The Original Panzer Dragoon on the Sega Saturn has one of my favorite title screens ever

[Deleted member 12790]

Back in 1995, these were mind blowing graphics, but it's not the actual graphics that make me like it so much. The big mood with the first Panzer Dragoon is this feeling of vast, endless desolation. Oceans that span multiple times over the horizon, deserts that extend for hundreds of miles. The title screen captures that well, not just with the visual, but also the music. The theme captures the essence of what you're supposed to be going through at the beginning of the game. The horns sounding triumphant as the Dragon chooses you and bonds, followed by a tumbling, tumultuous feeling as you take flight before finding your bearings, at which point the song becomes calm and soothing. It's a song that very honestly captures the feeling of being on a dragon and soaring through the sky.

The effect of the title screen morphing from low resolution 3D textures to high resolution 2D background is also really cool, especially for the era.

One of my favorite title screens by far.

 

[Replicant]

You could have picked a better video

Panzer Dragoon (Sega Saturn) - Short introduction + Title

Description ci-dessous : Support : Sega Saturn PAL Câble : peritel Jeu : Panzer Dragoon PAL Cette intro abrégée apparaît après avoir fait tourner la démo du ...

youtu.be

 

[jack_package_200]

Thats pretty solid but nothing tops this for me.



Easily my favorite title screen

 

[Deleted member 12790]

Thats pretty solid but nothing tops this for me.



Easily my favorite title screen

Click to shrink...

This is also one of my favorites, I remember I used to leave the N64 running and just watch it loop through. I like it more than the Majora's Mask title.

But it doesn't have the grand sweeping music of the PD title screen which is my favorite part.

 

[halcali]

Thats pretty solid but nothing tops this for me.



Easily my favorite title screen

Click to shrink...

Great choice!! Secret of Mana is a close second, for me.

 

[bangai-o]

I'm trying to recall title screens from that era. I guess the one stands out to me us the original Tomb Raider.



I can't find video of it, but here is the song.

 

[Ankit Gaba]

My favourite title screen and OST is from Shinobi mostly because of Nostalgia

The Revenge of Shinobi (Ver. 1.03) Title Screen & Prologue

At long last, my first playthrough of a first-party Sega game that has nothing to do with Sonic at all!This game is actually a sequel to another game, simply...

www.youtube.com

 

[golem]

That's it im digging out my Saturn this wknd

 

[Butch]

Already really good menus in this thread. I'd like to add MGS1 to the list, very iconic too.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

This is also one of my favorites:



This title screen is a bit of demoscene, too. The Amiga only has 4 sound channels, 2 left speaker, 2 right speaker. This song, however, uses 7 different instruments at once. It does this through software, mixing the sound on the CPU then piping it to the sound channels. It's so well coded that it can do this, while still running a mario 3 style demo title screen, and still cutscene images.

And, as is always important, the actual music RULES.

 

[Skel1ingt0n]

[

NINTENDO... PRESENTS...

... A RETRO STUDIOS... GAME.


It's always going to be this or Halo 1/2 for me.

 

[flattie]

This is wonderful.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

When I was a kid, sometimes I'd use my Game Gear like a walkman and go around listening to the Chuck Rock title screen, haha:



To this day, as an adult, this song will still pop into my head randomly and I'll start whistling it.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

This is wonderful.

Click to shrink...

The actual in-game opening to Panzer Dragoon Saga is incredible for all the reasons I talked about in the OP, that sense of awe the music inspires. I played Panzer Dragoon Saga last, after having played the entire rest of the series, only in 2012 after searching for it for a long time. I got the original Panzer Dragoon with my Saturn in 1995, so I had been a very long time fan of the series and had been dying for PDS for ages. A big, dramatic moment in every Panzer Dragoon game is when the Dragon chooses their rider, and Panzer Dragoon Saga does this scene way better than any other panzer dragoon game:



The bit where Edge says "Incredible, you've chosen me!" and the Dragon perches for him to get on, then the music swells as the dragon slowly begins to take off, that's great stuff right there.

