Ludography
Dragon Saber cover

1990 · Namco · Shooter · Vertically scrolling shooter

Dragon Saber

Timed NEC exclusive

Dragon Saber is a vertical scrolling shooter arcade game, released by Namco in 1990; it runs on Namco System 2 hardware, and as its complete title suggests, it is the sequel to Dragon Spirit which had been released three years earlier.

Released
10 December 1990
Platforms
ArcadeNintendo SwitchTurboGrafx-16Wii
Genres
ShooterVertically scrolling shooter
Developers
Namco
Publishers
NamcoHamster Corporation
Series
Dragon Spirit
Perspective
Bird view / Isometric
Country
Japan
Age ratings
CERO A
Composers
Shinji Hosoe

About

Dragon Saber is a 1990 vertically scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. It was released in Japan in December 1990, and in North America and Europe in 1991. It is a sequel to Dragon Spirit.

Keywords

  • shoot 'em up
  • wii virtual console

Media

Dragon Saber screenshot 1

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Players control Huey and Siria, who transforms into a dragon and navigates various landscapes by air. Two players can play together in cooperative gameplay. Like the previous game, the player can either hold the attack button to spit flames, but with the added feature of a more powerful shot charged by letting go of the button. Bosses must be beaten to finish levels, with the final boss having a time limit that causes a game over if passed.

Development

Dragon Saber was the creation of Namco artist Yoshihiro Sugiyama, being his first time as a planner for a game. Sugiyama wanted the game to feel like a true continuation of its predecessor Dragon Spirit in terms of its storyline and world, as he felt the NES sequel Dragon Spirit: The New Legend was mostly just a rehash of the original and had a rather generic premise. He also wanted the game to appeal to anyone instead of mostly hardcore shooter enthusiasts, and one that many could find a degree of satisfaction in. Once the story was completed, Sugiyama began work on the game's lore and fictional world, wanting it to be one that players hadn't seen before in similar games beforehand.

Reception

Game Machine listed Dragon Saber as being the most popular arcade game of December 1990 in Japan.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
TurboGrafx-1627 December 1991Worldwide
Wii5 August 2008Japan
ArcadeUnreleased

Editions and related releases

Included in
Namco Museum Encore
Ported as
Arcade Archives: Dragon Saber

In the same series

Games like this

Collections4 collections

Platform libraries

Publishers

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.