@@AshleyRiot You are NOT an idiot, Your life experiences are just different than others. Even if they had a big advertising budget, if you were rarely where they advertised, or had information overload like walking into a game store where hundreds of games demanded your attention, missing it is a fair result.
I actually bought a Saturn and a Pseudo Saturn cart around the time this video came out specifically to play Saga, among a bunch of other games. Saga is an incredible game, and if you can figure out a way to play it without paying hundreds of dollars, I'd recommend it
Sega's Magnum Opus, not known for its massive ambition, but for outside factors making it a lost diamond in the rough. Also, in the mid 2000's , when i heard of this, it introduced me to the word "Dragoon", turns out its a British Calvaryman, or mounted infantry, so I learned something that day.
The day I learned that "dragoon" had nothing to do with jumping dragon men was the worst day of my life. I'll never forgive Square for placing those false hopes in me.
@@gratuitouslurking8610 The Legend of Dragoon was one of the first games I ever played on my PlayStation as a kid. My nostalgia goggles still make me like it better than Final Fantasy lol
@Ruben Leite It is true, I've played through the game that way. You can use Mednafen either directly (mednafen.github.io/, documentation: mednafen.github.io/documentation/ss.html) or through RetroArch (www.libretro.com/, documentation: docs.libretro.com/library/beetle_saturn/)
Wow, that quote about trying to fight through severe bronchitis....I can hardly imagine an era when a game was so impressive and groundbreaking that someone working in testing tried to fight management to WORK MORE, WHILE SICK. Nowadays it seems like employees have to fight just to go home after their normal work hours without being seen as lazy/unambitious, even on era-standard games. Not to say that employees used to be treated better across the board, just that, in current crunch culture, hearing about management sending an employee home despite their desire to work more sounds completely alien.
It's all a matter of passion- ACTUAL passion, instead of whatever mystical force the suits try to invoke to make their Human Resources™ work harder for no benefit. Here in Malaysia, we have a saying that roughly translates to "Those who want, have a thousand inspirations; those who don't, have a thousand excuses", as do a whole lot of other nations, I'd think, and this case illustrates that so well. That dude became invested in the game out of his own free will, because he was given the chance to work on a product that was more than just a product, if that makes any sense. And while I don't know how staff were treated back in the 90s, it had to have been better by simple virtue of being told to go home when he was ill. Environments like that, where people can work on something genuinely meaningful and treated like human beings, will supply more than a thousand inspirations to anyone privileged enough to be part of it. Instead, now we have thousands of poor excuses for 'leaders' doing their best to remove any and all forms of inspiration, all to fill their pockets as much as possible before their rotting castles fall apart from the strain of their fat asses, and collapse upon the people who built them.
I doubt the original devs of Saga didn't face crunch since one of them commited suicide and knowing Japan's work culture, it probably could've been because of that, though I am just speculating.
@@oldmanramblingatclouds That's a pretty eloquent way to put it. It's crazy how after all this time so many companies fall into the same trappings of greed and crunch and projects and passion suffer for it, when you can see cases of wonderful projects with healthy environments where everyone feels better for it. How things are like this in 2020, in the face of evidence for why the opposite is better, simply baffles me.
@@oldmanramblingatclouds pasión is a two edge sword, do have you lisent the reasons people are willing to go into the grinder of crunch? Is so rooted in the working culture of developers than in most studies you are expected to do it, and if you don't, you are shamed by the ones working harder and marked as lazy and pasionless. Most developers only can work on the industry only a few years before quit from burnout. Crunch is crunch, stop romanticing it.
This was a great video, but I just want to clarify that Saturn emulation is no longer a pipe dream. In fact, it's the best it's ever been! Mednafen runs the game PERFECTLY, and if this game looks interesting at all to any of y'all, then look up the game files and emulate it. This is, hands down, the best RPG of it's generation, and if you are an fan of the genre you NEED to play this.
@@godofmediocrity7582 its work on yabause for me, the only problems i have is that it has trouble detecting my joystick, so i had to map movement to the d-pad,and also it crashes at times so make such to save state every so often.
The most tragic of all game releases. The worst part that it took the lives of 2 people and to add insult to injury, with the loss of the source code prohibiting the game being able to be ported to other systems, theres no monument to their (needless and unnecessary) sacrifice. The only thing that makes me happy is the knowledge that the games ISOs are everywhere on the internet and that emulators can play it well enough so that more gamers can experience one of the greatest JRPGs ever made. One that didnt ask for 40 or 100 hours of your life like some ones did. One that allowed you so much customization and the ability to play how you wanted. One whos entire story is fully voice acted, in a time where that was still not common place. It really was a fantastic game that rivaled (and in many ways, beat) its competition. I can only hope more people enjoy it as others have,[in SNESdrunks voice] any way you can.
@Jo Jo Might not be as hard as you think Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Goldeneye and Perfect Dark have all had their source code reverse engineered. At the bottom of this wikipedia page is a list of game with Reverse engineered source code. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_commercial_video_games_with_available_source_code
@@puertoricanguy999 I definitely is possible now how practical it is is a different story altogether. Both games written in Assembly and various C languages have had their source code reverse engineered.
I absolutely adore this game. It's super short, but everything about it is so impressive you can't help but enjoy the ride. Definitely wish more people could play it.
So glad you covered this. It’s a complete masterpiece. I emulated it years ago and the experience has always stuck with me. Hope your video inspires people to play it. Saturn emulation works very well these days. Very well done video mate.
Ahh shining force III, first game that i bought with my own money and what a game it was, dont even now how many times i have played it, such underrated gem
I was extremely lucky to find a copy of this back in 2001. It cost nearly £100 then (I'm in the UK), but I knew I was never going to see it again so I went for it and it's worth WAAAY more than that now. And just as you say in this video, it's one of the best RPGs I've ever played which, in hindsight, should've been a Dreamcast launch game instead. A special mention must also go to the soundtrack, which is phenomenal.