An aside, but Panzer Dragoon Saga is one of those times where games live up to their insane hype. Even after a decade+ of build up, Panzer Dragoon Saga blew me away.

 

[pswii60]

This is also one of my favorites:



This title screen is a bit of demoscene, too. The Amiga only has 4 sound channels, 2 left speaker, 2 right speaker. This song, however, uses 7 different instruments at once. It does this through software, mixing the sound on the CPU then piping it to the sound channels. It's so well coded that it can do this, while still running a mario 3 style demo title screen, and still cutscene images.

And, as is always important, the actual music RULES.

Click to shrink...

And actually, that same year OctaMED released for Amiga - a MOD music tracker with 8 channel support which worked in the same way across the 4 independent channels.

 

[jdh96]

Let's not forget the Goat RPG Chrono Triggers title screen.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

Let's not forget the Goat RPG Chrono Triggers title screen.

Click to shrink...

I don't care much for CT's title screen, but the opening "cinematic" and theme?

 

[jdh96]

I don't care much for CT's title screen, but the opening "cinematic" and theme?

Click to shrink...

The anime intro they made for the ps1 version is simply divide imo.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

The anime intro they made for the ps1 version is simply divide imo.

Click to shrink...

I agree! The first time I played Chrono Trigger was on the PSX. People really hate on that port for the load times but they don't bother me much. The anime intro is great. But I'll admit I like the SNES rendition of the theme more, personally. They're both so good, which I guess really owes to the actual composition of the song being outstanding.

 

[flattie]

The actual in-game opening to Panzer Dragoon Saga is incredible for all the reasons I talked about in the OP, that sense of awe the music inspires. I played Panzer Dragoon Saga last, after having played the entire rest of the series, only in 2012 after searching for it for a long time. I got the original Panzer Dragoon with my Saturn in 1995, so I had been a very long time fan of the series and had been dying for PDS for ages. A big, dramatic moment in every Panzer Dragoon game is when the Dragon chooses their rider, and Panzer Dragoon Saga does this scene way better than any other panzer dragoon game:



The bit where Edge says "Incredible, you've chosen me!" and the Dragon perches for him to get on, then the music swells as the dragon slowly begins to take off, that's great stuff right there.

An aside, but Panzer Dragoon Saga is one of those times where games live up to their insane hype. Even after a decade+ of build up, Panzer Dragoon Saga blew me away.

Click to shrink...

Indeed - I think you've perfectly described the great achievement of this intro sequence. In one short (ok, not so short) FMV, the bond between rider (player) and dragon is set in stone for the the rest of the game.

 

[EarthPainting]

Feel-good thread. A good title screen just really gets you in the right state of mind to start playing, like an opening to a TV series. Wouldn't feel right to not let them play out for a little bit each time. Since my favourites have already been listed, other ones I've always liked are Demon's Crest, Pikmin 3, and Brutal Legend.

 

[Wing Scarab]

Back in 1995, these were mind blowing graphics, but it's not the actual graphics that make me like it so much. The big mood with the first Panzer Dragoon is this feeling of vast, endless desolation. Oceans that span multiple times over the horizon, deserts that extend for hundreds of miles. The title screen captures that well, not just with the visual, but also the music. The theme captures the essence of what you're supposed to be going through at the beginning of the game. The horns sounding triumphant as the Dragon chooses you and bonds, followed by a tumbling, tumultuous feeling as you take flight before finding your bearings, at which point the song becomes calm and soothing. It's a song that very honestly captures the feeling of being on a dragon and soaring through the sky.

The effect of the title screen morphing from low resolution 3D textures to high resolution 2D background is also really cool, especially for the era.

One of my favorite title screens by far.

Click to shrink...

I was devasted when I found out Yoshitaka Azuma, the composer for Panzer Dragoon died back in 2012.