Sega's iconic Panzer Dragoon series turns 30 years old today—the game made its Japanese debut on March 10th, 1995.
The first game to be created by Sega's Team Andromeda group, Panzer Dragoon built on the rail shooter mechanics seen in titles like Space Harrier, adding the ability to lock on to enemies (something that later Sega releases, such as Rez, would adopt). Director Yukio Futatsugi was just 25 years old at this point and led a team comprised of around 15 staffers.
As one of Saturn's first 3D exclusives, Panzer Dragoon did a lot of heavy lifting in the console's first year on sale; while many outlets praised the amazing world-building and presentation, some expressed concern that the gameplay wasn't quite next-gen enough.
This criticism would be comprehensively addressed by the 1996 sequel, Panzer Dragoon II Zwei, before Team Andromeda confounded expectations by turning the third title into a fully-fledged RPG. All three are now considered to be amongst the best games of the decade.
2002's Xbox exclusive Panzer Dragoon Orta would return to the franchise's origins, but since then, we've not seen a new entry in this beloved series—although the original game was remade (with mixed results) by Forever Entertainment in 2020, and the sequel is supposed to be getting the same treatment.