Following the recent news that Turner's GameTap subscription PC 'all you can eat' gaming service has now added Sega Saturn games, the company has confirmed the seminal Panzer Dragoon and Panzer Dragoon Zwei as forthcoming titles.
Alongside the official launch of platform game Bug! today, the 'Coming Soon' page within the GameTap PC client now lists the Saturn versions of both the classic Team Andromeda-developed on-rails shooters. No specific arrival date has yet been given for the titles.
Gamasutra sister weblog GameSetWatch has recently published a detailed history of the Panzer Dragoon series, with writer J. Fleming noting of the first game in the series, released in 1995: "Set in a post-apocalyptic future in which the planet has been rendered unrecognizable by genetically-engineered super technologies, Panzer Dragoon was a sophisticated mix of 60’s and 70’s science fiction filtered through the visual sensibilities of the French comic magazine Metal Hurlant."
As for the second game: "Panzer Dragoon was a commercial success and Team Andromeda followed with Panzer Dragoon II Zwei in 1996. Expanding on the promise of the first game, Zwei was a refinement in every sense. The game engine was enhanced to provide a smoother frame rate. The graphics were an explosion of retina sizzling color and the somber narrative was as memorable as the game play. As a shooter, Zwei was regarded as one of the finest. With elegant control and visual drama, it fully satisfied the pleasures of reflex and spectacle."
Although at least one of these titles have appeared in little-known converted PC versions around the time of the original release, sources close to GameTap have confirmed that the titles are indeed running in a Sega Saturn emulator, rather than simply the PC SKU.
