St. Dragon

[Ferret Oxide]

I first saw this game when the Spectrum was still my only computer. The, on that fateful day when my dad bought an Amiga, I was thrilled to see St. Dragon was included in the bundle of games that came with it.

I poured hours into it, but was never very good, choosing to focus more on using the tail defensively than actually shooting stuff.

What's the general opinion of the game, though? Do you think it's a good shmup? Was the tail mechanic a good idea? Or is the whole thing a disaster in your eyes?

[The Laird]

I first saw this game when the Spectrum was still my only computer. The, on that fateful day when my dad bought an Amiga, I was thrilled to see St. Dragon was included in the bundle of games that came with it.

I poured hours into it, but was never very good, choosing to focus more on using the tail defensively than actually shooting stuff.

What's the general opinion of the game, though? Do you think it's a good shmup? Was the tail mechanic a good idea? Or is the whole thing a disaster in your eyes?

I had it on the Spectrum and I am pretty sure I still have the ST version somewhere, I have always thought it was rather good.

Never have played the arcade version though.

[Shinobi]

I remember playing the demo that came with Commodore Force and thought it was good.. The arcade version I played recently and those two Robot boss creatures at the end of the first level where very hard to beat.. Even when the tail was wrapped around you, you could still be killed easily, will need to give it anothor try on Mame

[ToxieDogg]

It was actually a bloody good conversion on the Spectrum, pretty much R-Type quality I thought, but it never got the same recognition. Really enjoyed it.

Another simalar good shmup is Dragon Breed, don't seem to see that get mentioned anywhere much these days either.

[shiftytigger]

I played a demo of St Dragon on speccy and enjoyed it lots - shame it never got much attention or more conversions - though would be interested in mame-ing it (as dont have a PC engine).

[Seadog74]

It's a pretty accurate conversion on the Amiga and a great game to play if quite hard. I found stage 2 the toughest. Also played the terrible Amstrad CPC version. Looks good until it starts moving.

[Zagrebo]

It's not a bad game, although I think it was trying to do something new with the whole "defensive tail" thing (Dragon Breed had something similar) and it didn't really catch-on. The Amiga version is a cracking conversion, very close to the coin-op.

[merman]

The tail was a gimmick I never liked. And like so many horizontal shmups of the day, when you die you lose your weapons and it becomes very difficult to progress any further.

[ToxieDogg]

when you die you lose your weapons and it becomes very difficult to progress any further.

I'm pretty sure you don't, at least on the Speccy port.

[supermario]

As far as the arcade version is concerned it's a game I've never liked - I just find it rather dull.

[ulala]

you go tend to focus on its gimmick, but its not terrible. The home computer versions were good in their day.