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Euroshmups

2025-01-23T04:21:58Z

TrafficLight7773: /* Games */ added important genre classic

Euroshmup is a slang term applied to some shmups, usually in a derogatory manner, as a means to criticize or highlight perceived flaws within that game.

== Origin ==
A semi-derogatory term for European shooters produced during the mid to late 80s. At that point, the gaming industry in Europe was focused primarily on PCs and micro-computers (like the C64, ZX Spectrum, Amiga, etc.) and as such, developers didn't necessarily conform to traditional game design used by American and Japanese studios found on consoles and in arcades.

As a result of this dissonance, there are several elements in shooters of that period that are typically seen as flaws and shortcomings by shmup fans accustom to the design standards of Japanese and North American to arcade games.

For this reason, European shmups became stigmatized by these "features". While this has changed significantly in recent years, with European studios releasing games that meet or exceed the standards of Japanese arcade titles (e.g. [[ZeroRanger]], [[Gunvein]], [[Jamestown]], etc.), several titles matching this criteria developing a following among even traditional shmup fans, as well as Japanese studios and fans releasing shooters that share multiple design characteristics with Euroshmups (e.g. [[Fantasy Zone, [[Gun-Nac]], [[Area 88]], etc.), the stigma around European-developed shooters still lingers among many fans.

== Definition ==
Although there is no concrete definition, elements of a euroshmup may often include:

* Ship physics / Ship momentum (inertia)
* Player shields / Health bars
* Unavoidable obstacles or enemies (which are meant to be absorbed with health bars or shields)
* No bullet patterns / Only simple aimed bullets
* Limited weapon ammo, which usually also introduces shops and money management into the game
* Lack of complex enemy ship AI such as ships that curve around the screen
* Extremely high enemy HP
* Very slow player bullets
* A large number of levels often with little variation between them
* No scoring systems

Other examples of these features include Weak firepower (leading to unsatisfying enemy encounters), overly simplistic enemy behavior and level design (leading to less exciting gameplay experience), use of healthbars (replacing the life/extend system) and in-game shops as a crutch to make players be able to beat otherwise barely possible levels, and large player hitboxes.

== Games ==
Some examples of “euroshmups”:
*Raptor: Call of the Shadows (Cygnus Studios, DOS, 1994)
*Tyrian (Epic Megagames, DOS, 1995)
*Jets'n'Guns (Rake in Grass, Windows, 2004)
*Sky Force (Infinite Dreams, Symbian, 2004)
*Sine Mora (Digital Reality, Windows, 2012)
*Chicken Invaders 4: Ultimate Omelette (InterAction, Windows, iOS, 2014)
*CYGNI: All Guns Blazing (KeelWorks, Windows, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, 2024)

Darius Gaiden

2023-08-04T01:48:29Z

TrafficLight7773: /* Stage 3 (Satellite Contrary) */

[[File:Darius_Gaiden_Arcade_Flyer.jpg|center]]
{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = Darius Gaiden
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = Darius-gaiden-title-screen.png
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[Taito]]
|music = Hisayoshi Ogura, Katsuhisa Ishikawa
|program = Akira Kurabayashi, Naoto Omura, Hidetaka Harada
|art = Hisakazu Kato, Masami Kikuchi, Kentaro Matsumura, I.G Tatsunoko
|design = Hisakazu Kato, Akira Kurabayashi, Masami Kikuchi, Hidetaka Harada, Naoto Omura, Rintaroh Doi, Katsumi Kaneoka, Hisayoshi Ogura, Katsuhisa Ishikawa
|releasedate = '''Arcade''' <br> '''JP''': September 1994 <br> '''NA''': November 1994
|previousgame = [[Darius Force]] (Release) <br> [[Darius]] (Chronology)
|nextgame = [[G-Darius]] (Release) <br> [[Darius II]] (Chronology)
}}

==Darius Gaiden==

'''Darius Gaiden''' is a horizontal-scrolling shoot-em-up released by [Taito] in 1994, and is the third arcade title in the [Darius] series. It is the first game in the series to use a single-screen display, and has a heavy focus on the use of psychadelic effects, bizzare atmosphere and an unusual soundtrack from TAITO's music team Zuntata to produce a dreamlike experience. The Stage 1 Track VISSIONERZ, composed by Hisayoshi Ogura, formed the basis for all of the music and the presentation of the game, with the opening lyrics telling the player to "Close your eyes..."

As is typical for the Darius series, Gaiden features Fish-based theming and bosses, Branching Pathways - with a total of 28 stages - and multiple endings.

Darius Gaiden has been ported to the Saturn, Playstation, and to the PS4 and Switch as part of the Darius Cozmic Collection.

Darius Gaiden chronologically takes place between the first two Darius games, which is where the name draws from - Gaiden is often used in Japanese titles, loosely translated as "Another story".

Darius Gaiden was followed up by '''G-Darius''' in 1997.

== Gameplay Overview ==
'''Darius Gaiden''' is a 2-button Horizontal shmup, which is fairly classical in style - with typically lower numbers of bullets on screen and a larger hitbox than '''Bullet Hell''' styled games. There is only one player ship, the '''Silver Hawk'''. The gameplay is largely focused around power-ups, with power ups for your main shot, the bombs shot from your ship, and a shield which can take 3 hits, upgrading to 4 and then 5 as more are picked up. Upon death, your shot power decreases one full stage whilst shield and bomb stage remains constant - except after new credits.

There are also Score Item Pickups, Screen-clearing item pickups, and Pickups containing extra lives. Enemies that drop all types of pickups, and those revealed when shot in secret parts of the stage, are '''Fixed''', though their quantities do vary depending on the route you take throughout the game.

The '''Black-Hole Bomb''' is a new addition to the series, and serves a very similar purpose to the traditional bombs found in most shmups - destroying weak enemies immedietly, providing invulnerability for a few seconds (except from stage hazards such as walls), and clearing the screen of enemy projectiles. However, the black hole bomb also sucks up and destroys floating pickup items and prevents pickup enemies dropping them. Bombs are lost upon death.

=== Controls ===
----
* '''A:''' Fires the main shot and standard diagonal bombs. When held, fires at about a 5hz, but can be tapped quickly for more rapid shots
* '''B:''' Fires the '''Black-Hole Bomb'''

Note: most arcade cabinets and ports of the game include an additional 30hz turbo fire button for the main shot in addition to the above two buttons.

=== Weapons ===
----
[[File:S1-1.jpg|thumb|How a player starts the game.]]
[[File:S max.jpg|thumb|A player maxed out on all weapons and shield.]]
Darius Gaiden has two main weapons, SHOT and BOMB. These can be upgraded individually by picking up the appropriate powerups. Understanding the differences between the different levels of shots is key to understanding the game and routing accordingly. Shots shoot forward from your ship, and Bombs fire forward and downward from your ship.

It takes 3 power-ups to move your SHOT or BOMB level up however SHOT levels have sub-levels for each powerup collected. The SHOT levels are:

*'''Missile''' is your beginning shot. It has two sub-levels, and Missile sub level 3 is the highest DPS weapon in the entire game. The only downside is that it does not pass through enemies or obstacles.
*'''Laser''' is a very weak shot, but it can pierce through enemies, including enemy armor that may attempt to block Missile shots (like Golden Ogre's scales in Zone A)
*'''Wave''' is also very weak, but these shots pass through enemies ''and'' obstacles in the environment. Sub-level 2 also reintroduces two missile shots- above and below the wave shot. This makes sub level 2 the most powerful of the three sub levels. These missile shots still do not pass through enemies or obstacles.
*'''Wave Lv. 2''' Is wider than LV. 1, with a higher DPS and better ROF. Sub-level 2 also includes two missile shots and thus, like in Lv. 1, sub-level 2 is more powerful than sub-level 3.
*'''Wave Lv. 3''' Is more powerful than Lv. 2, and introduces two smaller ships above and below yours that fire homing waves at enemies. Just like the previous two levels, sub-level 2 includes missile shots, making this the second-highest DPS weapon in the entire game, after Missile sub-level 3.

In Darius Gaiden Extra, there are two ''more'' sub levels beyond Wave Lv. 3 sub-level 2.

Each bomb level increases damage in addition to the following attributes. The BOMB levels are:
*'''Napalm Bomb Lv. 1'''
*'''Napalm Bomb Lv. 2'''
*'''Napalm Bomb Lv. 3'''
*'''Twin Napalm Lv. 1''' fires another bomb upwards from the ''front'' of the ship.
*'''Twin Napalm Lv. 2'''
*'''Twin Napalm Lv. 3'''
*'''Multi-Napalm Lv. 1''' fires two more bombs upwards and downwards from the ''back'' of the ship.
*'''Multi-Napalm LV. 2'''
*'''Multi-Napalm Lv. 3'''
*'''Multi-Homing Napalm Lv. 1''' Adds a homing element to all bombs fired.
*'''Multi-Homing Napalm Lv. 2'''
*'''Multi-Homing Napalm Lv. 3'''

=== Items ===
----
<gallery>
Red.jpg|Shot level upgrade
Blue.jpg|Shield upgrade
Green.jpg|Bomb upgrade
Silver.jpg|Score Bonus
Gold.jpg|Fullscreen Damage
Purple.jpg|Bomb Stock
Darius_Gaiden_1up.jpg|1Up
</gallery>

Players will encounter several item pickups throughout the course of the game. Once they appear, the move towards the left side of the screen while rotating in a circle. They are shaped like Silver Hawk emblems and their colour indicates their function, except for the 1up icon which is a miniature Silver Hawk inside a bubble.
*'''Red'''
Red power ups increase shot level, explained in detail in the weapons section above.

These are found by destroying red tinted enemies and asteroids and some boss parts.

*'''Blue'''
Blue power ups increase ARM (shield) level and restore shield strength.

At shield level 1, a shield pickup gives you a shield that can take 3 hits before being destroyed. However, it can only 'repair' a shield by one hit point. So if you have a shield with 1/3 hits left, a shield powerup will only restore it to 2/3 hits. If you destroy the shield completely, a new shield item will give you 3 new hit points.

Once you reach shield level 2, your shield changes colour to silver and increases to 4 hit capacity, and at level 3 it changes to gold and has 5 hit capacity.

Damaged level 2 ashields are repaired at 2 units per pickup instead of 1. Damaged level 3 shields are repaired at 3 units per pickup instead of 2.

These are found by destroying blue tinted enemies and asteroids and some boss parts.

*'''Green'''
Green powerups increase your bomb level by one unit. Once increased enough, your missile powers up and gains new attributes. Check above section for details.

These are found by destroying green tinted enemies and asteroids.

*'''Silver'''
Silver power ups give a random score bonus between 50-52100 pts. It should be noted that some guides falsely claim you can consistently gain specific score bonuses by collecting the powerup at specific angles. This is not true.

These are found by shooting specific parts of the environment, revealing their invisible location.

*'''Gold'''
Gold powerups deal damage to all enemies on screen. Usually enough to kill all enemies, but several are strong enough to withstand the damage in later stages.

These are found by shooting specific parts of the environment, revealing their invisible location.

*'''Purple'''
Purple power ups increase bomb stock by 1, to a maximum of 5.

These are found by destroying purple tinted enemies and asteroids.

*'''1up'''
Adds a life to the player's stock.

These are found by shooting specific parts of the environment, revealing their invisible location.

=== Scoring ===
----
This section should cover a general breakdown of the scoring system of the game. Feel free to put the meat and potatoes here. A great example of a scoring section is the ''[[DoDonPachi]]'' page.

== Strategy ==

===== Auto Fire/Turbo Fire =====
The game has a native autofire rate that its stages and bosses are designed around, but many players choose to use 30Hz turbofire which can speed-kill bosses and cause captured captains to behave improperly. It is included on most Gaiden cabinets, most notably at Taito's own game centers as well as in Darius Gaiden Extra Version - a special hack of the game featuring a marathon mode combining all zones into a single playthrough. Despite its ubiquity, it is perfectly possible to play the game without turbofire. This being said, auto-fire on its own needs to be managed. Many shot types have differing amounts of bullets allowed to persist on-screen, meaning without point blanking you will get "clumps" of shots that do a poor job covering enemies during the stages. Rapid-fire also raises rank at a higher rate than regular shots- a small consideration as well (see: rank section below). Due to this, it is wise to have a button for regular and turbo fire and the switch between them as the situation permits (this is the standard for arcade cabinets).

[[File:Dgaidenrank.jpg|thumb|King Fossil's bullet patterns change size, shape and speed when your rank increases]]
===== Rank System =====
Darius Gaiden uses a rank system for difficulty. Rank ranges from 8-256, and the higher the rank, the more difficult the game becomes.

Rank can affect the following:
*bullet speed
*The amount of bullets an enemy fires
*The size of the bullets fired

Rank is affected by the following actions
*Passage of time
*Firing shots
*collecting power ups
*destroying entire enemy formations
*breaking boss parts

Breaking boss parts tends to cause the sharpest rank increase, and since rank increases with each shot fired, 30hz turbofire can increase rank significantly faster than standard autofire.

Upon death, rank is temporarily halved before quickly climbing up to where it was before death.

===== Scoring =====
At the end of a game, you are given bonuses for each of the following:
*Remaining lives - 1,000,000 points per life left
*Remaining bombs - 300,000 points per bomb left
*Successful Captain Capture - 200,000 points per capture

This means that in most runs your bonus score will vastly outweigh your regular score, so captain capturing, no-missing, and no-bombing are requirements to attempt high score play (route dependent).

Boss parts can be broken for 30,000 bonus points, except for Risk Storage. If you destroy Risk Storage's tail you are granted an extra 900,000 points.

Score items give you a random score bonus up to 51,200 points. It is completely random and there is no way to guarantee a certain amount of points.

===== Boss Strategies =====
One of the main elements that separates score runs from survival runs is boss milking. Almost every boss has destructible body parts or spawns destructible enemies that can be milked for score. Each Boss also has a timer that, when it runs out, summons the "Yazuka Takami". However, these cubes aren't worth any points at all and therefore can't be milked for additional score.

Stage V is the easiest final stage, and most survival-routes end there, as its final boss, '''RISK STORAGE''' being easily the least tanky and difficult of the final bosses. Stage Z', meanwhile, is the hardest final stage, with '''GREAT THING''' effectively serving as the [True Last Boss] of the game. Stage V' is also very difficult with '''STORM CAUSER''' serving as the second hardest boss.

''(Currently evaluating whether or not this specific section should even include information outside of the separated Strategy pages. Worth thinking about as a community.)''

===== General Tips =====
*Understand the weapons system and plan your weapon pickups around the bosses you have to kill. This is useful for both survival and score. For example, many players avoid the final shot powerup since it has a lower DPS than the penultimate shot level.
*locate secret score items, bomb stock, screen clear items, and lives in your route. Every route has two 1UPs that must be shot, revealed, and collected. There are also hidden score items and screen clear items that are useful.
*This game has obstacles- use them to block enemy shots and use the wave weapon to shoot through them.
*Several Captains can use special attacks through fighting game inputs. If you are playing Cozmic Collection they are displayed on the gadget when you capture them.
*ACEHLQV and ABDGLQV are popular routes, with the former being slightly more difficult than the latter, and having higher score potential.

==Stages==
Like many other games in the Darius series, Darius Gaiden allows you to pick which Zone to play through in each stage. There are 28 Zones total across 7 stages.

Below is a list of stages and their respective Zones.

===Stage 1 (Planet Vadis)===
*'''Zone A:''' An abandoned city on Vadis, now occupied by the Belsar. Boss is Golden Ogre.
Stage 1 takes place on the surface of Vadis.

===Stage 2 (Satellite Contrary)===
*'''Zone B:''' A vast expansive forest on Contrary. Boss is Ancient Dozer.
*'''Zone C:''' An ocean reef on Contrary. Boss is King Fossil.
Stage 2 takes place on Contrary, a satellite orbiting Vadis.

===Stage 3 (Satellite Contrary)===
*'''Zone D:''' An asteroid field near an enemy space station. Boss is Folding Fan.
*'''Zone E:''' A large enemy-occupied space station. Boss is Electric Fan.
*'''Zone F:''' A battlefield in open space. Boss is Folding Fan.
Stage 3 takes place near Contrary, a satellite orbiting Vadis.

===Stage 4 (Warp Zone)===
*'''Zone G:''' An unknown region of hyperspace infected by a living plague. Boss is Prickly Angler.
*'''Zone H:''' Takes place in open hyperspace. Boss is Neon Light Illusion.
*'''Zone I:''' A cave located in hyperspace. Boss is Prickly Angler.
*'''Zone J:''' An enemy-controlled region of hyperspace. Boss is Neon Light Illusion.
Stage 4 takes place in a hyperspace warp zone between Vadis and Darius' systems. After a brief moment in open space, a warping effect will be triggered, and the real level begins.

===Stage 5 (Satellite Weather)===
*'''Zone K:''' Takes place near a series of destroyed space stations orbiting Weather. Boss is Fatty Glutton.
*'''Zone L:''' Takes place near the surface of what is presumably Weather. Boss is Double Dealer.
*'''Zone M:''' A brief moment amongst the asteroids. Boss is Titanic Lance. Due to the absolutely massive size of Titanic Lance, its boss fight is structured like a battleship raid and makes up most of the level. It is likely a successor to Peace Destroyer from [[Darius Force]].
*'''Zone N:''' Takes place within the asteroid ring orbiting Darius. Boss is Double Dealer.
*'''Zone O:''' Similar to Zone K. Boss is Fatty Glutton.
Stage 5 takes place near Weather, a satellite orbiting Darius.

===Stage 6 (Planet Darius)===
*'''Zone P:''' A series of ruins on the sea floor. Boss is Crusty Hammer.
*'''Zone Q:''' An arctic cave beneath Darius' surface. Boss is Deadly Crescent.
*'''Zone R:''' A series of large mountains and cliffs. Boss is Crusty Hammer.
*'''Zone S:''' A vast desert with various ruins. Boss is Deadly Crescent.
*'''Zone T:''' A massive ruined city on Darius. Boss is Crusty Hammer.
*'''Zone U:''' Similar to Zone P. Boss is Deadly Crescent.
Stage 6 takes place on the surface of Darius. Early into the level, the Silver Hawk will begin to burn up on re-entry. This has no effect on gameplay.

===Stage 7 (Planet Darius)===
*'''Zone Z':''' An abandoned city on Darius, now under Belsar control. Final boss is Great Thing.
*'''Zone V:''' A Belsar stronghold, deep beneath the sea. Final boss is Risk Storage.
*'''Zone W:''' A massive cavern, similar to Zone A of the original [[Darius]] from 1986. Final boss is Vermillion Coronatus.
*'''Zone X:''' The enemy headquarters, floating in the clouds of Darius' atmosphere. Final boss is Hysteric Empress.
*'''Zone Y:''' A thick jungle, home to the native creatures of Darius but occupied by the Belsar. Final boss is Odious Trident.
*'''Zone Z:''' A volcano on Darius' surface. Final boss is Curious Chandelier.
*'''Zone V':''' The eye of a storm out in the seas of Darius. Final boss is Storm Causer.
Stage 7 takes place on the surface of Darius.

== Story ==
Taking place after the original Darius, Gaiden focuses on the refugees of the Planet Darius after the climactic battle of the original game, who having left for the planet '''Vadis''', now attempt to return to their home planet. Upon doing so, they are ambushed by a '''Belsar''' fleet, which destroys most of the Silver Hawks, leaving only two remaining Silver Hawks, piloted by '''Keith Arden (1P Side)''' and '''Anna Steiner (2P Side)''', where the game begins...

Gaiden features 7 Endings, most of which focus on the dreamlike nature of the game itself. The endings to Zone Z' and V' can probably be seen as the game's good endings, whilst the rest are more ambiguous.

*'''Zone Z'''': Upon defeating '''GREAT THING''', Keith and Anna witness the battlefield and desolation they've thought through give way to a forest scene, and they are unsure if what they have just fought through is real or a dream.

*'''Zone V''': Going deep underwater to defeat '''RISK STORAGE''', the Silver Hawks are destroyed by water pressure, fall to the bottom of the sea, and are covered by the Marine snow.

*'''Zone W''': Reveals that Darius Gaiden is just a game Keith and Anna were playing in the arcade, with Keith cheering in triumph. Essentially a joke ending.

*'''Zone X''': Destroying the Belsar citidel, Keith and Anna ruminate that the battle isnt over yet, as shadows lurk in the clouds.

*'''Zone Y''': Upon defeating '''ODIOUS TRIDENT''', Keith and Anna land in a forest similar to that shown in the ending to Zone Z', and are welcomed by the native species, being lauded for destroying the enemies that were destroying the forests of Darius.

*'''Zone Z''': Defeating '''CURIOUS CHANDELIER''' and the rest of the Belsar fleet, Anna and Keith leave Darius, only to find that the fighting had caused so much damage that Darius explodes. Keith and Anna are at a loss what to do.

*'''Zone V'''': Defeating '''STORM CAUSER''' clears the huge storm around the stage and reveals the lost fleet of refugee ships from the opening of the game, which settle on Darius once again. Peace is restored. Definetly the "best" ending, and seeing as the Zone's inclusion as the final stage in the EXTRA version, is the closest to a "true ending."

== Version Differences ==
* '''Darius Gaiden Extra Version''', an official hack, rearranges the stage order of the original game and provides a 30Hz autofire by default for pressing A. As a special extra, starting the game as 2P side starts a version of the game where all 28 stages are played in alphabetical order, ending with stage V' and the boss '''STORM CAUSER''', and also utilising its ending.

== Ports ==
<gallery>
Dariusgsaturn.jpg|The US Saturn cover
Dariusgpc.jpg|Windows 95 ver of Darius Gaiden
Dariusccswitchjpn.png|The original Japanese release of Cozmic Collection on Switch
</gallery>
Darius Gaiden was released on the SEGA Saturn, PS1, PS2, PC (Windows 95), Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PS4.

The original Saturn release runs slower than the arcade game and also has some slowdown. Before Cozmic Collection released, this was the best version of the game available on home consoles and is still one of the better ports of the game- especially if playing on a CRT.

The PS1 port suffers from more slowdown, jerky scrolling, and other graphical issues and features a new FMV intro sequence instead of the arcade original intro.

The Windows 95 version is essentially the Saturn version but it has different sound effects and slight loading hitches before bosses.

The PS2 and Xbox versions are emulated and part of Taito Legends 2- an arcade compilation disc. The PS2 version does not run properly and does not have progressive video. The xbox version has progressive video and does not have the performance issues of the PS2 version.

In 2019, Darius Cozmic Collection was released in Japan for Nintendo Switch and in 2020 for PS4. It includes a new port of Darius Gaiden with credits to the M2 Shottriggers team. This port is 100% arcade faithful and features save states, high score leaderboards, gadgets for rank, score, boss health, ARM level, and more. A training mode was added in a patch that allows stage, rank, weapon and shield selection. This training mode is included as default in the DL and english versions of the game. It comes highly recommended, even if you already own the Saturn version or a PCB.

== Trivia ==
* According to a Doujin roundtable interview published in Shooting Gameside #1<ref>http://shmuplations.com/doujin/</ref>, Darius Gaiden is one of ZUN's favorite shmups. Besides, he has been influenced by this game and its focus on memorable boss battles when creating Touhou Project, according to the ''Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red'' interview.<ref>https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Bohemian_Archive_in_Japanese_Red/Interview</ref>
* This is one of the last products ever released baring the I.G Tatsunoko name before they renamed themselves Production I.G

----

== Gallery ==
<div style='text-align: center;'>
''See [[Darius Gaiden/Gallery]] for our collection of images and scans for the game.''
</div>
----

== Other ==

We have support for wikitables, giving us the potential to add lots of cool info in a small box on the page somewhere, but we are not using them at the moment. I'm just leaving this here so we can have it handy in case we decide to actually use them. Feel free to not use this section.

{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"
|-
! [[(Template Page)]]
|-
| put your stuff here
|}

== References & Contributors ==
<small>
# Remember to include everyone that you can in your credits if they contributed information! | Having links handy is even better, when available.
# If you are a primary source of information for a game, be sure to link to your Shmup Wiki user account by including a link to your profile, such as: <nowiki>[[User:(You)|(Your Name)]]</nowiki>
## And while you're at it, make yourself a little profile page (if you want, of course)! As a contributor, you deserve to be recognized for your efforts.

* This template page was assembled by [[User:CHA-STG|CHA-STG]] and [[User:Plasmo|Plasmo]].</small>
* Ports, Strategy, Weapons and Items sections writte by [[User:Gojiguy|Gojiguy]]

[[Category:Horizontal orientation]]

Dariusburst

2023-06-30T02:49:53Z

TrafficLight7773: /* Dariusburst */ Corrected chronology-related mistake

[[File:DariusBurstpsp.webp|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = Dariusburst
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = DARIUSBURST Start Menu.webp
|width = 320px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = Pyramid
|music = Zuntata
|publisher = [[Taito]]
|releasedate = '''PSP JP''': December 2009 <br> '''iOS International''': February 2012 <br> '''Android JP''': May 2012 <br> '''Android International''': October 2015
|previousgame = [[G-Darius]] (Release) <br> [[Darius II]] (Chronology)
|nextgame = [[Dariusburst Another Chronicle]] (Release and Chronology)
}}

==Dariusburst==
Dariusburst is a horizontal scrolling shoot-em-up developed by Taito and released by Pyramid in 2009 for the PSP. As usual, the game features multiple branching paths designated by zones, mechanical fish-themed enemies, various types of powerup and a soundtrack produced by Taito's in-house band Zuntata. However, there are also several differences between previous Darius games and Dariusburst, which will be listed in the gameplay overview.

Chronologically, Dariusburst is one of the more recent games in the Darius series, taking place after the reclamation of Darius in Darius Gaiden but before Chronicle Saviours. A port of Dariusburst would be released for mobile devices in 2012 named Dariusburst: Second Prologue, which omits Burst Mode but makes up for it by including additional missions, a new SP mode that is functionally identical to arcade mode but with some altered stages and new bosses, and a new playable ship named the Assault. A massively altered version named Dariusburst: Another Chronicle was released in 2010 for arcades, which would be updated with Another Chronicle EX in 2011. Another Chronicle EX would be ported to PC and PS4 through Dariusburst: Chronicle Saviours in 2015, then on Switch and PS4/5 through Another Chronicle EX+ in 2021.

==Gameplay Overview==
Dariusburst has the same general gameplay concept as every game before it. Control the Silver Hawk and use it to shoot down enemies, pick up coloured orbs dropped by some enemies to gain powerups, and choose the next zone to fight through after the boss at the end of the level. However, there are some important changes that should be listed.
*All ships (except Origin) now have a Burst system. Charge up the Burst meter by shooting down enemies, then when it is full, use it to unleash the ship's Burst weapon. Legend, for instance, fires a large Burst Laser that behaves similarly to the Alpha Beam from G-Darius, including the ability to counter enemy Burst Lasers. It can also be detached and controlled independently of the ship, in which case it will remain firing in the same direction from the same place until it is disabled or it runs out of fuel in the Burst Meter.
*Stage progression has been heavily altered. Now, the player is forced to play through Zones A and B in every playthrough with no choice. Afterwards, the game returns to typical Darius behaviour with the player being able to choose the zones they go through. However, the game still ends at Stage 5 as it did in G-Darius, but with only 4 possible Final Zones, and 11 stages in total across the whole game.
*In addition to the simplified level progression, Dariusburst devolves back to the boss system used in the original Darius, where every zone of a stage has the same boss (for example, all Stage 2 zones in Darius have Electric Fan as the boss). The only exception is the Final Zones, where each one of them house a different final boss. This is changed in SP Mode of Second Prologue.
*The player can now choose between 3 different ships to play as (4 in Second Prologue). These are Legend which is the default ship and fires a standard Burst Laser, Next which behaves very similarly to Legend except with a weaker main attack, homing bombs and a more mobile Burst Turret, and finally Origin, which behaves identically to the ship from the original Darius and does not have a Burst Laser. Second Prologue adds the Assault; its main attacks are similar to those of the Next (minus the homing bombs), but its Burst is entirely different. It is now a moving "Spark" that can be detonated remotely for medium damage, and does damage as it passes through enemies.

There are also multiple different modes the player can choose from, a list of these is provided below.
*'''Arcade Mode.''' This mode plays similar to a traditional Darius arcade game (as the name implies), although progression is heavily bottlenecked. There is only one choice for both Stage 1 AND Stage 2, after which there are 2 choices for Stage 3, 3 choices for Stage 4 and 4 choices for Stage 5. The player is free to choose their lives count, difficulty and ship. They are also provided with infinite continues, so they may choose to continue as many times as they like until they reach the end.
*'''Mission Mode.''' Instead of starting with a specific zone and choosing your path from there, players instead select a mission to play from a premade collection. These missions can contain any combination of stages and bosses, and function as the game's level and boss select as well as an additional mode. In each mission, players have one life, no continues, and a preset ship and number of powerups. Mission Mode is unlocked by completing Arcade Mode with two different paths, such as ABCEH and ABDFI.
*'''Burst Mode.''' This is a PSP-exclusive mode that was omitted and replaced with SP mode in the mobile port of Dariusburst. This plays similarly to Arcade Mode, but with two major differences. First of all, the player has one life and no continues, regardless of their settings. Second of all, the player's arsenal is fully upgraded right from the get-go and can switch between Missile, Laser and Wave at any time. As such, weapon upgrade orbs are removed.
*'''SP Mode.''' This is a mobile-exclusive mode not available on the PSP version of Dariusburst. This mode is very similar to Arcade Mode, although some stages are altered (notably Zone A's ruined city taking on a darker, less epic tone), and 2 new bosses (Lightning Claw and Heavy Jaw) are introduced into the mix.

==Scoring==
Placeholder

==Zones==
The zones in Dariusburst start with A and B which all players are required to complete in every playthrough, then afterwards it opens up for the traditional flow of progression.

Below is a list of zones and their respective bosses.

===Stage 1===
*'''Zone A:''' The game starts in the ruins of an abandoned city, which then transitions into an undersea cave.
All Stage 1 zones have Iron Fossil as the boss.

===Stage 2===
*'''Zone B:''' The player travels to a space station just outside of Darius' atmosphere, then exits to reveal multiple other space stations under attack by the Belsar.
All Stage 2 zones have Mud Wheel as the boss.

===Stage 3===
*'''Zone C:''' The player travels to a battlefield in outer space. They head into a Belsar base near the battlefield, where the meat and potatoes of the level begin.
*'''Zone D:''' The player travels through an asteroid ring surrounding Darius. Lightning Claw is the boss in SP Mode.
All Stage 3 zones have Lightning Flamberge as the boss.

===Stage 4===
*'''Zone E:''' The player travels through a portal. They warp through the portal and are teleported near Amnelia.
*'''Zone F:''' The player travels through a massive junkyard containing the ruins of various destroyed ships. Heavy Jaw is the boss in SP Mode.
*'''Zone G:''' Practically identical to Zone E.
All Stage 4 zones have Mirage Castle as the boss.

===Stage 5===
*'''Zone H:''' The player fights through a secret Belsar base stationed near Amnelia, and work to destroy it. Hungry Gluttons is the final boss.
*'''Zone I:''' The player fights through an asteroid field near Amnelia. Several enemy battleships are inbound. Thousand Knives is the final boss.
*'''Zone J:''' The player fights through an enemy-controlled moon orbiting Amnelia. Dark Helios is the final boss.
*'''Zone K:''' The player fights through an enemy base near Amnelia. Countless battleships can be seen guarding it. Great Thing is the final boss.

==Story==
Dariusburst takes place after Darius is reclaimed and resettled during the events of Darius Gaiden and Twin. The Belsar have unleashed a powerful computer virus that crippled all interplanetary communication systems, allowing the Belsar to move in for an easy victory. The humanoid AI terminal Ti2 and test pilot Riga Practica were entrusted with 2 experimental new Burst Silver Hawks, and ordered to move out and take down the Belsar Flagship before they reached Darius.

As usual, each different final zone yields a different ending to go with it. A list of endings and their SP Mode counterparts is provided below.
*'''Zone H:''' Ti2 and Riga succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Hungry Gluttons. However, due to damage taken during the battle, Ti2 and Riga are forced to abandon their ships. Ti2 rescues Riga from certain death, and awaits his recovery.
*'''Zone H (SP Mode):''' The Silver Hawks succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Hungry Gluttons, but are heavily damaged and thus weaker. A brand-new enemy fleet jumps into action, and despite knowing that their efforts will be futile, the Silver Hawks rage on and continue the fight anyway.
*'''Zone I:''' Ti2 and Riga succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Thousand Knives, and return to their home planet Darius. Little do they know, however, that the planet they believed to be the enemy homeworld was actually the homeworld of humanity - Amnelia, the "cradle of mankind", which was captured by the Belsar thousands of years after it had been abandoned by humanity.
*'''Zone I (SP Mode):''' The Silver Hawks succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Thousand Knives, and return to their home planet Darius, where it is then revealed that the enemy fleet near Amnelia was merely a diversionary tactic to distract the allied forces from the Belsar's incoming assault on Darius!
*'''Zone J:''' Ti2 and Riga succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Dark Helios, and the additional battleship known as the [[Syvalion]] that was hiding within. After [[Syvalion]] explodes, the Embryon appears, heralding the coming of the Thiima (referred to in-game as the Shiima), who were responsible for driving humanity off of their homeworld Amnelia. Ti2 and Riga both know that a Thiiman invasion of Darius would mean certain doom for humanity. However, as Ti2's intelligence was built using the framework of the Hyperspace Network, she is able to open communications with the Thiima, and travels into their dimension to discuss these matters. Riga is left on his own, waiting for Ti2 to return from negotiations.
*'''Zone J (SP Mode):''' The Silver Hawks succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Dark Helios, and the additional battleship known as the [[Syvalion]] that was hiding within. After [[Syvalion]] explodes, a strange light in the shape of the sea angel appears, heralding the coming of the Thiima, who were responsible for driving humanity off of their homeworld Amnelia. The Silver Hawks prepare for battle, but it never comes, as the Thiima simply seem to stay there, peacefully observing. The light then disappears into the void. The Silver Hawks can only wonder what purpose the Thiima had in mind for observing them like this, but nonetheless, they pack up and go home.
*'''Zone K:''' Ti2 and Riga succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Great Thing, and return to their home planet Darius. Upon their return, they are awarded with medals, and a new part of human history begins.
*'''Zone K (SP Mode):''' The Silver Hawks succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Great Thing, and return to their home planet Darius. This is not the end, however, as the Belsar invasion has not been fully stopped; only delayed as their fleets recover and they prepare to strike again.

Darius Gaiden

2023-06-30T02:47:29Z

TrafficLight7773: Fixed link

[[File:Darius_Gaiden_Arcade_Flyer.jpg|center]]
{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = Darius Gaiden
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = Darius-gaiden-title-screen.png
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[Taito]]
|music = Hisayoshi Ogura, Katsuhisa Ishikawa
|program = Akira Kurabayashi, Naoto Omura, Hidetaka Harada
|art = Hisakazu Kato, Masami Kikuchi, Kentaro Matsumura, I.G Tatsunoko
|design = Hisakazu Kato, Akira Kurabayashi, Masami Kikuchi, Hidetaka Harada, Naoto Omura, Rintaroh Doi, Katsumi Kaneoka, Hisayoshi Ogura, Katsuhisa Ishikawa
|releasedate = '''Arcade''' <br> '''JP''': September 1994 <br> '''NA''': November 1994
|previousgame = [[Darius Force]] (Release) <br> [[Darius]] (Chronology)
|nextgame = [[G-Darius]] (Release) <br> [[Darius II]] (Chronology)
}}

==Darius Gaiden==

'''Darius Gaiden''' is a horizontal-scrolling shoot-em-up released by [Taito] in 1994, and is the third arcade title in the [Darius] series. It is the first game in the series to use a single-screen display, and has a heavy focus on the use of psychadelic effects, bizzare atmosphere and an unusual soundtrack from TAITO's music team Zuntata to produce a dreamlike experience. The Stage 1 Track VISSIONERZ, composed by Hisayoshi Ogura, formed the basis for all of the music and the presentation of the game, with the opening lyrics telling the player to "Close your eyes..."

As is typical for the Darius series, Gaiden features Fish-based theming and bosses, Branching Pathways - with a total of 28 stages - and multiple endings.

Darius Gaiden has been ported to the Saturn, Playstation, and to the PS4 and Switch as part of the Darius Cozmic Collection.

Darius Gaiden chronologically takes place between the first two Darius games, which is where the name draws from - Gaiden is often used in Japanese titles, loosely translated as "Another story".

Darius Gaiden was followed up by '''G-Darius''' in 1997.

== Gameplay Overview ==
'''Darius Gaiden''' is a 2-button Horizontal shmup, which is fairly classical in style - with typically lower numbers of bullets on screen and a larger hitbox than '''Bullet Hell''' styled games. There is only one player ship, the '''Silver Hawk'''. The gameplay is largely focused around power-ups, with power ups for your main shot, the bombs shot from your ship, and a shield which can take 3 hits, upgrading to 4 and then 5 as more are picked up. Upon death, your shot power decreases one full stage whilst shield and bomb stage remains constant - except after new credits.

There are also Score Item Pickups, Screen-clearing item pickups, and Pickups containing extra lives. Enemies that drop all types of pickups, and those revealed when shot in secret parts of the stage, are '''Fixed''', though their quantities do vary depending on the route you take throughout the game.

The '''Black-Hole Bomb''' is a new addition to the series, and serves a very similar purpose to the traditional bombs found in most shmups - destroying weak enemies immedietly, providing invulnerability for a few seconds (except from stage hazards such as walls), and clearing the screen of enemy projectiles. However, the black hole bomb also sucks up and destroys floating pickup items and prevents pickup enemies dropping them. Bombs are lost upon death.

=== Controls ===
----
* '''A:''' Fires the main shot and standard diagonal bombs. When held, fires at about a 5hz, but can be tapped quickly for more rapid shots
* '''B:''' Fires the '''Black-Hole Bomb'''

Note: most arcade cabinets and ports of the game include an additional 30hz turbo fire button for the main shot in addition to the above two buttons.

