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1990 NEC avenue,Ltd.
LICENCED BY TAITO CORP
Release : 1990-09-21 (¥9800)
HuCard (6 Mbits) NAPH-1009
Shooter / Horizontal
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Darius Plus is the conversion of Darius,
arcade game released by Taito in 1986. This well known horizontal
shoot'em up features the famous 'eagle like' spaceship - the Silver Hawk -
and a large squadron of magnificent bosses and enemy ships largely inspired by the
living world from the deep. The Silver Hawk is equipped with two kinds of
weapons : a forward facing laser and side bombs. A third feature is a powerful force
field that player can create to protect a small perimeter around the ship. Colored
ships drop special icons when shot down and these can be used to enhance one of those
three features : Red capsules upgrade the main weapon from Vulcan Gun to Lasers
and Wave Lasers, Green Capsules improve the bombs from Simple to Twin and Multi,
Blue Capsules power-up the shield. Each weapon has three major ungradable levels
and eight capsules must be collected to go from one to the next. However, be
aware that the ship will jump back one level where destroyed. This version of
Darius features the same unique stage branching structure - the game
counts a grand total of 26 zones and the player can pick his route at the
end of each one of them.
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The PC Engine version of Darius has a couple of interesting features.
First of all, it is the only HuCard that works for both the standard
PC Engine and the SuperGrafx systems (hence the PC-SG logo
on the game's cover). When run on the later,
most of the sprite flickering disappears. It also features more bosses
than the arcade game which featured 'only' eleven - this is probably where the
"Plus" comes from. Interestingly, the PC Engine version gets you
resurrected when you die, unlike the original arcade game where boss encounters
would just end up being a long (and frustrating) experience. A CDRom
version of the game was also released for the PC Engine as Super Darius.
The game is identical to the HuCard version, but it counts twenty six bosses
(one for each zone), a better soundtrack and a quick introduction sequence.
Finally, a now well known promotional Darius game was released in 1990
and called Darius Alpha. The goal of the game is to affront sixteen
bosses in a row. This version is only known because of its rareness and high
asking price tag - Only 800 copies are rumored to exist (see the Omake
section).
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The original Darius arcade game was released by Taito in 1986
and used three color monitors aligned left to right giving the player an unique
panoramic view of the action (as pictured). Darius 2 followed in 1989 and used a similar display.
This sequel is also known as Sagaia in America. Much later, in 1994, a new opus to the
series was released - Darius Gaiden however used a standard display which
probably made its 'home' conversions easier to produce. It also appeared for
the Sega Saturn (1995) and Sony Playstation (1996). Taito
finally released a 3D version of the game in 1997 called G-Darius
and also converted it for Sony's Playstation in 1998. Numerous other versions of
Darius exist for many systems: Super Darius (Pce-CDRom, 1990),
Darius Twin (SuperFamicom, 1991), Darius Force (SuperFamicom, 1993),
Super Darius 2 (Pce-CDRom, 1993) and Darius R (GameBoyAdvance, 2002).
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Game Staff (Copied from the end credits) :
MISSION COMPLETED
YOU DESTROYED ALL ENEMIES
AND WAR IS OVER
YOU ARE THE BRAVEST PILOT
SEE YOU AGAIN NEXT GAME
Executive Producer
Makoto Sakio
Producer
Toshio Tabeta
Directer
Kohji Matsuda
Programmer
Masashi Shimizu
Masatoshi Kanemitsu
Hideki Hacker Mesuda
Max Inde
Hi-Speed Mathpack
Junichi Ten Takao
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Graphics Composer
Toshio Hyper Tabeta
Kohji Gu-Gu- Matsuda
Yasunori Bear Takahara
Recording Supervisor
Yukihiro Free Too
Kimitoshi Hashizume
Music Driver
Shigeharu Isoda
Kenichiroh Isoda
Map Convert
Takashi Ozama
Waruiko Ishibashi
Special Thanks To
Naoto Yamamoto
Tsuyoshi Matumoto
Yutaka Kubouchi
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Shigenobu Nanbu
Noriaki Ohtsuka
Nobuhiro Meg Takagaki
Noriuki Watanabe
Kaoru Murohoshi
Fumiko Cuty Suzuki
Metal Yamashita
T. Hayashi
Chieko Charmy Ochiai
Chisato Yanagi
And
Fumio Kurosawa
Excelent Turbo C Compiler
and as.exe
1990 NEC AVENUE
PROGRAMMED BY BITS LAB.
LICENSED BY TAITO CORP.
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Click on picture to enlarge |
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LK
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Add your Pov here !
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P
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I'm a big fan of the 'recent' Darius games (From Darius Gaiden onward)
but I wasn't impressed by this adaptation... I mean, the game is surprisingly close
to the original arcade game (the best conversion I have played, by far,
which deserves three stars for that matter) - graphics are correct and sometimes
even amazing. Bosses are pure 'works of art', which is often the case with Taito.
But the difficulty level is way too hard. The HuCard version is supposed to be easier
than the CDRom conversion (with more power-ups). But the game is still incredibly
hard... just picture it : you finally have those big double lasers, the ones that
clear everything on screen, the ones that consumed all your reflexes and brain power,
and... what ? did I just get hit ? No ! Nooo ! back to the pathetic putt-putt gun !
You probably won't last more that half a second against the next whatever
mollusk-fossil boss... at least, you get resurrected where you died and don't
have to start again like in the original arcade. My other problem with this
first opus is the "lack of interest" feeling you face in each stage, the various
waves of enemy ships are sadly uninspired - like a long and tasteless wait until
the boss finally shows up. Also, the CDRom version has more bosses, a (short)
introduction sequence and better musics. So I'd advise to pick up this one
instead, unless you want to enjoy Darius on your GT.
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