It makes me so said that SEGA failed and stopped making consoles. They are one of my favorite companies, I’m just happy they’re still around making games. God I love the Sega Saturn. Never gonna forget when my dad got it for us instead of the N64 because it was on sale with 3 free games. Best decision ever, I still have the system displayed ❤️
thing is, sega in the 90's after the genesis is plagued with bad decisions and poor management from the company higher ups at the time, (hell, just look at the Sega CD and 32X, and they trying to juggle it all at the same time along with the Saturn) and it resulted in them not being able to compete with Sony and Nintendo, and the eventual death of the DC at the hands of the PS2. It's sad, yes, but most of it is their own fault.
You could support Microsoft, the xbox line has a lot of Sega DNA. I can actually imagine Halo & Fable being Sega exclusives in an alternative time line. I switched to xbox because of its bloodline... Until I switched to ps4 for PSVR & I still feel like I've betrayed my gaming blood to this day :(
I never clicked on a Matt McMuscles video so fast. I owned this game as a kid and I've felt nobody throughout my adolescence believed me when I regaled the tale of how phenomenal this game was.
I love this game. Can't say "loved" because I still play it. I bought it on day one when it released here in the states. I was expecting a huge line at Funcoland at the mall here in GA. I showed up there early before they opened up because I wanted to beat the line I thought would be there. There was no line. Nobody camped out like I thought lol Dude who opened up that day came, opened up, I walked right in. I reserved it ahead of time. Nobody else was there. Dude was like "Yep, you're the only one reserving this game" I walked out of there amazed. lol Got home, played it non-stop, it was amazing. I'd never seen a game pull off what it had pulled off on the Saturn or even on the PSX (Which I didn't own I always played at friend's houses) First time beating the game I got 70%. Next time I played it I explored EVERYthing and everyplace in that game. Finally got 99.9% completed. Later I learned if you had the save data from Panzer Dragoon 1 and Zwei you could access Pandora's Box mode and that's how you get 100%. Once I found that out, I gave up and traded the game in, thinking "Well that's it, I beat the game as much as I could" The game's art direction was amazing, that whole series has amazing art direction, it still inspires me as an artist to this day to try and be as unique as I can with my art. I still play Panzer Dragoon Azel to this day on emulators on my PC on high resolution. Never get tired of that game. Really hope they make a remake. I'll buy it day one, first in line (or only one in line lol) just like I did back then :)
I got up at 6am to get the bus into town to buy this on release day in 1998. Got what I thought was the next available bus back home but it only went as far as a few villages (about 10 miles) away from my home. Sat and waited for the next bus and read the manual cover-to-cover several times over. This will always be such a special game to me!
I worked for a Game Stop competitor, and we had ONE copy of this game come through in the several years I worked there. It had no box, but the CEO of the company *still* demanded we put it aside for him. (We had an asking cost of almost $200 as I recall, w/o case...)
"Saturn is notoriously hard to emulate" is a myth now. In this day and age, Mednafen has become the best Saturn emulator. It's a part of RetroArch as "Beetle Saturn", though, I don't think it's quite up to date.
For the european price: it is written in french "sans jeu", meaning "without the game". So it's 280euros (340$) for the box only... Let that sink in for a moment :) I'm so glad i played it at the time...wish i could play it again.
I admit to not being an RPG guy, so maybe I'm just out of the loop... but I can't believe no one ever tried to copy or were at least somewhat inspired by the battle system in this game. It flows so well and on top of that, I don't think its full potential has been tapped. I had a great time playing Saga. By the end, I was sad that there weren't any sequels and that so few have played it. Maybe someday, it'll get a remake and get the love that it deserves. Hell, same goes for the whole series!
Matt, I have another forgotten Sega game that was really awesome and I've never seen again. Ever heard of "Story of Thor", known in America as "Beyond Oasis"? It was a cool action-RPG in the vein of Zelda, where you had a variety of attacks that made it feel like a beat'em up and the main mechanic was how you could summon spirits as NPCs to help you in battle and puzzle solving. It was fucking awesome all around, with great music and gameplay (graphics were kinda pixel-y with a few anime-styled characters but shined here and there, like in the bracelet designs) that spawned a sequel in Saturn then dissapeared. I loved this game,could you check out what happened?
If I remember correctly, Yuzo Koshiro made the soundtrack to beyond oasis and its sequel. It also had some of the same sound effects as streets of rage.
I own a copy of this gem (I lucked into a lot with all of the rare Saturn RPGs -- minus Shining Wisdom -- back around 2000. Steal of a lifetime in retrospect) and while generally collectors like things to stay rare for the value increase (irrelevant to me -- I'll never sell my collection anyway), this is one where I think it would be way better if people could actually experience it. Unlike so many of the rare pricey games, this one's actually really good.
Saga is the greatest rpg of all-time, imo. It's a true masterpiece, so I'm always hoping that one day it gets a proper remake, or at least a remaster, for others to experience.
From what I read, the code wasn't lost as in "misplaced", but as in "destroyed". According to a japanese article, the building housing the hard drives containing the games from that era was hit by an earthquake and caught on fire, destroying the original and the backup builds.
Jesus, usually these episodes amuses me to no end with developmental disasters and egotistical developers, but this episode just leaves me feeling so fucking hollow. Damn that was depressing as hell. The whole thing really was a tragedy.
I have my Japanese copy in my collection still, however a friend picked up a sealed PAL copy back around 2010 from a second hand store that didn't know what they had. Cost him less than $15. I'm still jealous.
I first heard of Panzer Dragoon 10 years ago and fell in love with the series instantly. My copy of Saga cost an arm and a leg, but I truly adore it and the rest of the series and pray that a proper series revival of collection will happen one day.
