I remember Sears and Toys r Us having Sega Saturn’s and SNES’s set up. They even had those big machines where it had all those buttons with game boxes on them and it would play the corresponding game trailers when you pressed them.
I played the Panzer Dragoon demo and I was instantly hooked. I also remember playing Panzer Dragoon Zwei in Epcot at Disneyworld. i think it was in some huge gaming station/exhibit. Good times…
A demo of the original Panzer came with my Saturn when I bought it. That’s really all it took.
I played Panzer Dragoon Zwei on my friend’s brothers’ Saturn. I was amazed by the art, music, uniqueness, and most importantly the atmosphere of the game. It was one of the main reasons that I was compelled to buy a Saturn, and when Panzer Dragoon Saga came out I just had to get it.
Everything I’d ever seen about it called to me, and when I got a Saturn right about when VF2 was released I just had to pick up the trippy dragon shooter as well. As amazing as the original was, how I felt about it was mostly as a really cool tech demo, a stunning piece of art, and a not quite as tightly engineered take on the mechanical flavor of the original Starfox.
Zwei and Azel each squared my appreciation for the games as a whole though.
I always been a massive fans of Dragons , so that helpd as did the fact that PD looked so good in the 1st screen shots in SSM so these ment I was getting the game come what may, and the fact that when it 1st came out on Import there wasn’t much to buy for the Saturn anyway .
I feel in love with the game as soon as I saw the intro , and to me the best thing about Dragoon is the feeling thats it you and your pet (and only u 2) against the whole world .
I got a Saturn and Virtua Fighter for my birthday. By then VF was already a somewhat old game. The Saturn came with the Sega Flash 2 demo disc, though.
I played Zwei’s episode 3 so many times I can’t even be bothered to try to guess…I immediately bought Zwei as soon as I could and I was floored!
I was 10 years back then and it made an impression on me that would never wear off. Well, it’s been 11 years and it’s still my favourite game of all time alongside Saga. That means something.
If I remember right, I recall being interested in the game after seeing previews in some gaming magazine, possibly Gamepro at the time. I eventually got a Saturn in Christmas of '96 from the mothership, and was able to rent Panzer Dragoon Zwei. I was hooked and played it almost non-stop. Eventually I saved up money from my job and bought the game, and the original.
Amusingly enough, Panzer Dragoon Saga was at Toys 'R Us when the Saturn was pretty much done in the market. I saw a ticket for the last copy there, for $20. I was begging my mom to pick it up since I didn’t have the money. I think she realized how desperate I was for it, emphasizing that I’d never get another chance at this and that I never ask her for purchases out of the blue like that. I came home with the game, and the rest is history.
Sega Saturn Magazine gave away Disc 1 of PDS. Those guys rocked. Had it not been for them, the joy of the Panzer Dragoon series is something I would be a stranger to. I was damned lucky to get PDS too, it took months of searching the shops and phoning games shops, and their suppliers, to finally get a copy.
Sega Saturn Magazine. First on the flash demo discs they gave away which had the Zwei demo on it, then the first disc of PDS more than convinced me to buy it when it came out (I had an uberpowered Lagi from grinding in the Forbidden Zone in anticipation of its release).
As for what it was about the games? The originality of the art style was a big thing, but it was the atmosphere, above all. That feeling of isolation and desolation it does incredibly well, something people only now are realising can be done in games with Shadow of the Colossus (which I still need to play).
Actually, I just saw a demo for Orta in an OXM demo disk, and just fell in love. The music really drew me in, as well as the art. Instantly wanted more. It would be five years before I played another PD game.
I started getting into games again after a long absence in about 2004. I was particularly into old Sega games because previously I’d previously only really been into Nintendo when I was a kid. When I looked into getting a Saturn, the PD games were the ones people talk about the most. I’d liked Lylat Wars, and so they appealed to me. So I got and played them in order, including Orta.
this 
i was lucky finding it as well… i remmeber my dad rang up the place that was printed on some of the pages of SSM and the guy said "getting hold of PDS is like golddust"
but luckily we found a second hand one in a game store (it was still expensive) and my dad said he’ll buy it for me cos we might now see it again… he was right too
<3 my dad
I got a Saturn with a demo disc which included a gameplay video. I was blown away and bought the first game and found myself hooked. Towards the end of the Saturn’s life I saw Saga for sale and got it knowing very little about it beyond the fact that I loved the first game. I became obsessed for life!
I bought Zwei later on and heart it greatly as well. I got an Xbox for the primary purpose of being able to play Orta.
Got Zwei with the saturn and dad bought PDS. My dad rules 
Amazingly, while I really liked the demo, my dad was the one who really pushed it. While he’s not a gamer himself, he was really fascinated by the storyline and the concept of mankind recovering from a post apocalyptic age caused by their own technology. He used to sit and watch me play it and we’d talk about the plot development. It was pretty neat, actually. It was like our own special thing. He was just as excited about the proceeding games as I was.
What sold it for me was the Zwei demo that came with my machine (Sega Flash 2 ftw), and the review (preview?) in CVG. Just looked so awesome. So I rented it at first. Then purchased it. Went back for PD1, and then bounced around the house when I first read about PDS in SSM.
I got into PD back in 2004. When I saw the Orta trailer on the Sega GT/JSRF game disc I went out and bought it just to support Sega. I was so impressed with it, I bought a Saturn just to play the other 3. Orta still remains my favorite.
I got Panzer Dragoon Zwei in a bundle, with 2 other games. Sega Rally and Virtua Fighter. lol PDZ obviously being the best! lol
Then that was it… 
[quote=“Gehpnaet”] The Saturn came with the Sega Flash 2 demo disc, though.
I played Zwei’s episode 3 so many times I can’t even be bothered to try to guess…I immediately bought Zwei as soon as I could and I was floored!
[/quote]
Snap.
I knew every section of episode 3 by the time I bought Zwei. Still my favourite episode in Zwei =P I just couldn’t get enough of it really. The music, the deep forest, the fact you were riding a dragon.
Picked up Zwei, played that to death. Then my parents bought my sisters a second hand Saturn which came with the mother load of games. Shining Force 3, Shining the Holy Ark, Sonic Jam…and of course, Saga. Took me a while to get used to it but it was just plain…awesome =P
Picked up the original PD a while back for ?2 roughly and I’m still trying to convince my friend to buy Orta just so I can play it ><
I actually found out about PDS recently, I decided to start a Sega Saturn collection, and It’s impossible to do any saturn research without hearing about panzer dragoon. So I got it off ebay and immediately fell in love