=== Weapons ===
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[[File:S1-1.jpg|thumb|How a player starts the game.]]
[[File:S max.jpg|thumb|A player maxed out on all weapons and shield.]]
Darius Gaiden has two main weapons, SHOT and BOMB. These can be upgraded individually by picking up the appropriate powerups. Understanding the differences between the different levels of shots is key to understanding the game and routing accordingly. Shots shoot forward from your ship, and Bombs fire forward and downward from your ship.

It takes 3 power-ups to move your SHOT or BOMB level up however SHOT levels have sub-levels for each powerup collected. The SHOT levels are:

*'''Missile''' is your beginning shot. It has two sub-levels, and Missile sub level 3 is the highest DPS weapon in the entire game. The only downside is that it does not pass through enemies or obstacles.
*'''Laser''' is a very weak shot, but it can pierce through enemies, including enemy armor that may attempt to block Missile shots (like Golden Ogre's scales in Zone A)
*'''Wave''' is also very weak, but these shots pass through enemies ''and'' obstacles in the environment. Sub-level 2 also reintroduces two missile shots- above and below the wave shot. This makes sub level 2 the most powerful of the three sub levels. These missile shots still do not pass through enemies or obstacles.
*'''Wave Lv. 2''' Is wider than LV. 1, with a higher DPS and better ROF. Sub-level 2 also includes two missile shots and thus, like in Lv. 1, sub-level 2 is more powerful than sub-level 3.
*'''Wave Lv. 3''' Is more powerful than Lv. 2, and introduces two smaller ships above and below yours that fire homing waves at enemies. Just like the previous two levels, sub-level 2 includes missile shots, making this the second-highest DPS weapon in the entire game, after Missile sub-level 3.

In Darius Gaiden Extra, there are two ''more'' sub levels beyond Wave Lv. 3 sub-level 2.

Each bomb level increases damage in addition to the following attributes. The BOMB levels are:
*'''Napalm Bomb Lv. 1'''
*'''Napalm Bomb Lv. 2'''
*'''Napalm Bomb Lv. 3'''
*'''Twin Napalm Lv. 1''' fires another bomb upwards from the ''front'' of the ship.
*'''Twin Napalm Lv. 2'''
*'''Twin Napalm Lv. 3'''
*'''Multi-Napalm Lv. 1''' fires two more bombs upwards and downwards from the ''back'' of the ship.
*'''Multi-Napalm LV. 2'''
*'''Multi-Napalm Lv. 3'''
*'''Multi-Homing Napalm Lv. 1''' Adds a homing element to all bombs fired.
*'''Multi-Homing Napalm Lv. 2'''
*'''Multi-Homing Napalm Lv. 3'''

=== Items ===
----
<gallery>
Red.jpg|Shot level upgrade
Blue.jpg|Shield upgrade
Green.jpg|Bomb upgrade
Silver.jpg|Score Bonus
Gold.jpg|Fullscreen Damage
Purple.jpg|Bomb Stock
Darius_Gaiden_1up.jpg|1Up
</gallery>

Players will encounter several item pickups throughout the course of the game. Once they appear, the move towards the left side of the screen while rotating in a circle. They are shaped like Silver Hawk emblems and their colour indicates their function, except for the 1up icon which is a miniature Silver Hawk inside a bubble.
*'''Red'''
Red power ups increase shot level, explained in detail in the weapons section above.

These are found by destroying red tinted enemies and asteroids and some boss parts.

*'''Blue'''
Blue power ups increase ARM (shield) level and restore shield strength.

At shield level 1, a shield pickup gives you a shield that can take 3 hits before being destroyed. However, it can only 'repair' a shield by one hit point. So if you have a shield with 1/3 hits left, a shield powerup will only restore it to 2/3 hits. If you destroy the shield completely, a new shield item will give you 3 new hit points.

Once you reach shield level 2, your shield changes colour to silver and increases to 4 hit capacity, and at level 3 it changes to gold and has 5 hit capacity.

Damaged level 2 ashields are repaired at 2 units per pickup instead of 1. Damaged level 3 shields are repaired at 3 units per pickup instead of 2.

These are found by destroying blue tinted enemies and asteroids and some boss parts.

*'''Green'''
Green powerups increase your bomb level by one unit. Once increased enough, your missile powers up and gains new attributes. Check above section for details.

These are found by destroying green tinted enemies and asteroids.

*'''Silver'''
Silver power ups give a random score bonus between 50-52100 pts. It should be noted that some guides falsely claim you can consistently gain specific score bonuses by collecting the powerup at specific angles. This is not true.

These are found by shooting specific parts of the environment, revealing their invisible location.

*'''Gold'''
Gold powerups deal damage to all enemies on screen. Usually enough to kill all enemies, but several are strong enough to withstand the damage in later stages.

These are found by shooting specific parts of the environment, revealing their invisible location.

*'''Purple'''
Purple power ups increase bomb stock by 1, to a maximum of 5.

These are found by destroying purple tinted enemies and asteroids.

*'''1up'''
Adds a life to the player's stock.

These are found by shooting specific parts of the environment, revealing their invisible location.

=== Scoring ===
----
This section should cover a general breakdown of the scoring system of the game. Feel free to put the meat and potatoes here. A great example of a scoring section is the ''[[DoDonPachi]]'' page.

== Strategy ==

===== Auto Fire/Turbo Fire =====
The game has a native autofire rate that its stages and bosses are designed around, but many players choose to use 30Hz turbofire which can speed-kill bosses and cause captured captains to behave improperly. It is included on most Gaiden cabinets, most notably at Taito's own game centers as well as in Darius Gaiden Extra Version - a special hack of the game featuring a marathon mode combining all zones into a single playthrough. Despite its ubiquity, it is perfectly possible to play the game without turbofire. This being said, auto-fire on its own needs to be managed. Many shot types have differing amounts of bullets allowed to persist on-screen, meaning without point blanking you will get "clumps" of shots that do a poor job covering enemies during the stages. Rapid-fire also raises rank at a higher rate than regular shots- a small consideration as well (see: rank section below). Due to this, it is wise to have a button for regular and turbo fire and the switch between them as the situation permits (this is the standard for arcade cabinets).

[[File:Dgaidenrank.jpg|thumb|King Fossil's bullet patterns change size, shape and speed when your rank increases]]
===== Rank System =====
Darius Gaiden uses a rank system for difficulty. Rank ranges from 8-256, and the higher the rank, the more difficult the game becomes.

Rank can affect the following:
*bullet speed
*The amount of bullets an enemy fires
*The size of the bullets fired

Rank is affected by the following actions
*Passage of time
*Firing shots
*collecting power ups
*destroying entire enemy formations
*breaking boss parts

Breaking boss parts tends to cause the sharpest rank increase, and since rank increases with each shot fired, 30hz turbofire can increase rank significantly faster than standard autofire.

Upon death, rank is temporarily halved before quickly climbing up to where it was before death.

===== Scoring =====
At the end of a game, you are given bonuses for each of the following:
*Remaining lives - 1,000,000 points per life left
*Remaining bombs - 300,000 points per bomb left
*Successful Captain Capture - 200,000 points per capture

This means that in most runs your bonus score will vastly outweigh your regular score, so captain capturing, no-missing, and no-bombing are requirements to attempt high score play (route dependent).

Boss parts can be broken for 30,000 bonus points, except for Risk Storage. If you destroy Risk Storage's tail you are granted an extra 900,000 points.

Score items give you a random score bonus up to 51,200 points. It is completely random and there is no way to guarantee a certain amount of points.

===== Boss Strategies =====
One of the main elements that separates score runs from survival runs is boss milking. Almost every boss has destructible body parts or spawns destructible enemies that can be milked for score. Each Boss also has a timer that, when it runs out, summons the "Yazuka Takami". However, these cubes aren't worth any points at all and therefore can't be milked for additional score.

Stage V is the easiest final stage, and most survival-routes end there, as its final boss, '''RISK STORAGE''' being easily the least tanky and difficult of the final bosses. Stage Z', meanwhile, is the hardest final stage, with '''GREAT THING''' effectively serving as the [True Last Boss] of the game. Stage V' is also very difficult with '''STORM CAUSER''' serving as the second hardest boss.

''(Currently evaluating whether or not this specific section should even include information outside of the separated Strategy pages. Worth thinking about as a community.)''

===== General Tips =====
*Understand the weapons system and plan your weapon pickups around the bosses you have to kill. This is useful for both survival and score. For example, many players avoid the final shot powerup since it has a lower DPS than the penultimate shot level.
*locate secret score items, bomb stock, screen clear items, and lives in your route. Every route has two 1UPs that must be shot, revealed, and collected. There are also hidden score items and screen clear items that are useful.
*This game has obstacles- use them to block enemy shots and use the wave weapon to shoot through them.
*Several Captains can use special attacks through fighting game inputs. If you are playing Cozmic Collection they are displayed on the gadget when you capture them.
*ACEHLQV and ABDGLQV are popular routes, with the former being slightly more difficult than the latter, and having higher score potential.

==Stages==
Like many other games in the Darius series, Darius Gaiden allows you to pick which Zone to play through in each stage. There are 28 Zones total across 7 stages.

Below is a list of stages and their respective Zones.

===Stage 1 (Planet Vadis)===
*'''Zone A:''' An abandoned city on Vadis, now occupied by the Belsar. Boss is Golden Ogre.
Stage 1 takes place on the surface of Vadis.

===Stage 2 (Satellite Contrary)===
*'''Zone B:''' A vast expansive forest on Contrary. Boss is Ancient Dozer.
*'''Zone C:''' An ocean reef on Contrary. Boss is King Fossil.
Stage 2 takes place on Contrary, a satellite orbiting Vadis.

===Stage 3 (Satellite Contrary)===
*'''Zone D:''' An asteroid field near an enemy space station. Boss is Folding Fan.
*'''Zone E:''' A large enemy-occupied space station. Boss is Electric Fan.
*'''Zone F:''' A battlefield in open space. Boss is Electric Fan.
Stage 3 takes place near Contrary, a satellite orbiting Vadis.

===Stage 4 (Warp Zone)===
*'''Zone G:''' An unknown region of hyperspace infected by a living plague. Boss is Prickly Angler.
*'''Zone H:''' Takes place in open hyperspace. Boss is Neon Light Illusion.
*'''Zone I:''' A cave located in hyperspace. Boss is Prickly Angler.
*'''Zone J:''' An enemy-controlled region of hyperspace. Boss is Neon Light Illusion.
Stage 4 takes place in a hyperspace warp zone between Vadis and Darius' systems. After a brief moment in open space, a warping effect will be triggered, and the real level begins.

===Stage 5 (Satellite Weather)===
*'''Zone K:''' Takes place near a series of destroyed space stations orbiting Weather. Boss is Fatty Glutton.
*'''Zone L:''' Takes place near the surface of what is presumably Weather. Boss is Double Dealer.
*'''Zone M:''' A brief moment amongst the asteroids. Boss is Titanic Lance. Due to the absolutely massive size of Titanic Lance, its boss fight is structured like a battleship raid and makes up most of the level. It is likely a successor to Peace Destroyer from [[Darius Force]].
*'''Zone N:''' Takes place within the asteroid ring orbiting Darius. Boss is Double Dealer.
*'''Zone O:''' Similar to Zone K. Boss is Fatty Glutton.
Stage 5 takes place near Weather, a satellite orbiting Darius.

===Stage 6 (Planet Darius)===
*'''Zone P:''' A series of ruins on the sea floor. Boss is Crusty Hammer.
*'''Zone Q:''' An arctic cave beneath Darius' surface. Boss is Deadly Crescent.
*'''Zone R:''' A series of large mountains and cliffs. Boss is Crusty Hammer.
*'''Zone S:''' A vast desert with various ruins. Boss is Deadly Crescent.
*'''Zone T:''' A massive ruined city on Darius. Boss is Crusty Hammer.
*'''Zone U:''' Similar to Zone P. Boss is Deadly Crescent.
Stage 6 takes place on the surface of Darius. Early into the level, the Silver Hawk will begin to burn up on re-entry. This has no effect on gameplay.

===Stage 7 (Planet Darius)===
*'''Zone Z':''' An abandoned city on Darius, now under Belsar control. Final boss is Great Thing.
*'''Zone V:''' A Belsar stronghold, deep beneath the sea. Final boss is Risk Storage.
*'''Zone W:''' A massive cavern, similar to Zone A of the original [[Darius]] from 1986. Final boss is Vermillion Coronatus.
*'''Zone X:''' The enemy headquarters, floating in the clouds of Darius' atmosphere. Final boss is Hysteric Empress.
*'''Zone Y:''' A thick jungle, home to the native creatures of Darius but occupied by the Belsar. Final boss is Odious Trident.
*'''Zone Z:''' A volcano on Darius' surface. Final boss is Curious Chandelier.
*'''Zone V':''' The eye of a storm out in the seas of Darius. Final boss is Storm Causer.
Stage 7 takes place on the surface of Darius.

== Story ==
Taking place after the original Darius, Gaiden focuses on the refugees of the Planet Darius after the climactic battle of the original game, who having left for the planet '''Vadis''', now attempt to return to their home planet. Upon doing so, they are ambushed by a '''Belsar''' fleet, which destroys most of the Silver Hawks, leaving only two remaining Silver Hawks, piloted by '''Keith Arden (1P Side)''' and '''Anna Steiner (2P Side)''', where the game begins...

Gaiden features 7 Endings, most of which focus on the dreamlike nature of the game itself. The endings to Zone Z' and V' can probably be seen as the game's good endings, whilst the rest are more ambiguous.

*'''Zone Z'''': Upon defeating '''GREAT THING''', Keith and Anna witness the battlefield and desolation they've thought through give way to a forest scene, and they are unsure if what they have just fought through is real or a dream.

*'''Zone V''': Going deep underwater to defeat '''RISK STORAGE''', the Silver Hawks are destroyed by water pressure, fall to the bottom of the sea, and are covered by the Marine snow.

*'''Zone W''': Reveals that Darius Gaiden is just a game Keith and Anna were playing in the arcade, with Keith cheering in triumph. Essentially a joke ending.

*'''Zone X''': Destroying the Belsar citidel, Keith and Anna ruminate that the battle isnt over yet, as shadows lurk in the clouds.

*'''Zone Y''': Upon defeating '''ODIOUS TRIDENT''', Keith and Anna land in a forest similar to that shown in the ending to Zone Z', and are welcomed by the native species, being lauded for destroying the enemies that were destroying the forests of Darius.

*'''Zone Z''': Defeating '''CURIOUS CHANDELIER''' and the rest of the Belsar fleet, Anna and Keith leave Darius, only to find that the fighting had caused so much damage that Darius explodes. Keith and Anna are at a loss what to do.

*'''Zone V'''': Defeating '''STORM CAUSER''' clears the huge storm around the stage and reveals the lost fleet of refugee ships from the opening of the game, which settle on Darius once again. Peace is restored. Definetly the "best" ending, and seeing as the Zone's inclusion as the final stage in the EXTRA version, is the closest to a "true ending."

== Version Differences ==
* '''Darius Gaiden Extra Version''', an official hack, rearranges the stage order of the original game and provides a 30Hz autofire by default for pressing A. As a special extra, starting the game as 2P side starts a version of the game where all 28 stages are played in alphabetical order, ending with stage V' and the boss '''STORM CAUSER''', and also utilising its ending.

== Ports ==
<gallery>
Dariusgsaturn.jpg|The US Saturn cover
Dariusgpc.jpg|Windows 95 ver of Darius Gaiden
Dariusccswitchjpn.png|The original Japanese release of Cozmic Collection on Switch
</gallery>
Darius Gaiden was released on the SEGA Saturn, PS1, PS2, PC (Windows 95), Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PS4.

The original Saturn release runs slower than the arcade game and also has some slowdown. Before Cozmic Collection released, this was the best version of the game available on home consoles and is still one of the better ports of the game- especially if playing on a CRT.

The PS1 port suffers from more slowdown, jerky scrolling, and other graphical issues and features a new FMV intro sequence instead of the arcade original intro.

The Windows 95 version is essentially the Saturn version but it has different sound effects and slight loading hitches before bosses.

The PS2 and Xbox versions are emulated and part of Taito Legends 2- an arcade compilation disc. The PS2 version does not run properly and does not have progressive video. The xbox version has progressive video and does not have the performance issues of the PS2 version.

In 2019, Darius Cozmic Collection was released in Japan for Nintendo Switch and in 2020 for PS4. It includes a new port of Darius Gaiden with credits to the M2 Shottriggers team. This port is 100% arcade faithful and features save states, high score leaderboards, gadgets for rank, score, boss health, ARM level, and more. A training mode was added in a patch that allows stage, rank, weapon and shield selection. This training mode is included as default in the DL and english versions of the game. It comes highly recommended, even if you already own the Saturn version or a PCB.

== Trivia ==
* According to a Doujin roundtable interview published in Shooting Gameside #1<ref>http://shmuplations.com/doujin/</ref>, Darius Gaiden is one of ZUN's favorite shmups. Besides, he has been influenced by this game and its focus on memorable boss battles when creating Touhou Project, according to the ''Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red'' interview.<ref>https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Bohemian_Archive_in_Japanese_Red/Interview</ref>
* This is one of the last products ever released baring the I.G Tatsunoko name before they renamed themselves Production I.G

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== Gallery ==
<div style='text-align: center;'>
''See [[Darius Gaiden/Gallery]] for our collection of images and scans for the game.''
</div>
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== Other ==

We have support for wikitables, giving us the potential to add lots of cool info in a small box on the page somewhere, but we are not using them at the moment. I'm just leaving this here so we can have it handy in case we decide to actually use them. Feel free to not use this section.

{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"
|-
! [[(Template Page)]]
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== References & Contributors ==
<small>
# Remember to include everyone that you can in your credits if they contributed information! | Having links handy is even better, when available.
# If you are a primary source of information for a game, be sure to link to your Shmup Wiki user account by including a link to your profile, such as: <nowiki>[[User:(You)|(Your Name)]]</nowiki>
## And while you're at it, make yourself a little profile page (if you want, of course)! As a contributor, you deserve to be recognized for your efforts.

* This template page was assembled by [[User:CHA-STG|CHA-STG]] and [[User:Plasmo|Plasmo]].</small>
* Ports, Strategy, Weapons and Items sections writte by [[User:Gojiguy|Gojiguy]]

[[Category:Horizontal orientation]]

Darius Gaiden

2023-06-29T07:16:04Z

TrafficLight7773: Added previous and next games

[[File:Darius_Gaiden_Arcade_Flyer.jpg|center]]
{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = Darius Gaiden
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = Darius-gaiden-title-screen.png
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[TAITO]]
|music = Hisayoshi Ogura, Katsuhisa Ishikawa
|program = Akira Kurabayashi, Naoto Omura, Hidetaka Harada
|art = Hisakazu Kato, Masami Kikuchi, Kentaro Matsumura, I.G Tatsunoko
|design = Hisakazu Kato, Akira Kurabayashi, Masami Kikuchi, Hidetaka Harada, Naoto Omura, Rintaroh Doi, Katsumi Kaneoka, Hisayoshi Ogura, Katsuhisa Ishikawa
|releasedate = '''Arcade''' <br> '''JP''': September 1994 <br> '''NA''': November 1994
|previousgame = [[Darius Force]] (Release) <br> [[Darius]] (Chronology)
|nextgame = [[G-Darius]] (Release) <br> [[Darius II]] (Chronology)
}}

==Darius Gaiden==

'''Darius Gaiden''' is a horizontal-scrolling shoot-em-up released by [Taito] in 1994, and is the third arcade title in the [Darius] series. It is the first game in the series to use a single-screen display, and has a heavy focus on the use of psychadelic effects, bizzare atmosphere and an unusual soundtrack from TAITO's music team Zuntata to produce a dreamlike experience. The Stage 1 Track VISSIONERZ, composed by Hisayoshi Ogura, formed the basis for all of the music and the presentation of the game, with the opening lyrics telling the player to "Close your eyes..."

As is typical for the Darius series, Gaiden features Fish-based theming and bosses, Branching Pathways - with a total of 28 stages - and multiple endings.

Darius Gaiden has been ported to the Saturn, Playstation, and to the PS4 and Switch as part of the Darius Cozmic Collection.

Darius Gaiden chronologically takes place between the first two Darius games, which is where the name draws from - Gaiden is often used in Japanese titles, loosely translated as "Another story".

Darius Gaiden was followed up by '''G-Darius''' in 1997.

== Gameplay Overview ==
'''Darius Gaiden''' is a 2-button Horizontal shmup, which is fairly classical in style - with typically lower numbers of bullets on screen and a larger hitbox than '''Bullet Hell''' styled games. There is only one player ship, the '''Silver Hawk'''. The gameplay is largely focused around power-ups, with power ups for your main shot, the bombs shot from your ship, and a shield which can take 3 hits, upgrading to 4 and then 5 as more are picked up. Upon death, your shot power decreases one full stage whilst shield and bomb stage remains constant - except after new credits.

There are also Score Item Pickups, Screen-clearing item pickups, and Pickups containing extra lives. Enemies that drop all types of pickups, and those revealed when shot in secret parts of the stage, are '''Fixed''', though their quantities do vary depending on the route you take throughout the game.

The '''Black-Hole Bomb''' is a new addition to the series, and serves a very similar purpose to the traditional bombs found in most shmups - destroying weak enemies immedietly, providing invulnerability for a few seconds (except from stage hazards such as walls), and clearing the screen of enemy projectiles. However, the black hole bomb also sucks up and destroys floating pickup items and prevents pickup enemies dropping them. Bombs are lost upon death.

=== Controls ===
----
* '''A:''' Fires the main shot and standard diagonal bombs. When held, fires at about a 5hz, but can be tapped quickly for more rapid shots
* '''B:''' Fires the '''Black-Hole Bomb'''

Note: most arcade cabinets and ports of the game include an additional 30hz turbo fire button for the main shot in addition to the above two buttons.

=== Weapons ===
----
[[File:S1-1.jpg|thumb|How a player starts the game.]]
[[File:S max.jpg|thumb|A player maxed out on all weapons and shield.]]
Darius Gaiden has two main weapons, SHOT and BOMB. These can be upgraded individually by picking up the appropriate powerups. Understanding the differences between the different levels of shots is key to understanding the game and routing accordingly. Shots shoot forward from your ship, and Bombs fire forward and downward from your ship.

It takes 3 power-ups to move your SHOT or BOMB level up however SHOT levels have sub-levels for each powerup collected. The SHOT levels are:

*'''Missile''' is your beginning shot. It has two sub-levels, and Missile sub level 3 is the highest DPS weapon in the entire game. The only downside is that it does not pass through enemies or obstacles.
*'''Laser''' is a very weak shot, but it can pierce through enemies, including enemy armor that may attempt to block Missile shots (like Golden Ogre's scales in Zone A)
*'''Wave''' is also very weak, but these shots pass through enemies ''and'' obstacles in the environment. Sub-level 2 also reintroduces two missile shots- above and below the wave shot. This makes sub level 2 the most powerful of the three sub levels. These missile shots still do not pass through enemies or obstacles.
*'''Wave Lv. 2''' Is wider than LV. 1, with a higher DPS and better ROF. Sub-level 2 also includes two missile shots and thus, like in Lv. 1, sub-level 2 is more powerful than sub-level 3.
*'''Wave Lv. 3''' Is more powerful than Lv. 2, and introduces two smaller ships above and below yours that fire homing waves at enemies. Just like the previous two levels, sub-level 2 includes missile shots, making this the second-highest DPS weapon in the entire game, after Missile sub-level 3.

In Darius Gaiden Extra, there are two ''more'' sub levels beyond Wave Lv. 3 sub-level 2.

Each bomb level increases damage in addition to the following attributes. The BOMB levels are:
*'''Napalm Bomb Lv. 1'''
*'''Napalm Bomb Lv. 2'''
*'''Napalm Bomb Lv. 3'''
*'''Twin Napalm Lv. 1''' fires another bomb upwards from the ''front'' of the ship.
*'''Twin Napalm Lv. 2'''
*'''Twin Napalm Lv. 3'''
*'''Multi-Napalm Lv. 1''' fires two more bombs upwards and downwards from the ''back'' of the ship.
*'''Multi-Napalm LV. 2'''
*'''Multi-Napalm Lv. 3'''
*'''Multi-Homing Napalm Lv. 1''' Adds a homing element to all bombs fired.
*'''Multi-Homing Napalm Lv. 2'''
*'''Multi-Homing Napalm Lv. 3'''

=== Items ===
----
<gallery>
Red.jpg|Shot level upgrade
Blue.jpg|Shield upgrade
Green.jpg|Bomb upgrade
Silver.jpg|Score Bonus
Gold.jpg|Fullscreen Damage
Purple.jpg|Bomb Stock
Darius_Gaiden_1up.jpg|1Up
</gallery>

Players will encounter several item pickups throughout the course of the game. Once they appear, the move towards the left side of the screen while rotating in a circle. They are shaped like Silver Hawk emblems and their colour indicates their function, except for the 1up icon which is a miniature Silver Hawk inside a bubble.
*'''Red'''
Red power ups increase shot level, explained in detail in the weapons section above.

These are found by destroying red tinted enemies and asteroids and some boss parts.

*'''Blue'''
Blue power ups increase ARM (shield) level and restore shield strength.

At shield level 1, a shield pickup gives you a shield that can take 3 hits before being destroyed. However, it can only 'repair' a shield by one hit point. So if you have a shield with 1/3 hits left, a shield powerup will only restore it to 2/3 hits. If you destroy the shield completely, a new shield item will give you 3 new hit points.

Once you reach shield level 2, your shield changes colour to silver and increases to 4 hit capacity, and at level 3 it changes to gold and has 5 hit capacity.

Damaged level 2 ashields are repaired at 2 units per pickup instead of 1. Damaged level 3 shields are repaired at 3 units per pickup instead of 2.

These are found by destroying blue tinted enemies and asteroids and some boss parts.

*'''Green'''
Green powerups increase your bomb level by one unit. Once increased enough, your missile powers up and gains new attributes. Check above section for details.

These are found by destroying green tinted enemies and asteroids.

*'''Silver'''
Silver power ups give a random score bonus between 50-52100 pts. It should be noted that some guides falsely claim you can consistently gain specific score bonuses by collecting the powerup at specific angles. This is not true.

These are found by shooting specific parts of the environment, revealing their invisible location.

*'''Gold'''
Gold powerups deal damage to all enemies on screen. Usually enough to kill all enemies, but several are strong enough to withstand the damage in later stages.

These are found by shooting specific parts of the environment, revealing their invisible location.

*'''Purple'''
Purple power ups increase bomb stock by 1, to a maximum of 5.

These are found by destroying purple tinted enemies and asteroids.

*'''1up'''
Adds a life to the player's stock.

These are found by shooting specific parts of the environment, revealing their invisible location.

=== Scoring ===
----
This section should cover a general breakdown of the scoring system of the game. Feel free to put the meat and potatoes here. A great example of a scoring section is the ''[[DoDonPachi]]'' page.

== Strategy ==

===== Auto Fire/Turbo Fire =====
The game has a native autofire rate that its stages and bosses are designed around, but many players choose to use 30Hz turbofire which can speed-kill bosses and cause captured captains to behave improperly. It is included on most Gaiden cabinets, most notably at Taito's own game centers as well as in Darius Gaiden Extra Version - a special hack of the game featuring a marathon mode combining all zones into a single playthrough. Despite its ubiquity, it is perfectly possible to play the game without turbofire. This being said, auto-fire on its own needs to be managed. Many shot types have differing amounts of bullets allowed to persist on-screen, meaning without point blanking you will get "clumps" of shots that do a poor job covering enemies during the stages. Rapid-fire also raises rank at a higher rate than regular shots- a small consideration as well (see: rank section below). Due to this, it is wise to have a button for regular and turbo fire and the switch between them as the situation permits (this is the standard for arcade cabinets).

[[File:Dgaidenrank.jpg|thumb|King Fossil's bullet patterns change size, shape and speed when your rank increases]]
===== Rank System =====
Darius Gaiden uses a rank system for difficulty. Rank ranges from 8-256, and the higher the rank, the more difficult the game becomes.

Rank can affect the following:
*bullet speed
*The amount of bullets an enemy fires
*The size of the bullets fired

Rank is affected by the following actions
*Passage of time
*Firing shots
*collecting power ups
*destroying entire enemy formations
*breaking boss parts

Breaking boss parts tends to cause the sharpest rank increase, and since rank increases with each shot fired, 30hz turbofire can increase rank significantly faster than standard autofire.

Upon death, rank is temporarily halved before quickly climbing up to where it was before death.

===== Scoring =====
At the end of a game, you are given bonuses for each of the following:
*Remaining lives - 1,000,000 points per life left
*Remaining bombs - 300,000 points per bomb left
*Successful Captain Capture - 200,000 points per capture

This means that in most runs your bonus score will vastly outweigh your regular score, so captain capturing, no-missing, and no-bombing are requirements to attempt high score play (route dependent).

Boss parts can be broken for 30,000 bonus points, except for Risk Storage. If you destroy Risk Storage's tail you are granted an extra 900,000 points.

Score items give you a random score bonus up to 51,200 points. It is completely random and there is no way to guarantee a certain amount of points.

===== Boss Strategies =====
One of the main elements that separates score runs from survival runs is boss milking. Almost every boss has destructible body parts or spawns destructible enemies that can be milked for score. Each Boss also has a timer that, when it runs out, summons the "Yazuka Takami". However, these cubes aren't worth any points at all and therefore can't be milked for additional score.

Stage V is the easiest final stage, and most survival-routes end there, as its final boss, '''RISK STORAGE''' being easily the least tanky and difficult of the final bosses. Stage Z', meanwhile, is the hardest final stage, with '''GREAT THING''' effectively serving as the [True Last Boss] of the game. Stage V' is also very difficult with '''STORM CAUSER''' serving as the second hardest boss.

''(Currently evaluating whether or not this specific section should even include information outside of the separated Strategy pages. Worth thinking about as a community.)''

===== General Tips =====
*Understand the weapons system and plan your weapon pickups around the bosses you have to kill. This is useful for both survival and score. For example, many players avoid the final shot powerup since it has a lower DPS than the penultimate shot level.
*locate secret score items, bomb stock, screen clear items, and lives in your route. Every route has two 1UPs that must be shot, revealed, and collected. There are also hidden score items and screen clear items that are useful.
*This game has obstacles- use them to block enemy shots and use the wave weapon to shoot through them.
*Several Captains can use special attacks through fighting game inputs. If you are playing Cozmic Collection they are displayed on the gadget when you capture them.
*ACEHLQV and ABDGLQV are popular routes, with the former being slightly more difficult than the latter, and having higher score potential.

==Stages==
Like many other games in the Darius series, Darius Gaiden allows you to pick which Zone to play through in each stage. There are 28 Zones total across 7 stages.

Below is a list of stages and their respective Zones.

===Stage 1 (Planet Vadis)===
*'''Zone A:''' An abandoned city on Vadis, now occupied by the Belsar. Boss is Golden Ogre.
Stage 1 takes place on the surface of Vadis.

===Stage 2 (Satellite Contrary)===
*'''Zone B:''' A vast expansive forest on Contrary. Boss is Ancient Dozer.
*'''Zone C:''' An ocean reef on Contrary. Boss is King Fossil.
Stage 2 takes place on Contrary, a satellite orbiting Vadis.

===Stage 3 (Satellite Contrary)===
*'''Zone D:''' An asteroid field near an enemy space station. Boss is Folding Fan.
*'''Zone E:''' A large enemy-occupied space station. Boss is Electric Fan.
*'''Zone F:''' A battlefield in open space. Boss is Electric Fan.
Stage 3 takes place near Contrary, a satellite orbiting Vadis.

===Stage 4 (Warp Zone)===
*'''Zone G:''' An unknown region of hyperspace infected by a living plague. Boss is Prickly Angler.
*'''Zone H:''' Takes place in open hyperspace. Boss is Neon Light Illusion.
*'''Zone I:''' A cave located in hyperspace. Boss is Prickly Angler.
*'''Zone J:''' An enemy-controlled region of hyperspace. Boss is Neon Light Illusion.
Stage 4 takes place in a hyperspace warp zone between Vadis and Darius' systems. After a brief moment in open space, a warping effect will be triggered, and the real level begins.

===Stage 5 (Satellite Weather)===
*'''Zone K:''' Takes place near a series of destroyed space stations orbiting Weather. Boss is Fatty Glutton.
*'''Zone L:''' Takes place near the surface of what is presumably Weather. Boss is Double Dealer.
*'''Zone M:''' A brief moment amongst the asteroids. Boss is Titanic Lance. Due to the absolutely massive size of Titanic Lance, its boss fight is structured like a battleship raid and makes up most of the level. It is likely a successor to Peace Destroyer from [[Darius Force]].
*'''Zone N:''' Takes place within the asteroid ring orbiting Darius. Boss is Double Dealer.
*'''Zone O:''' Similar to Zone K. Boss is Fatty Glutton.
Stage 5 takes place near Weather, a satellite orbiting Darius.

===Stage 6 (Planet Darius)===
*'''Zone P:''' A series of ruins on the sea floor. Boss is Crusty Hammer.
*'''Zone Q:''' An arctic cave beneath Darius' surface. Boss is Deadly Crescent.
*'''Zone R:''' A series of large mountains and cliffs. Boss is Crusty Hammer.
*'''Zone S:''' A vast desert with various ruins. Boss is Deadly Crescent.
*'''Zone T:''' A massive ruined city on Darius. Boss is Crusty Hammer.
*'''Zone U:''' Similar to Zone P. Boss is Deadly Crescent.
Stage 6 takes place on the surface of Darius. Early into the level, the Silver Hawk will begin to burn up on re-entry. This has no effect on gameplay.

===Stage 7 (Planet Darius)===
*'''Zone Z':''' An abandoned city on Darius, now under Belsar control. Final boss is Great Thing.
*'''Zone V:''' A Belsar stronghold, deep beneath the sea. Final boss is Risk Storage.
*'''Zone W:''' A massive cavern, similar to Zone A of the original [[Darius]] from 1986. Final boss is Vermillion Coronatus.
*'''Zone X:''' The enemy headquarters, floating in the clouds of Darius' atmosphere. Final boss is Hysteric Empress.
*'''Zone Y:''' A thick jungle, home to the native creatures of Darius but occupied by the Belsar. Final boss is Odious Trident.
*'''Zone Z:''' A volcano on Darius' surface. Final boss is Curious Chandelier.
*'''Zone V':''' The eye of a storm out in the seas of Darius. Final boss is Storm Causer.
Stage 7 takes place on the surface of Darius.

== Story ==
Taking place after the original Darius, Gaiden focuses on the refugees of the Planet Darius after the climactic battle of the original game, who having left for the planet '''Vadis''', now attempt to return to their home planet. Upon doing so, they are ambushed by a '''Belsar''' fleet, which destroys most of the Silver Hawks, leaving only two remaining Silver Hawks, piloted by '''Keith Arden (1P Side)''' and '''Anna Steiner (2P Side)''', where the game begins...

Gaiden features 7 Endings, most of which focus on the dreamlike nature of the game itself. The endings to Zone Z' and V' can probably be seen as the game's good endings, whilst the rest are more ambiguous.

*'''Zone Z'''': Upon defeating '''GREAT THING''', Keith and Anna witness the battlefield and desolation they've thought through give way to a forest scene, and they are unsure if what they have just fought through is real or a dream.

*'''Zone V''': Going deep underwater to defeat '''RISK STORAGE''', the Silver Hawks are destroyed by water pressure, fall to the bottom of the sea, and are covered by the Marine snow.

*'''Zone W''': Reveals that Darius Gaiden is just a game Keith and Anna were playing in the arcade, with Keith cheering in triumph. Essentially a joke ending.

*'''Zone X''': Destroying the Belsar citidel, Keith and Anna ruminate that the battle isnt over yet, as shadows lurk in the clouds.

*'''Zone Y''': Upon defeating '''ODIOUS TRIDENT''', Keith and Anna land in a forest similar to that shown in the ending to Zone Z', and are welcomed by the native species, being lauded for destroying the enemies that were destroying the forests of Darius.

*'''Zone Z''': Defeating '''CURIOUS CHANDELIER''' and the rest of the Belsar fleet, Anna and Keith leave Darius, only to find that the fighting had caused so much damage that Darius explodes. Keith and Anna are at a loss what to do.

*'''Zone V'''': Defeating '''STORM CAUSER''' clears the huge storm around the stage and reveals the lost fleet of refugee ships from the opening of the game, which settle on Darius once again. Peace is restored. Definetly the "best" ending, and seeing as the Zone's inclusion as the final stage in the EXTRA version, is the closest to a "true ending."

== Version Differences ==
* '''Darius Gaiden Extra Version''', an official hack, rearranges the stage order of the original game and provides a 30Hz autofire by default for pressing A. As a special extra, starting the game as 2P side starts a version of the game where all 28 stages are played in alphabetical order, ending with stage V' and the boss '''STORM CAUSER''', and also utilising its ending.

== Ports ==
<gallery>
Dariusgsaturn.jpg|The US Saturn cover
Dariusgpc.jpg|Windows 95 ver of Darius Gaiden
Dariusccswitchjpn.png|The original Japanese release of Cozmic Collection on Switch
</gallery>
Darius Gaiden was released on the SEGA Saturn, PS1, PS2, PC (Windows 95), Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PS4.

The original Saturn release runs slower than the arcade game and also has some slowdown. Before Cozmic Collection released, this was the best version of the game available on home consoles and is still one of the better ports of the game- especially if playing on a CRT.

The PS1 port suffers from more slowdown, jerky scrolling, and other graphical issues and features a new FMV intro sequence instead of the arcade original intro.

The Windows 95 version is essentially the Saturn version but it has different sound effects and slight loading hitches before bosses.

The PS2 and Xbox versions are emulated and part of Taito Legends 2- an arcade compilation disc. The PS2 version does not run properly and does not have progressive video. The xbox version has progressive video and does not have the performance issues of the PS2 version.

