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    Darius

    Generally I don't like horizontal shooters that much but the Darius series is an exception for me. My love of shooting is second only to my love of weird cosmic fish.

    I've been getting back into these recently. I haven't played them all, only Gaiden, II and G.

    Gaiden is probably my favourate, really lush looking and with superb music but none of the versions have high score saves which really stinks. The boses do seem unfairly difficult too.


    Darius II although crusty looking is great fun also although I think you'd need a widescreen tv to get the most out of it. The lack of a smart bomb really hurts, once you get killed and lose your precious power ups you have little chance of regaining control.


    G Darius is an odd one, horrible looking in parts due to the polygonal graphics but has some incredible boos fights. I've not played it a while, but I remember finding it pretty enjoyable. It's all about the bosses really, the levels themselves are pretty redundant.


    I think part of the reason why Darius games are so loveable are the excellent musical scores which add alot to the feel of them. Zunata do some good ****. They also have just the right level of simplicity, with you not having to worry about picking the right weapon like the ugly madness that is Thunderforce V. You can just concentrate on dodging attacks and finding those precious power ups. The fish theme is definately an odd one but I like it. The backgrounds vary but in parts they are truly excellent, particularly the more organic variants.


    Please share your thoughts, I'd love to hear about the other games in the series too, however many there are. With all the shooter updates and compilations as of late, where's the Darius love?


    Oh and as a passing shot, screw all you Konami Fans, they're a fine company but their traditional shooters are muck.

    Darius >>> Gradius / Parodius / Salamander etc...

    #2
    Good shout, Moonwhistle.

    The Original Darius is a fine shoot-em-up, much underrated imo, with awesome music - The Level 1 (Zone A) tune is legendary imo.

    The sequels and spin-offs are pretty mediocre though imo (the SNES/SFC version had its moments, tbf).

    Your post was going so well until you ruined it with this hook,line & sinker piece of bait (which I've fallen for!! )

    Originally posted by moonwhistle
    Oh and as a passing shot, screw all you Konami Fans, they're a fine company but their traditional shooters are muck.

    Darius >>> Gradius / Parodius / Salamander etc...
    Sorry - Darius may be (at least) as good as Salamander and better than Scramble but Gradius & Parodius p*ss all over it.
    Last edited by Nu-Eclipse; 09-10-2005, 16:30.

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      #3
      I've never been much of a Darius fan. Especially after seeing him on Pop Idol.

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        #4
        I really don't like the Darius games, but I've heard often that G-Darius plays quite differently and is something of a minor classic. Must track it down and check it out someday. I agree that Zuntata adds a heck of a lot to any game though.

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          #5
          i've only played one darius game and that was darius twin for the snes.

          back around 1993 i swaped a pal copy of dragons lair and ?5 for it (jap version), when swap shops were the place to go for young importers.

          i still remember seeing the game on the shelf (swap shop in bootle, liverpool), i had loads of good games in my bag, but thought i'd try and swap the ****test game in it and sure enough the woman did!

          anyway, good game!


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            #6
            Must stick a note in about Konami and Gradius. I'm a *bit* of a fan, but I do consider Gradius 1-4 to be quite flawed in their shocking difficulty and unfair restart points. However, Konami came up trumps with Gaiden - which I consider to be one of the very best shmups ever made. For that reason I'm incredibly excited about them returning to the series themselves for the PS3 game. Treasure did an awesome job on V of course, but I reckon the in-house people can easily match it's quality.

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              #7
              Ho ho you **** artists, Darius owns all other near mainstream horizontal shooters, good shout moon.

              It's near on undeniable that Gaiden is king of the series.........G-Darius i couldn't get on with on a few plays, i should give it a chance but on those impressions it just wasn't a Darius game. That and the ultimate ****e GBA game aside is a rocker.

              If nothing else in the series, the music & gfx in Gaiden make it a classic, shame apart from the ports of that, on the whole the home versions have been wank.....the Saturn L&R zoom was a bit off, but retained a certain something...just about. IMO PC Engine is the home.

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                #8
                By the way moonwhistle, if you want to know more about the series as a whole check out:

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                  #9
                  I really like the Darius games although i've never really played Gaiden, i'll have to give it a go. I played Darius II on the megadrive alot, i still have the original cart i bought when it was released back in the day and i used to play it at Brighton pier sometimes when they had the 3 screen machine.

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                    #10
                    Darius Gaiden was my first ever Saturn game. The unusual, brilliant music and giant scary fish sold the console to me and I was hooked (no pun intended).

                    Twin is a cool version too - I think there are scans of a Mean Machines review of that on Duddyroar's site. Butch certainly got a good deal on it back in the day - Dragon's Lair sucked.

                    Tell you what, I bet a multi screen Darius cab now must be worth mega money.

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by Mad Gear
                      I've never been much of a Darius fan. Especially after seeing him on Pop Idol.
                      ****! You bastard! I was gonna say that!!!

                      Darius 2 on the Megadrive is pretty great. As Seany points out (although he says it was Darius Twin, which was never actually reviewed in MM, but I'll let him off), there's a scan of the MM review over at the Archive. Check out the 'media' section.

                      The only other versions I've played are the Saturn one (which was ok) and the Master System version (released as Sagaia in the UK, I believe) which is actually a pretty good conversion for a Master System title. Bit too much sprite flicker, but still decent, and it will only set you back a ?1 at car boots up and down the country.

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                        #12
                        In fact, if anyone wants a copy of the MS one, there is one near me going for ?1.99. What a daft name! Your average game buying spotty teen would have had trouble pronouncing that one.

                        Duddy sorry for mis-representing your site old chap. At least I got the ****ing game series right

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                          #13
                          I'm always a sucker for a game telling me some giant, mental, seafood mech is APPROACHING FAST!

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                            #14
                            In fact, if anyone wants a copy of the MS one, there is one near me going for ?1.99. What a daft name! Your average game buying spotty teen would have had trouble pronouncing that one.
                            Yeah, I never understood that name-change either. Darius was a big enough series at that point, surely changing the name only harmed sales?

                            Duddy sorry for mis-representing your site old chap. At least I got the ****ing game series right
                            I'll let you off old chum!

                            I'm always a sucker for a game telling me some giant, mental, seafood mech is APPROACHING FAST!
                            LOL!

                            Until Radiant Silvergun came along, Darius had the monopoly on silly boss introductions...

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by Baseley09
                              That and the ultimate ****e GBA game
                              whats wrong with the gba game?
                              If you dont want it, i'll take it off your hands mate.

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