Former Nintendo staffer and Star Fox artist Takaya Imamura has recently noted the 30th anniversary of Sega's Panzer Dragoon, a title which shares similarities with Fox McCloud's early adventures.
Speaking on social media, Imamura—who has just released Omega 6 on modern systems—says he was "shocked" to see "such an amazing game" arrive on Sega's 32-bit console.
He also expresses surprise that Sega was able to involve the legendary French artist Jean "Moebius" Giraud in creating the iconic cover art used on the Japanese version of the game.
Here's a translation of Imamura's social media post:
It seems that *Panzer Dragoon* has reached its 30th anniversary, and it was released right around the time I was developing a 3D shooting game. I was shocked that such an amazing game came out on the Sega Saturn in the same genre! What personally surprised me was that the package art was done by Moebius, whom I deeply admire! Decades later, I had the chance to meet one of the development staff, and when I shared my excitement from back then, they told me, “We took a gamble and asked him, and he agreed to do it.” What an enviable story!
Panzer Dragoon would be followed by a Saturn-based sequel which improved on the original, while the third game, Panzer Dragoon Saga, was a JRPG set in the same universe.
Panzer Dragoon Orta on the Xbox returned to the rail shooter concept, and, more recently, the original game has been remade for modern-day platforms. A remake of Panzer Dragoon II Zwei remains missing in action.