One of my favourite RPGs. I was lucky enough to get a physical copy, and I played it countless times, even if I did not understand everything (it was way before I become fluent in english). Great story and art, great music. Maybe a little too simple and short, but all in all a memorable experience.
@@juststatedtheobvious9633 The story was more than okay. Just kind of short for its four discs. It's just that you're not really fighting against God or Satan like in classic RPGs. The final boss is closer to Gyigas from Mother, in that they are the final obstacle and the one who initiated the global plot, but they are not the main opposing force of the story. You go along with Edge's quest for revenge, and little by little you realize that the dragon (or rather the Divine Visitor) chose Edge, because his quest would bring you close to the Tower, and the dragon's objective.
If you think about it. In the first two you are in the center of all these enemies flying around at different angles trying to hit you. But in the saga you are now in the perspective of the enemies and the enemies are in the center as you fly around them trying to avoid attacks and out play them. Amazing games and beautiful graphics, they still blow my mind.
This game is incredible and I implore anyone interested to download an emulator and give it a go! If you have a Saturn, there are also ways to run burned discs of it. Beyond the technical feats this video details, Saga really did something interesting with the story. It does break the RPG mold of a party of young adventurers starting from nothing. The antagonists in this game are unclear and there's a lot of moral ambiguity of all the characters. Finally, it's far from just a damsel in distress type storyline, and that bit gets dropped rather quickly. I was actually quite impressed with the direction they took everything. Absolutely one of the best games ever made, even revisiting it today. I did not grow up with this game and I was still blown away.
Get an Xbox system and play Orta. It includes the original game (Albiet the PC version, which isn’t a bad thing at all) as a bonus when you beat the game.
Well, do you have a PC that can run emulators? There's always emulators. In particular, Mednafen, a multi system emulator, has had recent breakthroughs in Saturn emulation, and I've heard it runs really well now.
Always happy to see such a fantastic game get the recognition it deserves. My brother got it when we were kids and I had no idea at the time how rare the game was, even at launch! That aside, HER NAME IS "AZEL", there's no n! D:
The What Happened i didn't know i needed! One of the greatest rpgs i've every played. Orta was fantastic as well. Shame it seems like we'll never get another one. Interesting note: Smile Bit also worked on Jet Set Radio and Gun Valkyrie!
That's a stupid analogy, not even close, not even in the same ballpark. The adventure will go with me to the grave, it's with me forever and I love it.
Hearing about a lost masterpiece I never even knew existed before was really inspiring to hear! especially if you're someone who's trying to create some type of art yourself.
Hey Matt!!! Before I moved from the UK, a place I worked at had a mint copy. I got to hold it and then, I was the one who sold it. A guy bought it for £550. It was great to see such an awesome piece of gaming history.
I remember when it first came out it was a curiosity for me, never being a Saturn owner but an avid RPG fan who had a passing interest having played the first two titles at a friend's place. These days it's near the top of my list of titles that would be part of my dream gaming collection.
About emulation, is totally playable, I used SSF emulator like 6 or 7 years ago to play Saga and was just fine, I had only one crash against one of the bosses and the ending sequence didn't work (you can just watch online really)
Bought a copy for $550 two years ago. No regrets, Panzer Dragoon Saga is one of the finest video games of all time, in my top 5 for sure. It's absolutely depressing that a game this great got screwed over so hard.
This is tragic. I’ve wanted to play this game for years because I’ve heard of how incredibly rare it is and how cool it looks but heading the full story makes it even sadder.
The lack of any kind of rerelease means most people will never get to play this game since so few copies were ever produced. And that’s a tragedy in and of itself.
I was one of the few lucky people who managed to experience this game, and I'm so glad I did. I will say, without the shadow of a doubt, that it was one of the most incredible experiences I ever had with an RPG and it changed me forever. As a teenager, this unique aesthetic, this whisical world filled with imaginative beasts and graphics, and long cinematics, it truly blew my mind. Nowadays I word as a comic artist and illustrator, and I always cite this game as one of my main inspirations for loving to draw fantasy stories and settings as much as I do. Futatsugi and the team really created something special and unique, and I can say that it was a lasting impact for me!
Down the road another "feel good" followup video to this could be the closest thing to a spiritual successor this game ever got - Skies of Arcadia. It sure would be nice if Sega could appreciate it's back catalog beyond their arcade output and sega genesis some day ...
It's pretty sad when truly great games don't do well due to being either being released on not a good time to be successful or being on a console that nobody in that period cared for .
I love Saga, arguably my fav game ever. Still own it (uk version btw) and the Saturn and as I have a good pc have dumped the discs and can emulate it in high resolution and good frame rate.
Man, as a Saturn owner from nearly day one, I'll never forget when this got released here in the US: Sega decided that Jesus didn't love me enough to get one of the 6 copies that Sega shipped out....
@@chinafox1949 well I think so as well, what data do you have? Nulty confirmation if that 1000 was UK 1st run numbers would be great. I've seen this PAL game so many times that it's hard to believe the number is so low.
Yeah, if there really only where a 1000 copies of the PAL version, there wouldnt be a constant flow of copies on ebay, and the price would be MUCH higher than it is
I remember buying this game when it came out just by strolling in a random video games shop in the vicinity of Toulouse in France (so, not the biggest shop, and not the biggest town either). If there had been only 1000 copies for all Europe, I can hardly imagine I would have found it so easily or I'm extremely lucky. Still got it in mint condition BTW. One of my favourite games (and game franchises) of all time.
Years ago, I tried a bit of PDS on my friend's Saturn. While I was pretty interested in it, I never actually got too far. Methinks I should rectify that.
Only ever played the original once but that atmosphere made it stay with me forever. Thanks for covering the series! We're gonna need a Space Ghost Wha Happun now.
I played this game last year and still remain as a really special game. I went to find out the development story of the game and I got really sad about all the problems and the poor sales performance. Anyway, it's a true masterpiece in a form of gaming.
