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[fart town usa]

THE JAPANESE VERSION

In all seriousness, I used to own the NA release and sold it in college for roughly $300 because I was poor and needed rent money. It honestly never bothered me that much but it will always sting a bit considering I paid like $300 for it, lol. No profit, only rent towards a shitty house and no more PDS

I checked ebay earlier to see what the Japanese prices are and found one from a US seller for $60 w/ free shipping. Such a steal IMO, the game is linear and the menus are easy enough to navigate. I can always utilize a FAQ for story translation.

Most important thing to me is simply being able to play the game natively, I own a Japanese Saturn w/ a mod chip and pro-action replay. Burned games always act up though, usually the CG movies are all jacked up, etc.

Stoked to play this game again and hear its OST, it's a really beautiful game. It's honestly not worth the going rate of $1,400 but it is a game that I wish more people were able to experience. I'd love if the game could somehow be released on modern consoles but with no changes. It'd be cool if people could see what the game is all about and it could come with a video from industry vets commenting on why the game is so highly regarded.

So Gaf, have you ever played PDS on actual Saturn hardware? I'm not up to speed on Saturn emulation but I assume that it still has issues.

 

[nush]

I brought it new at trade price that was about £24. Great game but no way worth dropping $100's on.

 

[fart town usa]

I brought it new at trade price that was about £24. Great game but no way worth dropping $100's on.

Hell yea, still own it?

 

[PhaseJump]

Actual hardware is best. I use a Satiator to run everything paired up with a ram & memory cartridge. PS Kai now gets around the weird unofficial cart copy protection, and you can use the memory card in-game.

 

[nush]

Hell yea, still own it?

Yes.

 

[kingpotato]

I pre-ordered it from an online retailer back in the day. The order was never fulfilled, I remember they sent me a FF8 wall scroll instead . I've never seen a physical copy before. Had a decent collection on the Saturn, but I was bummed that I never got to play that one.

 

[Quasicat]

Paid $125 for it once I got my first good paying teaching job. It was fun to play through a couple of times and then I sold it for $600 when my daughter was born.
A Japanese version would be a good purchase as its cheaper and you already know the story. Plus, there’s something authentic about playing a Japanese game in its native language. I have played the Zelda games that way and it’s still very enjoyable.

 

[SkylineRKR]

JP ver. was 10-20 bucks back in the day. The game isn't even that text heavy, I think I beat it without guide. I played it a fair bit but I always liked PD Zwei more.

 

[fart town usa]

Actual hardware is best. I use a Satiator to run everything paired up with a ram & memory cartridge. PS Kai now gets around the weird unofficial cart copy protection, and you can use the memory card in-game.

Nice, I have no idea what those are, lol, but sounds interesting.

At some point I'd like to get a Pseudo Saturn or gut the interior and do the SD card thing but just no need for it at the moment. I have the Saturn games I really want and anything extra is just a bonus at this point.

 

[shoplifter]

Back when I lived in Japan you could buy copies for 1000¥. I grabbed a few as gifts for friends that weren’t fortunate enough to get a US copy.

I ended up selling my US copy for around $500

 

[Kokoloko85]

Enjoy.
Does the burned copy on actual hardware count? Haha, I played disc 1 Pal though with a demo disc that came with the Sega Saturn magazine. I had an emulator that worked almost perfect on a macbook, so Im guessing its much easier to get on PC.

I finished the game again recently.

The combat still holds up better than most JRPG’s. Great music, Amazing combat, unique story and world. One of my favourite games and why the Saturn is probably 3-5 best consoles for JRPG’s (PS1 and Snes are top 2 ).
And overall underrated machine (best 2d fighters and shoot em ups of the generation too )

 

[Calling 911 Melts Beams]

got a usa copy for below market price and played it for 20 minutes before selling it for market price because i like money and the draw distance is garbo

 

[alabtrosMyster]

Got mine for 60 back in 2000! Sold it for 750about 3 years ago.

It's one of the top 32-bit games.

 

[DigitalScrap]

I brought it new at trade price that was about £24. Great game but no way worth dropping $100's on.

Agreed. Although I did eventually sell my copy (which I bought at release) for almost $450, so I'm not complaining about people who are willing to pay that much for it.

 

[anthony2690]

I love this game, is has aged very well and looks beautiful on the one X/series X in 4k

I remember getting a Saturn with panzer dragoon and later zwei, big fan of the series, sadly only ever played the first disc off saga as it came with a sega Saturn magazine in the UK

& I got panzer dragoon orta for the original Xbox, along with all the other sega titles shenmue 2, gun Valkyrie, JSRF, crazy taxi 3 (the latter two I'd love to see remade or come to BC, but I know music licenses will forever prevent this happening)

Edit: I'm an idiot, I read orta in my head, but we are talking about Saga, I only played the first disc as mentioned above XD

 

[Scotty W]

JP ver. was 10-20 bucks back in the day. The game isn't even that text heavy, I think I beat it without guide. I played it a fair bit but I always liked PD Zwei more.