In 2019, Darius Cozmic Collection was released in Japan for Nintendo Switch and in 2020 for PS4. It includes a new port of Darius Gaiden with credits to the M2 Shottriggers team. This port is 100% arcade faithful and features save states, high score leaderboards, gadgets for rank, score, boss health, ARM level, and more. A training mode was added in a patch that allows stage, rank, weapon and shield selection. This training mode is included as default in the DL and english versions of the game. It comes highly recommended, even if you already own the Saturn version or a PCB.

== Trivia ==
* According to a Doujin roundtable interview published in Shooting Gameside #1<ref>http://shmuplations.com/doujin/</ref>, Darius Gaiden is one of ZUN's favorite shmups. Besides, he has been influenced by this game and its focus on memorable boss battles when creating Touhou Project, according to the ''Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red'' interview.<ref>https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Bohemian_Archive_in_Japanese_Red/Interview</ref>
* This is one of the last products ever released baring the I.G Tatsunoko name before they renamed themselves Production I.G

----

== Gallery ==
<div style='text-align: center;'>
''See [[Darius Gaiden/Gallery]] for our collection of images and scans for the game.''
</div>
----

== Other ==

We have support for wikitables, giving us the potential to add lots of cool info in a small box on the page somewhere, but we are not using them at the moment. I'm just leaving this here so we can have it handy in case we decide to actually use them. Feel free to not use this section.

{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"
|-
! [[(Template Page)]]
|-
| put your stuff here
|}

== References & Contributors ==
<small>
# Remember to include everyone that you can in your credits if they contributed information! | Having links handy is even better, when available.
# If you are a primary source of information for a game, be sure to link to your Shmup Wiki user account by including a link to your profile, such as: <nowiki>[[User:(You)|(Your Name)]]</nowiki>
## And while you're at it, make yourself a little profile page (if you want, of course)! As a contributor, you deserve to be recognized for your efforts.

* This template page was assembled by [[User:CHA-STG|CHA-STG]] and [[User:Plasmo|Plasmo]].</small>
* Ports, Strategy, Weapons and Items sections writte by [[User:Gojiguy|Gojiguy]]

[[Category:Horizontal orientation]]

Darius Force

2023-06-29T07:14:40Z

TrafficLight7773: Added next game. sorry i forgot

[[File:DariusForceJPCover.webp|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = Darius Force / Super Nova
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = Darius_Force_title_menu.webp
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[Taito]]
|music =
|program =
|art =
|design =
|releasedate = '''JP''': September 23rd, 1993 <br> '''NA''': December 1993
|previousgame = [[Darius Twin]] (Release and Chronology)
|nextgame = [[Darius Gaiden]] (Release)
}}

==Darius Force==
'''Darius Force''' is a side-scrolling shoot-em-up developed by Taito and Act Japan and released in 1993 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in North America as Super Nova. While this game is similar to its predecessors in many ways, it also makes some massive changes; notably, 0 bosses in Darius Force are returning bosses from previous games (with Thunderbolt Fans and Great Force being mutilated versions of previous bosses), with many not being sea life at all, and none of them would ever reappear in another Darius Game. Additionally, in a series first, Darius Force allows the player to play as 3 different playable ships. It also has a massively revamped Zone map, completely different from any other Darius game.

==Gameplay Overview==
Darius Force is notably slower-paced than other Darius games, likely to balance out the small aspect ratio and high stage difficulty. It still has the basic concepts of collecting powerups to gain firepower, although it should be noted that ALL powerups are completely lost on death, and the primary Shot and secondary Bomb cannot be used at the same time unless you meet a certain level of firepower, in which case using both at once will result in the Shot being weakened drastically.

===Controls===
Placeholder

===Weapons===
Placeholder

===Armor===
Placeholder

==Rank==
Placeholder

==Scoring==
Placeholder

==Zones==
Darius Force's stage progression is possibly the most unique out of any game in the Darius series. Instead of zones being organized in a sound wave, they are now organized in a parallelogram, with the player starting in the bottom left corner (Zone A) and finishing when they reach any stage on the right edge of the parallelogram (Zone L, N or O).

A list of stages and their respective zones can be found below, as well as an image of the Zone map.

===Zone Map===
[[File:DariusForcemap.webp]]

===Bottom Row===
*'''Zone A:''' A strange asteroid-filled nebula. Boss is Bio Hazard.
*'''Zone C:''' A large enemy space station that rotates during gameplay. Boss is Mudy Crystal.
*'''Zone F:''' A blue-tinted enemy base. Boss is Spiral Snail.
*'''Zone I:''' An enemy-controlled cave. Boss is Devil Fish.
*'''Zone L:''' A secret underground enemy lab. Final boss is Zandick II.

===Middle Row===
*'''Zone B:''' Similar to Zone I. Boss is Mudy Crystal.
*'''Zone E:''' An enemy-controlled forest giving way to a large cave. Boss is Thunderbolt Fans.
*'''Zone H:''' Similar to Zone A. Boss is Peace Destroyer, a colossal multi-stage battleship raid-style fight and a possible predecessor to Titanic Lance from [[Darius Gaiden]].
*'''Zone K:''' Similar to Zone F. Boss is Stealther, one of the few non-sea life bosses in the Darius series, instead being based on a chameleon.
*'''Zone N:''' An area of space near an unknown planet's atmosphere. Final boss is Megalopros, also being one of the few non-sea life bosses in the Darius series, instead being based on a pteranodon.

===Top Row===
*'''Zone D:''' Similar to Zones F and K. Boss is Spiral Snail.
*'''Zone G:''' Similar to Zones A and H. Boss is Devil Fish.
*'''Zone J:''' Similar to Zone C. Boss is Stealther.
*'''Zone M:''' A massive enemy-controlled cave. Boss is Great Force.
*'''Zone O:''' Presumably the enemy headquarters. Final boss is Galst Vic, the only boss in the series to be based on Homo Sapiens.

==Story==
The game takes place an unknown amount of time after Dariusburst, at which point the Belsar are long-gone and the legendary Proco and Tiat are forgotten. A new enemy (likely related to the Belsar) has arisen, and the player must fight through their defense zones to bring an end to the invasion.

Below is a list of endings.

*Ending 1 (Zone L): The enemy has been repelled for now and humanity is eager to continue the fight. Shows a man assisting with the takeoff of a Silver Hawk.
*Ending 2 (Zone N): An unknown narrator states that "peace is not inevitable", but that every human heart yearns for it. Shows a strange white hawk flying over the horizon.
*Ending 3 (Zone O): The narrator delivers a short speech about how humanity has always fought back against threats (similar to the one given in the game’s intro), then instructs the player to continue the fight and states that “peace will return again”. Shows the player flying in space away from a series of large explosions, presumably the destroyed enemy headquarters.

Darius Force

2023-06-29T06:58:42Z

TrafficLight7773: Added previous game

[[File:DariusForceJPCover.webp|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = Darius Force / Super Nova
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = Darius_Force_title_menu.webp
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[Taito]]
|music =
|program =
|art =
|design =
|releasedate = '''JP''': September 23rd, 1993 <br> '''NA''': December 1993
|previousgame = [[Darius Twin]] (Release and Chronology)
}}

==Darius Force==
'''Darius Force''' is a side-scrolling shoot-em-up developed by Taito and Act Japan and released in 1993 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in North America as Super Nova. While this game is similar to its predecessors in many ways, it also makes some massive changes; notably, 0 bosses in Darius Force are returning bosses from previous games (with Thunderbolt Fans and Great Force being mutilated versions of previous bosses), with many not being sea life at all, and none of them would ever reappear in another Darius Game. Additionally, in a series first, Darius Force allows the player to play as 3 different playable ships. It also has a massively revamped Zone map, completely different from any other Darius game.

==Gameplay Overview==
Darius Force is notably slower-paced than other Darius games, likely to balance out the small aspect ratio and high stage difficulty. It still has the basic concepts of collecting powerups to gain firepower, although it should be noted that ALL powerups are completely lost on death, and the primary Shot and secondary Bomb cannot be used at the same time unless you meet a certain level of firepower, in which case using both at once will result in the Shot being weakened drastically.

===Controls===
Placeholder

===Weapons===
Placeholder

===Armor===
Placeholder

==Rank==
Placeholder

==Scoring==
Placeholder

==Zones==
Darius Force's stage progression is possibly the most unique out of any game in the Darius series. Instead of zones being organized in a sound wave, they are now organized in a parallelogram, with the player starting in the bottom left corner (Zone A) and finishing when they reach any stage on the right edge of the parallelogram (Zone L, N or O).

A list of stages and their respective zones can be found below, as well as an image of the Zone map.

===Zone Map===
[[File:DariusForcemap.webp]]

===Bottom Row===
*'''Zone A:''' A strange asteroid-filled nebula. Boss is Bio Hazard.
*'''Zone C:''' A large enemy space station that rotates during gameplay. Boss is Mudy Crystal.
*'''Zone F:''' A blue-tinted enemy base. Boss is Spiral Snail.
*'''Zone I:''' An enemy-controlled cave. Boss is Devil Fish.
*'''Zone L:''' A secret underground enemy lab. Final boss is Zandick II.

===Middle Row===
*'''Zone B:''' Similar to Zone I. Boss is Mudy Crystal.
*'''Zone E:''' An enemy-controlled forest giving way to a large cave. Boss is Thunderbolt Fans.
*'''Zone H:''' Similar to Zone A. Boss is Peace Destroyer, a colossal multi-stage battleship raid-style fight and a possible predecessor to Titanic Lance from [[Darius Gaiden]].
*'''Zone K:''' Similar to Zone F. Boss is Stealther, one of the few non-sea life bosses in the Darius series, instead being based on a chameleon.
*'''Zone N:''' An area of space near an unknown planet's atmosphere. Final boss is Megalopros, also being one of the few non-sea life bosses in the Darius series, instead being based on a pteranodon.

===Top Row===
*'''Zone D:''' Similar to Zones F and K. Boss is Spiral Snail.
*'''Zone G:''' Similar to Zones A and H. Boss is Devil Fish.
*'''Zone J:''' Similar to Zone C. Boss is Stealther.
*'''Zone M:''' A massive enemy-controlled cave. Boss is Great Force.
*'''Zone O:''' Presumably the enemy headquarters. Final boss is Galst Vic, the only boss in the series to be based on Homo Sapiens.

==Story==
The game takes place an unknown amount of time after Dariusburst, at which point the Belsar are long-gone and the legendary Proco and Tiat are forgotten. A new enemy (likely related to the Belsar) has arisen, and the player must fight through their defense zones to bring an end to the invasion.

Below is a list of endings.

*Ending 1 (Zone L): The enemy has been repelled for now and humanity is eager to continue the fight. Shows a man assisting with the takeoff of a Silver Hawk.
*Ending 2 (Zone N): An unknown narrator states that "peace is not inevitable", but that every human heart yearns for it. Shows a strange white hawk flying over the horizon.
*Ending 3 (Zone O): The narrator delivers a short speech about how humanity has always fought back against threats (similar to the one given in the game’s intro), then instructs the player to continue the fight and states that “peace will return again”. Shows the player flying in space away from a series of large explosions, presumably the destroyed enemy headquarters.

Dariusburst Another Chronicle

2023-06-29T06:57:58Z

TrafficLight7773: Added previous and next games

[[File:DariusburstACEXFlyer1.webp|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = Dariusburst Another Chronicle
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = DBACEX_Title.webp
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen for the EX version of Another Chronicle EX
|imagescalepx = 180px

|publisher = Taito
|developer = Pyramid
|music = Zuntata
|releasedate = '''Old version''': December 17, 2010 <br> '''EX''': 2011
|previousgame = [[Dariusburst]] (Release and Chronology)
|nextgame = [[Dariusburst Chronicle Saviours]] (Release and Chronology)
}}

==Dariusburst Another Chronicle==
'''Dariusburst Another Chronicle''' is a 2010 arcade shoot-em-up developed by Pyramid and published by Taito. The game is built on the same gameplay concepts as 2009's [[Dariusburst]], but is significantly expanded on, featuring various new ships and bosses, refined graphics, a brand-new Chronicle Mode and a much larger 32:9 aspect ratio. In 2011, a revised version of Another Chronicle known as Another Chronicle EX was released, including the new Event and Original EX Modes, some additional new ships, and new bosses. The Phase 2 version of Another Chronicle EX is considered to be the most up-to-date arcade version of Another Chronicle, and is still being ported to new systems today.

==Gameplay Overview==
Another Chronicle is built on the same core gameplay as [[Dariusburst]], but features many new enemies, ships and bosses, as well as a significantly larger playing field. As a result of the greater ship variety and colossal view, many levels and bosses have been adjusted and made stronger to keep up with the changes. For example, Great Thing has been given several new attacks and fires much more projectiles than it did in the original Dariusburst. Additionally, gameplay cycles are much shorter than usual, with games now taking only 3 levels to be finished rather than 5.

===Controls===
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===Weapons===
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===Armor===
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===Captains===
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==Rank==
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==Scoring==
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==Original Mode Zones==
Another Chronicle's zone system is greatly altered compared to that of previous games. Now, players choose from 3 different starting zones, and only have to go through 2 more zones after that before reaching the end. Another Chronicle EX also features Original Mode EX, following the same structure as Original Mode but with new, brutally difficult zones and bosses to truly test the player's limits, likely due to Original Mode being perceived as very easy compared to previous Darius games.

Below is a list of stages and their respective zones, as well as the zone's name, areas and boss. Structurally identical stages share the same obstacles and theming, but have a different enemy composition.

===Stage 1 (Original Mode)===
*'''Zone A:''' An allied hangar under assault by the Belsar. Boss is King Fossil. Music transitions into Zone D if Zone D is selected.
*'''Zone B:''' The ruins of an abandoned city. Structurally and musically identical to Zone A of the original Dariusburst. Boss is Hard Wheel.
*'''Zone C:''' An asteroid belt near Darius. Boss is Hyper Jaw.

===Stage 2 (Original Mode)===
*'''Zone D:''' An enemy-occupied area near Darius' satellite Kazumn, and above a hyperspace gateway. Boss is Lightning Claw. Music transitions into Zone H if Zone H is selected.
*'''Zone E:''' A hyperspace gateway near Darius' satellite Kazumn. Boss is Ancient Barrage.
*'''Zone F:''' A brief moment in the crosshairs between two sides of a battle between allied and Belsar fighters. Boss is Phantom Castle.
*'''Zone G:''' An abandoned scrapyard in the middle of nowhere. Boss is Brightly Stare.

===Stage 3 (Original Mode)===
*'''Zone H:''' A desert on the surface of an unknown planet. Final boss is Violent Ruler. The boss can be seen moving through the sands shortly before the fight begins.
*'''Zone I:''' An enemy facility, presumably dedicated to manufacturing battleships. Final boss is Thousand Knives.
*'''Zone J:''' An enemy base near an unknown planet. Final boss is Hungry Gluttons.
*'''Zone K:''' An enemy-controlled space station near their home planet. Final boss is Dark Helios.
*'''Zone L:''' The Belsar headquarters. Final boss is the iconic Great Thing.

===Stage 1 (Original EX Mode)===
*'''Zone O:''' Structurally and musically identical to Zone A from Original Mode. Boss is Knight Fossil.
*'''Zone P:''' A desert on the surface of an unknown planet, similar to Zone H but more upbeat. Boss is Glassy Stare.
*'''Zone Q:''' An enemy-occupied asteroid belt, possibly on the edge of the galaxy. Boss is Dark Flare.

===Stage 2 (Original EX Mode)===
*'''Zone R:''' Structurally and musically identical to Zone D. Boss is Lightning Flamberge.
*'''Zone S:''' Similar to Zone E, but with many more obstacles. Boss is Trident Jaw.
*'''Zone T:''' An upbeat vertical downscroller through an abandoned city. Boss is Thousand Edge.
*'''Zone U:''' An enemy base orbiting their home planet. Boss is Heavy Gluttons.

===Stage 3 (Original EX Mode)===
*'''Zone V:''' Structurally and musically identical to Zone H. Final boss is Golden Ruler.
*'''Zone W:''' A solemn vertical upscroller through an abandoned city. Final boss is Dual Spin.
*'''Zone X:''' A Belsar stronghold. Final boss is Dreadful Whip.
*'''Zone Y:''' A Belsar scrapyard, very similar to Zone G. Final boss is Slash Shell.
*'''Zone Z:''' An undersea Belsar base, reminiscent of Zone Z from the original [[Darius]]. Final boss is G.T.V.

==Story==
Another Chronicle takes place 6 years after Dariusburst. After an initial defense against a Belsar invasion following the release of a powerful computer virus onto the hyperspace network, the Silver hawks are now ready to begin the early stages of a counteroffensive against the Belsar.

Original Mode and Original Mode EX have very similar endings, although EX views the endings from a different perspective, and its endings for Zone X and Zone Z are altered from those for Zone J and Zone L.

*Ending 1 (Zone H / V): The Silver Hawks have successfully repelled the Belsar invasion, but must now return home to rest due to sustaining various damages during the battle.
*Ending 2 (Zone I / W): The Silver Hawks have completed their training and are ready for action. The game then prompts the player to enter Chronicle Mode.
*Ending 3 (Zone J): The Silver Hawks destroy one of the many Belsar battleships, but are now stuck in the crosshairs of an entire fleet of battleships. Suddenly, a fleet of backup fighters appears, and helps them to fight back against the battleships.
*Ending 4 (Zone K / Y): In a desperate hail-mary to end the fighting, an experimental Burst weapon is unleashed, destroying the enemy fleet and the enemy home planet. The survivors of the explosion pack up and migrate to a new system.
*Ending 5 (Zone L): The destruction of Great Thing causes every single Belsar battleship to shut down one after another, and the Silver Hawks are immortalised as heroes. You win!
*Ending 6 (Zone X): After destroying a large Belsar flagship, the stranded Silver Hawks are backed up by a massive fleet of backup fighters, and the counteroffensive is fully put into action. This is most likely the true ending that [[Dariusburst Chronicle Saviours]] follows, as the same yellow backup fighters can be seen in the first zone of the first mission of CS Mode, which follows the counteroffensive picking up directly after where Another Chronicle left off (Another Chronicle is set in DC 2010 and CS starts in DC 2010).
*Ending 7 (Zone Z): Following G.T.V's destruction, the Belsar battleships shut down and prepare to go back home. However, the military sternly warns major news outlets that this is not the end, for the Belsar will most likely rise once again.

==Ports==
Another Chronicle EX has been released for home consoles via [[Dariusburst Chronicle Saviours]] for PS4 and Steam, and Dariusburst Another Chronicle EX+ for PS4 and Switch. Chronicle Saviours features an arcade-perfect port of Another Chronicle EX alongside the rest of its content, albeit untranslated and lacking events, whereas Another Chronicle EX+ does not feature the Chronicle Saviours content but has events as well as the Murakamo and has been translated into English for the first time ever.

Dariusburst

2023-06-29T06:56:56Z

TrafficLight7773: Added previous and next games (I promise I'm not a bot)

[[File:DariusBurstpsp.webp|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = Dariusburst
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = DARIUSBURST Start Menu.webp
|width = 320px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = Pyramid
|music = Zuntata
|publisher = [[Taito]]
|releasedate = '''PSP JP''': December 2009 <br> '''iOS International''': February 2012 <br> '''Android JP''': May 2012 <br> '''Android International''': October 2015
|previousgame = [[G-Darius]] (Release) <br> [[Darius II]] (Chronology)
|nextgame = [[Dariusburst Another Chronicle]] (Release and Chronology)
}}

==Dariusburst==
Dariusburst is a horizontal scrolling shoot-em-up developed by Taito and released by Pyramid in 2009 for the PSP. As usual, the game features multiple branching paths designated by zones, mechanical fish-themed enemies, various types of powerup and a soundtrack produced by Taito's in-house band Zuntata. However, there are also several differences between previous Darius games and Dariusburst, which will be listed in the gameplay overview.

Chronologically, Dariusburst is one of the more recent games in the Darius series, taking place after the reclamation of Darius in Darius Twin and Gaiden but before Chronicle Saviours. A port of Dariusburst would be released for mobile devices in 2012 named Dariusburst: Second Prologue, which omits Burst Mode but makes up for it by including additional missions, a new SP mode that is functionally identical to arcade mode but with some altered stages and new bosses, and a new playable ship named the Assault. A massively altered version named Dariusburst: Another Chronicle was released in 2010 for arcades, which would be updated with Another Chronicle EX in 2011. Another Chronicle EX would be ported to PC and PS4 through Dariusburst: Chronicle Saviours in 2015, then on Switch and PS4/5 through Another Chronicle EX+ in 2021.

==Gameplay Overview==
Dariusburst has the same general gameplay concept as every game before it. Control the Silver Hawk and use it to shoot down enemies, pick up coloured orbs dropped by some enemies to gain powerups, and choose the next zone to fight through after the boss at the end of the level. However, there are some important changes that should be listed.
*All ships (except Origin) now have a Burst system. Charge up the Burst meter by shooting down enemies, then when it is full, use it to unleash the ship's Burst weapon. Legend, for instance, fires a large Burst Laser that behaves similarly to the Alpha Beam from G-Darius, including the ability to counter enemy Burst Lasers. It can also be detached and controlled independently of the ship, in which case it will remain firing in the same direction from the same place until it is disabled or it runs out of fuel in the Burst Meter.
*Stage progression has been heavily altered. Now, the player is forced to play through Zones A and B in every playthrough with no choice. Afterwards, the game returns to typical Darius behaviour with the player being able to choose the zones they go through. However, the game still ends at Stage 5 as it did in G-Darius, but with only 4 possible Final Zones, and 11 stages in total across the whole game.
*In addition to the simplified level progression, Dariusburst devolves back to the boss system used in the original Darius, where every zone of a stage has the same boss (for example, all Stage 2 zones in Darius have Electric Fan as the boss). The only exception is the Final Zones, where each one of them house a different final boss. This is changed in SP Mode of Second Prologue.
*The player can now choose between 3 different ships to play as (4 in Second Prologue). These are Legend which is the default ship and fires a standard Burst Laser, Next which behaves very similarly to Legend except with a weaker main attack, homing bombs and a more mobile Burst Turret, and finally Origin, which behaves identically to the ship from the original Darius and does not have a Burst Laser. Second Prologue adds the Assault; its main attacks are similar to those of the Next (minus the homing bombs), but its Burst is entirely different. It is now a moving "Spark" that can be detonated remotely for medium damage, and does damage as it passes through enemies.

There are also multiple different modes the player can choose from, a list of these is provided below.
*'''Arcade Mode.''' This mode plays similar to a traditional Darius arcade game (as the name implies), although progression is heavily bottlenecked. There is only one choice for both Stage 1 AND Stage 2, after which there are 2 choices for Stage 3, 3 choices for Stage 4 and 4 choices for Stage 5. The player is free to choose their lives count, difficulty and ship. They are also provided with infinite continues, so they may choose to continue as many times as they like until they reach the end.
*'''Mission Mode.''' Instead of starting with a specific zone and choosing your path from there, players instead select a mission to play from a premade collection. These missions can contain any combination of stages and bosses, and function as the game's level and boss select as well as an additional mode. In each mission, players have one life, no continues, and a preset ship and number of powerups. Mission Mode is unlocked by completing Arcade Mode with two different paths, such as ABCEH and ABDFI.
*'''Burst Mode.''' This is a PSP-exclusive mode that was omitted and replaced with SP mode in the mobile port of Dariusburst. This plays similarly to Arcade Mode, but with two major differences. First of all, the player has one life and no continues, regardless of their settings. Second of all, the player's arsenal is fully upgraded right from the get-go and can switch between Missile, Laser and Wave at any time. As such, weapon upgrade orbs are removed.
*'''SP Mode.''' This is a mobile-exclusive mode not available on the PSP version of Dariusburst. This mode is very similar to Arcade Mode, although some stages are altered (notably Zone A's ruined city taking on a darker, less epic tone), and 2 new bosses (Lightning Claw and Heavy Jaw) are introduced into the mix.

==Scoring==
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==Zones==
The zones in Dariusburst start with A and B which all players are required to complete in every playthrough, then afterwards it opens up for the traditional flow of progression.

Below is a list of zones and their respective bosses.

===Stage 1===
*'''Zone A:''' The game starts in the ruins of an abandoned city, which then transitions into an undersea cave.
All Stage 1 zones have Iron Fossil as the boss.

===Stage 2===
*'''Zone B:''' The player travels to a space station just outside of Darius' atmosphere, then exits to reveal multiple other space stations under attack by the Belsar.
All Stage 2 zones have Mud Wheel as the boss.

===Stage 3===
*'''Zone C:''' The player travels to a battlefield in outer space. They head into a Belsar base near the battlefield, where the meat and potatoes of the level begin.
*'''Zone D:''' The player travels through an asteroid ring surrounding Darius. Lightning Claw is the boss in SP Mode.
All Stage 3 zones have Lightning Flamberge as the boss.

===Stage 4===
*'''Zone E:''' The player travels through a portal. They warp through the portal and are teleported near Amnelia.
*'''Zone F:''' The player travels through a massive junkyard containing the ruins of various destroyed ships. Heavy Jaw is the boss in SP Mode.
*'''Zone G:''' Practically identical to Zone E.
All Stage 4 zones have Mirage Castle as the boss.

===Stage 5===
*'''Zone H:''' The player fights through a secret Belsar base stationed near Amnelia, and work to destroy it. Hungry Gluttons is the final boss.
*'''Zone I:''' The player fights through an asteroid field near Amnelia. Several enemy battleships are inbound. Thousand Knives is the final boss.
*'''Zone J:''' The player fights through an enemy-controlled moon orbiting Amnelia. Dark Helios is the final boss.
*'''Zone K:''' The player fights through an enemy base near Amnelia. Countless battleships can be seen guarding it. Great Thing is the final boss.

==Story==
Dariusburst takes place after Darius is reclaimed and resettled during the events of Darius Gaiden and Twin. The Belsar have unleashed a powerful computer virus that crippled all interplanetary communication systems, allowing the Belsar to move in for an easy victory. The humanoid AI terminal Ti2 and test pilot Riga Practica were entrusted with 2 experimental new Burst Silver Hawks, and ordered to move out and take down the Belsar Flagship before they reached Darius.

As usual, each different final zone yields a different ending to go with it. A list of endings and their SP Mode counterparts is provided below.
*'''Zone H:''' Ti2 and Riga succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Hungry Gluttons. However, due to damage taken during the battle, Ti2 and Riga are forced to abandon their ships. Ti2 rescues Riga from certain death, and awaits his recovery.
*'''Zone H (SP Mode):''' The Silver Hawks succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Hungry Gluttons, but are heavily damaged and thus weaker. A brand-new enemy fleet jumps into action, and despite knowing that their efforts will be futile, the Silver Hawks rage on and continue the fight anyway.
*'''Zone I:''' Ti2 and Riga succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Thousand Knives, and return to their home planet Darius. Little do they know, however, that the planet they believed to be the enemy homeworld was actually the homeworld of humanity - Amnelia, the "cradle of mankind", which was captured by the Belsar thousands of years after it had been abandoned by humanity.
*'''Zone I (SP Mode):''' The Silver Hawks succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Thousand Knives, and return to their home planet Darius, where it is then revealed that the enemy fleet near Amnelia was merely a diversionary tactic to distract the allied forces from the Belsar's incoming assault on Darius!
*'''Zone J:''' Ti2 and Riga succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Dark Helios, and the additional battleship known as the [[Syvalion]] that was hiding within. After [[Syvalion]] explodes, the Embryon appears, heralding the coming of the Thiima (referred to in-game as the Shiima), who were responsible for driving humanity off of their homeworld Amnelia. Ti2 and Riga both know that a Thiiman invasion of Darius would mean certain doom for humanity. However, as Ti2's intelligence was built using the framework of the Hyperspace Network, she is able to open communications with the Thiima, and travels into their dimension to discuss these matters. Riga is left on his own, waiting for Ti2 to return from negotiations.
*'''Zone J (SP Mode):''' The Silver Hawks succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Dark Helios, and the additional battleship known as the [[Syvalion]] that was hiding within. After [[Syvalion]] explodes, a strange light in the shape of the sea angel appears, heralding the coming of the Thiima, who were responsible for driving humanity off of their homeworld Amnelia. The Silver Hawks prepare for battle, but it never comes, as the Thiima simply seem to stay there, peacefully observing. The light then disappears into the void. The Silver Hawks can only wonder what purpose the Thiima had in mind for observing them like this, but nonetheless, they pack up and go home.
*'''Zone K:''' Ti2 and Riga succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Great Thing, and return to their home planet Darius. Upon their return, they are awarded with medals, and a new part of human history begins.
*'''Zone K (SP Mode):''' The Silver Hawks succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Great Thing, and return to their home planet Darius. This is not the end, however, as the Belsar invasion has not been fully stopped; only delayed as their fleets recover and they prepare to strike again.

Darius II

2023-06-29T06:54:50Z

TrafficLight7773: Added previous and next games

[[File:DariusIILogo.png|center]]<br/>
[[File:SagaiaArcLogo.png|center]]

'''''Darius II''''', also known as '''''Sagaia''''' in other regions, is a 2-player cooperative horizontal shoot-em-up developed and released by Taito in September 1989. Like the original Darius, the game features multiple screens for a wider viewing perspective. Depending on the cabinet, the game would either be 2 or 3 screens wide. The game itself would continue on the fish-based enemies and bosses seen in the original game, as well as the branching pathways and multiple endings. It is also somewhat known for the infamous ''"I always wanted a thing called tuna sasimi"'' line heard in the first stage. ''Darius II'' would be localized as ''Sagaia'', which features less stages which are shorter.<br/>
<br/>Chronologically, ''Darius II'' takes place between the events of ''[[Darius Gaiden]]'' and ''Dariusburst.''<ref>https://darius.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline?so=search#Age_of_Prosperity</ref>
{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = Darius II
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = DariusIITitle.png
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen (2 screen version)
|imagescalepx = 300px

|developer = [[Taito]]
|music =
|program =
|art =
|design =
|releasedate = '''Arcade''' <br> '''JP''': September 1989
|previousgame = [[Darius]] (Release) <br> [[Darius Gaiden]] (Chronology)
|nextgame = [[Darius Twin]] (Release) <br> [[Dariusburst]] (Chronology)
}}
==Gameplay Overview==
Darius II uses two buttons, one to fire the main shot and lasers, and the other to fire bombs. The game consists on 7 stages with levels scrolling horizontally and also vertically in some sections. The power-up system was completely redesigned from the original, with every pickup providing a significant change in firepower. Replacing the Gold pickups are Nuclear Bunkers, which when shot while opened, will clear the screen of enemies. Zones will also have captains appear halfway during the stage, they consist of a smaller versions of the bosses in ''Darius''. The ends of every zone consist of a boss fight, where the Silver Hawk will orient itself towards the boss should it happen to move to the other side of the screen.
===Controls===
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[[File:Joystick (Two Buttons).png|frameless|none|upright]]
*'''A:''' Fire main shot and lasers (if the player has them.)
*'''B:''' Fire bombs

===Weapons===
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At the start of the game, the player starts with a single horizontal shot and a front facing bomb. In order to collect power-ups, an entire formation of a specific enemy must be destroyed for it to drop, which will drop the power-up or give 6000 points. Collecting power-ups will increase the power of the weapon with the corresponding color to a notable level. ''Upon death, all weapons are reset to minimum power'' except for Arm, which will reset at the base level of the current arm level.
[[File:DariusIIShotComparison.gif|right]]
[[File:DariusIIBombComparison.gif|right]]
[[File:DariusIILaserComparison.gif|right]]
<gallery widths="64" heights="64" perrow="5">
DariusIIPickupShot.gif|Shot
DariusIIPickupBomb.gif|Bomb
DariusIIPickupLaser.gif|Laser
DariusIIPickupArm.gif|Arm
DariusIIPickupAll.gif|Multicolor
</gallery>

====Shot====
'''Shot''' is a front facing weapon, and is the primary way of destroying enemies in the air. Up to '''four''' shots can be on screen at any time.
*'''Level 1:''' Fires a singular, thin laser.
*'''Level 2:''' Adds a second thin laser shot.
*'''Level 3:''' Increases the size of the lasers.
*'''Level 4:''' Adds two small projectiles that spread out from the laser shots
*'''Level 5:''' Adds two more small projectiles that spread out further from the laser shots
*'''Level 6:''' Replaces the laser shots with a large plasma ball.
*'''Level 7:''' Increases the length of the plasma ball, allowing it to land two hits
*'''Level 8:''' Increases the width of the plasma ball, which can hit up to three times.
====Bomb====
'''Bombs''' are a bottom firing weapon best used to take out ground targets. Only '''three''' bombs per side can be on screen at a time. Just like the original ''Darius'', Bomb trajectory is based on the movement of the player ship.
*'''Level 1:''' Fires a single bomb in front of the ship.
*'''Level 2:''' Adds a second bomb behind the ship.
*'''Level 3:''' Fires the bombs in a 45 degree angle quickly towards the ground
*'''Level 4:''' The bombs slowly descend and slide quickly upon reaching the ground, similar to the missiles in ''[[Gradius]]''
*'''Level 5:''' Replaces the bombs with rolling mines, which can climb up walls. This can cause the bomb firing rate to drastically reduce if there's no ground targets.
*'''Level 6:''' Adds two large bombs above the ship.
====Laser====
'''Lasers''' are super thin projectiles that can pierce through an unlimited amount of enemies and provides defense from above. Only '''one''' set of lasers can be on screen. Unlike other weapons, it must be acquired first by picking up a '''yellow''' power-up.
*'''Level 1:''' No lasers fire from the ship
*'''Level 2:''' Fires a laser from above and below the ship.
*'''Level 3:''' Diverts the lasers to fire 45 degrees towards the front, creating a < pattern.
*'''Level 4:''' Adds two 45 degree lasers behind the ship, making a X pattern.
*'''Level 5:''' Adds back the vertical lasers used in Level 2.
*'''Level 6:''' Makes the front two lasers turn directly forwards after fired. This will drastically reduce the firing rate of the lasers as they need to travel across the whole screen.
*'''Level 7:''' Makes the vertical lasers turn directly forward after fired.
====Armor====
'''Arm''' is a defensive shield that functions identically to the original ''Darius''. When collecting Armor without having any, the player will always receive 3 hits. If they do, Armor will be added by a small amount depending on the tier. Arm can be upgraded every '''4''' power-ups. Unlike future titles, there is no limit to how many hits Arm the take. However the Armor will not shrink when on it's last hit.
*'''Arm''' Is the starting tier of Armor. Extra Arm power-ups will add one hit.
*'''Super Arm''' Is the second tier. It can add 2 extra hits.
*'''Hyper Arm''' Is the final tier. Hyper Arm also adds 2 extra hits, but can also protect the Silver Hawk from terrain collision.
====Multicolor====
'''Multicolor''' power-ups are a rare pickup that has a chance of appearing in place of an existing one when a player loses a life. When collected, it increases the Shot, Bomb, and Laser level by 1.
==Stages==
Just like the original Darius, Darius II features various branching "zones" which can be navigated and routed differently on each playthrough. There are 28 stages total.

Below is a list of stages and their respective zones

===Stage 1 (Sun)===
*'''Zone A:''' A field of combat taking place very close to the surface of the sun.
All Stage 1 zones have Hyper Sting as the boss.

===Stage 2 (Mercury)===
*'''Zone B:''' The player traverses through a large cave on Mercury. Steel Spin is the second boss.
*'''Zone C:''' Similar to Zone B. Killer Hijia is the second boss.
All Stage 2 zones have Alloy Lantern as the first boss. After destroying Alloy Lantern, the player will fly inside its mouth and fight the second boss.

===Stage 3 (Venus)===
*'''Zone D:''' The player traverses through outer space.
*'''Zone E:''' A battlefield amongst the clouds of Venus' atmosphere.
*'''Zone F:''' A field of combat taking place in a volcanic area on the surface of Venus.
All Stage 3 zones have Driosawm as the boss.

===Stage 4 (Moon)===
*'''Zone G:''' A field of combat taking place very close to the surface of the moon, where various ruins can be found.
*'''Zone H:''' The player infiltrates an enemy base beneath the moon's surface.
*'''Zone I:''' Similar to Zone G.
*'''Zone J:''' Similar to Zone G.
All Stage 4 zones have Red Crab as the boss.

===Stage 5 (Earth)===
*'''Zone K:''' A ruined human city with an enemy base beneath the surface. Yamato is the boss.
*'''Zone L:''' An arctic area with a large cave. Leadain is the boss.
*'''Zone M:''' Similar to Zone K. Yamato is the boss.
*'''Zone N:''' Takes place in an archipelago, similar to Zone A of [[Darius Twin]]. Leadain is the boss.
*'''Zone O:''' A large undersea cave. Leadain is the boss.

===Stage 6 (Mars)===
*'''Zone P:''' A volcanic area on the surface of Mars with a base hidden beneath the surface.
*'''Zone Q:''' The surface of Mars. Various ruins can be found.
*'''Zone R:''' The surface of Mars.
*'''Zone S:''' Similar to Zone P.
*'''Zone T:''' An arctic region of Mars. Auroras can be seen in the background.
*'''Zone U:''' Similar to Zone R, but with traps hiding inside some of the craters.
All Stage 6 zones have Grand Octopus as the boss.