Great video :) got me all nostalgic for that wonderful game. A friend and I played it on his Saturn when we were teenagers (he is one of the lucky guys who got a Panzer Dragoon Saga Europe copy). What a gaem ! Please Sega remake this one :(
Man I still have my Saturn and absolutely loved it, and while I was kind of trash at Panzer Dragoon, I was always totally captured by the world and design. I completely forgot they even made the RPG. Really appreciate the video!
I'll never understand why Sega didnt cancel the Saturn version and changed it to the Dreamcast instead since IIRC back in late 97 the CEO said the Saturn was no longer the company's future and internally the Dreamcast design was already taking shape. Saga would've been a kickass launch title for the Dreamcast, way better than any of the launch library was.
Panzer dragoon saga deserves so much love considering the enormous amount of hardships the developers underwent to complete this masterclass game. This is a game that should never be forever lost in the past. Here's to emulation and soon, with hope, it will be rescued and released to today's platforms.
I played both Panzer Dragoon and Zwei when I super young. The sounds, music and visuals blew my small mind. Definitely the one of the best titles on the Saturn.
I have to admit that I've never finished the game in its entirety, but it continues to fascinate me everytime I see it. I'm happy to see so much devotion, innovation and creativity put into a game people hold in such high regard. Those who have played it at least. All other things aside the idea of a Virtua Cop RPG had me seriosuly hyped for a moment. It reminds me a bit of Snatcher SD on the MSX.
There are now several ways to experience this game on real hardware, the easiest being Psuedosaturn which is a cart that allows you to play burned games on a Saturn. There are also 3 different readily available ODEs or optical drive emulators which allow to replace the drive drive with an SD card reader. Fenrir and Mode
Never thought Wha Happun would lead me to WANT to play a game, but here we are
Did you see the Demon’s Souls one yet?
@@AshleyRiot Everyone knows about Demon’s Souls.
@@DrGandW I didn’t because I’m an idiot
@@AshleyRiot You are NOT an idiot, Your life experiences are just different than others. Even if they had a big advertising budget, if you were rarely where they advertised, or had information overload like walking into a game store where hundreds of games demanded your attention, missing it is a fair result.
I actually bought a Saturn and a Pseudo Saturn cart around the time this video came out specifically to play Saga, among a bunch of other games. Saga is an incredible game, and if you can figure out a way to play it without paying hundreds of dollars, I'd recommend it
This might be the most heartbreaking episode of "What Happened?" ever
I
Like most SEGA episodes. It's either a heartbreak or a wall-headbang.
@@Mateus_Carvalho Haha, true!
Sega's Magnum Opus, not known for its massive ambition, but for outside factors making it a lost diamond in the rough.
Also, in the mid 2000's , when i heard of this, it introduced me to the word "Dragoon", turns out its a British Calvaryman, or mounted infantry, so I learned something that day.
What is it with games involving the word Dragoon that have strangely convoluted dev cycles and being interesting if hard games to get ahold of?
@@gratuitouslurking8610 You know what, you're absolutely right, because Final Fantasy XV lol
The day I learned that "dragoon" had nothing to do with jumping dragon men was the worst day of my life. I'll never forgive Square for placing those false hopes in me.
@@Sniperbear13 not really, there's like 12 different versions/ports of the game, and i'm pretty sure the original SNES version isn't rare
@@gratuitouslurking8610 The Legend of Dragoon was one of the first games I ever played on my PlayStation as a kid. My nostalgia goggles still make me like it better than Final Fantasy lol
I still have my copy that I got on launch. The crown jewel of my video game collection!
Yo what up zone!?
Mine too.
*you*
Can't shake the feeling this is a hint to one of your next "ideas" shall we say
@@theonlybilge Your parents must be so proud. Fucking waste of oxygen.
Man, tragedy seems like an understatement for the development of this game.
You know the development cycle is torture when one of the devs literally kills himself.
@@KyokujiFGC And another dies in an accident
Panzer Dragoon Saga thankfully emulates really well on Mednafen.
Thank you good sir.
@Ruben Leite It is true, I've played through the game that way.
You can use Mednafen either directly (mednafen.github.io/, documentation: mednafen.github.io/documentation/ss.html) or through RetroArch (www.libretro.com/, documentation: docs.libretro.com/library/beetle_saturn/)
Wow, that quote about trying to fight through severe bronchitis....I can hardly imagine an era when a game was so impressive and groundbreaking that someone working in testing tried to fight management to WORK MORE, WHILE SICK. Nowadays it seems like employees have to fight just to go home after their normal work hours without being seen as lazy/unambitious, even on era-standard games. Not to say that employees used to be treated better across the board, just that, in current crunch culture, hearing about management sending an employee home despite their desire to work more sounds completely alien.
It's all a matter of passion- ACTUAL passion, instead of whatever mystical force the suits try to invoke to make their Human Resources™ work harder for no benefit. Here in Malaysia, we have a saying that roughly translates to "Those who want, have a thousand inspirations; those who don't, have a thousand excuses", as do a whole lot of other nations, I'd think, and this case illustrates that so well. That dude became invested in the game out of his own free will, because he was given the chance to work on a product that was more than just a product, if that makes any sense. And while I don't know how staff were treated back in the 90s, it had to have been better by simple virtue of being told to go home when he was ill. Environments like that, where people can work on something genuinely meaningful and treated like human beings, will supply more than a thousand inspirations to anyone privileged enough to be part of it.
Instead, now we have thousands of poor excuses for 'leaders' doing their best to remove any and all forms of inspiration, all to fill their pockets as much as possible before their rotting castles fall apart from the strain of their fat asses, and collapse upon the people who built them.
I doubt the original devs of Saga didn't face crunch since one of them commited suicide and knowing Japan's work culture, it probably could've been because of that, though I am just speculating.
