Dragon Saber (Arcade)
The original Dragon Spirit game is a vertically scrolling shooter where you control a dragon in an appropriately medieval fantasy world, the game sticking out amidst the many science fiction shooters of the time that played similarly because of its aesthetic. Its sequel Dragon Saber, sometimes referred to as the very direct Dragon Saber: After Story of Dragon Spirit, is still about flying a dragon through the world mostly destroying monsters, but oddly enough the story seems to have a science fiction flair to it that doesn’t even manifest that much in the actual levels or action.
Dragon Saber’s opening scene tells of a far off future that still looks fairly medieval and mystical despite the destroyed modern buildings in the game’s opening that tells of the world’s fall. It is not technology that lead to the world plunging into chaos but out of control alchemy, this magical force seemingly just used to create monsters all around the planet that threaten to wipe out humanity. The goddess Arlia intercedes though, granting two humans already dressed in plate armor known as Huey and Siria with a sword that will allow them to transform into dragons to fight back against the malevolent forces overtaking the planet. For the most part the adventure through 9 stages will feel very much like a magical adventure flying your dragon to shoot down corrupted creatures in locations that aren’t a far cry from the kind seen in the original Dragon Spirit, but every now and then in places like the lava fields you’ll spot advanced technology sitting to the side and there is a stage that is quite clearly futuristic with its laser turrets and metallic walls. The ending does at least follow up on this idea of taking place after modern society has been destroyed to the point the time period feels almost irrelevant to the action, but the only real disappointing part of this barely present plot is it wasn’t used for mixing together monster and machine more often for more elaborate stages or enemies.
It’s not like Dragon Saber is in dire need of more variety though, the game’s stages actually feature mostly unique enemies per stage and even though the action mostly has you consistently flying slowly forward and fighting whatever is in your path, level designs can get more involved than just being backdrops or thematic explanations for the creatures you face. An icy cave has the walls close in and jab you with spikes, although some of the icicles can be shot to make them retract and squeeze your way through. Flying through mountains will let you pick which canyon path you want to take as the screen can scroll a good deal to the left and right to allow you to both avoid attacks better or explore opportunity rich areas of the screen. While early levels can have nice looking water backdrops or reasonably grounded setting ideas like flying over a swamp, apparently alchemy has lead to some truly warped monsters and even locations, the player finding themselves flying above stretched flesh that eyes will suddenly appear from to fire up at you. Fleshy walls force you into a tight space against increasingly abnormal adversaries, although considering the game’s first boss is a fleshy mass with a cycloptic pink tentacle and what appears to be broken rusty pipes rooting it in place, it’s not like Dragon Saber waits to show you some of its wilder foes.
The strategies of the monsters you face tie heavily to the kinds of powers Huey and Siria can bring to bear in their dragon forms, the game allowing solo or cooperative play for the entire short but challenging adventure. At its most basic the dragon fires fireballs fairly quickly forward and can take out the simplest enemies with ease, but if you stop firing for a bit your dragon will charge up a more powerful attack it can then unleash for greater damage and even a larger shot. However, not all enemies are in the air, the player also able to lob fireballs down to the ground below in short bursts albeit without any attack charging mechanic to discourage this. Your bomb shots having a shorter range also pushes you to get in close rather than always hanging in the far back, a vital aspect since some levels have no issue closing those lower areas off although thankfully often with some clear indicator your should move before you’re doomed. Some enemies on the ground might fly up into the air and prove more dangerous if you don’t bomb them quickly enough while others will ask you to be fairly mobile in the sky to avoid being swarmed or hit by attacks that would be more of an issue if you couldn’t move so far to the right and left. Your basic attacks are capable enough that you won’t feel too weak against most dangers, especially with that charge option for the fireball if you do realize the rapid fire will take too long to deal with something like the worms that fly through the air like deadly walls to crash into. Some foes like some almost magnetic flowers have more clever means of messing with you, the flowers pulling you towards them if you’re anywhere close so that other nearby enemies will have an easier time landing a shot on your dragon if you don’t prioritize some pruning first. Later levels can feature things like the laser turrets that give you some time to fire at them before they start making the space you fly in incredibly dangerous with their shots but sometimes the screen’s forward scrolling means you’ll need to be swift in dispatching dangers for fear of being fired at from behind.