I’ve seen it around Tokyo for 15 dollars.

 

[Naked Lunch]

I still have my US copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga.
Bought it on ebay for $100 around 2005 or so.
I'll only get rid of it if I have to move into a cardboard box sometime.

The Panzer Dragoon series is simply one of gaming's greatest treasures - Saga being at the forefront.

I also have a mint copy of Radiant Silvergun. Both are the most prized pieces in my collection.

 

[Crowza]

Bought it at release. I had to call every game store within 50 miles, and only one store had a single copy. I asked if they would hold it for me and drove 40-45 minutes to pick it up brand new, along with a copy of House of The Dead.

That is the environment when it was released.

The trauma of almost missing out on Panzer Dragoon Saga made me start reserving games.

 

[fart town usa]

Enjoy.
Does the burned copy on actual hardware count? Haha, I played disc 1 Pal though with a demo disc that came with the Sega Saturn magazine. I had an emulator that worked almost perfect on a macbook, so Im guessing its much easier to get on PC.

I finished the game again recently.

The combat still holds up better than most JRPG’s. Great music, Amazing combat, unique story and world. One of my favourite games and why the Saturn is probably 3-5 best consoles for JRPG’s (PS1 and Snes are top 2 ).
And overall underrated machine (best 2d fighters and shoot em ups of the generation too )

Yea, I'm no purist my any means. Play the fuck out of them burned games. If the Saturn emulation scene can represent the game in a good way too, power to them. I've just never paid much attention to emulators cause I own all the retro consoles/games I want to play. (my collection isn't THAT big, just managed to get some gems before prices went insane).

 

[fart town usa]

I still have my US copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga.
Bought it on ebay for $100 around 2005 or so.
I'll only get rid of it if I have to move into a cardboard box sometime.

The Panzer Dragoon series is simply one of gaming's greatest treasures - Saga being at the forefront.

I also have a mint copy of Radiant Silvergun. Both are the most prized pieces in my collection.

Jealous of Radiant Silvergun, thankfully my burned copy plays 100% fine but I'd just love to own a copy. One of the few Japanese Saturn games that fetches a high price, at least to my knowledge.

Man, Radiant Silvergun's opening is so awesome. When you actually start playing, the church bells in the music and the graphics. Get me so fuckin' hyped everytime I play, lol. And the sprites, man, Radiant Silvergun is honestly a more impressive representation of Saturn doing 3D that PDS, at least to me.

 

[Deerock71]

THE JAPANESE VERSION

In all seriousness, I used to own the NA release and sold it in college for roughly $300 because I was poor and needed rent money. It honestly never bothered me that much but it will always sting a bit considering I paid like $300 for it, lol. No profit, only rent towards a shitty house and no more PDS

Best reaction to yourself EVAR!

 

[Naked Lunch]

Jealous of Radiant Silvergun, thankfully my burned copy plays 100% fine but I'd just love to own a copy. One of the few Japanese Saturn games that fetches a high price, at least to my knowledge.

Man, Radiant Silvergun's opening is so awesome. When you actually start playing, the church bells in the music and the graphics. Get me so fuckin' hyped everytime I play, lol. And the sprites, man, Radiant Silvergun is honestly a more impressive representation of Saturn doing 3D that PDS, at least to me.

Radiant Silvergun is quite possibly my favorite game of all time.

I actually prefer the Saturn version to the Xbox version - because Xbox removes the slowdown which I need for some of those later bosses. Plus you get more credits in Saturn mode on Saturn - I like using the extra credits playing thru the game starting at level 00 to see all the different boss attacks. If you use a saved game with maxed out weapons in Saturn mode - you kill bosses quickly and cant see all the patterns they go thru. Treasure programmed an unbelievable amount of boss attack patterns most people will never even see. Plus Saturn mode has more stages than Arcade mode of course.

As Ive been playing more obscure shmups over the years - im finding many of the Radiant Silvergun bosses are homages to bosses from other shmups. Theres this PC Engine shmup Sylphia - it has this bird boss which is 100% the same bird as the next to the last boss in Radiant Silvergun. You also fight the ship from Rtype in RS. Theres tons more too.

 

[German Hops]

I believe you can get repros for like $30.
I'm not sure about the quality, though.