@@matthewmiskiewicz8357 That's a very very good point as well
@@oldmanramblingatclouds That's a pretty eloquent way to put it. It's crazy how after all this time so many companies fall into the same trappings of greed and crunch and projects and passion suffer for it, when you can see cases of wonderful projects with healthy environments where everyone feels better for it. How things are like this in 2020, in the face of evidence for why the opposite is better, simply baffles me.
@@oldmanramblingatclouds pasión is a two edge sword, do have you lisent the reasons people are willing to go into the grinder of crunch?
Is so rooted in the working culture of developers than in most studies you are expected to do it, and if you don't, you are shamed by the ones working harder and marked as lazy and pasionless.
Most developers only can work on the industry only a few years before quit from burnout.
Crunch is crunch, stop romanticing it.
This was a great video, but I just want to clarify that Saturn emulation is no longer a pipe dream. In fact, it's the best it's ever been! Mednafen runs the game PERFECTLY, and if this game looks interesting at all to any of y'all, then look up the game files and emulate it. This is, hands down, the best RPG of it's generation, and if you are an fan of the genre you NEED to play this.
@Zeke Spears Hey if you wouldn't mind pming me the link you used I'd really appreciate it friend!
No
Same am half way through disc 1 now on yabause,
It may be possible to emulate, but I have never been able to get it to work on Mednefen
@@godofmediocrity7582 its work on yabause for me, the only problems i have is that it has trouble detecting my joystick, so i had to map movement to the d-pad,and also it crashes at times so make such to save state every so often.
The most tragic of all game releases. The worst part that it took the lives of 2 people and to add insult to injury, with the loss of the source code prohibiting the game being able to be ported to other systems, theres no monument to their (needless and unnecessary) sacrifice. The only thing that makes me happy is the knowledge that the games ISOs are everywhere on the internet and that emulators can play it well enough so that more gamers can experience one of the greatest JRPGs ever made. One that didnt ask for 40 or 100 hours of your life like some ones did. One that allowed you so much customization and the ability to play how you wanted. One whos entire story is fully voice acted, in a time where that was still not common place. It really was a fantastic game that rivaled (and in many ways, beat) its competition. I can only hope more people enjoy it as others have,[in SNESdrunks voice] any way you can.
It may be possible to reverse engineer the source code like several N64 games have had.
@@costby1105 N64 and PS1 games have been reverse-engineered before but I don't know if it's possible to do the same for Sega Saturn games.
@Jo Jo Might not be as hard as you think Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Goldeneye and Perfect Dark have all had their source code reverse engineered. At the bottom of this wikipedia page is a list of game with Reverse engineered source code. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_commercial_video_games_with_available_source_code
@@puertoricanguy999 I definitely is possible now how practical it is is a different story altogether. Both games written in Assembly and various C languages have had their source code reverse engineered.
I don't know how you have the time to pump out these well-researched in-depth mini documentaries like once a week. Incredible work as always
I absolutely adore this game. It's super short, but everything about it is so impressive you can't help but enjoy the ride. Definitely wish more people could play it.
Its short? Its like 20 hrs
@@MattMcMuscles I mean, compared to every other RPG it's short. And even taking my time through it, it ended up being more like 15 hours.
20 hours is perfect, once you start getting to 30+ most games start to get a little tedious, imo
@@mitchmediak There’s a lot of ways RPGs like to pad out their runtime, even when many don’t have as much story to tell as Persona games
So glad you covered this. It’s a complete masterpiece. I emulated it years ago and the experience has always stuck with me. Hope your video inspires people to play it. Saturn emulation works very well these days. Very well done video mate.
No game has changed my life more than this masterpiece. This & Shining Force III will always be my two favorite games of all time.
I always wanted to play both of these (especiallyshining force). Sadly, I never owned a Saturn.
God damn, exactly my story! While I loved Panzer Dragoon Saga, SFIII remained my favorite game of all time. I played that game around 8 times.
Ahh shining force III, first game that i bought with my own money and what a game it was, dont even now how many times i have played it, such underrated gem
Agreed. SFIII, this and Dragon Force were my big 3 as a kid when my brother bought home a cheap second hand Saturn.
You murdered the pronunciation of zwei lol. But I still love you.
He butchered Azel's pronunciation as well XD.
Penzurr
Penser dragon zweee sega featuring annnnzel
"Anzel"
@@CrystalBulger 👍
You can't ignore TWO WORLDS forever matt!
Why, pray tell?
No please. Even for Wha Happened, it should remain buried.
Yes, he can and he should.
Sincerely,
A former beta-tester for Two Worlds II.
I was extremely lucky to find a copy of this back in 2001. It cost nearly £100 then (I'm in the UK), but I knew I was never going to see it again so I went for it and it's worth WAAAY more than that now. And just as you say in this video, it's one of the best RPGs I've ever played which, in hindsight, should've been a Dreamcast launch game instead.
A special mention must also go to the soundtrack, which is phenomenal.
It makes me so said that SEGA failed and stopped making consoles. They are one of my favorite companies, I’m just happy they’re still around making games. God I love the Sega Saturn. Never gonna forget when my dad got it for us instead of the N64 because it was on sale with 3 free games. Best decision ever, I still have the system displayed ❤️
thing is, sega in the 90's after the genesis is plagued with bad decisions and poor management from the company higher ups at the time, (hell, just look at the Sega CD and 32X, and they trying to juggle it all at the same time along with the Saturn) and it resulted in them not being able to compete with Sony and Nintendo, and the eventual death of the DC at the hands of the PS2. It's sad, yes, but most of it is their own fault.
Sega I'd managed pretty badly.
You could support Microsoft, the xbox line has a lot of Sega DNA.
I can actually imagine Halo & Fable being Sega exclusives in an alternative time line.