To make survival more interesting though there are power ups found most often either in glowing enemies or the colored eggs you can pop open with your bomb shot. Your dragon can gain up to three heads to increase their shot output even if it does make them a somewhat bigger target, but with red orb pickups that increase your current shot type’s potency two more levels, a three-headed dragon with long fireball streaks can wipe out swathes of foes before they even have the chance to try and attack. Your charge type will change when you get the power increase pick-ups as well, a patient player sometimes given the means to hit most everything on screen for at least some damage. There are different attack types beyond the fireball though and while the fireball is certainly capable and satisfying to use, the other options are still quite exciting and often more useful despite the game not letting you use multiple heads at the same time as them. Each power up changes your dragon’s appearance some, the lightning dragon giving you a shot type that covers more range the more it is charged to the point it truly is guaranteed to hit everything on screen if you’re at max power. One power up grants you crescent shaped shots, a charged shot homing in on nearby foes with an abundance of crescents that let you overcome many of the levels with tighter spaces where foes lurk behind walls. Grabbing a new dragon power-up will swap out the old one and some skull items will power you down if grabbed so you might want to prioritize keeping a stronger ability than something simple but effective, but almost all of them are an upgrade over standard fireballs. One does fire its shots out diagonally when charged which is a bit of an oddity when most others at least provide some forward protection, but there are many powers to play with and they are spaced well throughout the journey so you can find stages where one might work exceptionally well if you can hold onto or find the right dragon form.
If you take a single hit in Dragon Saber you will be knocked down a single level of power for your weapon, and with both aerial and ground-based foes, even the best weapons won’t always keep you safe. A lot of maneuvering is still key to survival, but thankfully Dragon Saber is able to be challenging without pulling out unfair tactics. While a cabinet owner could certainly mess with the settings to make it harder, the default recommended setting is to have each credit allow three deaths. You will lose all weapons and powers on a death but levels have a few checkpoints and besides a poorly placed one in Stage 7 right before an area where your default weapon is likely not to work well on the enemy swarm ahead, they are fairly helpful in letting you make level progress. The arcade cabinet can be set to grant you different amounts of health in addition to these lives though, so you can play where you can survive a shot or two but with diminished strength so that you aren’t too careless in your dodging. On continuing after all lives are lost you will restart the current stage save for the final one, but that’s so you can start in the previous stage which is more of a power-up buffet so you can enter that final hardest level with some upgrades. Making progress in some levels will still be hard fought as the game isn’t afraid to throw a lot of enemies into the fray to match your sometimes more than capable firepower, but having another player along for the adventure not only gives you a second dragon shooting at all the dangers ahead, but it lets you arrive immediately in the level after a death instead of reappearing at checkpoints.
Dragon Saber is usually built to test your ability to hold onto those expanded shot types, a player able to make it further with them and a good player not needing them as much even if they didn’t manage to grab anything. A few moments meant to trick you exist like a dead end in the final level that can be hard to weave out of once you realize your error, but most of the time if something is fast and hard to dodge it’s because it picked up speed after giving you some time to take it down. Foes with big attacks need a bit to fire, enemies who fill the air with shots might come first from the ground letting you bomb them before they act, and even if the foe tries to fly in towards you, you usually face them head-on when they arrive so firing then will keep them from chasing you down no matter how hard you try to dodge. Bosses actually lock the screen in place though and contain one of the few breaches from this fair but difficult design philosophy, level 7’s boss has a counterattack for most shots that fires almost a shotgun spread of rocks that are nearly too fast to dodge, especially if the spirits the boss fights alongside are already denying some room. If you’re unlucky enough to play with the health per life set to 1 then this boss is hard for the wrong reasons, but it is a test of patience more than other moments as you can at least try to time your charge shots to work through this boss at a better pace. Conversely some bosses like the floating head from Level 5 is fairly straightforward in an already short level, although like most bosses it has a unique gimmick where you need to weave through its body pieces to fire at its weak spot. From a tree with a skull face and winding branches denying space and blocking attacks to an enormous bug where you can pick between letting it spawn eggs that pester you or break off its abdomen so that it can now move freely around its small arena during the fight, Dragon Saber is certainly creative when it presents a bigger baddy to deal with and mostly they’re interesting in how they shift up the gameplay without being overwhelming.
