Darius (computer game)

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Darius
DARIUS.jpg
Darius arcade machine from 1986
Studio Taito
Publisher Taito
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 1986
genre Shoot 'em up
Game mode Single player , two player
control 8-way joystick, 2–4 fire buttons
casing default
Arcade system Main CPUs :
2 × Motorola 68000 (@ 8 MHz)
Sound CPU:
2 × Z80 (@ 4 MHz)
Sound chips:
2 × YM2203, MSM5205,
18 × volume
monitor Grid 864 × 226 (12: 3 horizontal)
Color palette: 8192
information Three monitors were side by side

Darius (OT: Japaneseダ ラ イ ア ス, Daraiasu ) is a video game series of the horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up genre. The games were produced by the Japanese company Taito for various systems, primarily arcade machines . The first part appeared in 1986.

The series became famous above all for the opponents who resemble nightmarish mutations of fish and other marine animals.

Quirks of the game

Spaceship upgrades and weapons, point system

The player's spaceship, the Silver Hawk , is equipped with two weapons: the missiles that fire forward and the bombs that fall down according to a trajectory parabola . Later parts of the series expanded the arsenal to include a limited availability Smartbomb ( Darius Gaiden ) and the Capture Ball ( G.Darius ).

After the destruction, certain opponents leave balls of different colors:

  • Red bullets upgrade the missiles .
  • Green balls improve the bombs .
  • Blue balls equip the spaceship with a protective shield.
  • Purple balls add one copy to the Smartbomb arsenal (only available in Darius Gaiden ).
  • White balls give a random bonus on the scorer.

The upgrade status of the weapon systems is displayed at the top of the screen. With weapons and shields, a new level is reached after a certain number of upgrades, which is retained after death. For example, the shield has the levels Green , Silver and Gold .

Another special feature is the point system: Usually, opponents fly towards them in formations or waves of the same units. If all opponents belonging to an attack wave are shot down, the player receives a point bonus, which is based on the size of the units.

The opponents that leave upgrade symbols belong to closed formations and are color-coded from the other units in their formation. This system is used in all parts of the series except Darius II and Sagaia , but there were special formations from which all units had to be shot down in order to bring out the respective upgrade bullet. The step system was not used in this part of the series.

Sequence of levels

Another peculiarity is the sequence of the levels , which, by the way, are designated with letters of the alphabet instead of numbers. After each level the player has to choose between one of two possible following levels of a decision tree. Level A is followed by either level B or level C. If the player chooses B, he has the choice between D or E at the end of the level, whereas levels E and F are available for an initial selection of C. In this way, a game play (a so-called loop ) never includes all levels, which is intended to encourage the player to play the game several times.

Sometimes there are even branches within the individual levels. A horizontal bar appears in the middle of the screen and remains for a few seconds. It is now up to the player to decide whether to fly further up or down by staying in one of the halves - and that in the middle of the battle.

The final boss

All bosses are announced by name by means of a warning. This warning is also a trademark of the whole series:

"WARNING! - A HUGE BATTLESHIP ... (the name of the respective opponent) ... IS APPROACHING FAST"

This urgent warning always appears immediately before the fight with the intermediate or final boss. The bosses themselves are rather conventional in terms of play, but graphically they leave a lasting impression, as they have the shapes of huge mutated sea creatures. The player meets fish, starfish, octopus and crab creatures. Some of these bosses were recycled several times over the course of the series to emphasize the series character. The best known is the coelacanth King Fossil , who appeared as the final boss in every part of the series and even got company in the form of Queen Fossil in G.Darius .

It is also worth mentioning that it sometimes takes an incredibly long time to defeat the huge, fish-like spaceships. Depending on the level of difficulty (in the home versions; the arcade versions are considered extremely difficult) it can take up to ten minutes or more for the boss to be defeated.

Parts

All parts made their debut as arcade versions and were subsequently ported to other systems several times.

Darius (1986)

Implemented for PC Engine as Darius Plus and for Game Boy Advance as Darius R

The first part offered well-drawn graphics, but the level designs always ran the same environment and the same attack formations within the level. The arcade version was very impressive: it made the game both audible and visible via three screens and six loudspeakers. The unusual "long" representation of the playing field was characteristic of the machine versions of the first two parts. The eccentric resolution of 864 x 224 pixels (corresponding to an aspect ratio of 27: 7 or 3.86: 1) required the player in particular to be able to accurately estimate the position of fired shots and opponents in play over greater distances.

Darius II (1988)

Realized for Sega Master System , Sega Mega Drive , Sega Saturn and Game Boy as Sagaia , for Super Nintendo as Darius Twin .

The second part expanded the series to include appearances by the two pilots Proco Jr. and Tiat Young . Furthermore, the individual levels of the weapon systems were expanded, the graphics expanded and the battles from fantasy planets moved to the solar system .

A rare implementation for Sega Saturn came up with an innovative 3-fold zoom feature, which was able to zoom in on what was happening on the screen depending on preferences or needs or to enlarge the visible playing field.

In 1989 Darius + appeared for the Atari ST .

Darius Gaiden (1993)

US version with the subtitle Silver Hawk , implementations for PC, PlayStation and Sega Saturn

The third part of the series was presented in the "normal" graphic format of 320 x 240 pixels and improved the game in all respects. Continuous fire and the Smartbomb were newly introduced, and the levels were now "composed" from front to back and the game was expanded to include a rudimentary background story.

G.Darius (1997)

Implementations for PlayStation and PC

Polygonal pseudo-3D graphics effectively stage the fourth part. New are the capture ball , which "catches" opponents and places them at the player's side, as well as a level-internal decision-making compulsion for one of two possible paths through the level.

Darius Premium Box: Rebirth (2005)

This box is a soundtrack compilation of all published Darius games on four CDs and is currently only available as a Japanese import version. The quality of most of the tracks has been digitally remastered .

Dariusburst (2009)

The last part of the series was released in 2009 for PlayStation Portable and has so far only been published in Japan.

Since the beginning of 2012, the title has also been available as Dariusburst SP in the iTunes Store for iOS version 4.3 or higher, and as a universal app for iPhone, iPod and iPad.

Dariusburst Chronicle Saviors (2015)

Dariusburst Chronicle Saviors was released in 2015 for the Microsoft Windows PC operating system via Steam, as well as for Playstation 4 and Playstation Vita in some countries.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dariusburst Chronicle Saviors on Steam