I switched to xbox because of its bloodline... Until I switched to ps4 for PSVR & I still feel like I've betrayed my gaming blood to this day :(
@@Clara_Page you know what could be awesome? Sega Dreamcast backwards compatibility on Xbox Series X
@@vincenzomottola7778 Totally, that would be amazing and would definitely help sway the console war in Microsoft's favor
I still have my Sega Saturn with the OG Panzer Dragoon. Good memories.
I never clicked on a Matt McMuscles video so fast. I owned this game as a kid and I've felt nobody throughout my adolescence believed me when I regaled the tale of how phenomenal this game was.
The non complete version mentionned at 18:38 specifies "sans jeu" which means "without game", It is litterally 300 bucks for an empty box.
That’s an even bigger WTF.
Probably the greatest video game that no one ever played...
I did. ✓ All of them, including Orta and the recent Remake.
They never played it cause it's $1000 and the Saturn is hard to emulate.
I love this game. Can't say "loved" because I still play it. I bought it on day one when it released here in the states. I was expecting a huge line at Funcoland at the mall here in GA. I showed up there early before they opened up because I wanted to beat the line I thought would be there. There was no line. Nobody camped out like I thought lol Dude who opened up that day came, opened up, I walked right in. I reserved it ahead of time. Nobody else was there. Dude was like "Yep, you're the only one reserving this game" I walked out of there amazed. lol Got home, played it non-stop, it was amazing. I'd never seen a game pull off what it had pulled off on the Saturn or even on the PSX (Which I didn't own I always played at friend's houses) First time beating the game I got 70%. Next time I played it I explored EVERYthing and everyplace in that game. Finally got 99.9% completed. Later I learned if you had the save data from Panzer Dragoon 1 and Zwei you could access Pandora's Box mode and that's how you get 100%. Once I found that out, I gave up and traded the game in, thinking "Well that's it, I beat the game as much as I could" The game's art direction was amazing, that whole series has amazing art direction, it still inspires me as an artist to this day to try and be as unique as I can with my art. I still play Panzer Dragoon Azel to this day on emulators on my PC on high resolution. Never get tired of that game. Really hope they make a remake. I'll buy it day one, first in line (or only one in line lol) just like I did back then :)
I got up at 6am to get the bus into town to buy this on release day in 1998. Got what I thought was the next available bus back home but it only went as far as a few villages (about 10 miles) away from my home. Sat and waited for the next bus and read the manual cover-to-cover several times over. This will always be such a special game to me!
honestly with how much ambition was poured into this game, Panzer Dragoon Saga deserves to be brought to modern consoles
This is one of my all time favorites. Such a tragedy it was lost to time.
One of the best games I ever played. Thanks for covering it. I really regret selling it, but I was going through a rough spell and needed the money :(
I worked for a Game Stop competitor, and we had ONE copy of this game come through in the several years I worked there. It had no box, but the CEO of the company *still* demanded we put it aside for him. (We had an asking cost of almost $200 as I recall, w/o case...)
"Saturn is notoriously hard to emulate" is a myth now. In this day and age, Mednafen has become the best Saturn emulator. It's a part of RetroArch as "Beetle Saturn", though, I don't think it's quite up to date.
For the european price: it is written in french "sans jeu", meaning "without the game". So it's 280euros (340$) for the box only... Let that sink in for a moment :)
I'm so glad i played it at the time...wish i could play it again.
Matt uploading this even though he knows all the comments will be “OKAY SO CYBERPUNK”
kinda hope this gets a lot of attention, certainly one of the most interesting yet heartbreaking wha happuns ive seen to date
Man, I just want to give poor Yukio Futsugi a hug, that man really needs one.
I admit to not being an RPG guy, so maybe I'm just out of the loop... but I can't believe no one ever tried to copy or were at least somewhat inspired by the battle system in this game. It flows so well and on top of that, I don't think its full potential has been tapped. I had a great time playing Saga. By the end, I was sad that there weren't any sequels and that so few have played it. Maybe someday, it'll get a remake and get the love that it deserves. Hell, same goes for the whole series!
This is my favorite game of all time.
@@jamesverner9132 Yeah. Back in 2000.
Still have my copy.
Matt, I have another forgotten Sega game that was really awesome and I've never seen again. Ever heard of "Story of Thor", known in America as "Beyond Oasis"? It was a cool action-RPG in the vein of Zelda, where you had a variety of attacks that made it feel like a beat'em up and the main mechanic was how you could summon spirits as NPCs to help you in battle and puzzle solving. It was fucking awesome all around, with great music and gameplay (graphics were kinda pixel-y with a few anime-styled characters but shined here and there, like in the bracelet designs) that spawned a sequel in Saturn then dissapeared.
I loved this game,could you check out what happened?
The sequel on the saturn even had two player co op
If I remember correctly, Yuzo Koshiro made the soundtrack to beyond oasis and its sequel. It also had some of the same sound effects as streets of rage.
It received an amazing sequel on the saturn called story of thor 2
Yo, beyond oasis was so fun and looked great for the time! I wasn't aware of a sequel tho, must find that
I own a copy of this gem (I lucked into a lot with all of the rare Saturn RPGs -- minus Shining Wisdom -- back around 2000. Steal of a lifetime in retrospect) and while generally collectors like things to stay rare for the value increase (irrelevant to me -- I'll never sell my collection anyway), this is one where I think it would be way better if people could actually experience it. Unlike so many of the rare pricey games, this one's actually really good.
Saga is the greatest rpg of all-time, imo. It's a true masterpiece, so I'm always hoping that one day it gets a proper remake, or at least a remaster, for others to experience.
From what I read, the code wasn't lost as in "misplaced", but as in "destroyed". According to a japanese article, the building housing the hard drives containing the games from that era was hit by an earthquake and caught on fire, destroying the original and the backup builds.