===Stage 7 (Jupiter)===
*'''Zone Z':''' Most likely the north pole of Jupiter. The ground is similar to that of Zone A, although with a different colour. Mother Hawk is the final boss.
*'''Zone V:''' Takes place amongst the clouds of Jupiter's atmosphere, much like Zone E from earlier. Bio Strong is the final boss.
*'''Zone W:''' Takes place in the space around Jupiter. Little Stripes is the final boss.
*'''Zone X:''' Similar to Zone V. Little Stripes is the final boss.
*'''Zone Y:''' Takes place in outer space far from Jupiter. Little Stripes is the final boss.
*'''Zone Z:''' Similar to Zone Z'. Bio Strong is the final boss.
*'''Zone V':''' Similar to Zone V and X. Mother Hawk is the final boss.
==Version Differences==
===Arcade Versions===
There are two known versions of the original Darius II.
*'''Three screen version''': This version retains the exact same aspect ratio as the original ''Darius'' and has enhanced sound effects. Due to the larger screen space and the limited amount of shots on screen, this version is more difficult. Power-ups float upwards when they appear. This is apparently a bug.<ref>https://tcrf.net/Sagaia_(Arcade)#Revisional_Differences</ref>
*'''Two screen version''': The more common version of the game.
====''Sagaia''====
In order to make gameplay cycles unfold faster overseas, ''Sagaia'' makes very drastic changes to the game:
*There are half as many Zones in the game. The player can only choose their path every two Zones cleared.
*Zones themselves are significantly shorter, sometimes even being cut in half entirely.
*Captains almost never appear normally until the final Zone is reached.
*Bosses have been re-arranged, and have much less health, making some of them absolute pushovers.
==References==

G-Darius

2023-06-29T06:51:55Z

TrafficLight7773: Added previous and next games

[[File:GDarius_Logo.png|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = G-Darius
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = GDarius_Title.png
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[Taito]]
|music =
|program =
|art =
|design =
|releasedate = '''Arcade''' <br> '''JP''': June 1997 <br> '''NA''': 1997
|previousgame = [[Darius Gaiden]] (Release)
|nextgame = [[Dariusburst]] (Release) <br> [[Darius]] (Chronology)
}}

==G-Darius==
'''G-Darius''' is a 2-player horizontal-scrolling shoot-em-up developed and released by Taito in 1997. Similar to it's predecessor, the game uses a single-screen display. Zuntata would also return to compose the music for G-Darius.
As typical for the Darius series, G-Darius features Fish-based enemies and bosses, branching pathways - with 15 stages - and multiple endings.
G-Darius has been ported to Playstation and later to modern consoles as G-Darius HD, featuring a higher resolution and a higher-poly Silver Hawk model during game-play.
Chronologically, the game takes place before the first Darius game, and is the first game in the timeline.
G-Darius would eventually be followed up by the Dariusburst series of games on PSP and Arcades.

==Gameplay Overview==
G-Darius plays somewhat similar to Darius Gaiden except for several differences. The game is also focused on power-ups: A main shot that fires in front, bombs that fire above and below the ship, and armor that can take multiple hits. New to the series that replaces Black-Hole Bombs are Capture Balls, which allow the Silver Hawk to capture almost any enemy on screen and use them against enemy forces. Enemies are more aggressive, and will fill the screen with bullets if not dealt with. Death will result in all power-ups being reduced to the base level of the current weapon.
There are also other pickups, such as Score pickups, Screen-clearing pickups, and extra lives. Like Gaiden, items found in the stage are fixed, and their quantities vary depending on the route taken.

===Controls===
*'''A(Press):''' Fires the main shot and bombs. Each press of the A button will fire a volley of 3 shots.
*'''A (Hold):''' Charges a captured enemy into an Alpha Beam. Releasing the button when fully charged will fire the Alpha Beam.
*'''B:''' Fires a single Capture Ball if the player has any. Pressing the button again with a captured enemy will cause it to explode into a large bomb.
*'''C:''' Rapidly fires the main shot & bomb. (Ver. 2 Only)
Note: most arcade cabinets and ports of the game include an additional 30hz turbo fire button for the main shot.

===Weapons===
[[File:GDarius_NoPower.jpg|256px|thumb|right|The Silver Hawk at the start of the game.]]
[[File:GDarius_FullPower.jpg|256px|thumb|right|The Silver Hawk maxed out on power-ups.]]
Just like previous entries in the Darius series, the Silver Hawk has a basic SHOT and BOMB attacks. These are upgraded by picking up enough '''red''' and '''green''' pickups respectively. It takes '''7''' red pickups to advance to the next weapon and '''4''' green pickups to upgrade the bombs. Red and Green pickups can be found by destroying colored enemies.
*'''Missile''' is the starting shot type. It has the most damage but cannot pierce enemies or the terrain. Collecting additional red pickups will add an extra Missile to the shot, up to three.
*'''Laser''' is a weaker shot type obtained after upgrading the Missile, and has the ability to pierce through enemies. Additional red pickups will cause the Laser to elongate.
*'''Wave''' is the final shot type and the weakest out of the three, but is able to pierce through enemies and terrain. Red pickups will widen the shot.
(The Laser and Wave shot type cannot pierce through bosses.)<br/>
<br/>Bombs fire diagonally from the ship, and are used to destroy ground-based enemies. Each green pickup will make the projectile larger until upgrading to the next Bomb type.
*'''Bomb''' is the starting Bomb type. It fires a single missile downwards from the front of the ship.
*'''Twin''' fires another bomb in front of the ship upwards
*'''Multi''' Bombs fire two additional bombs behind the ship.

===Armor===
Alongside Shots and Bombs is also Armor, which protects the Silver Hawk from multiple hits before being destroyed. Armor can be obtained by collecting '''blue''' pickups, obtained from blue-colored enemies. It takes '''6''' Arm pickups to upgrade. When an Armor pickup is collected when the player has no Armor, the player will always receive 3 hits, if they do, it will "repair" a certain number of units depending on the tier. On it's last hit, the Armor will shrink.
*'''Arm''' is the starting Armor tier. It can hold up to a maximum of 3 hits and repairs up to one lost unit.
*'''Super Arm''' is the second tier, which can hold up to 4 hits, and repair 2 units.
*'''Hyper Arm''' is the most powerful tier, where it holds up to 5 hits, and repairs 3 hits. Hyper Arm will also protect the ship from terrain.
Armor pickups are rather rare to come by during a play-through, so it's advised to use captured enemies to shield incoming damage instead.

===Capture Balls===
Capture Balls allow the ship to capture nearly any enemy in the game and use it on their side. Captured enemies will fire back toward other enemies with their firing pattern and behavior being dependent on what enemy was captured, with some acting as a shield instead of firing back. Captured enemies are not permanent, and will be destroyed if they take too much damage. Before this happens, the enemy can be turned into a powerful bomb that nearly covers the entire screen, or into an Alpha Beam which fires a huge, wide laser for a short period of time. The player starts with 3 capture balls by default and can be increased buy collecting purple power-ups found by destroyed '''purple''' colored enemies. Enemies that are are gold or have gold plating are immune to the Alpha Beam.

===Captains===
Around halfway through the stage, a Captain (Mid-Boss) may be encountered - a larger enemy with much more health and has gold-plating on their face. In order to capture a Captain, the armor must first be destroyed by firing enough shots onto it or by using a bomb from a captured enemy. Once the gold-plating is destroyed, firing a capture ball will capture the Captain. Aside from having more health than a common enemy, Captains have wilder attack patterns and can do a special move when a command input is performed with the joystick followed by a press of the shot button.

===Beam Dueling===
While the Alpha Beam is a very powerful tool for dealing with formations of enemies and large score multipliers, their best use is to counter Beta Beams fired from bosses. After a Boss has attacked the player enough, they will proceed to fire a Beta Beam towards the player. If the player has a captured enemy at the time, they can fire their Alpha Beam to counter the Beta Beam and engage a Beam Duel. This turns into a tug-of-war battle where the player must rapidly press the Shot button to overpower the Beta Beam and increase the size of the Alpha Beam, resulting in massive damage to the boss or their demise. Later Bosses will have more then one Beta Beam, and if all countered, can create even bigger counters and even higher score multipliers.

==Rank==
[[File:GDarius_TechRank.jpg|243px|thumb|right|Technical Rank Sheet shown in G-Darius HD.]]
There are two different types of rank in G-Darius: Gameplay Rank and Technical Rank.
===Gameplay Rank===
Like most shoot-em-up games, G-Darius has a ranking system that determines the difficulty of the game.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8W4ub-wRtE&t=690s</ref> Except for a few instances, Gameplay Rank never decreases and goes up at a rather linear pace as the game progresses until '''capping at 255'''.<br/>
<br/>The Rank at the start of the game is determined by the set difficulty.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Difficulty
! Starting Rank
|-
| Super Easy
| '''0'''
|-
| Very Easy
| '''16'''
|-
| Easy
| '''32'''
|-
| Normal
| '''48'''
|-
| Hard
| '''64'''
|-
| Very Hard
| '''80'''
|-
| Super Hard
|''' 96'''
|-
| Mania
| '''112'''
|}
Rank is increased by the following:
*Collecting a Shot or Bomb pickup: '''+2'''
**If the Shot pickup upgrades weapon to Laser: '''+4 instead.'''
**If the current Shot type is Laser or Wave, every 2nd red pickup will add '''+3 instead.'''
*Entering a Zone: '''+5'''
*Starting a Boss fight: '''+6'''
*2nd Player joining the game: '''+32'''
*If the player has a captured enemy, the Rank will '''increase by 16''' until the captured enemy is spent.
*Collecting an Arm pickup: '''+1'''
**If the player has no Arm power upon collecting an Arm pickup: '''+2 more.'''
*If Arm level is reset to base power (caused by a death): '''-2'''
The number of hits remaining on the player's Arm also affects Rank:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Arm Power Remaining
! Rank Modifier
|-
| 0
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +0
|-
| 1
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +1
|-
| 2
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +1
|-
| 3
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +2
|-
| 4
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +4
|-
| 5
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +8
|}
During Co-Op games, the player who has survived longer will determine the Rank.<br/>
<br/>Gameplay Rank affects the following:
*Enemy Health
*Enemy firing speed and projectile speed
*Boss Health
*Boss pattern aggression

===Technical Rank===
Technical Rank is a grading given to the player at the end of the game, ranging from 0-105. Technical Rank is determined by the following:
*'''Enemies Shot Down''': Total enemies shot down, either singular or in groups.
*'''VS Boss Shot Hit''': How many shots hit during a Boss fight.
*'''Cap. Survive''': The number of captured enemies that were used as Bombs or Alpha Beams.
*'''Pow-Up Got''': How many power-ups were picked up.
*'''Reached''': How far the player got in the game. Adds 3 points per Zone cleared.
*'''VS Boss Final Blow''': The best final blow inflicted to a boss. Letting a boss self-destruct is worth the least at 2 while a Fourfold Counter is worth the most at 10.
*'''Miss''': Losing lives negatively affects Technical Rank.
*'''Continue''': 1 point is lost per continue used.

==Scoring==
Scoring is multiplied by the following actions:
*Destroying the last enemy in a formation with a captured enemy: '''2X'''
*Destroying the last enemy in a formation with a Capture Ball Bomb: '''3X'''
*Destroying the last enemy in a formation formation with an Alpha Beam: '''4X'''
*Alpha Beam Single Counter: '''6X'''
*Alpha Beam Double Counter: '''8X'''
*Alpha Beam Triple Counter: '''10X'''
*Alpha Beam Fourfold Counter: '''12X'''
Upon finishing the game, extra bonuses are given:
*Remaining Lives: '''1,000,000 per extra life'''
*Captured Captains: '''300,000 per captured Captain'''
*Finishing off a Boss with an Alpha Beam (No Counter): '''200,000'''
*Finishing off a Boss with a Single Counter Alpha Beam: '''400,000'''
*Finishing off a Boss with a Double Counter Alpha Beam: '''600,000'''
*Finishing off a Boss with a Triple Counter Alpha Beam: '''800,000'''
*Finishing off a Boss with a Fourfold Counter Alpha Beam: '''1,000,000'''

==Zones==
As usual, G-Darius allows for players to select the zones they want to fight through, although it is scaled down to 15 zones rather than 26, and the zones are now denoted with letters of the Greek alphabet. G-Darius also adds Areas, which are denoted with letters of the English alphabet, and allow the player to select a different stage to fight through for the second half of the zone, as well as a different attack pattern for the stage boss battle. In Zones Gamma and Eta, this instead determines the parts of the stage boss that will be explored, as the bosses in Gamma and Eta are gargantuan battleship raids rather than traditional bosses.

Below is a list of stages and their respective zones, as well as the zone's name, areas and boss.

===Stage 1===
*'''Zone Alpha:''' Green Globe. Home to areas A and B. Boss is Eclipse Eye.

===Stage 2===
*'''Zone Beta:''' Giant Plant. Home to areas C and D. Boss is Tripod Sardine.
*'''Zone Gamma:''' Gigantic Ship. Home to areas E and F. Boss is Queen Fossil.

===Stage 3===
*'''Zone Delta:''' Granulated Star. Home to areas G and H. Boss is Dual Horn.
*'''Zone Epsilon:''' Galaxy Island. Home to areas I and J. Boss is Dimension Diver.
*'''Zone Zeta:''' Gravity Zero. Home to areas K and L. Boss is Absolute Defender.

===Stage 4===
*'''Zone Eta:''' Glowing Cave. Home to areas M and N. Boss is Fire Fossil.
*'''Zone Theta:''' Gallery. Home to areas O and P. Boss is Death Wings.
*'''Zone Iota:''' Glacier. Home to areas Q and R. Boss is Eight Feet Umbrella.
*'''Zone Kappa:''' Garden of Sky. Home to areas S and T. Boss is Eternal Triangle.

===Stage 5===
*'''Zone Lambda:''' Great Cliff. Home to areas U and V. Final boss is Lightning Coronatus.
*'''Zone Mu:''' Great Fortress I. Home to areas W and X. Final boss is Heavy Arms Shell.
*'''Zone Nu:''' Genesis. Home to areas Y and Z. Final boss is The Embryon.
*'''Zone Xi:''' Great Fortress II. Home to areas W' and X'. Final boss is Accordion Hazard.
*'''Zone Omicron:''' Grave of Culture. Home to areas U' and V'. Final boss is G.T.

==Story==
The game takes place thousands of years before the original Darius. Humankind has come to be not on Earth, but on the planet Amnelia, named after a man who had ended a massive war hundreds of years prior to the events of G-Darius.
The 21st Amnelian king Brezzar was a great scientist as well as a great leader. He discovered a mysterious energy source known as Kaju, and began to integrate it into society. However, it was a finite resource and responsible for the life of the plants on Amnelia. As a result, Amnelia eventually ran out of Kaju, and some ended up emigrating to its satellite Blazar.

50 years later, war has broken out between Amnelia and Blazar over occupation of Martha, another one of the planet's satellites. Amnelian scientists invented a weapon known as "All Nothing" or A.N., which seemed to harness "the power of the Devil". The weapon was used on the planet Blazar, resulting in the total destruction of Blazar, and the awakening of the Thiima. Three years after the destruction of Blazar, the mysterious alien race only known as the Thiima would attack Amnelia, sensing it as a threat not only to them but to all life in the galaxy. Early on, the Amnelians created the first model of the legendary Silver Hawk fighter, combining A.N. power with Amnelian and Thiiman technology to create an all-around deadly force. Pilots Sameluck Raida and Lutia Feen were selected to pilot the Silver Hawks and fight the Thiiman invaders.

In G-Darius, there are 5 different final zones, each with their own final boss and ending.

*Ending 1 (Zone Lambda): Lightning Coronatus is destroyed and unleashes a massive explosion. Sameluck is able to escape, but Lutia's ship is badly damaged, forcing her to bail out and abandon her craft. Sameluck then abandons his ship to be with her, and their stories end as Sameluck's lone Silver Hawk floats around in the void of space.
*Ending 2 (Zone Mu): Heavy Arms Shell is destroyed and unleashes a massive explosion. Both narrowly escape, but Sameluck pushes Lutia away to ensure her escape, killing Sameluck in the process. Lutia eventually crashes on the surface of Darius, where a strange man comes to her and offers her his hand. She accepts, and the credits roll.
*Ending 3 (Zone Nu): Sameluck and Lutia reach the Thiiman homeworld and break in, only to discover it is an entirely different universe to their own. At the heart of the mysterious world, they find the Embryon, a unit presumably used purely as a commander for the Thiima and a way for them to produce more and more combat units. Sameluck and Lutia defeat the Embryon in battle, causing him to explode like a battleship would - however, the Embryon's destruction results in the collapse of the foreign world, and the two pilots share one last kiss as they fade into nonexistence.
*Ending 4 (Zone Xi): Accordion Hazard is destroyed and unleashes a massive explosion. It almost results in the death of Sameluck and Lutia, but instead they are absorbed by a strange light that causes them to merge and become a literal silver hawk. The two escape unharmed.
*Ending 5 (Zone Omicron): G.T is defeated, but not completely destroyed. Sameluck and Lutia have won the battle, but are unable to return to Amnelia (likely due to a lack of fuel), so they instead land on the nearby planet of Darius. Meanwhile, a large craft belonging to the Belsar finds and salvages the remains of G.T, possibly leading to the creation of Great Thing and the rest of the Belsar army later down the line.

==Ver. 2==
G-Darius Ver. 2 is a updated version of G-Darius released in 1999, which includes several changes in order to make the game more difficult.<ref>https://darius.fandom.com/wiki/G-Darius#Ver.2</ref>
*Significantly increased difficulty. Enemies and Bosses are much more aggressive from the start.
*Tweaked Arm system. Armor no longer protects the Silver Hawk from an enemy collision unless they have upgraded Armor.
*Added a beginner mode similar to that of [[Gradius III]]. Lasts up to 3 Zones and death reduces all power-ups by 1 unit instead of being reset to base power.
*Increased amount of Captains per Zone. All Captains fire the spiraling laser attack from First Captain. Captured Captains have significantly less health.
*The player is no longer invulnerable when using a Capture Ball's bomb.
*Boss battles now have a timer, which lasts 3 minutes normally and 7 minutes for final bosses. Defeating the boss will award 10,000 points per second remaining.
*There are high score tables for every Zone.
*Continuing provides a pickup for Missile, Bomb, Arm, and Capture Ball instead of the former three in a combined power-up.

==Ports==
<gallery>
GDarius_PSXCover.jpg|US Playstation Cover
GDarius_PCCover.png|Japanese PC Cover
GDariusHD_SteamCover.jpg|G-Darius HD Cover on Steam
GdariusExhibitionscreen.jpg|a screenshot of the widescreen "Exhibition Mode" in the Steam release
GDARIUS-EXHLogo.png|Logo for Steam exclusive mode
</gallery>
G-Darius was ported to the original Playstation in 1998, which features a beginner mode, options to fight only the bosses, and FMV cutscenes. It was also ported to Windows in 2001.

Taito Legends 2 on the Playstation 2 includes G-Darius. It is a nearly perfect arcade port, but includes loading times, and very little slowdown.

The game would be re-released again in 2021 as G-Darius HD for Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4/5, as a stand-alone release and as part of the Darius Cozmic Revelation package. The remaster was developed by M2 and includes an option to play G-Darius at a higher resolution with a higher-poly Silver Hawk model, as well as a Capture Gallery, achievements, online leaderboards, and replays. An update in 2022 would add G-Darius Version 2, G-Darius "for consumer" (PS1 port), and added gadgets including capture and boss health bars. G-Darius HD was also released on Steam, which has an exclusive "Exhibition Mode" and sub-woofer support.

==References==

Darius

2023-06-29T06:50:30Z

TrafficLight7773: Added previous and next games

[[File:Darius JP flyer.webp|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = Darius
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = DariusExtralogoscreen.webp
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen for Darius Extra, a revised version released shortly after the release of the original Darius
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[Taito]]
|music = Zuntata
|program =
|art =
|design =
|releasedate = '''Arcade JP''': 1986 <br> '''Arcade NA''': 1987
|previousgame = [[G-Darius]] (Chronology)
|nextgame = [[Darius II]] (Release) <br> [[Darius Gaiden]] (Chronology)
}}

==Darius==
Darius is a horizontal side-scrolling arcade shoot-em-up developed and released by Taito in 1986. The game is widely known for its branching paths, colossal 3-screen arcade cabinets and boss designs based off of aquatic life (such as the iconic Great Thing, which is based on the Sperm Whale). Chronologically, the game takes place between G-Darius and Darius Gaiden, and is the second game in the series (although it was the first to be released).

==Gameplay Overview==
In the game, the player pilots the Silver Hawk fighter craft, which can fire either its primary Shot or its secondary Bomb. The Shot changes between Missile, Laser and Wave depending on tier and fires a forward projectile to do damage. The Bomb drops a number of small explosives in front of the Silver Hawk depending on upgrade tier. Additionally, the craft has an Arm unit that acts as a shield protecting the Silver Hawk from most forms of damage.
*'''<font color="#ff0000">Red</font>''' orbs upgrade the Shot. After being upgraded 6 times, the Shot increases a tier, changing what kind of attack it is. It starts with Tier 1 (Missile), a standard small round pellet-like shot. Tier 2 (Laser) exhibits a longer piercing shot, and Tier 3 (Wave) is a wide and highly-damaging projectile capable of damaging several enemies at once.
*'''<font color="#00c000">Green</font>''' orbs upgrade the Bomb. Like with the Shot, the Bomb increases a tier every 6 upgrades. Tier 1 fires a single bomb down in front of the player. Tier 2 fires two bombs in front of the player, one down and one up, and Tier 3 fires 4 bombs: 2 down (behind and in front), and 2 up (behind and in front again).
*'''<font color="#0000ff">Blue</font>''' orbs upgrade the Arm. The Arm is separated into its upgrades and strength, with strength simply being how many shots the Arm can take before it runs out, and upgrades being how many upgrades it has received. Tier 1 is regular green Arm, Tier 2 is silver Super Arm, and Tier 3 is golden Hyper Arm. Blue orbs grant 1 Arm strength with regular arm, and 2 with Super or Hyper arm. Additionally, Hyper arm will protect the Silver Hawk against normally lethal terrain collision; when bumping into obstacles, instead of exploding, the Silver Hawk will instead bounce back at two times the regular movement speed.

==Scoring==
Placeholder

==Stages==
Establishing a trend that would persist throughout the rest of the series, Darius allows you to choose the stages you wish to fight through. After defeating the boss in each zone, the boss tunnel splits into a fork and the player must fly into one of the forked paths to choose the next zone. However, most of the zones are the same, and every stage has the same boss for all of its respective zones (except for Stage 7, where the boss is different for most of the zones).

Additionally, there is no Zone Z' or Zone V' (unlike in Darius II and Gaiden). Instead, going all the way to the top sends the player to Zone Z, and going all the way to the bottom sends the player to Zone V. There is no difference between getting there by going all in one direction, and getting there the normal way.

Below is a list of stages and their respective zones.

===Stage 1===
*'''Zone A:''' Takes place in a green cave, an iconic first stage.
King Fossil is the boss for every Stage 1 zone.

===Stage 2===
*'''Zone B:''' Takes place in a large factory.
*'''Zone C:''' Takes place in a mountain range.
Electric Fan is the boss for every Stage 2 zone.

===Stage 3===
*'''Zone D:''' Takes place in a mountain range.
*'''Zone E:''' Takes place undersea near a reef.
*'''Zone F:''' Takes place near a rocky moon-like surface.
Dual Shears is the boss for every Stage 3 zone.

===Stage 4===
*'''Zone G:''' Takes place near a rocky moon-like surface.
*'''Zone H:''' Takes place in a beige cave.
*'''Zone I:''' Takes place in a large factory.
*'''Zone J:''' Takes place undersea near a base.
Fatty Glutton is the boss for every Stage 4 zone.

===Stage 5===
*'''Zone K:''' Takes place undersea near a reef.
*'''Zone L:''' Takes place in a large factory.
*'''Zone M:''' Takes place near a smooth moon-like surface.
*'''Zone N:''' Takes place in an orange cave.
*'''Zone O:''' Takes place in a volcanic region.
Keen Bayonet is the boss for every Stage 5 zone.

===Stage 6===
*'''Zone P:''' Takes place in a pink cave.
*'''Zone Q:''' Takes place in a mountain range.
*'''Zone R:''' Takes place undersea near a base.
*'''Zone S:''' Takes place near some undersea ruins.
*'''Zone T:''' Takes place near an uncanny moon-like surface.
*'''Zone U:''' Takes place in a large factory.
Iron Hammer is the boss for every Stage 6 zone.

===Stage 7===
*Going above Zone V teleports you to Zone Z.
*'''Zone V:''' Takes place near an uncanny moon-like surface. Strong Shell is the final boss.
*'''Zone W:''' Takes place in an arctic cavern. Green Coronatus is the final boss.
*'''Zone X:''' Takes place in an arctic mountain range. Octopus is the final boss.
*'''Zone Y:''' Takes place in a large factory. Cuttle Fish is the final boss.
*'''Zone Z:''' Takes place near some undersea ruins. Great Thing is the final boss.
*Going below Zone Z teleports you to Zone V.

==Story==
Darius is canonically the second game in the Darius series, taking place many hundreds of years after G-Darius. In it, humanity has peacefully settled on Darius and established their presence as the dominant civilization. However, an alien race known as the Belsar have invaded Darius, and threaten to wipe out humanity. In response, the pilots Proco and Tiat must fight through the enemy-controlled zones and clear a path from which the survivors of the invasion can escape Darius and find sanctuary elsewhere.

Below is a list of endings. Note that unlike Darius Gaiden, the duplicates of Zone Z and V are literally identical to Zone Z and V, and contain the same ending.
*'''Zone V''': Every single enemy has been destroyed and the war is over. Congratulations!
*'''Zone W''': Proco lands in a green field on an unnamed planet (presumably either Darius, Olga or Vadis) and gets out of his craft to look at the sunset.
*'''Zone X''': Proco and Tiat dock with a large craft (likely a human transport here to evacuate Proco and Tiat) and are beamed up onto its bridge.
*'''Zone Y''': Identical to Zone V's ending, except it has a massive arcade cabinet shown on the left of the screen.
*'''Zone Z''': The lights in a city on Darius' surface turn back on, and before the credits roll, Proco and Tiat can be seen flying above the skyline.

Darius Twin

2023-06-29T06:48:58Z

TrafficLight7773: Added previous game

[[File:DarTwin jp.webp|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = black
|title = Darius Twin
|background = #f8f8f8
|image = Darius Twin (Japan).png
|width = 224px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[Taito]]
|
|music = Norihiro Furukawa, Pochi
|
|program = Yasutaka Minami, Mituo Ogura, Junichiro Noguchi
|
|art = Keisuke Miyanaga, Tōru Kawaishi, Shin Saitō, Yoshihiro Wakita
|
|releasedate = November 1991
|
|previousgame = [[Darius II]] (Release) <br> [[Dariusburst Chronicle Saviours]] (Chronology)
|nextgame = [[Darius Force]] (Release and Chronology)
}}

__TOC__

== Darius Twin ==
'''Darius Twin''' is a horizontal-scrolling shoot-em-up by Taito released for the Super Nintendo/Famicom in November 1991. It is the first home Darius game to feature an original scenario, rather than be a port of one of the existing arcade games. It was re-released on the Wii Virtual Console in 2010, and again in the Darius Cozmic Collection (Console) release by M2 in 2019 for Switch and PS4.

== Gameplay Overview ==
=== Controls ===
----
* '''X:''' Shot
* '''A:''' Subweapon

=== Weapons ===
----
This section describes the weapons that you use in the game and elaborates on them further. Stuff like standard shots, focus shots, bombs, weapon pickups that differ in functionality, options, etc. ''This can be omitted if not relevant to the game in question.''

=== Items ===
----
This section describes any and all collectibles that you acquire in the game. An example being any '''Power Up items''' or '''Medals''' from ''[[Battle Garegga|Battle Garegga]]''. Include secret items such as extra lives as well.

=== Rank ===
----
If the game features a relevant [[rank]] system, use this section to discuss it in more detail. ''Otherwise, this can be omitted.''

=== Loops ===
----
If a game features a [[loop]] system, elaborate on it in detail here. ''Otherwise, omit this section.''

=== Scoring ===
----
This section should cover a general breakdown of the scoring system of the game. Feel free to put the meat and potatoes here. A great example of a scoring section is the ''[[DoDonPachi]]'' page.

== Strategy ==
<div style='text-align: center;'>
''See [[(Template Page)/Strategy]] for '''stage maps''', '''enemy and boss descriptions''', '''walkthroughs''', and '''advanced play strategies'''.''
</div>
----

This section details some particular strategic information about the game and its gameplay, such as hidden 1UPs and some basic scoring tricks. For anything particularly deep or highly complex, you can probably leave it in the Strategy page.

''(Currently evaluating whether or not this specific section should even include information outside of the separated Strategy pages. Worth thinking about as a community.)''

==Stages==
Much like other past and future games in the Darius series, Darius Twin allows the player to select which levels or "zones" to play; however, this system is heavily neutered in Darius Twin for two major reasons.
*The final zone is '''always the same''' and does not determine the ending.
*The map is not structured like other Darius games and instead only gives multiple options at certain points. Specifically, 2 to pick from after the first stage, only 1 option after the second, 2 after the third, 2 from a pool of 3 after the fourth, 1 from a pool of 2 after the fifth (if you take the middle option for Stage 5 you may pick between either of the sixth stages), and only 1 option for the final stage after the sixth stage.

Additionally, each zone is now assigned to a fictional planet in the Rakia galaxy, although this is purely decorative and has no actual effects on the level itself.

A list of stages and some info about them can be found below.

===Stage 1===
*'''Zone A:''' Planet Rilair. Takes place in a coastal area. Boss is Killer Higia.

===Stage 2===
*'''Zone B:''' Planet Danto. Takes place in outer space.
*'''Zone C:''' Planet Koloba. Very similar to Danto.
For every Stage 2 Zone, the boss is a double boss battle with Emperor Fossil and Queen Fossil.

===Stage 3===
*'''Zone D:''' Planet Lankus. Takes place in a large grey base. Boss is Demon Sword.

===Stage 4===
*'''Zone E:''' Planet Padi. Takes place in a mountainous area, similar to those found in some stages of the original [[Darius]].
*'''Zone F:''' Planet Rear. Similar to Zone E but with a different colour scheme.
For every Stage 4 Zone, the boss is Dual Shears SP.

===Stage 5===
*'''Zone G:''' Planet Narukini. Takes place in a mass of thick stormy clouds, similar to those found in some stages of [[Darius II]]. Boss is Dark Coronatus.
*'''Zone H:''' Planet Sabia. Takes place underwater in a coral reef. Boss is Red Mist.
*'''Zone I:''' Planet Karudo. Similar to Zone G but with a different colour scheme. Boss is also Dark Coronatus.
If the player previously played Zone E, they will get to choose between Narukini and Sabia. If they previously played through Zone F, they will get to choose between Sabia and Karudo.

===Stage 6===
*'''Zone J:''' Planet Noeru. Takes place in a massive enemy base the player must navigate through to reach Darius. Boss is Full Metal Shell.
*'''Zone K:''' Planet Horolain. Similar to Zone J, but scrolls upwards rather than downwards. Boss is Hyper Great Thing.
Noeru will be the only option if the player chose Narukini for Stage 5. Likewise, Horolain will be the only option if the player chose Karudo for Stage 5. If the player chose Sabia, they will get to choose between Noeru and Horolain.

===Stage 7===
*'''Zone L:''' Planet Darius. This is the only option for the final zone. Takes place in outer space, similar to the Stage 2 zones but significantly more difficult to compensate for the player's power.
The final boss is a double boss battle with Super Alloy Lantern and Great Tusk. However, instead of fighting the two at once, the battle is split up into two "halves". Super Alloy Lantern is the first half, once it is destroyed the player flies in and fights Great Tusk during the second half. Once Great Tusk is destroyed, the zone is over and the game is complete.

== Story ==
Taking place thousands of years after the events of the original Darius, Darius Twin sees the Belsar Army stage an assault on the planet Olga. The Silver Hawks are launched to put a stop to the invasion and drive back the Belsar forces.

Unlike most other Darius games, Darius Twin always ends with Zone L and always ends with the player destroying Super Alloy Lantern, then flying inside it to destroy the final boss Great Tusk.
There are 5 known endings for the game; how to get them is not precisely recorded, so we can only use our intuition.

*Ending 1 (Fake Ending): The game simply congratulates the player for clearing every level, then tells them to pull themself together and go for a better ending. This is likely "achieved" by running out of time during a bossfight.
*Ending 2 (Bad Ending): Darius is reclaimed, but the player/s are forced to return home to Olga instead of resettling on their mother planet as they were informed of the enemy fleet approaching Olga.
*Ending 3 (Neutral Ending): Darius is reclaimed, and the player/s go to rest after the long battle.
*Ending 4 (Good Ending): Darius is reclaimed, and the galaxy's allied forces establish bases on both Darius and Olga to secure power and maintain peace and order throughout the galaxy.
*Ending 5 (True Ending): Darius is reclaimed. In addition, the player/s are able to retrieve important information concerning the Belsar armies, which enables the allied forces to launch a full-scale assault on the Belsar home planet and end the war once and for all. This is achieved by clearing the game without deaths, and without running out of time during a bossfight.
----

== Development History ==
If available, you can include information here about the hardware, the development of the game, and its general reception. ''Try to have as much information in this section cited as possible.''
----

== Version Differences ==
The European and North American releases feature stereo audio, compared to the Japanese version's mono output.
----

== Trivia ==
* Cool facts and random tidbits go here!
----

== Gallery ==
<div style='text-align: center;'>
''See [[(Template Page)/Gallery]] for our collection of images and scans for the game.''
</div>
----

== Video References ==

If the game already has an existing entry in the [[:Category:Video_Index|Video Index]], please link to the page here. If you want to link to smaller clips perhaps not included in the Index, you can also leave them here.

== Other ==

We have support for wikitables, giving us the potential to add lots of cool info in a small box on the page somewhere, but we are not using them at the moment. I'm just leaving this here so we can have it handy in case we decide to actually use them. Feel free to not use this section.

{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"
|-
! [[(Template Page)]]
|-
| put your stuff here
|}

== References & Contributors ==
<small>
# Remember to include everyone that you can in your credits if they contributed information! | Having links handy is even better, when available.
# If you are a primary source of information for a game, be sure to link to your Shmup Wiki user account by including a link to your profile, such as: <nowiki>[[User:(You)|(Your Name)]]</nowiki>
## And while you're at it, make yourself a little profile page (if you want, of course)! As a contributor, you deserve to be recognized for your efforts.

* This template page was assembled by [[User:CHA-STG|CHA-STG]] and [[User:Plasmo|Plasmo]].</small>

Dariusburst Another Chronicle

2023-06-28T22:36:30Z

TrafficLight7773: Created the page. Very barebones, will need further expansion and information especially concerning weapons, scoring and Chronicle / Event mode.

[[File:DariusburstACEXFlyer1.webp|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = Dariusburst Another Chronicle
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = DBACEX_Title.webp
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen for the EX version of Another Chronicle EX
|imagescalepx = 180px

|publisher = Taito
|developer = Pyramid
|music = Zuntata
|releasedate = '''Old version''': December 17, 2010 <br> '''EX''': 2011
}}

==Dariusburst Another Chronicle==
'''Dariusburst Another Chronicle''' is a 2010 arcade shoot-em-up developed by Pyramid and published by Taito. The game is built on the same gameplay concepts as 2009's [[Dariusburst]], but is significantly expanded on, featuring various new ships and bosses, refined graphics, a brand-new Chronicle Mode and a much larger 32:9 aspect ratio. In 2011, a revised version of Another Chronicle known as Another Chronicle EX was released, including the new Event and Original EX Modes, some additional new ships, and new bosses. The Phase 2 version of Another Chronicle EX is considered to be the most up-to-date arcade version of Another Chronicle, and is still being ported to new systems today.

==Gameplay Overview==
Another Chronicle is built on the same core gameplay as [[Dariusburst]], but features many new enemies, ships and bosses, as well as a significantly larger playing field. As a result of the greater ship variety and colossal view, many levels and bosses have been adjusted and made stronger to keep up with the changes. For example, Great Thing has been given several new attacks and fires much more projectiles than it did in the original Dariusburst. Additionally, gameplay cycles are much shorter than usual, with games now taking only 3 levels to be finished rather than 5.

===Controls===
Placeholder

===Weapons===
Placeholder

===Armor===
Placeholder

===Captains===
Placeholder

==Rank==
Placeholder

==Scoring==
Placeholder

==Original Mode Zones==
Another Chronicle's zone system is greatly altered compared to that of previous games. Now, players choose from 3 different starting zones, and only have to go through 2 more zones after that before reaching the end. Another Chronicle EX also features Original Mode EX, following the same structure as Original Mode but with new, brutally difficult zones and bosses to truly test the player's limits, likely due to Original Mode being perceived as very easy compared to previous Darius games.

Below is a list of stages and their respective zones, as well as the zone's name, areas and boss. Structurally identical stages share the same obstacles and theming, but have a different enemy composition.

===Stage 1 (Original Mode)===
*'''Zone A:''' An allied hangar under assault by the Belsar. Boss is King Fossil. Music transitions into Zone D if Zone D is selected.
*'''Zone B:''' The ruins of an abandoned city. Structurally and musically identical to Zone A of the original Dariusburst. Boss is Hard Wheel.
*'''Zone C:''' An asteroid belt near Darius. Boss is Hyper Jaw.

===Stage 2 (Original Mode)===
*'''Zone D:''' An enemy-occupied area near Darius' satellite Kazumn, and above a hyperspace gateway. Boss is Lightning Claw. Music transitions into Zone H if Zone H is selected.
*'''Zone E:''' A hyperspace gateway near Darius' satellite Kazumn. Boss is Ancient Barrage.
*'''Zone F:''' A brief moment in the crosshairs between two sides of a battle between allied and Belsar fighters. Boss is Phantom Castle.
*'''Zone G:''' An abandoned scrapyard in the middle of nowhere. Boss is Brightly Stare.

===Stage 3 (Original Mode)===
*'''Zone H:''' A desert on the surface of an unknown planet. Final boss is Violent Ruler. The boss can be seen moving through the sands shortly before the fight begins.
*'''Zone I:''' An enemy facility, presumably dedicated to manufacturing battleships. Final boss is Thousand Knives.
*'''Zone J:''' An enemy base near an unknown planet. Final boss is Hungry Gluttons.
*'''Zone K:''' An enemy-controlled space station near their home planet. Final boss is Dark Helios.
*'''Zone L:''' The Belsar headquarters. Final boss is the iconic Great Thing.

