WANTED: Panzer Dragoon Saga (CIB), Sega Saturn

[bikingjahuty]

This is going to be a long shot, but if anyone is willing to sell me a copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga, complete, for the North American Saturn, I am willing to pay up to $450.


I know that is definitely on the low end of what it sells for, but that's currently my top dollar on it. Even at that price it is way more than I've ever spent on a single video game. I guess it's without saying that the copy needs to be in very good to perfect condition, meaning minimal to no scratches on disks, manual and case art needs to be in good shape too with no damage to either. And of course it needs to work. I am willing to settle for a copy is worse shape, but of course the amount I'd be willing to pay for it will be less. Regardless though, it has to be complete.


I know this is a tall order and there are people on ebay selling them for $600+, but I honestly cannot see myself ever paying that much for any game. Even at $450 I feel crazy, but that's sort of my limit for that game. Please feel free to PM me or message me on this thread if you're willing to work something out with me.


I'd also be interested in any of these US Saturn games as well if you're willing to negotiate on the price:


  Sega Saturn (NTSC/US)


1. Albert Odyssey


3. Area 51


4. Astal


7. Burning Rangers


8. Clockwork Knights


11. Corpse Killer


12. Dark Legends


13. Darklight Conflict


15. Die Hard Arcade


16. Double Switch


17. Dragon Force


18. Enemy Zero


19. Fighting Vipers


20. Galactic Attack


21. Galaxy Fight


22. Golden Axe: The Duel


23. Guardian Heroes


24. Hang On GP


25. Impact Racing


26. Last Bronx


27. Lost World: Jurassic Park


28. Lunacy


29. Magic Knight Rayearth


30. Mansion of Hidden Souls


32. Maximum Force


33. Mortal Kombat II


34. Mortal Kombat Trilogy


36. Nights into Dreams (longbox version)


37. Panzer Dragoon


38. Panzer Dragoon II Zwei


39. Panzer Dragoon Saga


40. Resident Evil


41. Robotica


42. Saturn Bomberman


43. Sega Ages


45. Shining Force III


46. Shining the Holy Ark


48. Shining Wisdom


49. Shinobi Legions


50. Sky Target


51. Solar Eclipse


52. Sonic 3D Blast


53. Sonic Jam


54. Sonic R


55. Steep Slope Sliders


61. Virtual Fighter Remix (longbox version)


63. Virtual On

[NickAwesome]

I saw a pretty good copy for $499 on Ebay today.  I was able to snag one for $460 about 8 months ago, thanks to ebay 20% off.  Best of luck to ya! 

[bikingjahuty]

I saw a pretty good copy for $499 on Ebay today.  I was able to snag one for $460 about 8 months ago, thanks to ebay 20% off.  Best of luck to ya!

I saw that one about two hours too late. Would have considered picking it up had I got to it in time. And thank you.

[sworddude]

You could also wait a couple of years. I mean if the market slows down even though rare games will still remain to have value and still will be expensive. Maybe it might only be 200$ way under your budget a thing to consider.

[dreama1]

You could also wait a couple of years. I mean if the market slows down even though rare games will still remain to have value and still will be expensive. Maybe it might only be 200$ way under your budget a thing to consider.

Or $1000-$2000.

[Flashback2012]

I still remember when this game came out. I remember my friends/co-workers LAUGHING at me for pre-ordering the game. Then it came out and instantly sold out so they had to scramble to find copies while I had mine without issue.  Same thing happened with Burning Rangers, Shining Force III, and Magic Knight RayEarth. 

I also remember there being another printing because the original release had black sleeves for the extra discs while the 2nd run had white sleeves.

[dreama1]

I still remember when this game came out. I remember my friends/co-workers LAUGHING at me for pre-ordering the game. Then it came out and instantly sold out so they had to scramble to find copies while I had mine without issue.  Same thing happened with Burning Rangers, Shining Force III, and Magic Knight RayEarth. 

I also remember there being another printing because the original release had black sleeves for the extra discs while the 2nd run had white sleeves.

Why did they make so few copies exactly? Any idea? If it was selling so well.

[Flashback2012]

Why did they make so few copies exactly? Any idea? If it was selling so well.

That's the thing, the system was NOT selling well. It was well into its death throes in the North American market when Saga was released as the PS1 and N64 were the clear leaders with Sega being a distant third. Some of the best titles came out at the end of the system's life cycle including the ones mentioned in my previous post (Burning Rangers, Shining Force III, Magic Knight RayEarth) as well as House of the Dead (the one game I didn't manage to pick up). I assume they went ahead and released them here as they were already in various stages of production. I pre-ordered all of them save for HotD (forgot to and wasn't keen to own it at the time for whatever reason) and remember it being something of a challenge for my friends to get copies of these games since they scoffed at the idea of pre-ordering. 

Incidentally, it says there's two people who have the game on their sell lists on here. 

[bikingjahuty]

You could also wait a couple of years. I mean if the market slows down even though rare games will still remain to have value and still will be expensive. Maybe it might only be 200$ way under your budget a thing to consider.