THE VERDICT: A difficult but exciting vertical shooter, Dragon Saber lets you build up your dragon’s power to better tackle its more dangerous swarms and bosses while still maintaining its edge. It has a few moments that are a little mean in trying to take away your power-ups with a tricky bit of level design, but some kindnesses like the forgiving nature of two player and the return to Level 8 for some power-up acquisition before retrying Level 9 help give you some edges against mostly creative and interesting dangers. Levels often have distinct ideas beyond just their background and some energetic yet thematic tunes, the player not just a dragon mowing down foes as levels push in on you with diverse gimmicks and dangers. The story is a little silly, but Dragon Saber provides an entertaining challenge that is constantly conceiving of new ways to fight back against your own interesting set of dragon powers.
And so, I give Dragon Saber for arcade machines…
A GOOD rating. Admittedly Dragon Saber’s enjoyment can vary with the arcade settings you get saddled with, but with the defaults or anything even a bit kinder you’re still given room to make progress and learn what you’re up against, the adventure usually not pulling any tricks that you can’t overcome with knowledge or reflexes save that Level 7 boss’s unpredictability. The choice between constant fire and charge shots is a meaningful one with the game mixing in different regular and tougher foes even before the boss fights that get more creative in how different dragon powers can thrive. Building up your power can offset some of the difficulty for a time without weakening the overall experience even if the arcade operator is pretty kind with how much life you’re able to work with, and while there are certainly some surprises likely to kill you, a winning run of a level is satisfying to pull off because you’re always going to be trying to hold onto power and tactically thin the enemy hordes ahead so that the tougher ones don’t get to pull off their tricks. The stage music, especially level 4’s odd fungal ruins, does a good job of giving the action a lot of energy and stages often have a pretty good progression of encountering new foes without being thrown in over your head unless you’re getting sloppy on fighting back. Even at your weakest you won’t often find yourself doomed, although you will definitely have to work harder or rely on charge shots for some situations. If Dragon Saber’s settings were more guaranteed it would be easier to evaluate the game’s balance, a rare bad checkpoint bound to be more impactful if the arcade owner decides they value your coin over your enjoyment, but even just a little wiggle room lets you better experience the interesting range of powers and the creative set of enemies and bosses without it being too rough to push through. Those recommended default settings are perhaps a touch more challenging than they need to be, but the good game inside Dragon Saber can still be found because the game rarely whips out the mean tricks to try and force a death on you.
Dragon Saber is a good follow-up to Dragon Spirit even if its setting and time period make for a confusing mix. Every now and again a flicker of that future idea shows before you’re back to blasting big bugs and fighting magical floating rocks, but then it will emerge in the form of a technological fortress that reminds you this is trying to be a bit different from a basic medieval fantasy. As an excuse to add in more variety it’s perfectly fine if not integrated as much as it could have been, but the action you do get is greater because of its commitment to bringing new things to the shooting consistently. Nine levels extended through interesting difficulty rather than bland cruelty makes Dragon Saber an entertaining time, although if you’re interested in playing perhaps aim to pick up the Arcade Archives rerelease where you can set the health and lives yourself to expedite the learning process. On a cabinet you can at least team up with a second player so you can get around the few meaner tricks before they lead to some frustration in an otherwise well constructed shooter that lets you build up a super strong dragon but has the difficulty to keep you engaged even at your most capable.