===Stage 1 (Original EX Mode)===
*'''Zone O:''' Structurally and musically identical to Zone A from Original Mode. Boss is Knight Fossil.
*'''Zone P:''' A desert on the surface of an unknown planet, similar to Zone H but more upbeat. Boss is Glassy Stare.
*'''Zone Q:''' An enemy-occupied asteroid belt, possibly on the edge of the galaxy. Boss is Dark Flare.

===Stage 2 (Original EX Mode)===
*'''Zone R:''' Structurally and musically identical to Zone D. Boss is Lightning Flamberge.
*'''Zone S:''' Similar to Zone E, but with many more obstacles. Boss is Trident Jaw.
*'''Zone T:''' An upbeat vertical downscroller through an abandoned city. Boss is Thousand Edge.
*'''Zone U:''' An enemy base orbiting their home planet. Boss is Heavy Gluttons.

===Stage 3 (Original EX Mode)===
*'''Zone V:''' Structurally and musically identical to Zone H. Final boss is Golden Ruler.
*'''Zone W:''' A solemn vertical upscroller through an abandoned city. Final boss is Dual Spin.
*'''Zone X:''' A Belsar stronghold. Final boss is Dreadful Whip.
*'''Zone Y:''' A Belsar scrapyard, very similar to Zone G. Final boss is Slash Shell.
*'''Zone Z:''' An undersea Belsar base, reminiscent of Zone Z from the original [[Darius]]. Final boss is G.T.V.

==Story==
Another Chronicle takes place 6 years after Dariusburst. After an initial defense against a Belsar invasion following the release of a powerful computer virus onto the hyperspace network, the Silver hawks are now ready to begin the early stages of a counteroffensive against the Belsar.

Original Mode and Original Mode EX have very similar endings, although EX views the endings from a different perspective, and its endings for Zone X and Zone Z are altered from those for Zone J and Zone L.

*Ending 1 (Zone H / V): The Silver Hawks have successfully repelled the Belsar invasion, but must now return home to rest due to sustaining various damages during the battle.
*Ending 2 (Zone I / W): The Silver Hawks have completed their training and are ready for action. The game then prompts the player to enter Chronicle Mode.
*Ending 3 (Zone J): The Silver Hawks destroy one of the many Belsar battleships, but are now stuck in the crosshairs of an entire fleet of battleships. Suddenly, a fleet of backup fighters appears, and helps them to fight back against the battleships.
*Ending 4 (Zone K / Y): In a desperate hail-mary to end the fighting, an experimental Burst weapon is unleashed, destroying the enemy fleet and the enemy home planet. The survivors of the explosion pack up and migrate to a new system.
*Ending 5 (Zone L): The destruction of Great Thing causes every single Belsar battleship to shut down one after another, and the Silver Hawks are immortalised as heroes. You win!
*Ending 6 (Zone X): After destroying a large Belsar flagship, the stranded Silver Hawks are backed up by a massive fleet of backup fighters, and the counteroffensive is fully put into action. This is most likely the true ending that [[Dariusburst Chronicle Saviours]] follows, as the same yellow backup fighters can be seen in the first zone of the first mission of CS Mode, which follows the counteroffensive picking up directly after where Another Chronicle left off (Another Chronicle is set in DC 2010 and CS starts in DC 2010).
*Ending 7 (Zone Z): Following G.T.V's destruction, the Belsar battleships shut down and prepare to go back home. However, the military sternly warns major news outlets that this is not the end, for the Belsar will most likely rise once again.

==Ports==
Another Chronicle EX has been released for home consoles via [[Dariusburst Chronicle Saviours]] for PS4 and Steam, and Dariusburst Another Chronicle EX+ for PS4 and Switch. Chronicle Saviours features an arcade-perfect port of Another Chronicle EX alongside the rest of its content, albeit untranslated and lacking events, whereas Another Chronicle EX+ does not feature the Chronicle Saviours content but has events as well as the Murakamo and has been translated into English for the first time ever.

File:DBACEX Title.webp

2023-06-28T21:43:00Z

TrafficLight7773: Title screen for the 2011 shoot-em-up Dariusburst Another Chronicle EX, published by Taito.

== Summary ==
Title screen for the 2011 shoot-em-up Dariusburst Another Chronicle EX, published by Taito.
== Licensing ==
{{Non-free game screenshot}}

File:DariusburstACEXFlyer1.webp

2023-06-28T21:41:42Z

TrafficLight7773: Japanese flyer for the 2011 shoot-em-up Dariusburst Another Chronicle EX, published by Taito.

== Summary ==
Japanese flyer for the 2011 shoot-em-up Dariusburst Another Chronicle EX, published by Taito.
== Licensing ==
{{Non-free promotional}}

Darius

2023-06-28T21:29:09Z

TrafficLight7773:

[[File:Darius JP flyer.webp|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = Darius
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = DariusExtralogoscreen.webp
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen for Darius Extra, a revised version released shortly after the release of the original Darius
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[Taito]]
|music = Zuntata
|program =
|art =
|design =
|releasedate = '''Arcade JP''': 1986 <br> '''Arcade NA''': 1987
}}

==Darius==
Darius is a horizontal side-scrolling arcade shoot-em-up developed and released by Taito in 1986. The game is widely known for its branching paths, colossal 3-screen arcade cabinets and boss designs based off of aquatic life (such as the iconic Great Thing, which is based on the Sperm Whale). Chronologically, the game takes place between G-Darius and Darius Gaiden, and is the second game in the series (although it was the first to be released).

==Gameplay Overview==
In the game, the player pilots the Silver Hawk fighter craft, which can fire either its primary Shot or its secondary Bomb. The Shot changes between Missile, Laser and Wave depending on tier and fires a forward projectile to do damage. The Bomb drops a number of small explosives in front of the Silver Hawk depending on upgrade tier. Additionally, the craft has an Arm unit that acts as a shield protecting the Silver Hawk from most forms of damage.
*'''<font color="#ff0000">Red</font>''' orbs upgrade the Shot. After being upgraded 6 times, the Shot increases a tier, changing what kind of attack it is. It starts with Tier 1 (Missile), a standard small round pellet-like shot. Tier 2 (Laser) exhibits a longer piercing shot, and Tier 3 (Wave) is a wide and highly-damaging projectile capable of damaging several enemies at once.
*'''<font color="#00c000">Green</font>''' orbs upgrade the Bomb. Like with the Shot, the Bomb increases a tier every 6 upgrades. Tier 1 fires a single bomb down in front of the player. Tier 2 fires two bombs in front of the player, one down and one up, and Tier 3 fires 4 bombs: 2 down (behind and in front), and 2 up (behind and in front again).
*'''<font color="#0000ff">Blue</font>''' orbs upgrade the Arm. The Arm is separated into its upgrades and strength, with strength simply being how many shots the Arm can take before it runs out, and upgrades being how many upgrades it has received. Tier 1 is regular green Arm, Tier 2 is silver Super Arm, and Tier 3 is golden Hyper Arm. Blue orbs grant 1 Arm strength with regular arm, and 2 with Super or Hyper arm. Additionally, Hyper arm will protect the Silver Hawk against normally lethal terrain collision; when bumping into obstacles, instead of exploding, the Silver Hawk will instead bounce back at two times the regular movement speed.

==Scoring==
Placeholder

==Stages==
Establishing a trend that would persist throughout the rest of the series, Darius allows you to choose the stages you wish to fight through. After defeating the boss in each zone, the boss tunnel splits into a fork and the player must fly into one of the forked paths to choose the next zone. However, most of the zones are the same, and every stage has the same boss for all of its respective zones (except for Stage 7, where the boss is different for most of the zones).

Additionally, there is no Zone Z' or Zone V' (unlike in Darius II and Gaiden). Instead, going all the way to the top sends the player to Zone Z, and going all the way to the bottom sends the player to Zone V. There is no difference between getting there by going all in one direction, and getting there the normal way.

Below is a list of stages and their respective zones.

===Stage 1===
*'''Zone A:''' Takes place in a green cave, an iconic first stage.
King Fossil is the boss for every Stage 1 zone.

===Stage 2===
*'''Zone B:''' Takes place in a large factory.
*'''Zone C:''' Takes place in a mountain range.
Electric Fan is the boss for every Stage 2 zone.

===Stage 3===
*'''Zone D:''' Takes place in a mountain range.
*'''Zone E:''' Takes place undersea near a reef.
*'''Zone F:''' Takes place near a rocky moon-like surface.
Dual Shears is the boss for every Stage 3 zone.

===Stage 4===
*'''Zone G:''' Takes place near a rocky moon-like surface.
*'''Zone H:''' Takes place in a beige cave.
*'''Zone I:''' Takes place in a large factory.
*'''Zone J:''' Takes place undersea near a base.
Fatty Glutton is the boss for every Stage 4 zone.

===Stage 5===
*'''Zone K:''' Takes place undersea near a reef.
*'''Zone L:''' Takes place in a large factory.
*'''Zone M:''' Takes place near a smooth moon-like surface.
*'''Zone N:''' Takes place in an orange cave.
*'''Zone O:''' Takes place in a volcanic region.
Keen Bayonet is the boss for every Stage 5 zone.

===Stage 6===
*'''Zone P:''' Takes place in a pink cave.
*'''Zone Q:''' Takes place in a mountain range.
*'''Zone R:''' Takes place undersea near a base.
*'''Zone S:''' Takes place near some undersea ruins.
*'''Zone T:''' Takes place near an uncanny moon-like surface.
*'''Zone U:''' Takes place in a large factory.
Iron Hammer is the boss for every Stage 6 zone.

===Stage 7===
*Going above Zone V teleports you to Zone Z.
*'''Zone V:''' Takes place near an uncanny moon-like surface. Strong Shell is the final boss.
*'''Zone W:''' Takes place in an arctic cavern. Green Coronatus is the final boss.
*'''Zone X:''' Takes place in an arctic mountain range. Octopus is the final boss.
*'''Zone Y:''' Takes place in a large factory. Cuttle Fish is the final boss.
*'''Zone Z:''' Takes place near some undersea ruins. Great Thing is the final boss.
*Going below Zone Z teleports you to Zone V.

==Story==
Darius is canonically the second game in the Darius series, taking place many hundreds of years after G-Darius. In it, humanity has peacefully settled on Darius and established their presence as the dominant civilization. However, an alien race known as the Belsar have invaded Darius, and threaten to wipe out humanity. In response, the pilots Proco and Tiat must fight through the enemy-controlled zones and clear a path from which the survivors of the invasion can escape Darius and find sanctuary elsewhere.

Below is a list of endings. Note that unlike Darius Gaiden, the duplicates of Zone Z and V are literally identical to Zone Z and V, and contain the same ending.
*'''Zone V''': Every single enemy has been destroyed and the war is over. Congratulations!
*'''Zone W''': Proco lands in a green field on an unnamed planet (presumably either Darius, Olga or Vadis) and gets out of his craft to look at the sunset.
*'''Zone X''': Proco and Tiat dock with a large craft (likely a human transport here to evacuate Proco and Tiat) and are beamed up onto its bridge.
*'''Zone Y''': Identical to Zone V's ending, except it has a massive arcade cabinet shown on the left of the screen.
*'''Zone Z''': The lights in a city on Darius' surface turn back on, and before the credits roll, Proco and Tiat can be seen flying above the skyline.

Darius Gaiden

2023-06-20T22:07:06Z

TrafficLight7773: Added list of stages and their respective zones. Note: The apostrophes for some of the final zones mess with the formatting a bit, so the colons in the Stage 7 zone list weren't properly capitalised.

[[File:Darius_Gaiden_Arcade_Flyer.jpg|center]]
{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = Darius Gaiden
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = Darius-gaiden-title-screen.png
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[TAITO]]
|music = Hisayoshi Ogura, Katsuhisa Ishikawa
|program = Akira Kurabayashi, Naoto Omura, Hidetaka Harada
|art = Hisakazu Kato, Masami Kikuchi, Kentaro Matsumura, I.G Tatsunoko
|design = Hisakazu Kato, Akira Kurabayashi, Masami Kikuchi, Hidetaka Harada, Naoto Omura, Rintaroh Doi, Katsumi Kaneoka, Hisayoshi Ogura, Katsuhisa Ishikawa
|releasedate = '''Arcade''' <br> '''JP''': September 1994 <br> '''NA''': November 1994
}}

==Darius Gaiden==

'''Darius Gaiden''' is a horizontal-scrolling shoot-em-up released by [Taito] in 1994, and is the third arcade title in the [Darius] series. It is the first game in the series to use a single-screen display, and has a heavy focus on the use of psychadelic effects, bizzare atmosphere and an unusual soundtrack from TAITO's music team Zuntata to produce a dreamlike experience. The Stage 1 Track VISSIONERZ, composed by Hisayoshi Ogura, formed the basis for all of the music and the presentation of the game, with the opening lyrics telling the player to "Close your eyes..."

As is typical for the Darius series, Gaiden features Fish-based theming and bosses, Branching Pathways - with a total of 28 stages - and multiple endings.

Darius Gaiden has been ported to the Saturn, Playstation, and to the PS4 and Switch as part of the Darius Cozmic Collection.

Darius Gaiden chronologically takes place between the first two Darius games, which is where the name draws from - Gaiden is often used in Japanese titles, loosely translated as "Another story".

Darius Gaiden was followed up by '''G-Darius''' in 1997.

== Gameplay Overview ==
'''Darius Gaiden''' is a 2-button Horizontal shmup, which is fairly classical in style - with typically lower numbers of bullets on screen and a larger hitbox than '''Bullet Hell''' styled games. There is only one player ship, the '''Silver Hawk'''. The gameplay is largely focused around power-ups, with power ups for your main shot, the bombs shot from your ship, and a shield which can take 3 hits, upgrading to 4 and then 5 as more are picked up. Upon death, your shot power decreases one full stage whilst shield and bomb stage remains constant - except after new credits.

There are also Score Item Pickups, Screen-clearing item pickups, and Pickups containing extra lives. Enemies that drop all types of pickups, and those revealed when shot in secret parts of the stage, are '''Fixed''', though their quantities do vary depending on the route you take throughout the game.

The '''Black-Hole Bomb''' is a new addition to the series, and serves a very similar purpose to the traditional bombs found in most shmups - destroying weak enemies immedietly, providing invulnerability for a few seconds (except from stage hazards such as walls), and clearing the screen of enemy projectiles. However, the black hole bomb also sucks up and destroys floating pickup items and prevents pickup enemies dropping them. Bombs are lost upon death.

=== Controls ===
----
* '''A:''' Fires the main shot and standard diagonal bombs. When held, fires at about a 5hz, but can be tapped quickly for more rapid shots
* '''B:''' Fires the '''Black-Hole Bomb'''

Note: most arcade cabinets and ports of the game include an additional 30hz turbo fire button for the main shot in addition to the above two buttons.

=== Weapons ===
----
[[File:S1-1.jpg|thumb|How a player starts the game.]]
[[File:S max.jpg|thumb|A player maxed out on all weapons and shield.]]
Darius Gaiden has two main weapons, SHOT and BOMB. These can be upgraded individually by picking up the appropriate powerups. Understanding the differences between the different levels of shots is key to understanding the game and routing accordingly. Shots shoot forward from your ship, and Bombs fire forward and downward from your ship.

It takes 3 power-ups to move your SHOT or BOMB level up however SHOT levels have sub-levels for each powerup collected. The SHOT levels are:

*'''Missile''' is your beginning shot. It has two sub-levels, and Missile sub level 3 is the highest DPS weapon in the entire game. The only downside is that it does not pass through enemies or obstacles.
*'''Laser''' is a very weak shot, but it can pierce through enemies, including enemy armor that may attempt to block Missile shots (like Golden Ogre's scales in Zone A)
*'''Wave''' is also very weak, but these shots pass through enemies ''and'' obstacles in the environment. Sub-level 2 also reintroduces two missile shots- above and below the wave shot. This makes sub level 2 the most powerful of the three sub levels. These missile shots still do not pass through enemies or obstacles.
*'''Wave Lv. 2''' Is wider than LV. 1, with a higher DPS and better ROF. Sub-level 2 also includes two missile shots and thus, like in Lv. 1, sub-level 2 is more powerful than sub-level 3.
*'''Wave Lv. 3''' Is more powerful than Lv. 2, and introduces two smaller ships above and below yours that fire homing waves at enemies. Just like the previous two levels, sub-level 2 includes missile shots, making this the second-highest DPS weapon in the entire game, after Missile sub-level 3.

In Darius Gaiden Extra, there are two ''more'' sub levels beyond Wave Lv. 3 sub-level 2.

Each bomb level increases damage in addition to the following attributes. The BOMB levels are:
*'''Napalm Bomb Lv. 1'''
*'''Napalm Bomb Lv. 2'''
*'''Napalm Bomb Lv. 3'''
*'''Twin Napalm Lv. 1''' fires another bomb upwards from the ''front'' of the ship.
*'''Twin Napalm Lv. 2'''
*'''Twin Napalm Lv. 3'''
*'''Multi-Napalm Lv. 1''' fires two more bombs upwards and downwards from the ''back'' of the ship.
*'''Multi-Napalm LV. 2'''
*'''Multi-Napalm Lv. 3'''
*'''Multi-Homing Napalm Lv. 1''' Adds a homing element to all bombs fired.
*'''Multi-Homing Napalm Lv. 2'''
*'''Multi-Homing Napalm Lv. 3'''

=== Items ===
----
<gallery>
Red.jpg|Shot level upgrade
Blue.jpg|Shield upgrade
Green.jpg|Bomb upgrade
Silver.jpg|Score Bonus
Gold.jpg|Fullscreen Damage
Purple.jpg|Bomb Stock
Darius_Gaiden_1up.jpg|1Up
</gallery>

Players will encounter several item pickups throughout the course of the game. Once they appear, the move towards the left side of the screen while rotating in a circle. They are shaped like Silver Hawk emblems and their colour indicates their function, except for the 1up icon which is a miniature Silver Hawk inside a bubble.
*'''Red'''
Red power ups increase shot level, explained in detail in the weapons section above.

These are found by destroying red tinted enemies and asteroids and some boss parts.

*'''Blue'''
Blue power ups increase ARM (shield) level and restore shield strength.

At shield level 1, a shield pickup gives you a shield that can take 3 hits before being destroyed. However, it can only 'repair' a shield by one hit point. So if you have a shield with 1/3 hits left, a shield powerup will only restore it to 2/3 hits. If you destroy the shield completely, a new shield item will give you 3 new hit points.

Once you reach shield level 2, your shield changes colour to silver and increases to 4 hit capacity, and at level 3 it changes to gold and has 5 hit capacity.

Damaged level 2 ashields are repaired at 2 units per pickup instead of 1. Damaged level 3 shields are repaired at 3 units per pickup instead of 2.

These are found by destroying blue tinted enemies and asteroids and some boss parts.

*'''Green'''
Green powerups increase your bomb level by one unit. Once increased enough, your missile powers up and gains new attributes. Check above section for details.

These are found by destroying green tinted enemies and asteroids.

*'''Silver'''
Silver power ups give a random score bonus between 50-52100 pts. It should be noted that some guides falsely claim you can consistently gain specific score bonuses by collecting the powerup at specific angles. This is not true.

These are found by shooting specific parts of the environment, revealing their invisible location.

*'''Gold'''
Gold powerups deal damage to all enemies on screen. Usually enough to kill all enemies, but several are strong enough to withstand the damage in later stages.

These are found by shooting specific parts of the environment, revealing their invisible location.

*'''Purple'''
Purple power ups increase bomb stock by 1, to a maximum of 5.

These are found by destroying purple tinted enemies and asteroids.

*'''1up'''
Adds a life to the player's stock.

These are found by shooting specific parts of the environment, revealing their invisible location.

=== Scoring ===
----
This section should cover a general breakdown of the scoring system of the game. Feel free to put the meat and potatoes here. A great example of a scoring section is the ''[[DoDonPachi]]'' page.

== Strategy ==

===== Auto Fire/Turbo Fire =====
The game has a native autofire rate that its stages and bosses are designed around, but many players choose to use 30Hz turbofire which can speed-kill bosses and cause captured captains to behave improperly. It is included on most Gaiden cabinets, most notably at Taito's own game centers as well as in Darius Gaiden Extra Version - a special hack of the game featuring a marathon mode combining all zones into a single playthrough. Despite its ubiquity, it is perfectly possible to play the game without turbofire. This being said, auto-fire on its own needs to be managed. Many shot types have differing amounts of bullets allowed to persist on-screen, meaning without point blanking you will get "clumps" of shots that do a poor job covering enemies during the stages. Rapid-fire also raises rank at a higher rate than regular shots- a small consideration as well (see: rank section below). Due to this, it is wise to have a button for regular and turbo fire and the switch between them as the situation permits (this is the standard for arcade cabinets).

[[File:Dgaidenrank.jpg|thumb|King Fossil's bullet patterns change size, shape and speed when your rank increases]]
===== Rank System =====
Darius Gaiden uses a rank system for difficulty. Rank ranges from 8-256, and the higher the rank, the more difficult the game becomes.

Rank can affect the following:
*bullet speed
*The amount of bullets an enemy fires
*The size of the bullets fired

Rank is affected by the following actions
*Passage of time
*Firing shots
*collecting power ups
*destroying entire enemy formations
*breaking boss parts

Breaking boss parts tends to cause the sharpest rank increase, and since rank increases with each shot fired, 30hz turbofire can increase rank significantly faster than standard autofire.

Upon death, rank is temporarily halved before quickly climbing up to where it was before death.

===== Scoring =====
At the end of a game, you are given bonuses for each of the following:
*Remaining lives - 1,000,000 points per life left
*Remaining bombs - 300,000 points per bomb left
*Successful Captain Capture - 200,000 points per capture

This means that in most runs your bonus score will vastly outweigh your regular score, so captain capturing, no-missing, and no-bombing are requirements to attempt high score play (route dependent).

Boss parts can be broken for 30,000 bonus points, except for Risk Storage. If you destroy Risk Storage's tail you are granted an extra 900,000 points.

Score items give you a random score bonus up to 51,200 points. It is completely random and there is no way to guarantee a certain amount of points.

===== Boss Strategies =====
One of the main elements that separates score runs from survival runs is boss milking. Almost every boss has destructible body parts or spawns destructible enemies that can be milked for score. Each Boss also has a timer that, when it runs out, summons the "Yazuka Takami". However, these cubes aren't worth any points at all and therefore can't be milked for additional score.

Stage V is the easiest final stage, and most survival-routes end there, as its final boss, '''RISK STORAGE''' being easily the least tanky and difficult of the final bosses. Stage Z', meanwhile, is the hardest final stage, with '''GREAT THING''' effectively serving as the [True Last Boss] of the game. Stage V' is also very difficult with '''STORM CAUSER''' serving as the second hardest boss.

''(Currently evaluating whether or not this specific section should even include information outside of the separated Strategy pages. Worth thinking about as a community.)''

===== General Tips =====
*Understand the weapons system and plan your weapon pickups around the bosses you have to kill. This is useful for both survival and score. For example, many players avoid the final shot powerup since it has a lower DPS than the penultimate shot level.
*locate secret score items, bomb stock, screen clear items, and lives in your route. Every route has two 1UPs that must be shot, revealed, and collected. There are also hidden score items and screen clear items that are useful.
*This game has obstacles- use them to block enemy shots and use the wave weapon to shoot through them.
*Several Captains can use special attacks through fighting game inputs. If you are playing Cozmic Collection they are displayed on the gadget when you capture them.
*ACEHLQV and ABDGLQV are popular routes, with the former being slightly more difficult than the latter, and having higher score potential.

==Stages==
Like many other games in the Darius series, Darius Gaiden allows you to pick which Zone to play through in each stage. There are 28 Zones total across 7 stages.

Below is a list of stages and their respective Zones.

===Stage 1 (Planet Vadis)===
*'''Zone A:''' An abandoned city on Vadis, now occupied by the Belsar. Boss is Golden Ogre.
Stage 1 takes place on the surface of Vadis.

===Stage 2 (Satellite Contrary)===
*'''Zone B:''' A vast expansive forest on Contrary. Boss is Ancient Dozer.
*'''Zone C:''' An ocean reef on Contrary. Boss is King Fossil.
Stage 2 takes place on Contrary, a satellite orbiting Vadis.

===Stage 3 (Satellite Contrary)===
*'''Zone D:''' An asteroid field near an enemy space station. Boss is Folding Fan.
*'''Zone E:''' A large enemy-occupied space station. Boss is Electric Fan.
*'''Zone F:''' A battlefield in open space. Boss is Electric Fan.
Stage 3 takes place near Contrary, a satellite orbiting Vadis.

===Stage 4 (Warp Zone)===
*'''Zone G:''' An unknown region of hyperspace infected by a living plague. Boss is Prickly Angler.
*'''Zone H:''' Takes place in open hyperspace. Boss is Neon Light Illusion.
*'''Zone I:''' A cave located in hyperspace. Boss is Prickly Angler.
*'''Zone J:''' An enemy-controlled region of hyperspace. Boss is Neon Light Illusion.
Stage 4 takes place in a hyperspace warp zone between Vadis and Darius' systems. After a brief moment in open space, a warping effect will be triggered, and the real level begins.

===Stage 5 (Satellite Weather)===
*'''Zone K:''' Takes place near a series of destroyed space stations orbiting Weather. Boss is Fatty Glutton.
*'''Zone L:''' Takes place near the surface of what is presumably Weather. Boss is Double Dealer.
*'''Zone M:''' A brief moment amongst the asteroids. Boss is Titanic Lance. Due to the absolutely massive size of Titanic Lance, its boss fight is structured like a battleship raid and makes up most of the level. It is likely a successor to Peace Destroyer from [[Darius Force]].
*'''Zone N:''' Takes place within the asteroid ring orbiting Darius. Boss is Double Dealer.
*'''Zone O:''' Similar to Zone K. Boss is Fatty Glutton.
Stage 5 takes place near Weather, a satellite orbiting Darius.

===Stage 6 (Planet Darius)===
*'''Zone P:''' A series of ruins on the sea floor. Boss is Crusty Hammer.
*'''Zone Q:''' An arctic cave beneath Darius' surface. Boss is Deadly Crescent.
*'''Zone R:''' A series of large mountains and cliffs. Boss is Crusty Hammer.
*'''Zone S:''' A vast desert with various ruins. Boss is Deadly Crescent.
*'''Zone T:''' A massive ruined city on Darius. Boss is Crusty Hammer.
*'''Zone U:''' Similar to Zone P. Boss is Deadly Crescent.
Stage 6 takes place on the surface of Darius. Early into the level, the Silver Hawk will begin to burn up on re-entry. This has no effect on gameplay.

===Stage 7 (Planet Darius)===
*'''Zone Z':''' An abandoned city on Darius, now under Belsar control. Final boss is Great Thing.
*'''Zone V:''' A Belsar stronghold, deep beneath the sea. Final boss is Risk Storage.
*'''Zone W:''' A massive cavern, similar to Zone A of the original [[Darius]] from 1986. Final boss is Vermillion Coronatus.
*'''Zone X:''' The enemy headquarters, floating in the clouds of Darius' atmosphere. Final boss is Hysteric Empress.
*'''Zone Y:''' A thick jungle, home to the native creatures of Darius but occupied by the Belsar. Final boss is Odious Trident.
*'''Zone Z:''' A volcano on Darius' surface. Final boss is Curious Chandelier.
*'''Zone V':''' The eye of a storm out in the seas of Darius. Final boss is Storm Causer.
Stage 7 takes place on the surface of Darius.

== Story ==
Taking place after the original Darius, Gaiden focuses on the refugees of the Planet Darius after the climactic battle of the original game, who having left for the planet '''Vadis''', now attempt to return to their home planet. Upon doing so, they are ambushed by a '''Belsar''' fleet, which destroys most of the Silver Hawks, leaving only two remaining Silver Hawks, piloted by '''Keith Arden (1P Side)''' and '''Anna Steiner (2P Side)''', where the game begins...

Gaiden features 7 Endings, most of which focus on the dreamlike nature of the game itself. The endings to Zone Z' and V' can probably be seen as the game's good endings, whilst the rest are more ambiguous.

*'''Zone Z'''': Upon defeating '''GREAT THING''', Keith and Anna witness the battlefield and desolation they've thought through give way to a forest scene, and they are unsure if what they have just fought through is real or a dream.

*'''Zone V''': Going deep underwater to defeat '''RISK STORAGE''', the Silver Hawks are destroyed by water pressure, fall to the bottom of the sea, and are covered by the Marine snow.

*'''Zone W''': Reveals that Darius Gaiden is just a game Keith and Anna were playing in the arcade, with Keith cheering in triumph. Essentially a joke ending.

*'''Zone X''': Destroying the Belsar citidel, Keith and Anna ruminate that the battle isnt over yet, as shadows lurk in the clouds.

*'''Zone Y''': Upon defeating '''ODIOUS TRIDENT''', Keith and Anna land in a forest similar to that shown in the ending to Zone Z', and are welcomed by the native species, being lauded for destroying the enemies that were destroying the forests of Darius.

*'''Zone Z''': Defeating '''CURIOUS CHANDELIER''' and the rest of the Belsar fleet, Anna and Keith leave Darius, only to find that the fighting had caused so much damage that Darius explodes. Keith and Anna are at a loss what to do.

*'''Zone V'''': Defeating '''STORM CAUSER''' clears the huge storm around the stage and reveals the lost fleet of refugee ships from the opening of the game, which settle on Darius once again. Peace is restored. Definetly the "best" ending, and seeing as the Zone's inclusion as the final stage in the EXTRA version, is the closest to a "true ending."

== Version Differences ==
* '''Darius Gaiden Extra Version''', an official hack, rearranges the stage order of the original game and provides a 30Hz autofire by default for pressing A. As a special extra, starting the game as 2P side starts a version of the game where all 28 stages are played in alphabetical order, ending with stage V' and the boss '''STORM CAUSER''', and also utilising its ending.

== Ports ==
<gallery>
Dariusgsaturn.jpg|The US Saturn cover
Dariusgpc.jpg|Windows 95 ver of Darius Gaiden
Dariusccswitchjpn.png|The original Japanese release of Cozmic Collection on Switch
</gallery>
Darius Gaiden was released on the SEGA Saturn, PS1, PS2, PC (Windows 95), Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PS4.

The original Saturn release runs slower than the arcade game and also has some slowdown. Before Cozmic Collection released, this was the best version of the game available on home consoles and is still one of the better ports of the game- especially if playing on a CRT.

The PS1 port suffers from more slowdown, jerky scrolling, and other graphical issues and features a new FMV intro sequence instead of the arcade original intro.

The Windows 95 version is essentially the Saturn version but it has different sound effects and slight loading hitches before bosses.

The PS2 and Xbox versions are emulated and part of Taito Legends 2- an arcade compilation disc. The PS2 version does not run properly and does not have progressive video. The xbox version has progressive video and does not have the performance issues of the PS2 version.

In 2019, Darius Cozmic Collection was released in Japan for Nintendo Switch and in 2020 for PS4. It includes a new port of Darius Gaiden with credits to the M2 Shottriggers team. This port is 100% arcade faithful and features save states, high score leaderboards, gadgets for rank, score, boss health, ARM level, and more. A training mode was added in a patch that allows stage, rank, weapon and shield selection. This training mode is included as default in the DL and english versions of the game. It comes highly recommended, even if you already own the Saturn version or a PCB.

== Trivia ==
* According to a Doujin roundtable interview published in Shooting Gameside #1<ref>http://shmuplations.com/doujin/</ref>, Darius Gaiden is one of ZUN's favorite shmups. Besides, he has been influenced by this game and its focus on memorable boss battles when creating Touhou Project, according to the ''Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red'' interview.<ref>https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Bohemian_Archive_in_Japanese_Red/Interview</ref>
* This is one of the last products ever released baring the I.G Tatsunoko name before they renamed themselves Production I.G

----

== Gallery ==
<div style='text-align: center;'>
''See [[Darius Gaiden/Gallery]] for our collection of images and scans for the game.''
</div>
----

== Other ==

We have support for wikitables, giving us the potential to add lots of cool info in a small box on the page somewhere, but we are not using them at the moment. I'm just leaving this here so we can have it handy in case we decide to actually use them. Feel free to not use this section.

{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"
|-
! [[(Template Page)]]
|-
| put your stuff here
|}

== References & Contributors ==
<small>
# Remember to include everyone that you can in your credits if they contributed information! | Having links handy is even better, when available.
# If you are a primary source of information for a game, be sure to link to your Shmup Wiki user account by including a link to your profile, such as: <nowiki>[[User:(You)|(Your Name)]]</nowiki>
## And while you're at it, make yourself a little profile page (if you want, of course)! As a contributor, you deserve to be recognized for your efforts.

* This template page was assembled by [[User:CHA-STG|CHA-STG]] and [[User:Plasmo|Plasmo]].</small>
* Ports, Strategy, Weapons and Items sections writte by [[User:Gojiguy|Gojiguy]]

[[Category:Horizontal orientation]]

Darius Force

2023-06-17T21:30:46Z

TrafficLight7773: Minor formatting consistencies + added more detail to Zone O’s ending

[[File:DariusForceJPCover.webp|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = Darius Force / Super Nova
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = Darius_Force_title_menu.webp
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[Taito]]
|music =
|program =
|art =
|design =
|releasedate = '''JP''': September 23rd, 1993 <br> '''NA''': December 1993
}}

==Darius Force==
'''Darius Force''' is a side-scrolling shoot-em-up developed by Taito and Act Japan and released in 1993 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in North America as Super Nova. While this game is similar to its predecessors in many ways, it also makes some massive changes; notably, 0 bosses in Darius Force are returning bosses from previous games (with Thunderbolt Fans and Great Force being mutilated versions of previous bosses), with many not being sea life at all, and none of them would ever reappear in another Darius Game. Additionally, in a series first, Darius Force allows the player to play as 3 different playable ships. It also has a massively revamped Zone map, completely different from any other Darius game.

==Gameplay Overview==
Darius Force is notably slower-paced than other Darius games, likely to balance out the small aspect ratio and high stage difficulty. It still has the basic concepts of collecting powerups to gain firepower, although it should be noted that ALL powerups are completely lost on death, and the primary Shot and secondary Bomb cannot be used at the same time unless you meet a certain level of firepower, in which case using both at once will result in the Shot being weakened drastically.

===Controls===
Placeholder

===Weapons===
Placeholder

===Armor===
Placeholder

==Rank==
Placeholder

==Scoring==
Placeholder

==Zones==
Darius Force's stage progression is possibly the most unique out of any game in the Darius series. Instead of zones being organized in a sound wave, they are now organized in a parallelogram, with the player starting in the bottom left corner (Zone A) and finishing when they reach any stage on the right edge of the parallelogram (Zone L, N or O).

A list of stages and their respective zones can be found below, as well as an image of the Zone map.

===Zone Map===
[[File:DariusForcemap.webp]]

===Bottom Row===
*'''Zone A:''' A strange asteroid-filled nebula. Boss is Bio Hazard.
*'''Zone C:''' A large enemy space station that rotates during gameplay. Boss is Mudy Crystal.
*'''Zone F:''' A blue-tinted enemy base. Boss is Spiral Snail.
*'''Zone I:''' An enemy-controlled cave. Boss is Devil Fish.
*'''Zone L:''' A secret underground enemy lab. Final boss is Zandick II.

===Middle Row===
*'''Zone B:''' Similar to Zone I. Boss is Mudy Crystal.
*'''Zone E:''' An enemy-controlled forest giving way to a large cave. Boss is Thunderbolt Fans.
*'''Zone H:''' Similar to Zone A. Boss is Peace Destroyer, a colossal multi-stage battleship raid-style fight and a possible predecessor to Titanic Lance from [[Darius Gaiden]].
*'''Zone K:''' Similar to Zone F. Boss is Stealther, one of the few non-sea life bosses in the Darius series, instead being based on a chameleon.
*'''Zone N:''' An area of space near an unknown planet's atmosphere. Final boss is Megalopros, also being one of the few non-sea life bosses in the Darius series, instead being based on a pteranodon.

===Top Row===
*'''Zone D:''' Similar to Zones F and K. Boss is Spiral Snail.
*'''Zone G:''' Similar to Zones A and H. Boss is Devil Fish.
*'''Zone J:''' Similar to Zone C. Boss is Stealther.
*'''Zone M:''' A massive enemy-controlled cave. Boss is Great Force.
*'''Zone O:''' Presumably the enemy headquarters. Final boss is Galst Vic, the only boss in the series to be based on Homo Sapiens.

==Story==
The game takes place an unknown amount of time after Dariusburst, at which point the Belsar are long-gone and the legendary Proco and Tiat are forgotten. A new enemy (likely related to the Belsar) has arisen, and the player must fight through their defense zones to bring an end to the invasion.

Below is a list of endings.

*Ending 1 (Zone L): The enemy has been repelled for now and humanity is eager to continue the fight. Shows a man assisting with the takeoff of a Silver Hawk.
*Ending 2 (Zone N): An unknown narrator states that "peace is not inevitable", but that every human heart yearns for it. Shows a strange white hawk flying over the horizon.
*Ending 3 (Zone O): The narrator delivers a short speech about how humanity has always fought back against threats (similar to the one given in the game’s intro), then instructs the player to continue the fight and states that “peace will return again”. Shows the player flying in space away from a series of large explosions, presumably the destroyed enemy headquarters.

Darius Force

2023-06-16T08:03:46Z

TrafficLight7773: Changed the info box and the displayed cover to be about Darius Force and not G-Darius because I copied this basic template over fron the G-Darius page and forgot to change those two. Whoops!

