| Darius | |
|---|---|
| Genres | side scrolling shoot-em-up |
| Developers | Taito |
| Publishers | Taito |
| Platforms | Arcade, various |
| First release | Darius |
| Latest release | Dariusburst |
Darius is a series of side-scrolling shoot 'em up video games, released by Taito. When it started, its primary difference from other top first-generation scrolling shooters, such as R-Type and Gradius, was the ability to select different levels on the way to the final areas. The primary villains are mostly large fish or crustacean in form.
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The Edge released Darius+ to various home PCs. It bears little or no resemblance to the original game, as it was completely redone by The Edge and only has five different bosses and of which one is a small version of another boss. It has been described as the "poor man's R-Type" by one gaming magazine. The absence of Darius+ from Japanese Darius resources suggests that this Western release is not considered canon.[1]
Released for the PC Engine CD and developed by NEC Avenue, had an original boss for every stage (the first game to do so).
An expanded port of the original Darius which supports the NEC SuperGrafx. The game retained the music of the arcade game, and included several new bosses.
Darius Alpha, a "boss fest" version of Darius Plus, is one of the rarest PC Engine games—only 800 copies were made.[2] Like Plus, Alpha is a hybrid game, taking advantage of the extra video hardware when played on a SuperGrafx.
Released for the Sega Genesis in the early 90s, this is a port of the original Darius II with a new exclusive boss called Nehonojia. Except for Nehonojia and some boss placement changes, the stage layout and all other bosses and captains are the same as Darius II. The game was released as Darius II in Japan and as Sagaia elsewhere.
Released for the Game Boy in 1991, this is a mix of the original Darius and Darius II with a few new bosses. The stage layout is also completely linear—the only Darius to be so.
Related to the Genesis Sagaia and not the Game Boy Sagaia, this game was only released in Europe. It uses a simplified, 12-zone branching layout.
A port of Darius II for the PC Engine CD, also developed by NEC Avenue. A somewhat rare game, it features several new bosses and a hard-rock remix of the original soundtrack.
Released in 2002 for the Game Boy Advance and developed by PCCW. This is mostly a watered-down version of Darius Plus, with fewer stages and fewer bosses. The game also has a score attack feature: individual stages can be played, which can be useful to practice destroying bosses. Most interestingly, the music of the game is a mixture of music from the previous Darius games, with two new tracks added.
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