 

[SkylineRKR]

I've also owned RSG way back. Its a great game, very meaty as well. But perhaps too slow and confusing for an arcade release. I liked it more than Ikaruga though. But its scoring system was a nightmare. RSG had a proper console mode with cutscenes and extra levels.

RSG was expensive in the early 2k's but not out of reach. I bought it for 120 ish. Its become easily 2 of 3 times as valuable nowadays. But that goes for pretty much all retro. The best time to collect was really early 2k's. Also for Neogeo. Lots of carts weren't even that expensive yet.

 

[fart town usa]

I believe you can get repros for like $30.
I'm not sure about the quality, though.

Hmmm, I never considered that. I have some bootleg Singaporean repros and they play just fine. The disc looks legit, packaging too. I don't get hung up on authenticity, if a bootleg plays as it should, that's good enough for me.

I've mentioned it in other Saturn threads but the Saturn I have, I bought when I was living in Singapore. Found some old craigslist type listing for a massive Saturn collection, dude was selling it all for like $150 (roughly $120 USD). I got a Japanese Saturn w/ mod chip, 2 light guns w/ box (one doesn't work) Probably 20 legit games and like 50 bootleg games. I got rid of most of the games years ago cause they were just really awful games but everything else I own. Dude said he was selling it cause his GF was making him get rid of it. Poor bastard. It's in good hands now though, it's the prize jewel in my gaming collection.

 

[fart town usa]

Should be at my house by Monday.

I am effing geeked for this to arrive so I can hunker down in the basement, smoke some herb and bask in the glory of the Trinitron S-Video glow.

 

[Vangellis]

I sold mine like 10 years ago for around $500. Looks like its $1500-$2000 on ebay. Crazy. Great game, but I didnt feel the need to own a copy. I sold all my stuff years ago and only kept the 8bit and 16bit stuff. The prices on that stuff is nuts too. Strangely I sold Radiant Silvergun for $200ish 10 years ago and its only going for about $225 on ebay. I would say thats a better game too.

I guess it makes sense since Panzer Dragoon saga is way more rare and has never had another release.

 

[cireza]

There are many documents in the game, you are going to miss some of the lore, but it is not too bad. A few sidequests as well.

I still have my PAL copy bought more than 20 years ago...

 

[Jigsaah]

Yukio Futatsugi approves this thread.

 

[Evil Calvin]

Picked my copy up at Toys R Us in 1998. I knew it would be limited (10,000 copies) but they didn't have the paper slip ( or game picture) on the game wall. I went to the pickup window, where they keep the actual games, and asked if I could just look at the games behind them (on shelves behind them). And then BOOM! there it was. One copy on the shelf. They didn't bother to put the slip and pic on the game wall since they only have one copy. Still have it to this day.

 

[fart town usa]

There are many documents in the game, you are going to miss some of the lore, but it is not too bad. A few sidequests as well.

I still have my PAL copy bought more than 20 years ago...

Funny enough, I've always encountered some kind of issue with burned games on my Saturn, some play fine, others have issues with CG cutscenes or just refuse to load. I always figured it was because I wasn't burning at a slow enough write speed.

I did the opposite at lunch, burned PDS Disc 1 at 24x, max speed for the nice Japanese CD-Rs I have and WOULD YA LOOK AT THAT, the game loaded up and played just fine.

HA. Still stoked to have a Japanese copy though in case my expansion slot dies and I'm blocked out from playing NA games (I have a Japanese Saturn).

 

[Naked Lunch]

Funny enough, I've always encountered some kind of issue with burned games on my Saturn, some play fine, others have issues with CG cutscenes or just refuse to load. I always figured it was because I wasn't burning at a slow enough write speed.

I did the opposite at lunch, burned PDS Disc 1 at 24x, max speed for the nice Japanese CD-Rs I have and WOULD YA LOOK AT THAT, the game loaded up and played just fine.

HA. Still stoked to have a Japanese copy though in case my expansion slot dies and I'm blocked out from playing NA games (I have a Japanese Saturn).

Nice! Yeah pseudo saturn can be finicky. I think saturn should be burned fast or medium - in contrast, Dreamcast should be burned at slower speeds.
ide still like to get an ODE eventually for my saturn - no need at the moment.

 

[xpresstuning]

One day i will, but definitely not now. For now i own a reproduction (found a supplier a while ago, fantastic quality which is basically 100% like the original, including manuals) and a japanese copy (just to have something original). The original US release is just .. beyond what i can afford at the moment, there are quite a few which are beyond my price range, and i am not that big of a collector.