[[File:DariusForceJPCover.webp|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = Darius Force / Super Nova
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = Darius_Force_title_menu.webp
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[Taito]]
|music =
|program =
|art =
|design =
|releasedate = '''JP''': September 23rd, 1993 <br> '''NA''': December 1993
}}

==Darius Force==
'''Darius Force''' is a side-scrolling shoot-em-up developed by Taito and Act Japan and released in 1993 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in North America as Super Nova. While this game is similar to its predecessors in many ways, it also makes some massive changes; notably, 0 bosses in Darius Force are returning bosses from previous games (with Thunderbolt Fans and Great Force being mutilated versions of previous bosses), with many not being sea life at all, and none of them would ever reappear in another Darius Game. Additionally, in a series first, Darius Force allows the player to play as 3 different playable ships. It also has a massively revamped Zone map, completely different from any other Darius game.

==Gameplay Overview==
Darius Force is notably slower-paced than other Darius games, likely to balance out the small aspect ratio and high stage difficulty. It still has the basic concepts of collecting powerups to gain firepower, although it should be noted that ALL powerups are completely lost on death, and the primary Shot and secondary Bomb cannot be used at the same time unless you meet a certain level of firepower, in which case using both at once will result in the Shot being weakened drastically.

===Controls===
Placeholder

===Weapons===
Placeholder

===Armor===
Placeholder

==Rank==
Placeholder

==Scoring==
Placeholder

==Zones==
Darius Force's stage progression is possibly the most unique out of any game in the Darius series. Instead of zones being organized in a sound wave, they are now organized in a parallelogram, with the player starting in the bottom left corner (Zone A) and finishing when they reach any stage on the right edge of the parallelogram (Zone L, N or O).

A list of stages and their respective zones can be found below, as well as an image of the Zone map.

===Zone Map===
[[File:DariusForcemap.webp]]

===Bottom Row===
*'''Zone A:''' A strange asteroid-filled nebula. Boss is Bio Hazard.
*'''Zone C:''' A large enemy space station that rotates during gameplay. Boss is Mudy Crystal.
*'''Zone F:''' A blue-tinted enemy base. Boss is Spiral Snail.
*'''Zone I:''' An enemy-controlled cave. Boss is Devil Fish.
*'''Zone L:''' A secret underground enemy lab. Final boss is Zandick II.

===Middle Row===
*'''Zone B:''' Similar to Zone I. Boss is Mudy Crystal.
*'''Zone E:''' An enemy-controlled forest giving way to a large cave. Boss is Thunderbolt Fans.
*'''Zone H:''' Similar to Zone A. Boss is Peace Destroyer, a colossal multi-stage battleship raid-style fight and a possible predecessor to Titanic Lance from [[Darius Gaiden]].
*'''Zone K:''' Similar to Zone F. Boss is Stealther, one of the few non-sea life bosses in the Darius series, instead being based on a chameleon.
*'''Zone N:''' An area of space near an unknown planet's atmosphere. Final boss is Megalopros, also being one of the few non-sea life bosses in the Darius series, instead being based on a pteranodon.

===Top Row===
*'''Zone D:''' Similar to Zones F and K. Boss is Spiral Snail.
*'''Zone G:''' Similar to Zones A and H. Boss is Devil Fish.
*'''Zone J:''' Similar to Zone C. Boss is Stealther.
*'''Zone M:''' A massive enemy-controlled cave. Boss is Great Force.
*'''Zone O:''' Presumably the enemy headquarters. Boss is Galst Vic, the only boss in the series to be based on Homo Sapiens.

==Story==
The game takes place an unknown amount of time after Dariusburst, at which point the Belsar are long-gone and the legendary Proco and Tiat are forgotten. A new enemy (likely related to the Belsar) has arisen, and the player must fight through their defense zones to bring an end to the invasion.

Below is a list of endings.

*Ending 1 (Zone L): The enemy has been repelled for now and humanity is eager to continue the fight. Shows a man assisting with the takeoff of a Silver Hawk.
*Ending 2 (Zone N): An unknown narrator states that "peace is not inevitable", but that every human heart yearns for it. Shows a strange white hawk flying over the horizon.
*Ending 3 (Zone O): The enemy headquarters has been destroyed and victory is secured.

Darius Force

2023-06-16T07:59:57Z

TrafficLight7773: still a huge work in progress

File:DariusForcemap.webp

2023-06-16T07:33:24Z

TrafficLight7773: The Zone map for the 1993 SNES game Darius Force by Taito, released in North America as Super Nova.

== Summary ==
The Zone map for the 1993 SNES game Darius Force by Taito, released in North America as Super Nova.
== Licensing ==
{{Non-free game screenshot}}

File:SuperNovaNACover.webp

2023-06-16T07:30:03Z

TrafficLight7773: The cover art for the 1993 SNES game Super Nova by Taito, originally released in Europe and Japan as Darius Force.

== Summary ==
The cover art for the 1993 SNES game Super Nova by Taito, originally released in Europe and Japan as Darius Force.
== Licensing ==
{{Non-free game cover}}

File:DariusForceJPCover.webp

2023-06-16T07:29:21Z

TrafficLight7773: The Japanese cover for the 1993 SNES game Darius Force by Taito.

== Summary ==
The Japanese cover for the 1993 SNES game Darius Force by Taito.
== Licensing ==
{{Non-free game cover}}

File:Darius Force title menu.webp

2023-06-16T07:28:24Z

TrafficLight7773: The title screen for the 1993 SNES game Darius Force by Taito, released in North America as Super Nova.

== Summary ==
The title screen for the 1993 SNES game Darius Force by Taito, released in North America as Super Nova.
== Licensing ==
{{Non-free game screenshot}}

Darius Twin

2023-06-16T07:24:51Z

TrafficLight7773: Added Japanese cover art

[[File:DarTwin jp.webp|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = black
|title = Darius Twin
|background = #f8f8f8
|image = Darius Twin (Japan).png
|width = 224px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[Taito]]
|
|music = Norihiro Furukawa, Pochi
|
|program = Yasutaka Minami, Mituo Ogura, Junichiro Noguchi
|
|art = Keisuke Miyanaga, Tōru Kawaishi, Shin Saitō, Yoshihiro Wakita
|
|releasedate = November 1991

|nextgame = [[Darius Force]]
}}

__TOC__

== Darius Twin ==
'''Darius Twin''' is a horizontal-scrolling shoot-em-up by Taito released for the Super Nintendo/Famicom in November 1991. It is the first home Darius game to feature an original scenario, rather than be a port of one of the existing arcade games. It was re-released on the Wii Virtual Console in 2010, and again in the Darius Cozmic Collection (Console) release by M2 in 2019 for Switch and PS4.

== Gameplay Overview ==
=== Controls ===
----
* '''X:''' Shot
* '''A:''' Subweapon

=== Weapons ===
----
This section describes the weapons that you use in the game and elaborates on them further. Stuff like standard shots, focus shots, bombs, weapon pickups that differ in functionality, options, etc. ''This can be omitted if not relevant to the game in question.''

=== Items ===
----
This section describes any and all collectibles that you acquire in the game. An example being any '''Power Up items''' or '''Medals''' from ''[[Battle Garegga|Battle Garegga]]''. Include secret items such as extra lives as well.

=== Rank ===
----
If the game features a relevant [[rank]] system, use this section to discuss it in more detail. ''Otherwise, this can be omitted.''

=== Loops ===
----
If a game features a [[loop]] system, elaborate on it in detail here. ''Otherwise, omit this section.''

=== Scoring ===
----
This section should cover a general breakdown of the scoring system of the game. Feel free to put the meat and potatoes here. A great example of a scoring section is the ''[[DoDonPachi]]'' page.

== Strategy ==
<div style='text-align: center;'>
''See [[(Template Page)/Strategy]] for '''stage maps''', '''enemy and boss descriptions''', '''walkthroughs''', and '''advanced play strategies'''.''
</div>
----

This section details some particular strategic information about the game and its gameplay, such as hidden 1UPs and some basic scoring tricks. For anything particularly deep or highly complex, you can probably leave it in the Strategy page.

''(Currently evaluating whether or not this specific section should even include information outside of the separated Strategy pages. Worth thinking about as a community.)''

==Stages==
Much like other past and future games in the Darius series, Darius Twin allows the player to select which levels or "zones" to play; however, this system is heavily neutered in Darius Twin for two major reasons.
*The final zone is '''always the same''' and does not determine the ending.
*The map is not structured like other Darius games and instead only gives multiple options at certain points. Specifically, 2 to pick from after the first stage, only 1 option after the second, 2 after the third, 2 from a pool of 3 after the fourth, 1 from a pool of 2 after the fifth (if you take the middle option for Stage 5 you may pick between either of the sixth stages), and only 1 option for the final stage after the sixth stage.

Additionally, each zone is now assigned to a fictional planet in the Rakia galaxy, although this is purely decorative and has no actual effects on the level itself.

A list of stages and some info about them can be found below.

===Stage 1===
*'''Zone A:''' Planet Rilair. Takes place in a coastal area. Boss is Killer Higia.

===Stage 2===
*'''Zone B:''' Planet Danto. Takes place in outer space.
*'''Zone C:''' Planet Koloba. Very similar to Danto.
For every Stage 2 Zone, the boss is a double boss battle with Emperor Fossil and Queen Fossil.

===Stage 3===
*'''Zone D:''' Planet Lankus. Takes place in a large grey base. Boss is Demon Sword.

===Stage 4===
*'''Zone E:''' Planet Padi. Takes place in a mountainous area, similar to those found in some stages of the original [[Darius]].
*'''Zone F:''' Planet Rear. Similar to Zone E but with a different colour scheme.
For every Stage 4 Zone, the boss is Dual Shears SP.

===Stage 5===
*'''Zone G:''' Planet Narukini. Takes place in a mass of thick stormy clouds, similar to those found in some stages of [[Darius II]]. Boss is Dark Coronatus.
*'''Zone H:''' Planet Sabia. Takes place underwater in a coral reef. Boss is Red Mist.
*'''Zone I:''' Planet Karudo. Similar to Zone G but with a different colour scheme. Boss is also Dark Coronatus.
If the player previously played Zone E, they will get to choose between Narukini and Sabia. If they previously played through Zone F, they will get to choose between Sabia and Karudo.

===Stage 6===
*'''Zone J:''' Planet Noeru. Takes place in a massive enemy base the player must navigate through to reach Darius. Boss is Full Metal Shell.
*'''Zone K:''' Planet Horolain. Similar to Zone J, but scrolls upwards rather than downwards. Boss is Hyper Great Thing.
Noeru will be the only option if the player chose Narukini for Stage 5. Likewise, Horolain will be the only option if the player chose Karudo for Stage 5. If the player chose Sabia, they will get to choose between Noeru and Horolain.

===Stage 7===
*'''Zone L:''' Planet Darius. This is the only option for the final zone. Takes place in outer space, similar to the Stage 2 zones but significantly more difficult to compensate for the player's power.
The final boss is a double boss battle with Super Alloy Lantern and Great Tusk. However, instead of fighting the two at once, the battle is split up into two "halves". Super Alloy Lantern is the first half, once it is destroyed the player flies in and fights Great Tusk during the second half. Once Great Tusk is destroyed, the zone is over and the game is complete.

== Story ==
Taking place thousands of years after the events of the original Darius, Darius Twin sees the Belsar Army stage an assault on the planet Olga. The Silver Hawks are launched to put a stop to the invasion and drive back the Belsar forces.

Unlike most other Darius games, Darius Twin always ends with Zone L and always ends with the player destroying Super Alloy Lantern, then flying inside it to destroy the final boss Great Tusk.
There are 5 known endings for the game; how to get them is not precisely recorded, so we can only use our intuition.

*Ending 1 (Fake Ending): The game simply congratulates the player for clearing every level, then tells them to pull themself together and go for a better ending. This is likely "achieved" by running out of time during a bossfight.
*Ending 2 (Bad Ending): Darius is reclaimed, but the player/s are forced to return home to Olga instead of resettling on their mother planet as they were informed of the enemy fleet approaching Olga.
*Ending 3 (Neutral Ending): Darius is reclaimed, and the player/s go to rest after the long battle.
*Ending 4 (Good Ending): Darius is reclaimed, and the galaxy's allied forces establish bases on both Darius and Olga to secure power and maintain peace and order throughout the galaxy.
*Ending 5 (True Ending): Darius is reclaimed. In addition, the player/s are able to retrieve important information concerning the Belsar armies, which enables the allied forces to launch a full-scale assault on the Belsar home planet and end the war once and for all. This is achieved by clearing the game without deaths, and without running out of time during a bossfight.
----

== Development History ==
If available, you can include information here about the hardware, the development of the game, and its general reception. ''Try to have as much information in this section cited as possible.''
----

== Version Differences ==
The European and North American releases feature stereo audio, compared to the Japanese version's mono output.
----

== Trivia ==
* Cool facts and random tidbits go here!
----

== Gallery ==
<div style='text-align: center;'>
''See [[(Template Page)/Gallery]] for our collection of images and scans for the game.''
</div>
----

== Video References ==

If the game already has an existing entry in the [[:Category:Video_Index|Video Index]], please link to the page here. If you want to link to smaller clips perhaps not included in the Index, you can also leave them here.

== Other ==

We have support for wikitables, giving us the potential to add lots of cool info in a small box on the page somewhere, but we are not using them at the moment. I'm just leaving this here so we can have it handy in case we decide to actually use them. Feel free to not use this section.

{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"
|-
! [[(Template Page)]]
|-
| put your stuff here
|}

== References & Contributors ==
<small>
# Remember to include everyone that you can in your credits if they contributed information! | Having links handy is even better, when available.
# If you are a primary source of information for a game, be sure to link to your Shmup Wiki user account by including a link to your profile, such as: <nowiki>[[User:(You)|(Your Name)]]</nowiki>
## And while you're at it, make yourself a little profile page (if you want, of course)! As a contributor, you deserve to be recognized for your efforts.

* This template page was assembled by [[User:CHA-STG|CHA-STG]] and [[User:Plasmo|Plasmo]].</small>

File:DarTwin jp.webp

2023-06-16T07:23:22Z

TrafficLight7773: Japanese cover art for the 1991 SNES game Darius Twin by Taito.

== Summary ==
Japanese cover art for the 1991 SNES game Darius Twin by Taito.
== Licensing ==
{{Non-free game cover}}

Darius Twin

2023-06-16T07:19:53Z

TrafficLight7773: /* Stage 4 */

[[File:Template_Logo.png|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = black
|title = Darius Twin
|background = #f8f8f8
|image = Darius Twin (Japan).png
|width = 224px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[Taito]]
|
|music = Norihiro Furukawa, Pochi
|
|program = Yasutaka Minami, Mituo Ogura, Junichiro Noguchi
|
|art = Keisuke Miyanaga, Tōru Kawaishi, Shin Saitō, Yoshihiro Wakita
|
|releasedate = November 1991

|nextgame = [[Darius Force]]
}}

__TOC__

== Darius Twin ==
'''Darius Twin''' is a horizontal-scrolling shoot-em-up by Taito released for the Super Nintendo/Famicom in November 1991. It is the first home Darius game to feature an original scenario, rather than be a port of one of the existing arcade games. It was re-released on the Wii Virtual Console in 2010, and again in the Darius Cozmic Collection (Console) release by M2 in 2019 for Switch and PS4.

== Gameplay Overview ==
=== Controls ===
----
* '''X:''' Shot
* '''A:''' Subweapon

=== Weapons ===
----
This section describes the weapons that you use in the game and elaborates on them further. Stuff like standard shots, focus shots, bombs, weapon pickups that differ in functionality, options, etc. ''This can be omitted if not relevant to the game in question.''

=== Items ===
----
This section describes any and all collectibles that you acquire in the game. An example being any '''Power Up items''' or '''Medals''' from ''[[Battle Garegga|Battle Garegga]]''. Include secret items such as extra lives as well.

=== Rank ===
----
If the game features a relevant [[rank]] system, use this section to discuss it in more detail. ''Otherwise, this can be omitted.''

=== Loops ===
----
If a game features a [[loop]] system, elaborate on it in detail here. ''Otherwise, omit this section.''

=== Scoring ===
----
This section should cover a general breakdown of the scoring system of the game. Feel free to put the meat and potatoes here. A great example of a scoring section is the ''[[DoDonPachi]]'' page.

== Strategy ==
<div style='text-align: center;'>
''See [[(Template Page)/Strategy]] for '''stage maps''', '''enemy and boss descriptions''', '''walkthroughs''', and '''advanced play strategies'''.''
</div>
----

This section details some particular strategic information about the game and its gameplay, such as hidden 1UPs and some basic scoring tricks. For anything particularly deep or highly complex, you can probably leave it in the Strategy page.

''(Currently evaluating whether or not this specific section should even include information outside of the separated Strategy pages. Worth thinking about as a community.)''

==Stages==
Much like other past and future games in the Darius series, Darius Twin allows the player to select which levels or "zones" to play; however, this system is heavily neutered in Darius Twin for two major reasons.
*The final zone is '''always the same''' and does not determine the ending.
*The map is not structured like other Darius games and instead only gives multiple options at certain points. Specifically, 2 to pick from after the first stage, only 1 option after the second, 2 after the third, 2 from a pool of 3 after the fourth, 1 from a pool of 2 after the fifth (if you take the middle option for Stage 5 you may pick between either of the sixth stages), and only 1 option for the final stage after the sixth stage.

Additionally, each zone is now assigned to a fictional planet in the Rakia galaxy, although this is purely decorative and has no actual effects on the level itself.

A list of stages and some info about them can be found below.

===Stage 1===
*'''Zone A:''' Planet Rilair. Takes place in a coastal area. Boss is Killer Higia.

===Stage 2===
*'''Zone B:''' Planet Danto. Takes place in outer space.
*'''Zone C:''' Planet Koloba. Very similar to Danto.
For every Stage 2 Zone, the boss is a double boss battle with Emperor Fossil and Queen Fossil.

===Stage 3===
*'''Zone D:''' Planet Lankus. Takes place in a large grey base. Boss is Demon Sword.

===Stage 4===
*'''Zone E:''' Planet Padi. Takes place in a mountainous area, similar to those found in some stages of the original [[Darius]].
*'''Zone F:''' Planet Rear. Similar to Zone E but with a different colour scheme.
For every Stage 4 Zone, the boss is Dual Shears SP.

===Stage 5===
*'''Zone G:''' Planet Narukini. Takes place in a mass of thick stormy clouds, similar to those found in some stages of [[Darius II]]. Boss is Dark Coronatus.
*'''Zone H:''' Planet Sabia. Takes place underwater in a coral reef. Boss is Red Mist.
*'''Zone I:''' Planet Karudo. Similar to Zone G but with a different colour scheme. Boss is also Dark Coronatus.
If the player previously played Zone E, they will get to choose between Narukini and Sabia. If they previously played through Zone F, they will get to choose between Sabia and Karudo.

===Stage 6===
*'''Zone J:''' Planet Noeru. Takes place in a massive enemy base the player must navigate through to reach Darius. Boss is Full Metal Shell.
*'''Zone K:''' Planet Horolain. Similar to Zone J, but scrolls upwards rather than downwards. Boss is Hyper Great Thing.
Noeru will be the only option if the player chose Narukini for Stage 5. Likewise, Horolain will be the only option if the player chose Karudo for Stage 5. If the player chose Sabia, they will get to choose between Noeru and Horolain.

===Stage 7===
*'''Zone L:''' Planet Darius. This is the only option for the final zone. Takes place in outer space, similar to the Stage 2 zones but significantly more difficult to compensate for the player's power.
The final boss is a double boss battle with Super Alloy Lantern and Great Tusk. However, instead of fighting the two at once, the battle is split up into two "halves". Super Alloy Lantern is the first half, once it is destroyed the player flies in and fights Great Tusk during the second half. Once Great Tusk is destroyed, the zone is over and the game is complete.

== Story ==
Taking place thousands of years after the events of the original Darius, Darius Twin sees the Belsar Army stage an assault on the planet Olga. The Silver Hawks are launched to put a stop to the invasion and drive back the Belsar forces.

Unlike most other Darius games, Darius Twin always ends with Zone L and always ends with the player destroying Super Alloy Lantern, then flying inside it to destroy the final boss Great Tusk.
There are 5 known endings for the game; how to get them is not precisely recorded, so we can only use our intuition.

*Ending 1 (Fake Ending): The game simply congratulates the player for clearing every level, then tells them to pull themself together and go for a better ending. This is likely "achieved" by running out of time during a bossfight.
*Ending 2 (Bad Ending): Darius is reclaimed, but the player/s are forced to return home to Olga instead of resettling on their mother planet as they were informed of the enemy fleet approaching Olga.
*Ending 3 (Neutral Ending): Darius is reclaimed, and the player/s go to rest after the long battle.
*Ending 4 (Good Ending): Darius is reclaimed, and the galaxy's allied forces establish bases on both Darius and Olga to secure power and maintain peace and order throughout the galaxy.
*Ending 5 (True Ending): Darius is reclaimed. In addition, the player/s are able to retrieve important information concerning the Belsar armies, which enables the allied forces to launch a full-scale assault on the Belsar home planet and end the war once and for all. This is achieved by clearing the game without deaths, and without running out of time during a bossfight.
----

== Development History ==
If available, you can include information here about the hardware, the development of the game, and its general reception. ''Try to have as much information in this section cited as possible.''
----

== Version Differences ==
The European and North American releases feature stereo audio, compared to the Japanese version's mono output.
----

== Trivia ==
* Cool facts and random tidbits go here!
----

== Gallery ==
<div style='text-align: center;'>
''See [[(Template Page)/Gallery]] for our collection of images and scans for the game.''
</div>
----

== Video References ==

If the game already has an existing entry in the [[:Category:Video_Index|Video Index]], please link to the page here. If you want to link to smaller clips perhaps not included in the Index, you can also leave them here.

== Other ==

We have support for wikitables, giving us the potential to add lots of cool info in a small box on the page somewhere, but we are not using them at the moment. I'm just leaving this here so we can have it handy in case we decide to actually use them. Feel free to not use this section.

{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"
|-
! [[(Template Page)]]
|-
| put your stuff here
|}

== References & Contributors ==
<small>
# Remember to include everyone that you can in your credits if they contributed information! | Having links handy is even better, when available.
# If you are a primary source of information for a game, be sure to link to your Shmup Wiki user account by including a link to your profile, such as: <nowiki>[[User:(You)|(Your Name)]]</nowiki>
## And while you're at it, make yourself a little profile page (if you want, of course)! As a contributor, you deserve to be recognized for your efforts.

* This template page was assembled by [[User:CHA-STG|CHA-STG]] and [[User:Plasmo|Plasmo]].</small>

Darius Twin

2023-06-13T22:13:46Z

TrafficLight7773: Added list of stages and their respective zones

[[File:Template_Logo.png|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = black
|title = Darius Twin
|background = #f8f8f8
|image = Darius Twin (Japan).png
|width = 224px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[Taito]]
|
|music = Norihiro Furukawa, Pochi
|
|program = Yasutaka Minami, Mituo Ogura, Junichiro Noguchi
|
|art = Keisuke Miyanaga, Tōru Kawaishi, Shin Saitō, Yoshihiro Wakita
|
|releasedate = November 1991

|nextgame = [[Darius Force]]
}}

__TOC__

== Darius Twin ==
'''Darius Twin''' is a horizontal-scrolling shoot-em-up by Taito released for the Super Nintendo/Famicom in November 1991. It is the first home Darius game to feature an original scenario, rather than be a port of one of the existing arcade games. It was re-released on the Wii Virtual Console in 2010, and again in the Darius Cozmic Collection (Console) release by M2 in 2019 for Switch and PS4.

== Gameplay Overview ==
=== Controls ===
----
* '''X:''' Shot
* '''A:''' Subweapon

=== Weapons ===
----
This section describes the weapons that you use in the game and elaborates on them further. Stuff like standard shots, focus shots, bombs, weapon pickups that differ in functionality, options, etc. ''This can be omitted if not relevant to the game in question.''

=== Items ===
----
This section describes any and all collectibles that you acquire in the game. An example being any '''Power Up items''' or '''Medals''' from ''[[Battle Garegga|Battle Garegga]]''. Include secret items such as extra lives as well.

=== Rank ===
----
If the game features a relevant [[rank]] system, use this section to discuss it in more detail. ''Otherwise, this can be omitted.''

=== Loops ===
----
If a game features a [[loop]] system, elaborate on it in detail here. ''Otherwise, omit this section.''

=== Scoring ===
----
This section should cover a general breakdown of the scoring system of the game. Feel free to put the meat and potatoes here. A great example of a scoring section is the ''[[DoDonPachi]]'' page.

== Strategy ==
<div style='text-align: center;'>
''See [[(Template Page)/Strategy]] for '''stage maps''', '''enemy and boss descriptions''', '''walkthroughs''', and '''advanced play strategies'''.''
</div>
----

This section details some particular strategic information about the game and its gameplay, such as hidden 1UPs and some basic scoring tricks. For anything particularly deep or highly complex, you can probably leave it in the Strategy page.

''(Currently evaluating whether or not this specific section should even include information outside of the separated Strategy pages. Worth thinking about as a community.)''

==Stages==
Much like other past and future games in the Darius series, Darius Twin allows the player to select which levels or "zones" to play; however, this system is heavily neutered in Darius Twin for two major reasons.
*The final zone is '''always the same''' and does not determine the ending.
*The map is not structured like other Darius games and instead only gives multiple options at certain points. Specifically, 2 to pick from after the first stage, only 1 option after the second, 2 after the third, 2 from a pool of 3 after the fourth, 1 from a pool of 2 after the fifth (if you take the middle option for Stage 5 you may pick between either of the sixth stages), and only 1 option for the final stage after the sixth stage.

Additionally, each zone is now assigned to a fictional planet in the Rakia galaxy, although this is purely decorative and has no actual effects on the level itself.

A list of stages and some info about them can be found below.

===Stage 1===
*'''Zone A:''' Planet Rilair. Takes place in a coastal area. Boss is Killer Higia.

===Stage 2===
*'''Zone B:''' Planet Danto. Takes place in outer space.
*'''Zone C:''' Planet Koloba. Very similar to Danto.
For every Stage 2 Zone, the boss is a double boss battle with Emperor Fossil and Queen Fossil.

===Stage 3===
*'''Zone D:''' Planet Lankus. Takes place in a large grey base. Boss is Demon Sword.

===Stage 4===
*'''Zone E:''' Planet Padi. Takes place in a mountainous area, similar to those found in some stages of the original [[Darius]].
*'''Zone F:''' Planet Rear. Similar to Zone E but with a different colour scheme.

===Stage 5===
*'''Zone G:''' Planet Narukini. Takes place in a mass of thick stormy clouds, similar to those found in some stages of [[Darius II]]. Boss is Dark Coronatus.
*'''Zone H:''' Planet Sabia. Takes place underwater in a coral reef. Boss is Red Mist.
*'''Zone I:''' Planet Karudo. Similar to Zone G but with a different colour scheme. Boss is also Dark Coronatus.
If the player previously played Zone E, they will get to choose between Narukini and Sabia. If they previously played through Zone F, they will get to choose between Sabia and Karudo.

===Stage 6===
*'''Zone J:''' Planet Noeru. Takes place in a massive enemy base the player must navigate through to reach Darius. Boss is Full Metal Shell.
*'''Zone K:''' Planet Horolain. Similar to Zone J, but scrolls upwards rather than downwards. Boss is Hyper Great Thing.
Noeru will be the only option if the player chose Narukini for Stage 5. Likewise, Horolain will be the only option if the player chose Karudo for Stage 5. If the player chose Sabia, they will get to choose between Noeru and Horolain.

===Stage 7===
*'''Zone L:''' Planet Darius. This is the only option for the final zone. Takes place in outer space, similar to the Stage 2 zones but significantly more difficult to compensate for the player's power.
The final boss is a double boss battle with Super Alloy Lantern and Great Tusk. However, instead of fighting the two at once, the battle is split up into two "halves". Super Alloy Lantern is the first half, once it is destroyed the player flies in and fights Great Tusk during the second half. Once Great Tusk is destroyed, the zone is over and the game is complete.

== Story ==
Taking place thousands of years after the events of the original Darius, Darius Twin sees the Belsar Army stage an assault on the planet Olga. The Silver Hawks are launched to put a stop to the invasion and drive back the Belsar forces.

Unlike most other Darius games, Darius Twin always ends with Zone L and always ends with the player destroying Super Alloy Lantern, then flying inside it to destroy the final boss Great Tusk.
There are 5 known endings for the game; how to get them is not precisely recorded, so we can only use our intuition.

*Ending 1 (Fake Ending): The game simply congratulates the player for clearing every level, then tells them to pull themself together and go for a better ending. This is likely "achieved" by running out of time during a bossfight.
*Ending 2 (Bad Ending): Darius is reclaimed, but the player/s are forced to return home to Olga instead of resettling on their mother planet as they were informed of the enemy fleet approaching Olga.
*Ending 3 (Neutral Ending): Darius is reclaimed, and the player/s go to rest after the long battle.
*Ending 4 (Good Ending): Darius is reclaimed, and the galaxy's allied forces establish bases on both Darius and Olga to secure power and maintain peace and order throughout the galaxy.
*Ending 5 (True Ending): Darius is reclaimed. In addition, the player/s are able to retrieve important information concerning the Belsar armies, which enables the allied forces to launch a full-scale assault on the Belsar home planet and end the war once and for all. This is achieved by clearing the game without deaths, and without running out of time during a bossfight.
----

== Development History ==
If available, you can include information here about the hardware, the development of the game, and its general reception. ''Try to have as much information in this section cited as possible.''
----

== Version Differences ==
The European and North American releases feature stereo audio, compared to the Japanese version's mono output.
----

== Trivia ==
* Cool facts and random tidbits go here!
----

== Gallery ==
<div style='text-align: center;'>
''See [[(Template Page)/Gallery]] for our collection of images and scans for the game.''
</div>
----

== Video References ==

If the game already has an existing entry in the [[:Category:Video_Index|Video Index]], please link to the page here. If you want to link to smaller clips perhaps not included in the Index, you can also leave them here.

== Other ==

We have support for wikitables, giving us the potential to add lots of cool info in a small box on the page somewhere, but we are not using them at the moment. I'm just leaving this here so we can have it handy in case we decide to actually use them. Feel free to not use this section.

{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"
|-
! [[(Template Page)]]
|-
| put your stuff here
|}

== References & Contributors ==
<small>
# Remember to include everyone that you can in your credits if they contributed information! | Having links handy is even better, when available.
# If you are a primary source of information for a game, be sure to link to your Shmup Wiki user account by including a link to your profile, such as: <nowiki>[[User:(You)|(Your Name)]]</nowiki>
## And while you're at it, make yourself a little profile page (if you want, of course)! As a contributor, you deserve to be recognized for your efforts.

* This template page was assembled by [[User:CHA-STG|CHA-STG]] and [[User:Plasmo|Plasmo]].</small>

Darius

2023-06-09T07:44:40Z

TrafficLight7773: Created the page. Currently has information on basic gameplay and what zones can be played. Will still need some miscellaneous information as well as information on how the game's scoring system works.

[[File:Darius JP flyer.webp|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = G-Darius
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = DariusExtralogoscreen.webp
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen for Darius Extra, a revised version released shortly after the release of the original Darius
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[Taito]]
|music = Zuntata
|program =
|art =
|design =
|releasedate = '''Arcade JP''': 1986 <br> '''Arcade NA''': 1987
}}

==Darius==
Darius is a horizontal side-scrolling arcade shoot-em-up developed and released by Taito in 1986. The game is widely known for its branching paths, colossal 3-screen arcade cabinets and boss designs based off of aquatic life (such as the iconic Great Thing, which is based on the Sperm Whale). Chronologically, the game takes place between G-Darius and Darius Gaiden, and is the second game in the series (although it was the first to be released).

==Gameplay Overview==
In the game, the player pilots the Silver Hawk fighter craft, which can fire either its primary Shot or its secondary Bomb. The Shot changes between Missile, Laser and Wave depending on tier and fires a forward projectile to do damage. The Bomb drops a number of small explosives in front of the Silver Hawk depending on upgrade tier. Additionally, the craft has an Arm unit that acts as a shield protecting the Silver Hawk from most forms of damage.
*'''<font color="#ff0000">Red</font>''' orbs upgrade the Shot. After being upgraded 6 times, the Shot increases a tier, changing what kind of attack it is. It starts with Tier 1 (Missile), a standard small round pellet-like shot. Tier 2 (Laser) exhibits a longer piercing shot, and Tier 3 (Wave) is a wide and highly-damaging projectile capable of damaging several enemies at once.
*'''<font color="#00c000">Green</font>''' orbs upgrade the Bomb. Like with the Shot, the Bomb increases a tier every 6 upgrades. Tier 1 fires a single bomb down in front of the player. Tier 2 fires two bombs in front of the player, one down and one up, and Tier 3 fires 4 bombs: 2 down (behind and in front), and 2 up (behind and in front again).
*'''<font color="#0000ff">Blue</font>''' orbs upgrade the Arm. The Arm is separated into its upgrades and strength, with strength simply being how many shots the Arm can take before it runs out, and upgrades being how many upgrades it has received. Tier 1 is regular green Arm, Tier 2 is silver Super Arm, and Tier 3 is golden Hyper Arm. Blue orbs grant 1 Arm strength with regular arm, and 2 with Super or Hyper arm. Additionally, Hyper arm will protect the Silver Hawk against normally lethal terrain collision; when bumping into obstacles, instead of exploding, the Silver Hawk will instead bounce back at two times the regular movement speed.

==Scoring==
Placeholder

==Stages==
Establishing a trend that would persist throughout the rest of the series, Darius allows you to choose the stages you wish to fight through. After defeating the boss in each zone, the boss tunnel splits into a fork and the player must fly into one of the forked paths to choose the next zone. However, most of the zones are the same, and every stage has the same boss for all of its respective zones (except for Stage 7, where the boss is different for most of the zones).

Additionally, there is no Zone Z' or Zone V' (unlike in Darius II and Gaiden). Instead, going all the way to the top sends the player to Zone Z, and going all the way to the bottom sends the player to Zone V. There is no difference between getting there by going all in one direction, and getting there the normal way.

Below is a list of stages and their respective zones.

===Stage 1===
*'''Zone A:''' Takes place in a green cave, an iconic first stage.
King Fossil is the boss for every Stage 1 zone.

===Stage 2===
*'''Zone B:''' Takes place in a large factory.
*'''Zone C:''' Takes place in a mountain range.
Electric Fan is the boss for every Stage 2 zone.

===Stage 3===
*'''Zone D:''' Takes place in a mountain range.
*'''Zone E:''' Takes place undersea near a reef.
*'''Zone F:''' Takes place near a rocky moon-like surface.
Dual Shears is the boss for every Stage 3 zone.

===Stage 4===
*'''Zone G:''' Takes place near a rocky moon-like surface.
*'''Zone H:''' Takes place in a beige cave.
*'''Zone I:''' Takes place in a large factory.
*'''Zone J:''' Takes place undersea near a base.
Fatty Glutton is the boss for every Stage 4 zone.

===Stage 5===
*'''Zone K:''' Takes place undersea near a reef.
*'''Zone L:''' Takes place in a large factory.
*'''Zone M:''' Takes place near a smooth moon-like surface.
*'''Zone N:''' Takes place in an orange cave.
*'''Zone O:''' Takes place in a volcanic region.
Keen Bayonet is the boss for every Stage 5 zone.

===Stage 6===
*'''Zone P:''' Takes place in a pink cave.
*'''Zone Q:''' Takes place in a mountain range.
*'''Zone R:''' Takes place undersea near a base.
*'''Zone S:''' Takes place near some undersea ruins.
*'''Zone T:''' Takes place near an uncanny moon-like surface.
*'''Zone U:''' Takes place in a large factory.
Iron Hammer is the boss for every Stage 6 zone.

===Stage 7===
*Going above Zone V teleports you to Zone Z.
*'''Zone V:''' Takes place near an uncanny moon-like surface. Strong Shell is the final boss.
*'''Zone W:''' Takes place in an arctic cavern. Green Coronatus is the final boss.
*'''Zone X:''' Takes place in an arctic mountain range. Octopus is the final boss.
*'''Zone Y:''' Takes place in a large factory. Cuttle Fish is the final boss.
*'''Zone Z:''' Takes place near some undersea ruins. Great Thing is the final boss.
*Going below Zone Z teleports you to Zone V.

==Story==
Darius is canonically the second game in the Darius series, taking place many hundreds of years after G-Darius. In it, humanity has peacefully settled on Darius and established their presence as the dominant civilization. However, an alien race known as the Belsar have invaded Darius, and threaten to wipe out humanity. In response, the pilots Proco and Tiat must fight through the enemy-controlled zones and clear a path from which the survivors of the invasion can escape Darius and find sanctuary elsewhere.

Below is a list of endings. Note that unlike Darius Gaiden, the duplicates of Zone Z and V are literally identical to Zone Z and V, and contain the same ending.
*'''Zone V''': Every single enemy has been destroyed and the war is over. Congratulations!
*'''Zone W''': Proco lands in a green field on an unnamed planet (presumably either Darius, Olga or Vadis) and gets out of his craft to look at the sunset.
*'''Zone X''': Proco and Tiat dock with a large craft (likely a human transport here to evacuate Proco and Tiat) and are beamed up onto its bridge.
*'''Zone Y''': Identical to Zone V's ending, except it has a massive arcade cabinet shown on the left of the screen.
*'''Zone Z''': The lights in a city on Darius' surface turn back on, and before the credits roll, Proco and Tiat can be seen flying above the skyline.

File:DariusExtralogoscreen.webp

2023-06-09T01:37:05Z

TrafficLight7773: Screenshot of the title screen for the Extra edition of the 1986 arcade game Darius, developed and published by Taito.

== Summary ==
Screenshot of the title screen for the Extra edition of the 1986 arcade game Darius, developed and published by Taito.
== Licensing ==
{{Non-free game screenshot}}

File:Darius JP flyer.webp

2023-06-09T01:36:07Z

TrafficLight7773: Japanese flyer for the 1986 Arcade game Darius, developed and published by Taito.

