Panzer Dragoon Mini

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Panzer Dragoon Mini
System(s): Sega Game Gear
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega
Genre: Shooting
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1996-11-22 ¥4,8004,800 G-3384

Panzer Dragoon Mini (パンツァードラグーン ミニ) is an entry in the Panzer Dragoon series, released exclusively for the Sega Game Gear in Japan.

Unlike other games in the series, Mini is not 3D. It is a third-person shooter similar to Space Harrier. It was marketed towards kids with the Kid's Gear branding. The dragons have a chibi appearance, similar to Virtua Fighter Kids.

Gameplay

The game is a third-person rail shooter. The player controls one of three playable dragons across five stages, aiming at oncoming enemies with a targeting reticle. This is the only game in the series in which the dragon does not have a rider, and there is no story. Unlike other entries in the series, the camera cannot be controlled and instead rotates automatically, switching between a trailing view and a side view at certain points in the stages. Some enemy designs and musical themes are derived from Panzer Dragoon and Panzer Dragoon Zwei.

The player can move the targeting reticle around using the D-Pad. The dragon follows the movement of the reticle but cannot move higher than the horizon. The dragon can shoot with or . It can fire three shots in quick succession. It can lock on to targets by holding or to highlight multiple targets, then fire at all of them in a volley by releasing the button. There is a short delay between hovering over a target and locking on. The projectiles launched by bosses can be shot down normally but not locked on.

The dragon has a health bar, which is reduced whenever the dragon takes damage from an enemy. If the dragon runs out of health, the game ends, but it can be continued from the start of the current stage as many times as desired. There are no healing power-ups, but the dragon has partial health restored at the beginning of each stage.

The game has three selectable difficulty levels (Easy, Normal, and Hard). There is a password system for continuing from the current stage or any previously completed stage.

Dragons

The player has a choice of three dragons with different characteristics.

	Black Dragon
	An easier dragon for beginner players. It has modest firepower, but it has the fastest lock-on speed and the best health recovery after each stage.
	Blue Dragon
	A balanced dragon with average strength. It has fast movement speed and a fast firing rate.
	Red Dragon
	A powerful dragon for skilled players. It has the highest damage so it is the best at fighting bosses, but it has the lowest maneuverability, slowest lock-on speed, and the worst health recovery after each stage.

Stages

Each stage besides the last consists of a shooting segment, a fight against the same mini-boss, another shooting segment, and a fight against a unique boss.

	Episode 1 (Sea)
	Episode 2 (Field)
	Episode 3 (Desert)
	Episode 4 (Field)
	Episode 5 (Sea)
	The player repeats the bosses of the first, third, and fourth stages, followed by a final boss. Each boss fight is interspersed with short shooting segments. The dragon's health is restored after each fight.

Passwords

Main article: Panzer Dragoon Mini/Passwords.

Magazine articles

Main article: Panzer Dragoon Mini/Magazine articles.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 35

	35
Based on 1 review

Panzer Dragoon Mini

Game Gear, JP
Cover
Cart File:Panzer Dragoon Mini GG JP manual.pdf Manual

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 e9783cea MD5 4d0d6d25dfef7e1a509d828f157d515f SHA-1 c1498f68acb234f46ab6f443f484a48ebd183f0f	512kB		Cartridge (JP)