Yep, the game is fantastic and way ahead of its time. Cinematic, short and sweet (roughly 20 - 25 hours IIRC), fully voice acted, excellent gameplay and a stellar artstyle which transcends its antique graphics. It's also remarkably unique, there was nothing quite like it at the time or to this very day.

I brought it new at trade price that was about £24. Great game but no way worth dropping $100's on.

It's worth exactly between 1.300$ and 1.500$ (complete) because that what it's worth. It's a collector's item, it's a whole different deal than just buying video games to play them and value their worth based on their content. And as a collector's item you can always re-sell it later, and it'll always increase in value as time goes by. Like this vintage gasoline sign here? That sold for 134.000$ back in 2016. The materials it is made of are sure as fuck not worth 134.000$ lol.

I'm not up to speed on Saturn emulation but I assume that it still has issues.

Saturn emulation has been fine since .. 2006, and it's been really good these days. The problem is that every single Saturn emulator suffers from varying degrees of input lag which is noticeable if you have the real deal. And it makes some games a real chore to play.

 

[TheMan]

I tried emulating this a few years ago and it was god awful. I have no idea if it was just poor emulation or not. I’d love to play on OG hardware but no way and I shelling out that much. Plus my wife made me throw out our only crt years ago

 

[fart town usa]

Had some great gaming sessions this weekend. This boss fight is legit one of the coolest experiences I've had in a long time with gaming. The sprite work, the camera angles, the music. Pure gaming bliss. The game almost encourages you to draw out the fights because the music and camera angles are so good.

I was capturing footage for the game but decided that a 'Let's Play' just isn't right for this game. I'm gonna work on capturing the whole game and then edit out the bulk of the random battles in order to create a more cinematic 'Long Play' type video. There's a 12 hour long play on YouTube but it skips over a lot of the NPC dialog options. My system allows me to capture directly from S-Video, my old capture device doesn't have 1:1 color spectrum but I have the video settings dialed in and it looks fantastic, it even captures scanlines, ha. Looking at YouTube, I'm honestly surprised that there isn't more PDS content available. Having PDS archived in a format that captures what it looks like on actual hardware seems like something worth doing.

And then after that, I'll make a Let's Play for the Japanese version in the hopes that more people will go that route so they're able to play the game, even if it is in Japanese.

 

[Naked Lunch]

Had some great gaming sessions this weekend. This boss fight is legit one of the coolest experiences I've had in a long time with gaming. The sprite work, the camera angles, the music. Pure gaming bliss. The game almost encourages you to draw out the fights because the music and camera angles are so good.

I was capturing footage for the game but decided that a 'Let's Play' just isn't right for this game. I'm gonna work on capturing the whole game and then edit out the bulk of the random battles in order to create a more cinematic 'Long Play' type video. There's a 12 hour long play on YouTube but it skips over a lot of the NPC dialog options. My system allows me to capture directly from S-Video, my old capture device doesn't have 1:1 color spectrum but I have the video settings dialed in and it looks fantastic, it even captures scanlines, ha. Looking at YouTube, I'm honestly surprised that there isn't more PDS content available. Having PDS archived in a format that captures what it looks like on actual hardware seems like something worth doing.

And then after that, I'll make a Let's Play for the Japanese version in the hopes that more people will go that route so they're able to play the game, even if it is in Japanese.

I actually havent played thru Saga in over 10 years - but that boss fight and its music are still vividly in my memory. Definitely one of gaming's greatest moments.

Very cool about your video project - should be fun to compile. I run my saturn thru Scart and the retrotink 5x - it looks ridiculously good on an HDTV.

 

[fart town usa]

I actually havent played thru Saga in over 10 years - but that boss fight and its music are still vividly in my memory. Definitely one of gaming's greatest moments.

Very cool about your video project - should be fun to compile. I run my saturn thru Scart and the retrotink 5x - it looks ridiculously good on an HDTV.

Hell yea, I don't know much about retrotink and have never experienced S-Cart. Does that stuff work in NA? I'm guessing it's an S-Cart to HDMI adapter?

Might have to invest in it. Do you know if it's compatible with Elgato devices?

 

[PhaseJump]

Funny enough, I've always encountered some kind of issue with burned games on my Saturn, some play fine, others have issues with CG cutscenes or just refuse to load. I always figured it was because I wasn't burning at a slow enough write speed.

I did the opposite at lunch, burned PDS Disc 1 at 24x, max speed for the nice Japanese CD-Rs I have and WOULD YA LOOK AT THAT, the game loaded up and played just fine.

HA. Still stoked to have a Japanese copy though in case my expansion slot dies and I'm blocked out from playing NA games (I have a Japanese Saturn).

