Has anyone played it? According to NowGamer’s Making of Panzer Dragoon article, the 2D shooter RayForce “particularly” had a bearing on how Panzer Dragoon was put together. I’ve never played this game, but a quick investigation revealed the following playthrough on YouTube:
As you can see just by watching the start of video, RayForce features the classic Panzer Dragoon lock on system, with the crosshair sitting some distance above the player’s ship on the screen. The circular white crosshair looks strikingly similar to the one featured in the Saturn Panzer Dragoon games. The game features the ability to switch between lock on and regular fire modes. The music sounds a little like the theme of Panzer Dragoon Zwei too.
Apparently the game was ported to the Saturn and Windows. Although RayForce isn’t on Steam, Taito, the game’s publisher recently released a title called DARIUSBURST Chronicle Saviours which has a RayForce ship DLC. Neat. I actually purchased DARIUSBURST Chronicle Saviours a while back, so I’ll have to try the DLC at some point. Here’s a video recording that someone made:
A see that DARIUSBURST Chronicle Saviours now also has some DLCs of classic Sega games as well, although sadly no Panzer Dragoon one (understandably as dragons cannot fly in space). Could be fun modding project for someone.
It’s a great 2D shooter that blends 2D and 3D graphics. It was renamed Layer Section in Japan and Galactic Attack in the U.S.
I have a copy of it but haven’t had the chance to play it. Layer Section 2 was enhanced for the PS3 and Xbox 360. It was also ported to the Saturn but not as good as the arcade and PS versions. A shame.
RayForce, is a hidden gem IMO. There were quite a few of those on the Saturn.
I know I still have my Layer Section 2 copy for Saturn, might or might not have the first but I played it as well. I was happy enough with the port, other than the expected transparency issues it holds up well enough with the PSX version. Never played the PSX exclusive Ray Crisis but it looks pretty damn awesome actually, ran across a playthrough vid recently.
I knew about the connection, I think in one of those older interviews RayForce and Starfox are both given credit as inspiration. Both of which seemed obvious enough to me before I got the confirmation honestly. 
I still want to try Layer Section 2 some day. It looked really fun, not to mention it had the type of graphics I enjoy the most (colorful 3D).
That era of gaming MAN. Bring it back.
I actually have that game on the Sega Saturn (it was called Layer Section in the EU, like in Japan) and did finish it back in the day. The lock-on system is definitely reminiscent of Panzer Dragoon, but that’s about as far as the connection goes. It’s a solid game, still worth playing even today.