My instincts tell me that it will go down since collecting in general is cooling off, but I believe there will be various games that will defy this trend, mostly due to their rarity and reputation. Since this game is rare, has zero chance of being re-released, and is known for being "one of the best" JRPGs from gen 5, I feel like it's highly possible its prices could go up even more.


Funny enough the prices are in a weird place on ebay right now; you have a pretty radical spread of prices for this game, even in similar condition copies. There have been listings go for the low $400s and ones that went for around $700. The prices are absolutely showing volatility right now, which makes me hope that it's value is starting to come back down to earth.


On a side note, several years ago I ran across a copy at a game store for $250. At the time this was on the low end of what it was selling for. I struggled for like an hour on whether I'd buy it or not, but ending up passing due to how much money that is. If I had known it would climb in price like it has I'd easily have picked it up without a second thought.

[dreama1]

Why did they make so few copies exactly? Any idea? If it was selling so well.

That's the thing, the system was NOT selling well. It was well into its death throes in the North American market when Saga was released as the PS1 and N64 were the clear leaders with Sega being a distant third. Some of the best titles came out at the end of the system's life cycle including the ones mentioned in my previous post (Burning Rangers, Shining Force III, Magic Knight RayEarth) as well as House of the Dead (the one game I didn't manage to pick up). I assume they went ahead and released them here as they were already in various stages of production. I pre-ordered all of them save for HotD (forgot to and wasn't keen to own it at the time for whatever reason) and remember it being something of a challenge for my friends to get copies of these games since they scoffed at the idea of pre-ordering. 

Incidentally, it says there's two people who have the game on their sell lists on here. 

Well I know the system was dead. But the last games were still in demand? Even back then they were making jokes about getting a copy of panzer dragoon saga, why did they not do more prints if it was still selling out and turning a profit.

[ferraroso]

Based on the prices I see people paying for Saturn games in the US, I think one should better invest a fraction of that money in a Japanese language course and buy their Japanese versions instead.

I rarely see Azel: Panzer Dragoon RPG (the game's Japanese title) going for anything over the equivalent to US$10.00 around here...

[sworddude]

Based on the prices I see people paying for Saturn games in the US, I think one should better invest a fraction of that money in a Japanese language course and buy their Japanese versions instead.

I rarely see Azel: Panzer Dragoon RPG (the game's Japanese title) going for anything over the equivalent to US$10.00 around here...

I'm pretty sure most people just also want the english copy in general also it is more fun to play the game while fully understanding it rather than partly. Only very few will master the japanese language that well. Also those lessons will cost allot of time and it will not be that much cheaper or maybe even more expensive depending on how many lessons one will take.

I think a better solution is to wait if the game will ever get released digitally It's not that impossible if the fans demand it enough. Sega might release some saturn collection will be buying that for sure if especially certain japanese games will be on there.

Still though with some luck you might get a collector to sell it for cheap not knowing what he has probably bought it for cheap back in the day as my only explanation, that's how I got my copy 5 years ago.

[bikingjahuty]

Based on the prices I see people paying for Saturn games in the US, I think one should better invest a fraction of that money in a Japanese language course and buy their Japanese versions instead.

I rarely see Azel: Panzer Dragoon RPG (the game's Japanese title) going for anything over the equivalent to US$10.00 around here...

I used to have a Japanese copy of Azel: Panzer Dragoon RPG and tried using a combo of Let's Play footage of the US version and also a full script of what the characters say during cutscenes. It essentially took me forever to progress this way and I didn't find it enjoyable at all since it really cuts up the pacing of the game when you have to research what a single line in the menu options means for 10-minutes.

[bikingjahuty]

I think a better solution is to wait if the game will ever get released digitally It's not that impossible if the fans demand it enough. Sega might release some saturn collection will be buying that for sure if especially certain japanese games will be on there.

It isn't a matter of fans wanting it or not. The source code was lost years ago due to poor storage management on the devs part, and this is essential if it is to ever be ported to any other system. Combine this with the fact that the Saturn was a programmers nightmare and it makes it highly unlikely the original game will ever see another release.


The only real option is if Sega decided to do a full remake or remaster of the game from the ground up, similar to 2018's Shadow of the Colossus or the Legend of Zelda 3DS remakes. We can only hope they'll do this, but I feel like mainstream interest in the game would be minimal even though the demand for the Saturn version among collectors is ridiculous.

[ferraroso]

I used to have a Japanese copy of Azel: Panzer Dragoon RPG and tried using a combo of Let's Play footage of the US version and also a full script of what the characters say during cutscenes. It essentially took me forever to progress this way and I didn't find it enjoyable at all since it really cuts up the pacing of the game when you have to research what a single line in the menu options means for 10-minutes.

Haha!
Welcome to my world.
You just described exactly how was the experience of playing EVERY SINGLE GAME released in the 1990's and 2000's in our """modded""" PS1s and PS2s down in South America...
Imagine how it was to play Final Fantasy VIII or Silent Hill without understanding a word of English!

I think the first game I played while having some reasonable degree of knowledge on the English language was probably Metal Gear Solid 3 back in 2004...
And even so, at that time, I used to think the lyrics for the game's main theme was saying:
"I'm still in a treeeeeee... Snake Eater!"
Hahahaha!