== Summary ==
Japanese flyer for the 1986 Arcade game Darius, developed and published by Taito.
== Licensing ==
{{Non-free promotional}}

Darius II

2023-06-08T22:09:56Z

TrafficLight7773: Added list of stages and their respective zones

[[File:DariusIILogo.png|center]]<br/>
[[File:SagaiaArcLogo.png|center]]

'''''Darius II''''', also known as '''''Sagaia''''' in other regions, is a 2-player cooperative horizontal shoot-em-up developed and released by Taito in September 1989. Like the original Darius, the game features multiple screens for a wider viewing perspective. Depending on the cabinet, the game would either be 2 or 3 screens wide. The game itself would continue on the fish-based enemies and bosses seen in the original game, as well as the branching pathways and multiple endings. It is also somewhat known for the infamous ''"I always wanted a thing called tuna sasimi"'' line heard in the first stage. ''Darius II'' would be localized as ''Sagaia'', which features less stages which are shorter.<br/>
<br/>Chronologically, ''Darius II'' takes place between the events of ''[[Darius Gaiden]]'' and ''Dariusburst.''<ref>https://darius.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline?so=search#Age_of_Prosperity</ref>
{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = Darius II
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = DariusIITitle.png
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen (2 screen version)
|imagescalepx = 300px

|developer = [[Taito]]
|music =
|program =
|art =
|design =
|releasedate = '''Arcade''' <br> '''JP''': September 1989
}}
==Gameplay Overview==
Darius II uses two buttons, one to fire the main shot and lasers, and the other to fire bombs. The game consists on 7 stages with levels scrolling horizontally and also vertically in some sections. The power-up system was completely redesigned from the original, with every pickup providing a significant change in firepower. Replacing the Gold pickups are Nuclear Bunkers, which when shot while opened, will clear the screen of enemies. Zones will also have captains appear halfway during the stage, they consist of a smaller versions of the bosses in ''Darius''. The ends of every zone consist of a boss fight, where the Silver Hawk will orient itself towards the boss should it happen to move to the other side of the screen.
===Controls===
----
[[File:Joystick (Two Buttons).png|frameless|none|upright]]
*'''A:''' Fire main shot and lasers (if the player has them.)
*'''B:''' Fire bombs

===Weapons===
----
At the start of the game, the player starts with a single horizontal shot and a front facing bomb. In order to collect power-ups, an entire formation of a specific enemy must be destroyed for it to drop, which will drop the power-up or give 6000 points. Collecting power-ups will increase the power of the weapon with the corresponding color to a notable level. ''Upon death, all weapons are reset to minimum power'' except for Arm, which will reset at the base level of the current arm level.
[[File:DariusIIShotComparison.gif|right]]
[[File:DariusIIBombComparison.gif|right]]
[[File:DariusIILaserComparison.gif|right]]
<gallery widths="64" heights="64" perrow="5">
DariusIIPickupShot.gif|Shot
DariusIIPickupBomb.gif|Bomb
DariusIIPickupLaser.gif|Laser
DariusIIPickupArm.gif|Arm
DariusIIPickupAll.gif|Multicolor
</gallery>

====Shot====
'''Shot''' is a front facing weapon, and is the primary way of destroying enemies in the air. Up to '''four''' shots can be on screen at any time.
*'''Level 1:''' Fires a singular, thin laser.
*'''Level 2:''' Adds a second thin laser shot.
*'''Level 3:''' Increases the size of the lasers.
*'''Level 4:''' Adds two small projectiles that spread out from the laser shots
*'''Level 5:''' Adds two more small projectiles that spread out further from the laser shots
*'''Level 6:''' Replaces the laser shots with a large plasma ball.
*'''Level 7:''' Increases the length of the plasma ball, allowing it to land two hits
*'''Level 8:''' Increases the width of the plasma ball, which can hit up to three times.
====Bomb====
'''Bombs''' are a bottom firing weapon best used to take out ground targets. Only '''three''' bombs per side can be on screen at a time. Just like the original ''Darius'', Bomb trajectory is based on the movement of the player ship.
*'''Level 1:''' Fires a single bomb in front of the ship.
*'''Level 2:''' Adds a second bomb behind the ship.
*'''Level 3:''' Fires the bombs in a 45 degree angle quickly towards the ground
*'''Level 4:''' The bombs slowly descend and slide quickly upon reaching the ground, similar to the missiles in ''[[Gradius]]''
*'''Level 5:''' Replaces the bombs with rolling mines, which can climb up walls. This can cause the bomb firing rate to drastically reduce if there's no ground targets.
*'''Level 6:''' Adds two large bombs above the ship.
====Laser====
'''Lasers''' are super thin projectiles that can pierce through an unlimited amount of enemies and provides defense from above. Only '''one''' set of lasers can be on screen. Unlike other weapons, it must be acquired first by picking up a '''yellow''' power-up.
*'''Level 1:''' No lasers fire from the ship
*'''Level 2:''' Fires a laser from above and below the ship.
*'''Level 3:''' Diverts the lasers to fire 45 degrees towards the front, creating a < pattern.
*'''Level 4:''' Adds two 45 degree lasers behind the ship, making a X pattern.
*'''Level 5:''' Adds back the vertical lasers used in Level 2.
*'''Level 6:''' Makes the front two lasers turn directly forwards after fired. This will drastically reduce the firing rate of the lasers as they need to travel across the whole screen.
*'''Level 7:''' Makes the vertical lasers turn directly forward after fired.
====Armor====
'''Arm''' is a defensive shield that functions identically to the original ''Darius''. When collecting Armor without having any, the player will always receive 3 hits. If they do, Armor will be added by a small amount depending on the tier. Arm can be upgraded every '''4''' power-ups. Unlike future titles, there is no limit to how many hits Arm the take. However the Armor will not shrink when on it's last hit.
*'''Arm''' Is the starting tier of Armor. Extra Arm power-ups will add one hit.
*'''Super Arm''' Is the second tier. It can add 2 extra hits.
*'''Hyper Arm''' Is the final tier. Hyper Arm also adds 2 extra hits, but can also protect the Silver Hawk from terrain collision.
====Multicolor====
'''Multicolor''' power-ups are a rare pickup that has a chance of appearing in place of an existing one when a player loses a life. When collected, it increases the Shot, Bomb, and Laser level by 1.
==Stages==
Just like the original Darius, Darius II features various branching "zones" which can be navigated and routed differently on each playthrough. There are 28 stages total.

Below is a list of stages and their respective zones

===Stage 1 (Sun)===
*'''Zone A:''' A field of combat taking place very close to the surface of the sun.
All Stage 1 zones have Hyper Sting as the boss.

===Stage 2 (Mercury)===
*'''Zone B:''' The player traverses through a large cave on Mercury. Steel Spin is the second boss.
*'''Zone C:''' Similar to Zone B. Killer Hijia is the second boss.
All Stage 2 zones have Alloy Lantern as the first boss. After destroying Alloy Lantern, the player will fly inside its mouth and fight the second boss.

===Stage 3 (Venus)===
*'''Zone D:''' The player traverses through outer space.
*'''Zone E:''' A battlefield amongst the clouds of Venus' atmosphere.
*'''Zone F:''' A field of combat taking place in a volcanic area on the surface of Venus.
All Stage 3 zones have Driosawm as the boss.

===Stage 4 (Moon)===
*'''Zone G:''' A field of combat taking place very close to the surface of the moon, where various ruins can be found.
*'''Zone H:''' The player infiltrates an enemy base beneath the moon's surface.
*'''Zone I:''' Similar to Zone G.
*'''Zone J:''' Similar to Zone G.
All Stage 4 zones have Red Crab as the boss.

===Stage 5 (Earth)===
*'''Zone K:''' A ruined human city with an enemy base beneath the surface. Yamato is the boss.
*'''Zone L:''' An arctic area with a large cave. Leadain is the boss.
*'''Zone M:''' Similar to Zone K. Yamato is the boss.
*'''Zone N:''' Takes place in an archipelago, similar to Zone A of [[Darius Twin]]. Leadain is the boss.
*'''Zone O:''' A large undersea cave. Leadain is the boss.

===Stage 6 (Mars)===
*'''Zone P:''' A volcanic area on the surface of Mars with a base hidden beneath the surface.
*'''Zone Q:''' The surface of Mars. Various ruins can be found.
*'''Zone R:''' The surface of Mars.
*'''Zone S:''' Similar to Zone P.
*'''Zone T:''' An arctic region of Mars. Auroras can be seen in the background.
*'''Zone U:''' Similar to Zone R, but with traps hiding inside some of the craters.
All Stage 6 zones have Grand Octopus as the boss.

===Stage 7 (Jupiter)===
*'''Zone Z':''' Most likely the north pole of Jupiter. The ground is similar to that of Zone A, although with a different colour. Mother Hawk is the final boss.
*'''Zone V:''' Takes place amongst the clouds of Jupiter's atmosphere, much like Zone E from earlier. Bio Strong is the final boss.
*'''Zone W:''' Takes place in the space around Jupiter. Little Stripes is the final boss.
*'''Zone X:''' Similar to Zone V. Little Stripes is the final boss.
*'''Zone Y:''' Takes place in outer space far from Jupiter. Little Stripes is the final boss.
*'''Zone Z:''' Similar to Zone Z'. Bio Strong is the final boss.
*'''Zone V':''' Similar to Zone V and X. Mother Hawk is the final boss.
==Version Differences==
===Arcade Versions===
There are two known versions of the original Darius II.
*'''Three screen version''': This version retains the exact same aspect ratio as the original ''Darius'' and has enhanced sound effects. Due to the larger screen space and the limited amount of shots on screen, this version is more difficult. Power-ups float upwards when they appear. This is apparently a bug.<ref>https://tcrf.net/Sagaia_(Arcade)#Revisional_Differences</ref>
*'''Two screen version''': The more common version of the game.
====''Sagaia''====
In order to make gameplay cycles unfold faster overseas, ''Sagaia'' makes very drastic changes to the game:
*There are half as many Zones in the game. The player can only choose their path every two Zones cleared.
*Zones themselves are significantly shorter, sometimes even being cut in half entirely.
*Captains almost never appear normally until the final Zone is reached.
*Bosses have been re-arranged, and have much less health, making some of them absolute pushovers.
==References==

Dariusburst

2023-06-08T05:09:05Z

TrafficLight7773: Added list of endings. Will still need someone else to figure out how the scoring system works in this game, I can't find anything at all on it

[[File:DariusBurstpsp.webp|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = Dariusburst
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = DARIUSBURST Start Menu.webp
|width = 320px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = Pyramid
|music = Zuntata
|publisher = [[Taito]]
|releasedate = '''PSP JP''': December 2009 <br> '''iOS International''': February 2012 <br> '''Android JP''': May 2012 <br> '''Android International''': October 2015
}}

==Dariusburst==
Dariusburst is a horizontal scrolling shoot-em-up developed by Taito and released by Pyramid in 2009 for the PSP. As usual, the game features multiple branching paths designated by zones, mechanical fish-themed enemies, various types of powerup and a soundtrack produced by Taito's in-house band Zuntata. However, there are also several differences between previous Darius games and Dariusburst, which will be listed in the gameplay overview.

Chronologically, Dariusburst is one of the more recent games in the Darius series, taking place after the reclamation of Darius in Darius Twin and Gaiden but before Chronicle Saviours. A port of Dariusburst would be released for mobile devices in 2012 named Dariusburst: Second Prologue, which omits Burst Mode but makes up for it by including additional missions, a new SP mode that is functionally identical to arcade mode but with some altered stages and new bosses, and a new playable ship named the Assault. A massively altered version named Dariusburst: Another Chronicle was released in 2010 for arcades, which would be updated with Another Chronicle EX in 2011. Another Chronicle EX would be ported to PC and PS4 through Dariusburst: Chronicle Saviours in 2015, then on Switch and PS4/5 through Another Chronicle EX+ in 2021.

==Gameplay Overview==
Dariusburst has the same general gameplay concept as every game before it. Control the Silver Hawk and use it to shoot down enemies, pick up coloured orbs dropped by some enemies to gain powerups, and choose the next zone to fight through after the boss at the end of the level. However, there are some important changes that should be listed.
*All ships (except Origin) now have a Burst system. Charge up the Burst meter by shooting down enemies, then when it is full, use it to unleash the ship's Burst weapon. Legend, for instance, fires a large Burst Laser that behaves similarly to the Alpha Beam from G-Darius, including the ability to counter enemy Burst Lasers. It can also be detached and controlled independently of the ship, in which case it will remain firing in the same direction from the same place until it is disabled or it runs out of fuel in the Burst Meter.
*Stage progression has been heavily altered. Now, the player is forced to play through Zones A and B in every playthrough with no choice. Afterwards, the game returns to typical Darius behaviour with the player being able to choose the zones they go through. However, the game still ends at Stage 5 as it did in G-Darius, but with only 4 possible Final Zones, and 11 stages in total across the whole game.
*In addition to the simplified level progression, Dariusburst devolves back to the boss system used in the original Darius, where every zone of a stage has the same boss (for example, all Stage 2 zones in Darius have Electric Fan as the boss). The only exception is the Final Zones, where each one of them house a different final boss. This is changed in SP Mode of Second Prologue.
*The player can now choose between 3 different ships to play as (4 in Second Prologue). These are Legend which is the default ship and fires a standard Burst Laser, Next which behaves very similarly to Legend except with a weaker main attack, homing bombs and a more mobile Burst Turret, and finally Origin, which behaves identically to the ship from the original Darius and does not have a Burst Laser. Second Prologue adds the Assault; its main attacks are similar to those of the Next (minus the homing bombs), but its Burst is entirely different. It is now a moving "Spark" that can be detonated remotely for medium damage, and does damage as it passes through enemies.

There are also multiple different modes the player can choose from, a list of these is provided below.
*'''Arcade Mode.''' This mode plays similar to a traditional Darius arcade game (as the name implies), although progression is heavily bottlenecked. There is only one choice for both Stage 1 AND Stage 2, after which there are 2 choices for Stage 3, 3 choices for Stage 4 and 4 choices for Stage 5. The player is free to choose their lives count, difficulty and ship. They are also provided with infinite continues, so they may choose to continue as many times as they like until they reach the end.
*'''Mission Mode.''' Instead of starting with a specific zone and choosing your path from there, players instead select a mission to play from a premade collection. These missions can contain any combination of stages and bosses, and function as the game's level and boss select as well as an additional mode. In each mission, players have one life, no continues, and a preset ship and number of powerups. Mission Mode is unlocked by completing Arcade Mode with two different paths, such as ABCEH and ABDFI.
*'''Burst Mode.''' This is a PSP-exclusive mode that was omitted and replaced with SP mode in the mobile port of Dariusburst. This plays similarly to Arcade Mode, but with two major differences. First of all, the player has one life and no continues, regardless of their settings. Second of all, the player's arsenal is fully upgraded right from the get-go and can switch between Missile, Laser and Wave at any time. As such, weapon upgrade orbs are removed.
*'''SP Mode.''' This is a mobile-exclusive mode not available on the PSP version of Dariusburst. This mode is very similar to Arcade Mode, although some stages are altered (notably Zone A's ruined city taking on a darker, less epic tone), and 2 new bosses (Lightning Claw and Heavy Jaw) are introduced into the mix.

==Scoring==
Placeholder

==Zones==
The zones in Dariusburst start with A and B which all players are required to complete in every playthrough, then afterwards it opens up for the traditional flow of progression.

Below is a list of zones and their respective bosses.

===Stage 1===
*'''Zone A:''' The game starts in the ruins of an abandoned city, which then transitions into an undersea cave.
All Stage 1 zones have Iron Fossil as the boss.

===Stage 2===
*'''Zone B:''' The player travels to a space station just outside of Darius' atmosphere, then exits to reveal multiple other space stations under attack by the Belsar.
All Stage 2 zones have Mud Wheel as the boss.

===Stage 3===
*'''Zone C:''' The player travels to a battlefield in outer space. They head into a Belsar base near the battlefield, where the meat and potatoes of the level begin.
*'''Zone D:''' The player travels through an asteroid ring surrounding Darius. Lightning Claw is the boss in SP Mode.
All Stage 3 zones have Lightning Flamberge as the boss.

===Stage 4===
*'''Zone E:''' The player travels through a portal. They warp through the portal and are teleported near Amnelia.
*'''Zone F:''' The player travels through a massive junkyard containing the ruins of various destroyed ships. Heavy Jaw is the boss in SP Mode.
*'''Zone G:''' Practically identical to Zone E.
All Stage 4 zones have Mirage Castle as the boss.

===Stage 5===
*'''Zone H:''' The player fights through a secret Belsar base stationed near Amnelia, and work to destroy it. Hungry Gluttons is the final boss.
*'''Zone I:''' The player fights through an asteroid field near Amnelia. Several enemy battleships are inbound. Thousand Knives is the final boss.
*'''Zone J:''' The player fights through an enemy-controlled moon orbiting Amnelia. Dark Helios is the final boss.
*'''Zone K:''' The player fights through an enemy base near Amnelia. Countless battleships can be seen guarding it. Great Thing is the final boss.

==Story==
Dariusburst takes place after Darius is reclaimed and resettled during the events of Darius Gaiden and Twin. The Belsar have unleashed a powerful computer virus that crippled all interplanetary communication systems, allowing the Belsar to move in for an easy victory. The humanoid AI terminal Ti2 and test pilot Riga Practica were entrusted with 2 experimental new Burst Silver Hawks, and ordered to move out and take down the Belsar Flagship before they reached Darius.

As usual, each different final zone yields a different ending to go with it. A list of endings and their SP Mode counterparts is provided below.
*'''Zone H:''' Ti2 and Riga succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Hungry Gluttons. However, due to damage taken during the battle, Ti2 and Riga are forced to abandon their ships. Ti2 rescues Riga from certain death, and awaits his recovery.
*'''Zone H (SP Mode):''' The Silver Hawks succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Hungry Gluttons, but are heavily damaged and thus weaker. A brand-new enemy fleet jumps into action, and despite knowing that their efforts will be futile, the Silver Hawks rage on and continue the fight anyway.
*'''Zone I:''' Ti2 and Riga succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Thousand Knives, and return to their home planet Darius. Little do they know, however, that the planet they believed to be the enemy homeworld was actually the homeworld of humanity - Amnelia, the "cradle of mankind", which was captured by the Belsar thousands of years after it had been abandoned by humanity.
*'''Zone I (SP Mode):''' The Silver Hawks succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Thousand Knives, and return to their home planet Darius, where it is then revealed that the enemy fleet near Amnelia was merely a diversionary tactic to distract the allied forces from the Belsar's incoming assault on Darius!
*'''Zone J:''' Ti2 and Riga succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Dark Helios, and the additional battleship known as the [[Syvalion]] that was hiding within. After [[Syvalion]] explodes, the Embryon appears, heralding the coming of the Thiima (referred to in-game as the Shiima), who were responsible for driving humanity off of their homeworld Amnelia. Ti2 and Riga both know that a Thiiman invasion of Darius would mean certain doom for humanity. However, as Ti2's intelligence was built using the framework of the Hyperspace Network, she is able to open communications with the Thiima, and travels into their dimension to discuss these matters. Riga is left on his own, waiting for Ti2 to return from negotiations.
*'''Zone J (SP Mode):''' The Silver Hawks succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Dark Helios, and the additional battleship known as the [[Syvalion]] that was hiding within. After [[Syvalion]] explodes, a strange light in the shape of the sea angel appears, heralding the coming of the Thiima, who were responsible for driving humanity off of their homeworld Amnelia. The Silver Hawks prepare for battle, but it never comes, as the Thiima simply seem to stay there, peacefully observing. The light then disappears into the void. The Silver Hawks can only wonder what purpose the Thiima had in mind for observing them like this, but nonetheless, they pack up and go home.
*'''Zone K:''' Ti2 and Riga succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Great Thing, and return to their home planet Darius. Upon their return, they are awarded with medals, and a new part of human history begins.
*'''Zone K (SP Mode):''' The Silver Hawks succeed in destroying the Belsar flagship Great Thing, and return to their home planet Darius. This is not the end, however, as the Belsar invasion has not been fully stopped; only delayed as their fleets recover and they prepare to strike again.

Dariusburst

2023-06-08T02:47:17Z

TrafficLight7773: Added images for the cover art and the title screen, as well as an info box

File:DariusBurstpsp.webp

2023-06-08T02:34:09Z

TrafficLight7773: The cover art for the 2009 PSP game Dariusburst, developed by Pyramid and published by Taito.

== Summary ==
The cover art for the 2009 PSP game Dariusburst, developed by Pyramid and published by Taito.
== Licensing ==
{{Non-free game cover}}

File:DARIUSBURST Start Menu.webp

2023-06-08T02:31:14Z

TrafficLight7773: The start screen of the 2009 PSP game Dariusburst, developed by Pyramid and published by Taito.

== Summary ==
The start screen of the 2009 PSP game Dariusburst, developed by Pyramid and published by Taito.
== Licensing ==
{{Non-free game screenshot}}

Dariusburst

2023-06-07T23:30:18Z

TrafficLight7773: Created the page. This is still very much a stub with a lot of missing information, although this should help to get things moving along. A lot more expansion will be needed to make the article complete, I will probably return later today to do some more editing but for now I have schoolwork to do.

==Dariusburst==
Dariusburst is a horizontal scrolling shoot-em-up developed by Taito and released by Pyramid in 2009 for the PSP. As usual, the game features multiple branching paths designated by zones, mechanical fish-themed enemies, various types of powerup and a soundtrack produced by Taito's in-house band Zuntata. However, there are also several differences between previous Darius games and Dariusburst, which will be listed in the gameplay overview.

Chronologically, Dariusburst is one of the more recent games in the Darius series, taking place after the reclamation of Darius in Darius Twin and Gaiden but before Chronicle Saviours. A port of Dariusburst would be released for mobile devices in 2012 named Dariusburst: Second Prologue, which omits Burst Mode but makes up for it by including additional missions, a new SP mode that is functionally identical to arcade mode but with some altered stages and new bosses, and a new playable ship named the Assault. A massively altered version named Dariusburst: Another Chronicle was released in 2010 for arcades, which would be updated with Another Chronicle EX in 2011. Another Chronicle EX would be ported to PC and PS4 through Dariusburst: Chronicle Saviours in 2015, then on Switch and PS4/5 through Another Chronicle EX+ in 2021.

==Gameplay Overview==
Dariusburst has the same general gameplay concept as every game before it. Control the Silver Hawk and use it to shoot down enemies, pick up coloured orbs dropped by some enemies to gain powerups, and choose the next zone to fight through after the boss at the end of the level. However, there are some important changes that should be listed.
*All ships (except Origin) now have a Burst system. Charge up the Burst meter by shooting down enemies, then when it is full, use it to unleash the ship's Burst weapon. Legend, for instance, fires a large Burst Laser that behaves similarly to the Alpha Beam from G-Darius, including the ability to counter enemy Burst Lasers. It can also be detached and controlled independently of the ship, in which case it will remain firing in the same direction from the same place until it is disabled or it runs out of fuel in the Burst Meter.
*Stage progression has been heavily altered. Now, the player is forced to play through Zones A and B in every playthrough with no choice. Afterwards, the game returns to typical Darius behaviour with the player being able to choose the zones they go through. However, the game still ends at Stage 5 as it did in G-Darius, but with only 4 possible Final Zones, and 11 stages in total across the whole game.
*In addition to the simplified level progression, Dariusburst devolves back to the boss system used in the original Darius, where every zone of a stage has the same boss (for example, all Stage 2 zones in Darius have Electric Fan as the boss). The only exception is the Final Zones, where each one of them house a different final boss. This is changed in SP Mode of Second Prologue.
*The player can now choose between 3 different ships to play as (4 in Second Prologue). These are Legend which is the default ship and fires a standard Burst Laser, Next which behaves very similarly to Legend except with a weaker main attack, homing bombs and a more mobile Burst Turret, and finally Origin, which behaves identically to the ship from the original Darius and does not have a Burst Laser. Second Prologue adds the Assault; its main attacks are similar to those of the Next (minus the homing bombs), but its Burst is entirely different. It is now a moving "Spark" that can be detonated remotely for medium damage, and does damage as it passes through enemies.

==Rank==
Placeholder

==Scoring==
Placeholder

==Zones==
The zones in Dariusburst start with A and B which all players are required to complete in every playthrough, then afterwards it opens up for the traditional flow of progression.

Below is a list of zones and their respective bosses.

===Stage 1===
*'''Zone A:''' The game starts in the ruins of an abandoned city, which then transitions into an undersea cave.
All Stage 1 zones have Iron Fossil as the boss.

===Stage 2===
*'''Zone B:''' The player travels to a space station just outside of Darius' atmosphere, then exits to reveal multiple other space stations under attack by the Belsar.
All Stage 2 zones have Mud Wheel as the boss.

===Stage 3===
*'''Zone C:''' The player travels to a battlefield in outer space. They head into a Belsar base near the battlefield, where the meat and potatoes of the level begin.
*'''Zone D:''' The player travels through an asteroid ring surrounding Darius. Lightning Claw is the boss in SP Mode.
All Stage 3 zones have Lightning Flamberge as the boss.

===Stage 4===
*'''Zone E:''' The player travels through a portal. They warp through the portal and are teleported near Amnelia.
*'''Zone F:''' The player travels through a massive junkyard containing the ruins of various destroyed ships. Heavy Jaw is the boss in SP Mode.
*'''Zone G:''' Practically identical to Zone E.
All Stage 4 zones have Mirage Castle as the boss.

===Stage 5===
*'''Zone H:''' The player fights through a secret Belsar base stationed near Amnelia, and work to destroy it. Hungry Gluttons is the final boss.
*'''Zone I:''' The player fights through an asteroid field near Amnelia. Several enemy battleships are inbound. Thousand Knives is the final boss.
*'''Zone J:''' The player fights through an enemy-controlled moon orbiting Amnelia. Dark Helios is the final boss.
*'''Zone K:''' The player fights through an enemy base near Amnelia. Countless battleships can be seen guarding it. Great Thing is the final boss.

==Story==
Dariusburst takes place after Darius is reclaimed and resettled during the events of Darius Gaiden and Twin. The Belsar have unleashed a powerful computer virus that crippled all interplanetary communication systems, allowing the Belsar to move in for an easy victory. The humanoid AI terminal Ti2 and test pilot Riga Practica were entrusted with 2 experimental new Burst Silver Hawks, and ordered to move out and take down the Belsar Flagship before they reached Darius.

G-Darius

2023-06-07T22:35:51Z

TrafficLight7773: Added list of stages and their respective zones, with some information about each zone

[[File:GDarius_Logo.png|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = G-Darius
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = GDarius_Title.png
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[Taito]]
|music =
|program =
|art =
|design =
|releasedate = '''Arcade''' <br> '''JP''': June 1997 <br> '''NA''': 1997
}}

==G-Darius==
'''G-Darius''' is a 2-player horizontal-scrolling shoot-em-up developed and released by Taito in 1997. Similar to it's predecessor, the game uses a single-screen display. Zuntata would also return to compose the music for G-Darius.
As typical for the Darius series, G-Darius features Fish-based enemies and bosses, branching pathways - with 15 stages - and multiple endings.
G-Darius has been ported to Playstation and later to modern consoles as G-Darius HD, featuring a higher resolution and a higher-poly Silver Hawk model during game-play.
Chronologically, the game takes place before the first Darius game, and is the first game in the timeline.
G-Darius would eventually be followed up by the Dariusburst series of games on PSP and Arcades.

==Gameplay Overview==
G-Darius plays somewhat similar to Darius Gaiden except for several differences. The game is also focused on power-ups: A main shot that fires in front, bombs that fire above and below the ship, and armor that can take multiple hits. New to the series that replaces Black-Hole Bombs are Capture Balls, which allow the Silver Hawk to capture almost any enemy on screen and use them against enemy forces. Enemies are more aggressive, and will fill the screen with bullets if not dealt with. Death will result in all power-ups being reduced to the base level of the current weapon.
There are also other pickups, such as Score pickups, Screen-clearing pickups, and extra lives. Like Gaiden, items found in the stage are fixed, and their quantities vary depending on the route taken.

===Controls===
*'''A(Press):''' Fires the main shot and bombs. Each press of the A button will fire a volley of 3 shots.
*'''A (Hold):''' Charges a captured enemy into an Alpha Beam. Releasing the button when fully charged will fire the Alpha Beam.
*'''B:''' Fires a single Capture Ball if the player has any. Pressing the button again with a captured enemy will cause it to explode into a large bomb.
*'''C:''' Rapidly fires the main shot & bomb. (Ver. 2 Only)
Note: most arcade cabinets and ports of the game include an additional 30hz turbo fire button for the main shot.

===Weapons===
[[File:GDarius_NoPower.jpg|256px|thumb|right|The Silver Hawk at the start of the game.]]
[[File:GDarius_FullPower.jpg|256px|thumb|right|The Silver Hawk maxed out on power-ups.]]
Just like previous entries in the Darius series, the Silver Hawk has a basic SHOT and BOMB attacks. These are upgraded by picking up enough '''red''' and '''green''' pickups respectively. It takes '''7''' red pickups to advance to the next weapon and '''4''' green pickups to upgrade the bombs. Red and Green pickups can be found by destroying colored enemies.
*'''Missile''' is the starting shot type. It has the most damage but cannot pierce enemies or the terrain. Collecting additional red pickups will add an extra Missile to the shot, up to three.
*'''Laser''' is a weaker shot type obtained after upgrading the Missile, and has the ability to pierce through enemies. Additional red pickups will cause the Laser to elongate.
*'''Wave''' is the final shot type and the weakest out of the three, but is able to pierce through enemies and terrain. Red pickups will widen the shot.
(The Laser and Wave shot type cannot pierce through bosses.)<br/>
<br/>Bombs fire diagonally from the ship, and are used to destroy ground-based enemies. Each green pickup will make the projectile larger until upgrading to the next Bomb type.
*'''Bomb''' is the starting Bomb type. It fires a single missile downwards from the front of the ship.
*'''Twin''' fires another bomb in front of the ship upwards
*'''Multi''' Bombs fire two additional bombs behind the ship.

===Armor===
Alongside Shots and Bombs is also Armor, which protects the Silver Hawk from multiple hits before being destroyed. Armor can be obtained by collecting '''blue''' pickups, obtained from blue-colored enemies. It takes '''6''' Arm pickups to upgrade. When an Armor pickup is collected when the player has no Armor, the player will always receive 3 hits, if they do, it will "repair" a certain number of units depending on the tier. On it's last hit, the Armor will shrink.
*'''Arm''' is the starting Armor tier. It can hold up to a maximum of 3 hits and repairs up to one lost unit.
*'''Super Arm''' is the second tier, which can hold up to 4 hits, and repair 2 units.
*'''Hyper Arm''' is the most powerful tier, where it holds up to 5 hits, and repairs 3 hits. Hyper Arm will also protect the ship from terrain.
Armor pickups are rather rare to come by during a play-through, so it's advised to use captured enemies to shield incoming damage instead.

===Capture Balls===
Capture Balls allow the ship to capture nearly any enemy in the game and use it on their side. Captured enemies will fire back toward other enemies with their firing pattern and behavior being dependent on what enemy was captured, with some acting as a shield instead of firing back. Captured enemies are not permanent, and will be destroyed if they take too much damage. Before this happens, the enemy can be turned into a powerful bomb that nearly covers the entire screen, or into an Alpha Beam which fires a huge, wide laser for a short period of time. The player starts with 3 capture balls by default and can be increased buy collecting purple power-ups found by destroyed '''purple''' colored enemies. Enemies that are are gold or have gold plating are immune to the Alpha Beam.

===Captains===
Around halfway through the stage, a Captain (Mid-Boss) may be encountered - a larger enemy with much more health and has gold-plating on their face. In order to capture a Captain, the armor must first be destroyed by firing enough shots onto it or by using a bomb from a captured enemy. Once the gold-plating is destroyed, firing a capture ball will capture the Captain. Aside from having more health than a common enemy, Captains have wilder attack patterns and can do a special move when a command input is performed with the joystick followed by a press of the shot button.

===Beam Dueling===
While the Alpha Beam is a very powerful tool for dealing with formations of enemies and large score multipliers, their best use is to counter Beta Beams fired from bosses. After a Boss has attacked the player enough, they will proceed to fire a Beta Beam towards the player. If the player has a captured enemy at the time, they can fire their Alpha Beam to counter the Beta Beam and engage a Beam Duel. This turns into a tug-of-war battle where the player must rapidly press the Shot button to overpower the Beta Beam and increase the size of the Alpha Beam, resulting in massive damage to the boss or their demise. Later Bosses will have more then one Beta Beam, and if all countered, can create even bigger counters and even higher score multipliers.

==Rank==
[[File:GDarius_TechRank.jpg|243px|thumb|right|Technical Rank Sheet shown in G-Darius HD.]]
There are two different types of rank in G-Darius: Gameplay Rank and Technical Rank.
===Gameplay Rank===
Like most shoot-em-up games, G-Darius has a ranking system that determines the difficulty of the game.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8W4ub-wRtE&t=690s</ref> Except for a few instances, Gameplay Rank never decreases and goes up at a rather linear pace as the game progresses until '''capping at 255'''.<br/>
<br/>The Rank at the start of the game is determined by the set difficulty.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Difficulty
! Starting Rank
|-
| Super Easy
| '''0'''
|-
| Very Easy
| '''16'''
|-
| Easy
| '''32'''
|-
| Normal
| '''48'''
|-
| Hard
| '''64'''
|-
| Very Hard
| '''80'''
|-
| Super Hard
|''' 96'''
|-
| Mania
| '''112'''
|}
Rank is increased by the following:
*Collecting a Shot or Bomb pickup: '''+2'''
**If the Shot pickup upgrades weapon to Laser: '''+4 instead.'''
**If the current Shot type is Laser or Wave, every 2nd red pickup will add '''+3 instead.'''
*Entering a Zone: '''+5'''
*Starting a Boss fight: '''+6'''
*2nd Player joining the game: '''+32'''
*If the player has a captured enemy, the Rank will '''increase by 16''' until the captured enemy is spent.
*Collecting an Arm pickup: '''+1'''
**If the player has no Arm power upon collecting an Arm pickup: '''+2 more.'''
*If Arm level is reset to base power (caused by a death): '''-2'''
The number of hits remaining on the player's Arm also affects Rank:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Arm Power Remaining
! Rank Modifier
|-
| 0
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +0
|-
| 1
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +1
|-
| 2
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +1
|-
| 3
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +2
|-
| 4
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +4
|-
| 5
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +8
|}
During Co-Op games, the player who has survived longer will determine the Rank.<br/>
<br/>Gameplay Rank affects the following:
*Enemy Health
*Enemy firing speed and projectile speed
*Boss Health
*Boss pattern aggression

===Technical Rank===
Technical Rank is a grading given to the player at the end of the game, ranging from 0-105. Technical Rank is determined by the following:
*'''Enemies Shot Down''': Total enemies shot down, either singular or in groups.
*'''VS Boss Shot Hit''': How many shots hit during a Boss fight.
*'''Cap. Survive''': The number of captured enemies that were used as Bombs or Alpha Beams.
*'''Pow-Up Got''': How many power-ups were picked up.
*'''Reached''': How far the player got in the game. Adds 3 points per Zone cleared.
*'''VS Boss Final Blow''': The best final blow inflicted to a boss. Letting a boss self-destruct is worth the least at 2 while a Fourfold Counter is worth the most at 10.
*'''Miss''': Losing lives negatively affects Technical Rank.
*'''Continue''': 1 point is lost per continue used.

==Scoring==
Scoring is multiplied by the following actions:
*Destroying the last enemy in a formation with a captured enemy: '''2X'''
*Destroying the last enemy in a formation with a Capture Ball Bomb: '''3X'''
*Destroying the last enemy in a formation formation with an Alpha Beam: '''4X'''
*Alpha Beam Single Counter: '''6X'''
*Alpha Beam Double Counter: '''8X'''
*Alpha Beam Triple Counter: '''10X'''
*Alpha Beam Fourfold Counter: '''12X'''
Upon finishing the game, extra bonuses are given:
*Remaining Lives: '''1,000,000 per extra life'''
*Captured Captains: '''300,000 per captured Captain'''
*Finishing off a Boss with an Alpha Beam (No Counter): '''200,000'''
*Finishing off a Boss with a Single Counter Alpha Beam: '''400,000'''
*Finishing off a Boss with a Double Counter Alpha Beam: '''600,000'''
*Finishing off a Boss with a Triple Counter Alpha Beam: '''800,000'''
*Finishing off a Boss with a Fourfold Counter Alpha Beam: '''1,000,000'''

==Zones==
As usual, G-Darius allows for players to select the zones they want to fight through, although it is scaled down to 15 zones rather than 26, and the zones are now denoted with letters of the Greek alphabet. G-Darius also adds Areas, which are denoted with letters of the English alphabet, and allow the player to select a different stage to fight through for the second half of the zone, as well as a different attack pattern for the stage boss battle. In Zones Gamma and Eta, this instead determines the parts of the stage boss that will be explored, as the bosses in Gamma and Eta are gargantuan battleship raids rather than traditional bosses.

Below is a list of stages and their respective zones, as well as the zone's name, areas and boss.

===Stage 1===
*'''Zone Alpha:''' Green Globe. Home to areas A and B. Boss is Eclipse Eye.

===Stage 2===
*'''Zone Beta:''' Giant Plant. Home to areas C and D. Boss is Tripod Sardine.
*'''Zone Gamma:''' Gigantic Ship. Home to areas E and F. Boss is Queen Fossil.

===Stage 3===
*'''Zone Delta:''' Granulated Star. Home to areas G and H. Boss is Dual Horn.
*'''Zone Epsilon:''' Galaxy Island. Home to areas I and J. Boss is Dimension Diver.
*'''Zone Zeta:''' Gravity Zero. Home to areas K and L. Boss is Absolute Defender.

===Stage 4===
*'''Zone Eta:''' Glowing Cave. Home to areas M and N. Boss is Fire Fossil.
*'''Zone Theta:''' Gallery. Home to areas O and P. Boss is Death Wings.
*'''Zone Iota:''' Glacier. Home to areas Q and R. Boss is Eight Feet Umbrella.
*'''Zone Kappa:''' Garden of Sky. Home to areas S and T. Boss is Eternal Triangle.

