Darius Gaiden
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| Darius Gaiden
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| Developer(s) | Taito |
| Publisher(s) |  Taito (Arcade, PS, Saturn),
Gamebank (Win), Cyberfront Corporation (Win), MediaKite (Win) |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Sony PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Sega Saturn, Windows 95 |
| Release date | Arcade
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| Genre(s) | Horizontal Scrolling shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, 2 player Co-op |
Darius Gaiden (or Darius III in US arcades[1]) is a horizontally-scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game, released by Taito in 1994.
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[edit] Story
Shortly after the events of the original Darius, while fleeing from the wrath of the Belser Army, the Darian refugees led by Proco and Tiat set up a temporary base on Vadis to act as a main base before a true refugee planet could be settled upon.
However, Belser once again arose, this time from Darius's oceans, thwarting the escape of the remaining Darians and even sending fleets against Vadis itself. A fleet of Silver Hawks were sent to keep Belser from reaching Vadis, but their strength was too great even for them.
Once again, Proco and Tiat are chosen to save the day, this time by putting an end to Belser's attempt to imprison the Darius stragglers.
[edit] Description
The gameplay is basically the same as the preceding games in the Darius series. It uses a single screen, rather than the three screens of its predecessors.
A minor change is in the power-up system; the 'missile' weapon (the forward gun) no longer has its own power up bar. It can still be powered up in the normal way, but losing a life results in the weapon reverting to a previous level of power. The bomb and arm capabilities do have power-up bars, and retain any new power levels they have gained.
The Silver Hawk has a new special weapon; a black hole bomb which creates a vortex in the middle of the screen, sucking enemies and projectiles in.
The mid-level minibosses in the game provide an opportunity for the player to add to their firepower. Every miniboss has a globe on their head; if the player blasts it off and catches it, the miniboss is captured, and fires its weapon to aid the player. This is probably a precursor of the Capture ball in G-Darius.
[edit] Stages and Bosses
Stage 1: Vadis base. Boss: Golden Ogre (ogrefish)
Stage 2: Vadis wilderness. Boss: Ancient Dozer (horseshoe crab) in B, King Fossil (coelecanth) in C
Stage 3: Vadis system open space. Boss: Folding Fan (fanfish) in D and F, Electric Fan (sea anemone) in E
Stage 4: Dimensional corridor. Boss: Prickly Angler (uncertain species of anglerfish) in G and I, Neon Light Illusion (cuttlefish) in H and J.
Stage 5: Darius system. Boss: Fatty Glutton (piranha) in K and O, Double Dealer (flounder) in L and N, Titanic Lance (orthocerida) in M.
Stage 6: Darius, part 1. Boss: Crusty Hammer (mantis shrimp) in P, R, and T, Deadly Crescent (mirror dory) in Q, S, and U.
Stage 7: Darius, part 2. Boss: Z'--Great Thing (sperm whale),"~Arcade~" Boss: Z'--CURIOUS CHANDELIER (Giant Squid)" V--Risk Storage (gulper eel), W--Vermilion Coronatus (crowned seahorse), X--Hysteric Empress (spider crab), Y--Odious Trident (ocean sunfish), Z--Curious Chandelier (shrimp jellyfish), V'--Storm Causer (another ogrefish)
[edit] Ports
Darius Gaiden was ported to the Sega Saturn in 1995, and to Microsoft Windows and PlayStation in 1999. The Saturn and PC versions were released in North America by Acclaim and Interplay respectively.
The PC version does not work correctly in Windows NT-based kernels, but it works with Windows XP with a little tweaking.
Darius Gaiden is included on the Taito Legends 2 and Taito Memories compilations.
[edit] Extra Version
This version of arcade game contains rearranged levels.
[edit] Trivia
[edit] External links
- Mobygames: Darius Gaiden: Saturn, Windows
- List of Darius games
- Gamebank Darius Gaiden page
- Darius Boss illustration explanation of bosses by game designer
- F3 SYSTEM HARDWARE: Darius Gaiden Extra Version
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