Jesus, usually these episodes amuses me to no end with developmental disasters and egotistical developers, but this episode just leaves me feeling so fucking hollow. Damn that was depressing as hell. The whole thing really was a tragedy.
I have my Japanese copy in my collection still, however a friend picked up a sealed PAL copy back around 2010 from a second hand store that didn't know what they had. Cost him less than $15. I'm still jealous.
I first heard of Panzer Dragoon 10 years ago and fell in love with the series instantly. My copy of Saga cost an arm and a leg, but I truly adore it and the rest of the series and pray that a proper series revival of collection will happen one day.
that xperts bit with the monotone bassline with the scream... amazing lmao
One of my favourite RPGs. I was lucky enough to get a physical copy, and I played it countless times, even if I did not understand everything (it was way before I become fluent in english).
Great story and art, great music. Maybe a little too simple and short, but all in all a memorable experience.
@@juststatedtheobvious9633 The story was more than okay. Just kind of short for its four discs. It's just that you're not really fighting against God or Satan like in classic RPGs. The final boss is closer to Gyigas from Mother, in that they are the final obstacle and the one who initiated the global plot, but they are not the main opposing force of the story. You go along with Edge's quest for revenge, and little by little you realize that the dragon (or rather the Divine Visitor) chose Edge, because his quest would bring you close to the Tower, and the dragon's objective.
If you think about it. In the first two you are in the center of all these enemies flying around at different angles trying to hit you. But in the saga you are now in the perspective of the enemies and the enemies are in the center as you fly around them trying to avoid attacks and out play them. Amazing games and beautiful graphics, they still blow my mind.
This game is incredible and I implore anyone interested to download an emulator and give it a go! If you have a Saturn, there are also ways to run burned discs of it.
Beyond the technical feats this video details, Saga really did something interesting with the story. It does break the RPG mold of a party of young adventurers starting from nothing. The antagonists in this game are unclear and there's a lot of moral ambiguity of all the characters. Finally, it's far from just a damsel in distress type storyline, and that bit gets dropped rather quickly. I was actually quite impressed with the direction they took everything. Absolutely one of the best games ever made, even revisiting it today. I did not grow up with this game and I was still blown away.
REALLY wanna play this whole series but I only really have access to Panzer Dragoon Remake right now sadly 😔
Get an Xbox system and play Orta. It includes the original game (Albiet the PC version, which isn’t a bad thing at all) as a bonus when you beat the game.
Well, do you have a PC that can run emulators? There's always emulators. In particular, Mednafen, a multi system emulator, has had recent breakthroughs in Saturn emulation, and I've heard it runs really well now.
Remake is garbage compared to the original, the controls ruin the game.
You can switch to classic controls, at least on PC. It's the first thing I did.
Always happy to see such a fantastic game get the recognition it deserves. My brother got it when we were kids and I had no idea at the time how rare the game was, even at launch!
That aside, HER NAME IS "AZEL", there's no n! D:
The What Happened i didn't know i needed! One of the greatest rpgs i've every played. Orta was fantastic as well. Shame it seems like we'll never get another one. Interesting note: Smile Bit also worked on Jet Set Radio and Gun Valkyrie!
Just finished this masterpiece and really enjoyed it
Me summarizing it to a bud; "imagine starfox: but on a dragon!"
That's a stupid analogy, not even close, not even in the same ballpark. The adventure will go with me to the grave, it's with me forever and I love it.
Panzer 1, 2 and Orta are like that but Saga is an entirely different beast
Hearing about a lost masterpiece I never even knew existed before was really inspiring to hear! especially if you're someone who's trying to create some type of art yourself.
I felt emotional watching this. Thank you for telling the development story of Panzer Dragoon Saga on this channel.
The girls name is not Nvidia Ansel. It's Azel, like Azazel, but with one less az.
Best game I ever played. I still have a sense of longing and sadness to Edge's journey to this day.
Hey Matt!!!
Before I moved from the UK, a place I worked at had a mint copy. I got to hold it and then, I was the one who sold it. A guy bought it for £550. It was great to see such an awesome piece of gaming history.
Gaming’s greatest, most underrated & unknown classic.
I remember when it first came out it was a curiosity for me, never being a Saturn owner but an avid RPG fan who had a passing interest having played the first two titles at a friend's place. These days it's near the top of my list of titles that would be part of my dream gaming collection.
After Team Andromeda was disbanded...
Smilebit was born, and they would go on to make...
JET SET RADIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Ok but Virtua Cop RPG would be AMAZING
About emulation, is totally playable, I used SSF emulator like 6 or 7 years ago to play Saga and was just fine, I had only one crash against one of the bosses and the ending sequence didn't work (you can just watch online really)
Bought a copy for $550 two years ago.
No regrets, Panzer Dragoon Saga is one of the finest video games of all time, in my top 5 for sure.
It's absolutely depressing that a game this great got screwed over so hard.
This is tragic. I’ve wanted to play this game for years because I’ve heard of how incredibly rare it is and how cool it looks but heading the full story makes it even sadder.
The lack of any kind of rerelease means most people will never get to play this game since so few copies were ever produced.
And that’s a tragedy in and of itself.
I was one of the few lucky people who managed to experience this game, and I'm so glad I did. I will say, without the shadow of a doubt, that it was one of the most incredible experiences I ever had with an RPG and it changed me forever. As a teenager, this unique aesthetic, this whisical world filled with imaginative beasts and graphics, and long cinematics, it truly blew my mind.
Nowadays I word as a comic artist and illustrator, and I always cite this game as one of my main inspirations for loving to draw fantasy stories and settings as much as I do. Futatsugi and the team really created something special and unique, and I can say that it was a lasting impact for me!
Down the road another "feel good" followup video to this could be the closest thing to a spiritual successor this game ever got - Skies of Arcadia. It sure would be nice if Sega could appreciate it's back catalog beyond their arcade output and sega genesis some day ...