===Stage 5===
*'''Zone Lambda:''' Great Cliff. Home to areas U and V. Final boss is Lightning Coronatus.
*'''Zone Mu:''' Great Fortress I. Home to areas W and X. Final boss is Heavy Arms Shell.
*'''Zone Nu:''' Genesis. Home to areas Y and Z. Final boss is The Embryon.
*'''Zone Xi:''' Great Fortress II. Home to areas W' and X'. Final boss is Accordion Hazard.
*'''Zone Omicron:''' Grave of Culture. Home to areas U' and V'. Final boss is G.T.

==Story==
The game takes place thousands of years before the original Darius. Humankind has come to be not on Earth, but on the planet Amnelia, named after a man who had ended a massive war hundreds of years prior to the events of G-Darius.
The 21st Amnelian king Brezzar was a great scientist as well as a great leader. He discovered a mysterious energy source known as Kaju, and began to integrate it into society. However, it was a finite resource and responsible for the life of the plants on Amnelia. As a result, Amnelia eventually ran out of Kaju, and some ended up emigrating to its satellite Blazar.

50 years later, war has broken out between Amnelia and Blazar over occupation of Martha, another one of the planet's satellites. Amnelian scientists invented a weapon known as "All Nothing" or A.N., which seemed to harness "the power of the Devil". The weapon was used on the planet Blazar, resulting in the total destruction of Blazar, and the awakening of the Thiima. Three years after the destruction of Blazar, the mysterious alien race only known as the Thiima would attack Amnelia, sensing it as a threat not only to them but to all life in the galaxy. Early on, the Amnelians created the first model of the legendary Silver Hawk fighter, combining A.N. power with Amnelian and Thiiman technology to create an all-around deadly force. Pilots Sameluck Raida and Lutia Feen were selected to pilot the Silver Hawks and fight the Thiiman invaders.

In G-Darius, there are 5 different final zones, each with their own final boss and ending.

*Ending 1 (Zone Lambda): Lightning Coronatus is destroyed and unleashes a massive explosion. Sameluck is able to escape, but Lutia's ship is badly damaged, forcing her to bail out and abandon her craft. Sameluck then abandons his ship to be with her, and their stories end as Sameluck's lone Silver Hawk floats around in the void of space.
*Ending 2 (Zone Mu): Heavy Arms Shell is destroyed and unleashes a massive explosion. Both narrowly escape, but Sameluck pushes Lutia away to ensure her escape, killing Sameluck in the process. Lutia eventually crashes on the surface of Darius, where a strange man comes to her and offers her his hand. She accepts, and the credits roll.
*Ending 3 (Zone Nu): Sameluck and Lutia reach the Thiiman homeworld and break in, only to discover it is an entirely different universe to their own. At the heart of the mysterious world, they find the Embryon, a unit presumably used purely as a commander for the Thiima and a way for them to produce more and more combat units. Sameluck and Lutia defeat the Embryon in battle, causing him to explode like a battleship would - however, the Embryon's destruction results in the collapse of the foreign world, and the two pilots share one last kiss as they fade into nonexistence.
*Ending 4 (Zone Xi): Accordion Hazard is destroyed and unleashes a massive explosion. It almost results in the death of Sameluck and Lutia, but instead they are absorbed by a strange light that causes them to merge and become a literal silver hawk. The two escape unharmed.
*Ending 5 (Zone Omicron): G.T is defeated, but not completely destroyed. Sameluck and Lutia have won the battle, but are unable to return to Amnelia (likely due to a lack of fuel), so they instead land on the nearby planet of Darius. Meanwhile, a large craft belonging to the Belsar finds and salvages the remains of G.T, possibly leading to the creation of Great Thing and the rest of the Belsar army later down the line.

==Ver. 2==
G-Darius Ver. 2 is a updated version of G-Darius released in 1999, which includes several changes in order to make the game more difficult.<ref>https://darius.fandom.com/wiki/G-Darius#Ver.2</ref>
*Significantly increased difficulty. Enemies and Bosses are much more aggressive from the start.
*Tweaked Arm system. Armor no longer protects the Silver Hawk from an enemy collision unless they have upgraded Armor.
*Added a beginner mode similar to that of [[Gradius III]]. Lasts up to 3 Zones and death reduces all power-ups by 1 unit instead of being reset to base power.
*Increased amount of Captains per Zone. All Captains fire the spiraling laser attack from First Captain. Captured Captains have significantly less health.
*The player is no longer invulnerable when using a Capture Ball's bomb.
*Boss battles now have a timer, which lasts 3 minutes normally and 7 minutes for final bosses. Defeating the boss will award 10,000 points per second remaining.
*There are high score tables for every Zone.
*Continuing provides a pickup for Missile, Bomb, Arm, and Capture Ball instead of the former three in a combined power-up.

==Ports==
<gallery>
GDarius_PSXCover.jpg|US Playstation Cover
GDarius_PCCover.png|Japanese PC Cover
GDariusHD_SteamCover.jpg|G-Darius HD Cover on Steam
GdariusExhibitionscreen.jpg|a screenshot of the widescreen "Exhibition Mode" in the Steam release
GDARIUS-EXHLogo.png|Logo for Steam exclusive mode
</gallery>
G-Darius was ported to the original Playstation in 1998, which features a beginner mode, options to fight only the bosses, and FMV cutscenes. It was also ported to Windows in 2001.

Taito Legends 2 on the Playstation 2 includes G-Darius. It is a nearly perfect arcade port, but includes loading times, and very little slowdown.

The game would be re-released again in 2021 as G-Darius HD for Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4/5, as a stand-alone release and as part of the Darius Cozmic Revelation package. The remaster was developed by M2 and includes an option to play G-Darius at a higher resolution with a higher-poly Silver Hawk model, as well as a Capture Gallery, achievements, online leaderboards, and replays. An update in 2022 would add G-Darius Version 2, G-Darius "for consumer" (PS1 port), and added gadgets including capture and boss health bars. G-Darius HD was also released on Steam, which has an exclusive "Exhibition Mode" and sub-woofer support.

==References==

Darius Twin

2023-06-07T05:34:11Z

TrafficLight7773: /* Story */ Changed the endings list to bullet points, and changed some wording

G-Darius

2023-06-07T05:31:41Z

TrafficLight7773: Changed the Endings list to bullet points

[[File:GDarius_Logo.png|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = G-Darius
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = GDarius_Title.png
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[Taito]]
|music =
|program =
|art =
|design =
|releasedate = '''Arcade''' <br> '''JP''': June 1997 <br> '''NA''': 1997
}}

==G-Darius==
'''G-Darius''' is a 2-player horizontal-scrolling shoot-em-up developed and released by Taito in 1997. Similar to it's predecessor, the game uses a single-screen display. Zuntata would also return to compose the music for G-Darius.
As typical for the Darius series, G-Darius features Fish-based enemies and bosses, branching pathways - with 15 stages - and multiple endings.
G-Darius has been ported to Playstation and later to modern consoles as G-Darius HD, featuring a higher resolution and a higher-poly Silver Hawk model during game-play.
Chronologically, the game takes place before the first Darius game, and is the first game in the timeline.
G-Darius would eventually be followed up by the Dariusburst series of games on PSP and Arcades.

==Gameplay Overview==
G-Darius plays somewhat similar to Darius Gaiden except for several differences. The game is also focused on power-ups: A main shot that fires in front, bombs that fire above and below the ship, and armor that can take multiple hits. New to the series that replaces Black-Hole Bombs are Capture Balls, which allow the Silver Hawk to capture almost any enemy on screen and use them against enemy forces. Enemies are more aggressive, and will fill the screen with bullets if not dealt with. Death will result in all power-ups being reduced to the base level of the current weapon.
There are also other pickups, such as Score pickups, Screen-clearing pickups, and extra lives. Like Gaiden, items found in the stage are fixed, and their quantities vary depending on the route taken.

===Controls===
*'''A(Press):''' Fires the main shot and bombs. Each press of the A button will fire a volley of 3 shots.
*'''A (Hold):''' Charges a captured enemy into an Alpha Beam. Releasing the button when fully charged will fire the Alpha Beam.
*'''B:''' Fires a single Capture Ball if the player has any. Pressing the button again with a captured enemy will cause it to explode into a large bomb.
*'''C:''' Rapidly fires the main shot & bomb. (Ver. 2 Only)
Note: most arcade cabinets and ports of the game include an additional 30hz turbo fire button for the main shot.

===Weapons===
[[File:GDarius_NoPower.jpg|256px|thumb|right|The Silver Hawk at the start of the game.]]
[[File:GDarius_FullPower.jpg|256px|thumb|right|The Silver Hawk maxed out on power-ups.]]
Just like previous entries in the Darius series, the Silver Hawk has a basic SHOT and BOMB attacks. These are upgraded by picking up enough '''red''' and '''green''' pickups respectively. It takes '''7''' red pickups to advance to the next weapon and '''4''' green pickups to upgrade the bombs. Red and Green pickups can be found by destroying colored enemies.
*'''Missile''' is the starting shot type. It has the most damage but cannot pierce enemies or the terrain. Collecting additional red pickups will add an extra Missile to the shot, up to three.
*'''Laser''' is a weaker shot type obtained after upgrading the Missile, and has the ability to pierce through enemies. Additional red pickups will cause the Laser to elongate.
*'''Wave''' is the final shot type and the weakest out of the three, but is able to pierce through enemies and terrain. Red pickups will widen the shot.
(The Laser and Wave shot type cannot pierce through bosses.)<br/>
<br/>Bombs fire diagonally from the ship, and are used to destroy ground-based enemies. Each green pickup will make the projectile larger until upgrading to the next Bomb type.
*'''Bomb''' is the starting Bomb type. It fires a single missile downwards from the front of the ship.
*'''Twin''' fires another bomb in front of the ship upwards
*'''Multi''' Bombs fire two additional bombs behind the ship.

===Armor===
Alongside Shots and Bombs is also Armor, which protects the Silver Hawk from multiple hits before being destroyed. Armor can be obtained by collecting '''blue''' pickups, obtained from blue-colored enemies. It takes '''6''' Arm pickups to upgrade. When an Armor pickup is collected when the player has no Armor, the player will always receive 3 hits, if they do, it will "repair" a certain number of units depending on the tier. On it's last hit, the Armor will shrink.
*'''Arm''' is the starting Armor tier. It can hold up to a maximum of 3 hits and repairs up to one lost unit.
*'''Super Arm''' is the second tier, which can hold up to 4 hits, and repair 2 units.
*'''Hyper Arm''' is the most powerful tier, where it holds up to 5 hits, and repairs 3 hits. Hyper Arm will also protect the ship from terrain.
Armor pickups are rather rare to come by during a play-through, so it's advised to use captured enemies to shield incoming damage instead.

===Capture Balls===
Capture Balls allow the ship to capture nearly any enemy in the game and use it on their side. Captured enemies will fire back toward other enemies with their firing pattern and behavior being dependent on what enemy was captured, with some acting as a shield instead of firing back. Captured enemies are not permanent, and will be destroyed if they take too much damage. Before this happens, the enemy can be turned into a powerful bomb that nearly covers the entire screen, or into an Alpha Beam which fires a huge, wide laser for a short period of time. The player starts with 3 capture balls by default and can be increased buy collecting purple power-ups found by destroyed '''purple''' colored enemies. Enemies that are are gold or have gold plating are immune to the Alpha Beam.

===Captains===
Around halfway through the stage, a Captain (Mid-Boss) may be encountered - a larger enemy with much more health and has gold-plating on their face. In order to capture a Captain, the armor must first be destroyed by firing enough shots onto it or by using a bomb from a captured enemy. Once the gold-plating is destroyed, firing a capture ball will capture the Captain. Aside from having more health than a common enemy, Captains have wilder attack patterns and can do a special move when a command input is performed with the joystick followed by a press of the shot button.

===Beam Dueling===
While the Alpha Beam is a very powerful tool for dealing with formations of enemies and large score multipliers, their best use is to counter Beta Beams fired from bosses. After a Boss has attacked the player enough, they will proceed to fire a Beta Beam towards the player. If the player has a captured enemy at the time, they can fire their Alpha Beam to counter the Beta Beam and engage a Beam Duel. This turns into a tug-of-war battle where the player must rapidly press the Shot button to overpower the Beta Beam and increase the size of the Alpha Beam, resulting in massive damage to the boss or their demise. Later Bosses will have more then one Beta Beam, and if all countered, can create even bigger counters and even higher score multipliers.

==Rank==
[[File:GDarius_TechRank.jpg|243px|thumb|right|Technical Rank Sheet shown in G-Darius HD.]]
There are two different types of rank in G-Darius: Gameplay Rank and Technical Rank.
===Gameplay Rank===
Like most shoot-em-up games, G-Darius has a ranking system that determines the difficulty of the game.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8W4ub-wRtE&t=690s</ref> Except for a few instances, Gameplay Rank never decreases and goes up at a rather linear pace as the game progresses until '''capping at 255'''.<br/>
<br/>The Rank at the start of the game is determined by the set difficulty.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Difficulty
! Starting Rank
|-
| Super Easy
| '''0'''
|-
| Very Easy
| '''16'''
|-
| Easy
| '''32'''
|-
| Normal
| '''48'''
|-
| Hard
| '''64'''
|-
| Very Hard
| '''80'''
|-
| Super Hard
|''' 96'''
|-
| Mania
| '''112'''
|}
Rank is increased by the following:
*Collecting a Shot or Bomb pickup: '''+2'''
**If the Shot pickup upgrades weapon to Laser: '''+4 instead.'''
**If the current Shot type is Laser or Wave, every 2nd red pickup will add '''+3 instead.'''
*Entering a Zone: '''+5'''
*Starting a Boss fight: '''+6'''
*2nd Player joining the game: '''+32'''
*If the player has a captured enemy, the Rank will '''increase by 16''' until the captured enemy is spent.
*Collecting an Arm pickup: '''+1'''
**If the player has no Arm power upon collecting an Arm pickup: '''+2 more.'''
*If Arm level is reset to base power (caused by a death): '''-2'''
The number of hits remaining on the player's Arm also affects Rank:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Arm Power Remaining
! Rank Modifier
|-
| 0
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +0
|-
| 1
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +1
|-
| 2
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +1
|-
| 3
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +2
|-
| 4
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +4
|-
| 5
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +8
|}
During Co-Op games, the player who has survived longer will determine the Rank.<br/>
<br/>Gameplay Rank affects the following:
*Enemy Health
*Enemy firing speed and projectile speed
*Boss Health
*Boss pattern aggression

===Technical Rank===
Technical Rank is a grading given to the player at the end of the game, ranging from 0-105. Technical Rank is determined by the following:
*'''Enemies Shot Down''': Total enemies shot down, either singular or in groups.
*'''VS Boss Shot Hit''': How many shots hit during a Boss fight.
*'''Cap. Survive''': The number of captured enemies that were used as Bombs or Alpha Beams.
*'''Pow-Up Got''': How many power-ups were picked up.
*'''Reached''': How far the player got in the game. Adds 3 points per Zone cleared.
*'''VS Boss Final Blow''': The best final blow inflicted to a boss. Letting a boss self-destruct is worth the least at 2 while a Fourfold Counter is worth the most at 10.
*'''Miss''': Losing lives negatively affects Technical Rank.
*'''Continue''': 1 point is lost per continue used.

==Scoring==
Scoring is multiplied by the following actions:
*Destroying the last enemy in a formation with a captured enemy: '''2X'''
*Destroying the last enemy in a formation with a Capture Ball Bomb: '''3X'''
*Destroying the last enemy in a formation formation with an Alpha Beam: '''4X'''
*Alpha Beam Single Counter: '''6X'''
*Alpha Beam Double Counter: '''8X'''
*Alpha Beam Triple Counter: '''10X'''
*Alpha Beam Fourfold Counter: '''12X'''
Upon finishing the game, extra bonuses are given:
*Remaining Lives: '''1,000,000 per extra life'''
*Captured Captains: '''300,000 per captured Captain'''
*Finishing off a Boss with an Alpha Beam (No Counter): '''200,000'''
*Finishing off a Boss with a Single Counter Alpha Beam: '''400,000'''
*Finishing off a Boss with a Double Counter Alpha Beam: '''600,000'''
*Finishing off a Boss with a Triple Counter Alpha Beam: '''800,000'''
*Finishing off a Boss with a Fourfold Counter Alpha Beam: '''1,000,000'''

==Story==
The game takes place thousands of years before the original Darius. Humankind has come to be not on Earth, but on the planet Amnelia, named after a man who had ended a massive war hundreds of years prior to the events of G-Darius.
The 21st Amnelian king Brezzar was a great scientist as well as a great leader. He discovered a mysterious energy source known as Kaju, and began to integrate it into society. However, it was a finite resource and responsible for the life of the plants on Amnelia. As a result, Amnelia eventually ran out of Kaju, and some ended up emigrating to its satellite Blazar.

50 years later, war has broken out between Amnelia and Blazar over occupation of Martha, another one of the planet's satellites. Amnelian scientists invented a weapon known as "All Nothing" or A.N., which seemed to harness "the power of the Devil". The weapon was used on the planet Blazar, resulting in the total destruction of Blazar, and the awakening of the Thiima. Three years after the destruction of Blazar, the mysterious alien race only known as the Thiima would attack Amnelia, sensing it as a threat not only to them but to all life in the galaxy. Early on, the Amnelians created the first model of the legendary Silver Hawk fighter, combining A.N. power with Amnelian and Thiiman technology to create an all-around deadly force. Pilots Sameluck Raida and Lutia Feen were selected to pilot the Silver Hawks and fight the Thiiman invaders.

As usual, G-Darius allows for players to select the zones they want to fight through, although it is scaled down to 15 zones rather than 26, and the zones are now denoted with letters of the Greek alphabet.

*Ending 1 (Zone Lambda): Lightning Coronatus is destroyed and unleashes a massive explosion. Sameluck is able to escape, but Lutia's ship is badly damaged, forcing her to bail out and abandon her craft. Sameluck then abandons his ship to be with her, and their stories end as Sameluck's lone Silver Hawk floats around in the void of space.
*Ending 2 (Zone Mu): Heavy Arms Shell is destroyed and unleashes a massive explosion. Both narrowly escape, but Sameluck pushes Lutia away to ensure her escape, killing Sameluck in the process. Lutia eventually crashes on the surface of Darius, where a strange man comes to her and offers her his hand. She accepts, and the credits roll.
*Ending 3 (Zone Nu): Sameluck and Lutia reach the Thiiman homeworld and break in, only to discover it is an entirely different universe to their own. At the heart of the mysterious world, they find the Embryon, a unit presumably used purely as a commander for the Thiima and a way for them to produce more and more combat units. Sameluck and Lutia defeat the Embryon in battle, causing him to explode like a battleship would - however, the Embryon's destruction results in the collapse of the foreign world, and the two pilots share one last kiss as they fade into nonexistence.
*Ending 4 (Zone Xi): Accordion Hazard is destroyed and unleashes a massive explosion. It almost results in the death of Sameluck and Lutia, but instead they are absorbed by a strange light that causes them to merge and become a literal silver hawk. The two escape unharmed.
*Ending 5 (Zone Omicron): G.T is defeated, but not completely destroyed. Sameluck and Lutia have won the battle, but are unable to return to Amnelia (likely due to a lack of fuel), so they instead land on the nearby planet of Darius. Meanwhile, a large craft belonging to the Belsar finds and salvages the remains of G.T, possibly leading to the creation of Great Thing and the rest of the Belsar army later down the line.

==Ver. 2==
G-Darius Ver. 2 is a updated version of G-Darius released in 1999, which includes several changes in order to make the game more difficult.<ref>https://darius.fandom.com/wiki/G-Darius#Ver.2</ref>
*Significantly increased difficulty. Enemies and Bosses are much more aggressive from the start.
*Tweaked Arm system. Armor no longer protects the Silver Hawk from an enemy collision unless they have upgraded Armor.
*Added a beginner mode similar to that of [[Gradius III]]. Lasts up to 3 Zones and death reduces all power-ups by 1 unit instead of being reset to base power.
*Increased amount of Captains per Zone. All Captains fire the spiraling laser attack from First Captain. Captured Captains have significantly less health.
*The player is no longer invulnerable when using a Capture Ball's bomb.
*Boss battles now have a timer, which lasts 3 minutes normally and 7 minutes for final bosses. Defeating the boss will award 10,000 points per second remaining.
*There are high score tables for every Zone.
*Continuing provides a pickup for Missile, Bomb, Arm, and Capture Ball instead of the former three in a combined power-up.

==Ports==
<gallery>
GDarius_PSXCover.jpg|US Playstation Cover
GDarius_PCCover.png|Japanese PC Cover
GDariusHD_SteamCover.jpg|G-Darius HD Cover on Steam
GdariusExhibitionscreen.jpg|a screenshot of the widescreen "Exhibition Mode" in the Steam release
GDARIUS-EXHLogo.png|Logo for Steam exclusive mode
</gallery>
G-Darius was ported to the original Playstation in 1998, which features a beginner mode, options to fight only the bosses, and FMV cutscenes. It was also ported to Windows in 2001.

Taito Legends 2 on the Playstation 2 includes G-Darius. It is a nearly perfect arcade port, but includes loading times, and very little slowdown.

The game would be re-released again in 2021 as G-Darius HD for Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4/5, as a stand-alone release and as part of the Darius Cozmic Revelation package. The remaster was developed by M2 and includes an option to play G-Darius at a higher resolution with a higher-poly Silver Hawk model, as well as a Capture Gallery, achievements, online leaderboards, and replays. An update in 2022 would add G-Darius Version 2, G-Darius "for consumer" (PS1 port), and added gadgets including capture and boss health bars. G-Darius HD was also released on Steam, which has an exclusive "Exhibition Mode" and sub-woofer support.

==References==

G-Darius

2023-06-06T02:29:47Z

TrafficLight7773: Added Story section and list of endings

[[File:GDarius_Logo.png|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #238DEC
|innerbordercolor = #238DEC
|title = G-Darius
|background = #8FE2FF
|image = GDarius_Title.png
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[Taito]]
|music =
|program =
|art =
|design =
|releasedate = '''Arcade''' <br> '''JP''': June 1997 <br> '''NA''': 1997
}}

==G-Darius==
'''G-Darius''' is a 2-player horizontal-scrolling shoot-em-up developed and released by Taito in 1997. Similar to it's predecessor, the game uses a single-screen display. Zuntata would also return to compose the music for G-Darius.
As typical for the Darius series, G-Darius features Fish-based enemies and bosses, branching pathways - with 15 stages - and multiple endings.
G-Darius has been ported to Playstation and later to modern consoles as G-Darius HD, featuring a higher resolution and a higher-poly Silver Hawk model during game-play.
Chronologically, the game takes place before the first Darius game, and is the first game in the timeline.
G-Darius would eventually be followed up by the Dariusburst series of games on PSP and Arcades.

==Gameplay Overview==
G-Darius plays somewhat similar to Darius Gaiden except for several differences. The game is also focused on power-ups: A main shot that fires in front, bombs that fire above and below the ship, and armor that can take multiple hits. New to the series that replaces Black-Hole Bombs are Capture Balls, which allow the Silver Hawk to capture almost any enemy on screen and use them against enemy forces. Enemies are more aggressive, and will fill the screen with bullets if not dealt with. Death will result in all power-ups being reduced to the base level of the current weapon.
There are also other pickups, such as Score pickups, Screen-clearing pickups, and extra lives. Like Gaiden, items found in the stage are fixed, and their quantities vary depending on the route taken.

===Controls===
*'''A(Press):''' Fires the main shot and bombs. Each press of the A button will fire a volley of 3 shots.
*'''A (Hold):''' Charges a captured enemy into an Alpha Beam. Releasing the button when fully charged will fire the Alpha Beam.
*'''B:''' Fires a single Capture Ball if the player has any. Pressing the button again with a captured enemy will cause it to explode into a large bomb.
*'''C:''' Rapidly fires the main shot & bomb. (Ver. 2 Only)
Note: most arcade cabinets and ports of the game include an additional 30hz turbo fire button for the main shot.

===Weapons===
[[File:GDarius_NoPower.jpg|256px|thumb|right|The Silver Hawk at the start of the game.]]
[[File:GDarius_FullPower.jpg|256px|thumb|right|The Silver Hawk maxed out on power-ups.]]
Just like previous entries in the Darius series, the Silver Hawk has a basic SHOT and BOMB attacks. These are upgraded by picking up enough '''red''' and '''green''' pickups respectively. It takes '''7''' red pickups to advance to the next weapon and '''4''' green pickups to upgrade the bombs. Red and Green pickups can be found by destroying colored enemies.
*'''Missile''' is the starting shot type. It has the most damage but cannot pierce enemies or the terrain. Collecting additional red pickups will add an extra Missile to the shot, up to three.
*'''Laser''' is a weaker shot type obtained after upgrading the Missile, and has the ability to pierce through enemies. Additional red pickups will cause the Laser to elongate.
*'''Wave''' is the final shot type and the weakest out of the three, but is able to pierce through enemies and terrain. Red pickups will widen the shot.
(The Laser and Wave shot type cannot pierce through bosses.)<br/>
<br/>Bombs fire diagonally from the ship, and are used to destroy ground-based enemies. Each green pickup will make the projectile larger until upgrading to the next Bomb type.
*'''Bomb''' is the starting Bomb type. It fires a single missile downwards from the front of the ship.
*'''Twin''' fires another bomb in front of the ship upwards
*'''Multi''' Bombs fire two additional bombs behind the ship.

===Armor===
Alongside Shots and Bombs is also Armor, which protects the Silver Hawk from multiple hits before being destroyed. Armor can be obtained by collecting '''blue''' pickups, obtained from blue-colored enemies. It takes '''6''' Arm pickups to upgrade. When an Armor pickup is collected when the player has no Armor, the player will always receive 3 hits, if they do, it will "repair" a certain number of units depending on the tier. On it's last hit, the Armor will shrink.
*'''Arm''' is the starting Armor tier. It can hold up to a maximum of 3 hits and repairs up to one lost unit.
*'''Super Arm''' is the second tier, which can hold up to 4 hits, and repair 2 units.
*'''Hyper Arm''' is the most powerful tier, where it holds up to 5 hits, and repairs 3 hits. Hyper Arm will also protect the ship from terrain.
Armor pickups are rather rare to come by during a play-through, so it's advised to use captured enemies to shield incoming damage instead.

===Capture Balls===
Capture Balls allow the ship to capture nearly any enemy in the game and use it on their side. Captured enemies will fire back toward other enemies with their firing pattern and behavior being dependent on what enemy was captured, with some acting as a shield instead of firing back. Captured enemies are not permanent, and will be destroyed if they take too much damage. Before this happens, the enemy can be turned into a powerful bomb that nearly covers the entire screen, or into an Alpha Beam which fires a huge, wide laser for a short period of time. The player starts with 3 capture balls by default and can be increased buy collecting purple power-ups found by destroyed '''purple''' colored enemies. Enemies that are are gold or have gold plating are immune to the Alpha Beam.

===Captains===
Around halfway through the stage, a Captain (Mid-Boss) may be encountered - a larger enemy with much more health and has gold-plating on their face. In order to capture a Captain, the armor must first be destroyed by firing enough shots onto it or by using a bomb from a captured enemy. Once the gold-plating is destroyed, firing a capture ball will capture the Captain. Aside from having more health than a common enemy, Captains have wilder attack patterns and can do a special move when a command input is performed with the joystick followed by a press of the shot button.

===Beam Dueling===
While the Alpha Beam is a very powerful tool for dealing with formations of enemies and large score multipliers, their best use is to counter Beta Beams fired from bosses. After a Boss has attacked the player enough, they will proceed to fire a Beta Beam towards the player. If the player has a captured enemy at the time, they can fire their Alpha Beam to counter the Beta Beam and engage a Beam Duel. This turns into a tug-of-war battle where the player must rapidly press the Shot button to overpower the Beta Beam and increase the size of the Alpha Beam, resulting in massive damage to the boss or their demise. Later Bosses will have more then one Beta Beam, and if all countered, can create even bigger counters and even higher score multipliers.

==Rank==
[[File:GDarius_TechRank.jpg|243px|thumb|right|Technical Rank Sheet shown in G-Darius HD.]]
There are two different types of rank in G-Darius: Gameplay Rank and Technical Rank.
===Gameplay Rank===
Like most shoot-em-up games, G-Darius has a ranking system that determines the difficulty of the game.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8W4ub-wRtE&t=690s</ref> Except for a few instances, Gameplay Rank never decreases and goes up at a rather linear pace as the game progresses until '''capping at 255'''.<br/>
<br/>The Rank at the start of the game is determined by the set difficulty.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Difficulty
! Starting Rank
|-
| Super Easy
| '''0'''
|-
| Very Easy
| '''16'''
|-
| Easy
| '''32'''
|-
| Normal
| '''48'''
|-
| Hard
| '''64'''
|-
| Very Hard
| '''80'''
|-
| Super Hard
|''' 96'''
|-
| Mania
| '''112'''
|}
Rank is increased by the following:
*Collecting a Shot or Bomb pickup: '''+2'''
**If the Shot pickup upgrades weapon to Laser: '''+4 instead.'''
**If the current Shot type is Laser or Wave, every 2nd red pickup will add '''+3 instead.'''
*Entering a Zone: '''+5'''
*Starting a Boss fight: '''+6'''
*2nd Player joining the game: '''+32'''
*If the player has a captured enemy, the Rank will '''increase by 16''' until the captured enemy is spent.
*Collecting an Arm pickup: '''+1'''
**If the player has no Arm power upon collecting an Arm pickup: '''+2 more.'''
*If Arm level is reset to base power (caused by a death): '''-2'''
The number of hits remaining on the player's Arm also affects Rank:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Arm Power Remaining
! Rank Modifier
|-
| 0
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +0
|-
| 1
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +1
|-
| 2
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +1
|-
| 3
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +2
|-
| 4
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +4
|-
| 5
| style="font-weight:bold;" | +8
|}
During Co-Op games, the player who has survived longer will determine the Rank.<br/>
<br/>Gameplay Rank affects the following:
*Enemy Health
*Enemy firing speed and projectile speed
*Boss Health
*Boss pattern aggression

===Technical Rank===
Technical Rank is a grading given to the player at the end of the game, ranging from 0-105. Technical Rank is determined by the following:
*'''Enemies Shot Down''': Total enemies shot down, either singular or in groups.
*'''VS Boss Shot Hit''': How many shots hit during a Boss fight.
*'''Cap. Survive''': The number of captured enemies that were used as Bombs or Alpha Beams.
*'''Pow-Up Got''': How many power-ups were picked up.
*'''Reached''': How far the player got in the game. Adds 3 points per Zone cleared.
*'''VS Boss Final Blow''': The best final blow inflicted to a boss. Letting a boss self-destruct is worth the least at 2 while a Fourfold Counter is worth the most at 10.
*'''Miss''': Losing lives negatively affects Technical Rank.
*'''Continue''': 1 point is lost per continue used.

==Scoring==
Scoring is multiplied by the following actions:
*Destroying the last enemy in a formation with a captured enemy: '''2X'''
*Destroying the last enemy in a formation with a Capture Ball Bomb: '''3X'''
*Destroying the last enemy in a formation formation with an Alpha Beam: '''4X'''
*Alpha Beam Single Counter: '''6X'''
*Alpha Beam Double Counter: '''8X'''
*Alpha Beam Triple Counter: '''10X'''
*Alpha Beam Fourfold Counter: '''12X'''
Upon finishing the game, extra bonuses are given:
*Remaining Lives: '''1,000,000 per extra life'''
*Captured Captains: '''300,000 per captured Captain'''
*Finishing off a Boss with an Alpha Beam (No Counter): '''200,000'''
*Finishing off a Boss with a Single Counter Alpha Beam: '''400,000'''
*Finishing off a Boss with a Double Counter Alpha Beam: '''600,000'''
*Finishing off a Boss with a Triple Counter Alpha Beam: '''800,000'''
*Finishing off a Boss with a Fourfold Counter Alpha Beam: '''1,000,000'''

==Story==
The game takes place thousands of years before the original Darius. Humankind has come to be not on Earth, but on the planet Amnelia, named after a man who had ended a massive war hundreds of years prior to the events of G-Darius.
The 21st Amnelian king Brezzar was a great scientist as well as a great leader. He discovered a mysterious energy source known as Kaju, and began to integrate it into society. However, it was a finite resource and responsible for the life of the plants on Amnelia. As a result, Amnelia eventually ran out of Kaju, and some ended up emigrating to its satellite Blazar.

50 years later, war has broken out between Amnelia and Blazar over occupation of Martha, another one of the planet's satellites. Amnelian scientists invented a weapon known as "All Nothing" or A.N., which seemed to harness "the power of the Devil". The weapon was used on the planet Blazar, resulting in the total destruction of Blazar, and the awakening of the Thiima. Three years after the destruction of Blazar, the mysterious alien race only known as the Thiima would attack Amnelia, sensing it as a threat not only to them but to all life in the galaxy. Early on, the Amnelians created the first model of the legendary Silver Hawk fighter, combining A.N. power with Amnelian and Thiiman technology to create an all-around deadly force. Pilots Sameluck Raida and Lutia Feen were selected to pilot the Silver Hawks and fight the Thiiman invaders.

As usual, G-Darius allows for players to select the zones they want to fight through, although it is scaled down to 15 zones rather than 26, and the zones are now denoted with letters of the Greek alphabet.

- Ending 1 (Zone Lambda): Lightning Coronatus is destroyed and unleashes a massive explosion. Sameluck is able to escape, but Lutia's ship is badly damaged, forcing her to bail out and abandon her craft. Sameluck then abandons his ship to be with her, and their stories end as Sameluck's lone Silver Hawk floats around in the void of space.

- Ending 2 (Zone Mu): Heavy Arms Shell is destroyed and unleashes a massive explosion. Both narrowly escape, but Sameluck pushes Lutia away to ensure her escape, killing Sameluck in the process. Lutia eventually crashes on the surface of Darius, where a strange man comes to her and offers her his hand. She accepts, and the credits roll.

- Ending 3 (Zone Nu): Sameluck and Lutia reach the Thiiman homeworld and break in, only to discover it is an entirely different universe to their own. At the heart of the mysterious world, they find the Embryon, a unit presumably used purely as a commander for the Thiima and a way for them to produce more and more combat units. Sameluck and Lutia defeat the Embryon in battle, causing him to explode like a battleship would - however, the Embryon's destruction results in the collapse of the foreign world, and the two pilots share one last kiss as they fade into nonexistence.

- Ending 4 (Zone Xi): Accordion Hazard is destroyed and unleashes a massive explosion. It almost results in the death of Sameluck and Lutia, but instead they are absorbed by a strange light that causes them to merge and become a literal silver hawk. The two presumably escape unharmed.

- Ending 5 (Zone Omicron): G.T is defeated, but not completely destroyed. Sameluck and Lutia have won the battle, but are unable to return to Amnelia (likely due to a lack of fuel), so they instead land on the nearby planet of Darius. Meanwhile, a large craft belonging to the Belsar finds and salvages the remains of G.T, possibly leading to the creation of Great Thing and the rest of the Belsar army later down the line.

==Ver. 2==
G-Darius Ver. 2 is a updated version of G-Darius released in 1999, which includes several changes in order to make the game more difficult.<ref>https://darius.fandom.com/wiki/G-Darius#Ver.2</ref>
*Significantly increased difficulty. Enemies and Bosses are much more aggressive from the start.
*Tweaked Arm system. Armor no longer protects the Silver Hawk from an enemy collision unless they have upgraded Armor.
*Added a beginner mode similar to that of [[Gradius III]]. Lasts up to 3 Zones and death reduces all power-ups by 1 unit instead of being reset to base power.
*Increased amount of Captains per Zone. All Captains fire the spiraling laser attack from First Captain. Captured Captains have significantly less health.
*The player is no longer invulnerable when using a Capture Ball's bomb.
*Boss battles now have a timer, which lasts 3 minutes normally and 7 minutes for final bosses. Defeating the boss will award 10,000 points per second remaining.
*There are high score tables for every Zone.
*Continuing provides a pickup for Missile, Bomb, Arm, and Capture Ball instead of the former three in a combined power-up.

==Ports==
<gallery>
GDarius_PSXCover.jpg|US Playstation Cover
GDarius_PCCover.png|Japanese PC Cover
GDariusHD_SteamCover.jpg|G-Darius HD Cover on Steam
GdariusExhibitionscreen.jpg|a screenshot of the widescreen "Exhibition Mode" in the Steam release
GDARIUS-EXHLogo.png|Logo for Steam exclusive mode
</gallery>
G-Darius was ported to the original Playstation in 1998, which features a beginner mode, options to fight only the bosses, and FMV cutscenes. It was also ported to Windows in 2001.

Taito Legends 2 on the Playstation 2 includes G-Darius. It is a nearly perfect arcade port, but includes loading times, and very little slowdown.

The game would be re-released again in 2021 as G-Darius HD for Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4/5, as a stand-alone release and as part of the Darius Cozmic Revelation package. The remaster was developed by M2 and includes an option to play G-Darius at a higher resolution with a higher-poly Silver Hawk model, as well as a Capture Gallery, achievements, online leaderboards, and replays. An update in 2022 would add G-Darius Version 2, G-Darius "for consumer" (PS1 port), and added gadgets including capture and boss health bars. G-Darius HD was also released on Steam, which has an exclusive "Exhibition Mode" and sub-woofer support.

==References==

User:TrafficLight7773

2023-06-06T01:55:34Z

TrafficLight7773: Created page with "Darius fan. NZ Male"

Darius fan.

NZ
Male

Darius Twin

2023-06-06T01:52:16Z

TrafficLight7773: /* Story */ Corrected a formatting mistake, I am new to editing sorry

Darius Twin

2023-06-06T01:50:20Z

TrafficLight7773: /* Story */ Added list of endings and their summaries