I have a Japanese Saturn and I use Pseudo Saturn Kai cartridges to boot CDRs. I have flashed multiple carts and action replays, some backup discs would crash or fail to load at cutscenes.

It was all fixed by opening the carts and adding foil shielding to the plastic shell. The RF interference must have been corrupting the cdrom bus.

 

[Naked Lunch]

Hell yea, I don't know much about retrotink and have never experienced S-Cart. Does that stuff work in NA? I'm guessing it's an S-Cart to HDMI adapter?

Might have to invest in it. Do you know if it's compatible with Elgato devices?

scart is the cable format itself. I think scart cables used to be the standard format in europe - the same way the yellow/red/white composite cables were standard in the US. The difference is: scart outputs a true rgb signal. Basically scart is superior to composite and even S-video in everyway. They also make component cables (Red/Blue/green/red/white) for old consoles - component is basically the equivalent to scart. Of course, component didnt exist back when those consoles came out so these are modern inventions for the old consoles.

For consoles like Saturn, Genesis, and SNES - scart is compatible right out of the stock console - you just buy the compatible cable for your console. Other consoles like the NES need to be internally modded for scart cables to work. In my case, I plug the scart cable directly into an upscaler like a retrotink 5x or ossc. The upscaler in combination with the scart cables does its magic and you have perfect hd quality from your old ass consoles. Im still amazed by the video output possible out of the genesis or saturn with the right tech.

Ive read that some upscalers have trouble with elgato - im no expert there tho

 

[fart town usa]

scart is the cable format itself. I think scart cables used to be the standard format in europe - the same way the yellow/red/white composite cables were standard in the US. The difference is: scart outputs a true rgb signal. Basically its superior to composite and even S-video in everyway.

For consoles like Saturn, Genesis, and SNES - scart is compatible right out of the stock console - you just buy the compatible cable for your console. Other consoles like the NES need to be internally modded for scart cables to work. Another key is to buy the right scart cables with proper shielding - avoid cheap cables.

In my case, I plug the scart cable directly into an upscaler like a retrotink 5x or ossc. The upscaler in combination with the scart cables does its magic and you have perfect hd quality from your old ass consoles. Im still amazed by the video output possible out of the genesis or saturn with the right tech.

Some people prefer to play on crts though - the way the games were originally intended. For my setup though - I like to play my old consoles using the upscaler on a flat panel HDTV.

Ive read that some upscalers have trouble with elgato - im no expert there tho

Nice appreciate the info. Yea, I'm familiar with Scart as a cable itself, just never experienced it. My dream would be to get a Sony PVM but just not worth the money considering my current setup (trinitron/s-video). I may have to go the retrotink/scart route someday.

 

[Naked Lunch]

Nice appreciate the info. Yea, I'm familiar with Scart as a cable itself, just never experienced it. My dream would be to get a Sony PVM but just not worth the money considering my current setup (trinitron/s-video). I may have to go the retrotink/scart route someday.

Yea, PVMs are supposed to be the holy grail of retro gaming. The GAFer VGEsoterica knows alot more about that stuff than me. Hes got some great youtube videos on all that kinda stuff.
I edited my above post to add a tiny bit more of info.

 

[chaseroni]

Most important thing to me is simply being able to play the game natively, I own a Japanese Saturn w/ a mod chip and pro-action replay. Burned games always act up though, usually the CG movies are all jacked up, etc.

I went through a bunch of different brands of CD's before finding ones that burned well, surprisingly enough the polaroid CDRs worked the best for me

 

[Naked Lunch]

I have a Japanese Saturn and I use Pseudo Saturn Kai cartridges to boot CDRs. I have flashed multiple carts and action replays, some backup discs would crash or fail to load at cutscenes.

It was all fixed by opening the carts and adding foil shielding to the plastic shell. The RF interference must have been corrupting the cdrom bus.

Interesting. Do you have a link or video of this process?

 

[PhaseJump]

Interesting. Do you have a link or video of this process?

PPCenter :: Pseudo Saturn Kai Compatibility List

 

[Alexios]

I'm not up to speed on Saturn emulation but I assume that it still has issues.

It hasn't for a decade if you're going for native Saturn look (Mednafen/Beetle core) with maybe minor improvements like turning mesh transparencies to real transparencies, or properly deinterlacing the interlaced games (SSF).

There are other emulators that do allow things like high res, but a) that looks shit and b) they aren't as accurate or compatible as the above emulators that don't (yet?) attempt to have such features and go for accuracy instead.

I played it back in its original release, it's a great JRPG made better if you liked the world depicted in Panzer Dragoon Zwei and wanted to explore it (the boss you liked is Zwei's final boss). It's a just about perfect 15 hour game.