custom-tailor their game experience; primary story cutscenes are disabled in this mode, since the player may not necessarily be using Orta or the default dragon.
• The PC version of the first Panzer Dragoon is included in its unaltered entirety for play.
• A vast in-game dictionary that updates itself as you progress through stages, detailing the intricacies of the Panzer world.
• Full-motion video from Panzer Dragoon Orta itself is unlocked for casual viewing, as well as the intro and ending videos from Ein, Zwei and Saga. The ending movie to Panzer Dragoon Zwei was slightly altered to better tie it in with Panzer Dragoon Saga.

Panzer Dragoon Mini

Panzer Dragoon Mini was a Sega Game Gear game, released in 1996. Due to the technical limitations of the Game Gear, it plays closer to the classic Sega arcade game Space Harrier; also, for the first and — so far — only time in the series' history, the dragon doesn't have a rider. With its lack of story and the dragon's super deformed appearance, this game's events aren't considered to be canon.

Panzer Dragoon R-zone

Panzer Dragoon R-zone was a Tiger R-Zone game for the short lived system. It was one of the few launch titles made by Sega. It had no plot, simply a nameless character in an armored dragon attempting to keep a dark dragon from reaching a tower while shooting and dodging robots.

Other media

Soundtrack CDs were released in Japan for all the games, with Panzer Dragoon Orta's being bundled with the game itself. Toykopop released the Panzer Dragoon Orta soundtrack in the USA. An anime adaptation of the first game was released, with the story being slightly altered to include a female heroine whom Keil ('Kyle' in the anime) is trying to save when she becomes bonded to the Black Dragon. It is generally considered about even with other video game OAVs, such as Tekken, Battle Arena Toshinden and Fatal Fury from the time — that is, inferior to the game. The English version was released by ADV Films. An artbook from the second game, Die Welt Von Panzer Dragoon Zwei (The World of Panzer Dragoon Zwei) was also released.

There was also a song that was not included in the soundtrack but was on the US version's TV commercial, it is named "Violet" performed by Bones Domingo.

External links

• Panzer Dragoon series at MobyGames
• The Will of the Ancients A Panzer Dragoon fansite with community forums
• Lagi: The Art of Panzer Dragoon A collection of images from the Panzer Dragoon series
• The Panzer Place Information about the three Saturn Panzer Dragoon games
• Panzer Dragoon Academy One of the largest Japanese Panzer Dragoon fansites.
• The History of Panzer Dragoon