It's pretty sad when truly great games don't do well due to being either being released on not a good time to be successful or being on a console that nobody in that period cared for .
@@diablorojo3887 well in North America at least
I love Saga, arguably my fav game ever. Still own it (uk version btw) and the Saturn and as I have a good pc have dumped the discs and can emulate it in high resolution and good frame rate.
The Sega Saturn is a fantastic machine! We are fortunate to have experienced it!
Man, as a Saturn owner from nearly day one, I'll never forget when this got released here in the US: Sega decided that Jesus didn't love me enough to get one of the 6 copies that Sega shipped out....
I luckily own one of those 1000 PAL copies. One of my favourites of all time.
@@chinafox1949 I've heard it ranges anywhere from 1000-6000, but I haven't looked into it.
@@widdowson91 I have data, I'm waiting on contact from Dave Nulty.
@@chinafox1949 well I think so as well, what data do you have?
Nulty confirmation if that 1000 was UK 1st run numbers would be great.
I've seen this PAL game so many times that it's hard to believe the number is so low.
Yeah, if there really only where a 1000 copies of the PAL version, there wouldnt be a constant flow of copies on ebay, and the price would be MUCH higher than it is
I remember buying this game when it came out just by strolling in a random video games shop in the vicinity of Toulouse in France (so, not the biggest shop, and not the biggest town either). If there had been only 1000 copies for all Europe, I can hardly imagine I would have found it so easily or I'm extremely lucky. Still got it in mint condition BTW. One of my favourite games (and game franchises) of all time.
I was always wondering why Max starting loving this game. And then Matt said it. Started on the Saturn lol
Dude, I'd play a Virtua Cop RPG
I'd play a Virtua Fighter RPG-wait, no I wouldn't...............
I've heard this story a handful of times but it still never ceases to make me depressed.
I mean....like....more than I already am
I picked my up in a local newsagent that sold games on the side and had no idea it was even rare at the time. Loved every minute of it
Years ago, I tried a bit of PDS on my friend's Saturn. While I was pretty interested in it, I never actually got too far. Methinks I should rectify that.
I've played/seen about 13% of the content you cover, and yet I'm here every time
Damn 2 deaths in one game development. Reminded me of that saying: Love your job but not the company.
Azel. There's no "n" in the name.
Anzel Anzel.I was about to punch him in the face
My favourite console, my favourite game and now...my favourite ‘wha happun’ video
Kinda surprised that You did a video on this game. Best RPG on saturn IMO
I had a Saturn in '94. Yup, I was *that* kid.
Hayao Nakayama: "We need to tackle Final Fantasy VII head-on!"
me, watching this in 2020: "There are easier ways to self-destruct, my dude."
Great video! But I can't believe there wasnt a single mention to the amazing soundtrack!
Only ever played the original once but that atmosphere made it stay with me forever. Thanks for covering the series!
We're gonna need a Space Ghost Wha Happun now.
I actually own a physical copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga. I swear it’s the game that makes the saturn as good as the ps1.
*better (fixed it 😁)
*better
I played this game last year and still remain as a really special game. I went to find out the development story of the game and I got really sad about all the problems and the poor sales performance. Anyway, it's a true masterpiece in a form of gaming.
Great video :) got me all nostalgic for that wonderful game. A friend and I played it on his Saturn when we were teenagers (he is one of the lucky guys who got a Panzer Dragoon Saga Europe copy). What a gaem ! Please Sega remake this one :(
Man I still have my Saturn and absolutely loved it, and while I was kind of trash at Panzer Dragoon, I was always totally captured by the world and design. I completely forgot they even made the RPG. Really appreciate the video!
How interesting. Makes me think that maybe an episode on the Shining Force series would be interesting as well.
I love this series. I look forward to it every weekend. Know it takes lots of work so thanks for the awesome vids!👊
Orta was my fav growing up, the atmosphere, dragon designs, really awesome
I'll never understand why Sega didnt cancel the Saturn version and changed it to the Dreamcast instead since IIRC back in late 97 the CEO said the Saturn was no longer the company's future and internally the Dreamcast design was already taking shape.
Saga would've been a kickass launch title for the Dreamcast, way better than any of the launch library was.
Panzer dragoon saga deserves so much love considering the enormous amount of hardships the developers underwent to complete this masterclass game. This is a game that should never be forever lost in the past. Here's to emulation and soon, with hope, it will be rescued and released to today's platforms.
I'd like to see a What Happened? for Megaman Soccer. I mean, the game doesn't even have an ending.
It actually does have an ending (intended to unlock Wily as playable as well) but it's accidentally unused.
That's less a 'Wha' Happun?'and more of a 'Tha' Hapun?'
@@Calvin_Coolage Or maybe a "Why Happun?"
I played both Panzer Dragoon and Zwei when I super young. The sounds, music and visuals blew my small mind. Definitely the one of the best titles on the Saturn.
One of my favorite games of all time, and super proud to own an authentic copy. Favorite "holy grail" in my collection.
Just recently found your channel through the wcw video a couple days ago. Been binging your vids since. Keep it up man i love this stuff
I have to admit that I've never finished the game in its entirety, but it continues to fascinate me everytime I see it. I'm happy to see so much devotion, innovation and creativity put into a game people hold in such high regard. Those who have played it at least. All other things aside the idea of a Virtua Cop RPG had me seriosuly hyped for a moment. It reminds me a bit of Snatcher SD on the MSX.
Lent it to a "friend " ...never saw it again. To say I was upset was an understatement.
There are now several ways to experience this game on real hardware, the easiest being Psuedosaturn which is a cart that allows you to play burned games on a Saturn. There are also 3 different readily available ODEs or optical drive emulators which allow to replace the drive drive with an SD card reader. Fenrir and Mode
Ahh, my crown jewel. Also tied with Kirby for my favorite game series ever. I've never seen a setting quite like it anywhere.