Panzer Dragoon: Remake (Switch) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
153A playthrough of Forever Entertainment's 2020 rail-shooter for the Nintendo Switch, Panzer Dragoon: Remake.
Played through on the normal difficulty level. Episode 0 is shown directly following the credits.
Twenty-five years after it helped introduce the world to the Sega Saturn, the first installment of Team Andromeda's Panzer Dragoon trilogy is given life once more.
Panzer Dragoon: Remake, released in March, is the product of nearly two years worth of work by developer MegaPixel Studio. It strives to recreate the original experience while updating the graphics and controls for modern sensibilities. And while the remake didn't leave the best of impressions when it was first released, the developer has invested a lot of time and effort into fixing its issues, and it's a far better game today than it was when it launched.
I recorded this video after installing the latest patch (version 1.3), which added Episode 0, gyroscope controls, a "performance" mode, among other things.
The remake isn't perfect, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. The graphic style instantly feels familiar, but the level of detail and the overall tone feel much closer to what we saw in Panzer Dragoon Orta. The colors are vibrant and the architecture is impressive in how much it feels inspired by stylistic elements from PD Zwei and Saga, and the dragons and machines have been updated in ways that still feel true to the original game's vision.
However, given how well the graphics have been updated, it's fairly clear that the Switch might not have been the ideal platform for this remake. In its standard mode the game targets 30fps, while in performance mode it aims for 60fps.
The original Saturn release only ran at 20fps, so in either mode its performance is an improvement, but the game feels much more fluid and it controls better in performance mode. The trade-off is a harsh one, though - the rendering resolution is slashed hard, and it appears that any sort of anti-aliasing is disabled in this mode. In short, it moves better, but it often ends up looking like a late-gen Wii game. It's beautiful, even at moments when it looks like it's barely running at 480p (Episode 5, I'm looking at you here), but it's a shame that the hardware apparently cramps it so hard. Ditto goes for the load times: even though I had this installed on the Switch's internal memory, irritatingly long load times (20-30 seconds each between stages) are commonplace.
The updated soundtrack is very good, and it matches graphics well. I have to admit that I still prefer the original game's incredible sound aesthetic, but the orchestral recordings do lend a nice bit of weight and dramatic flair to the music. The remixed version is what's being played in this video.
And finally, the gameplay feels very close to the Saturn original's. The controls have been updated - there is now full analog support, and you can now decouple your dragon's movement from that of your aiming reticle, making it feel much more "modern," though the old-school d-pad controls are available if you prefer to play that way, and the 1.3 patch irons out all of the issues the game had with input lag and analog stick sensitivity. I played this using a Switch Pro controller, and it felt great.
I really respect what the developers achieved with Panzer Dragoon: Remake, both in the quality of the final product, and in the lengths they went to in order to get it there. And while I think it'll likely be a better experience when it's ported to more powerful hardware, that doesn't stop this Switch game from being an effectively modernized, heavily nostalgic throwback to the 1990s.
And it's Star Fox but with dragons. How could anyone say no to that?
If you'd like to see my playthrougn of the original 1995 Sega Saturn game for comparison, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/KpvImFo_ZLE
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (http://www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!