Saint Dragon
Tenseiryuu: Saint Dragon | |
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Single-player |
Tensei Ryū: Saint Dragon (天聖龍 SAINT DRAGON) is a
Gameplay
In Saint Dragon, the player controls the cyborg Saint Dragon, who has rebelled against the tyrannical Monster Cyborg army. Saint Dragon is initially armed with plasma bolts and a fiery breath. By collecting tokens, the dragon's firepower can be upgraded with pulse torpedoes, a laser, bouncing bombs, ring lasers or a turret. Other tokens can upgrade the dragon's speed, weapon power, or initiate a "hyper" mode which endows maximum firepower and invulnerability. In addition, the dragon has an armoured tail which follows the player's movement, allowing it to be used as a defensive shield.
There are five levels, each culminating in a battle with a large
Ports
Storm were a software development team for
Reception
Publication | Award |
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Crash | Crash Smash[3] |
In Japan, Game Machine listed Saint Dragon on their April 1, 1989 issue as being the sixth-most-successful table arcade unit at the time.[4]
The ZX Spectrum conversion was well-received on its initial release. CRASH awarded it 92%, finding the dragon theme to be a refreshing change in the genre. The graphics were highlighted as well-animated, smooth and colourful.[5] Your Sinclair awarded 80%, criticizing the uneven difficulty and low number of levels but praising it as "pretty, tough and a blast-a-minute".[6]
On its budget re-release in 1992, Your Sinclair adjusted their rating to just 29%, criticizing it as "hideously slow, graphically abysmal, impossibly tedious load of old junk". Stuart Campbell took issue with the cassette multi-load, the invisible border on the reduced playing area, and frame-rate drop when multiple sprites are on-screen.[7]
References
- ^ a b Bielby, Matt (October 1990). "St Dragon Preview". Your Sinclair (58). Future Publishing. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016.
- ^ a b "Blue Print: Saint Dragon". Sinclair User (105). EMAP images: 74–75. November 1990.
- Newsfield Publications, issue 82, November 1990
- ^ "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 353. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 April 1989. p. 25.
- ^ "St Dragon Review". CRASH (82). Newsfield: 46. November 1990.
- ^ Hamza, Kati (December 1990). "St Dragon Review". Your Sinclair (60). Future Publishing.
- ^ Campbell, Stuart (June 1992). "St Dragon Review". Your Sinclair (78). Future Publishing.
External links
- Saint Dragon at Atari Mania
- Interview with Amiga programmer John Croudy