As Panzer Dragoon creator Yukio Futatsugi tells me via email, translated from Japanese, “It was such a difficult process that even now, when I run into problems, I think, ‘Well, at least this isn’t as hard as when we were developing Panzer Dragoon Saga.’” Creating it pushed people on both sides of the Pacific past their breaking points, so it’s only appropriate that playing it would also be almost impossible. Saga is a game about a world in ruins, produced by a disintegrating development team haunted by heartbreak at a company in decline. And when the game froze repeatedly at one of the last lines of dialogue before the final fight, I scoured forums for a fix and, after again beating several bosses, made my way past the sticking point to the cutscenes and credits beyond. When my fingers felt the first hints of oncoming keyboard cramp, I purchased a special, retrofitted Saturn controller that could connect to my PC. When the second of its four discs refused to load, I downloaded a different version that worked. When that display appeared striped with unexplained lines, I tinkered with settings to get the game to run smoothly. I installed extra security, removed the intruder, and reached the Sega startup screen.

Weeks ago, when I first tried to acquire Panzer Dragoon Saga, my computer met some malware and blue-screened several times. Our series starts today with Panzer Dragoon Saga, the boundary-breaking, tough-to-obtain 1998 role-playing game (RPG) for the Sega Saturn that’s deservedly become a cult classic. Throughout the year, The Ringer ’s gaming enthusiasts will be paying tribute to the legendary titles turning 20 in 2018 by replaying them for the umpteenth time or playing them for the first time, talking to the people who made them, and analyzing both what made them great and how they made later games greater. Art may largely be a matter of taste, but one conclusion is close to inarguable: 1998 was the best year ever for video games, producing an unparalleled lineup of revolutionary releases that left indelible legacies and spawned series and subcultures that persist today.

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