Where the Darius Love at?

[MathU]

An important difference between the original Saturn and PS1 console ports (and possibly that obscure PC release?) of Darius Gaiden and the one featured on Taito's 6th generation compilations is that the ports had a bug fixed that was present in the original arcade release wherein King Fossil's body parts contributed an far higher amount to the adaptive difficulty modifier than they're supposed to. This has critical consequences when you're playing the game for score. Another thing I've noticed before is one of my pixel-perfect tricks on Golden Ogre doesn't work as it does on the arcade version. Based on these things I've noticed only in my brief time with the ports, there may be more differences I'm not aware of.

The version on the compilations--at least the PC and Xbox versions that I'm sure--is a straight re-port or emulation of the arcade original and thus still has this major King Fossil bug present.

[pegboy]

For the main series, there is no actual port of Darius 1 that is even remotely comparable to the arcade game. The closest you'll get is probably Super Darius on PCE, and it's a fun game, but it will teach you jack shit towards beating the pcb.

There are only two home versions of AC Darius II, Saturn and PS2, and the Saturn version is fucked. As I just said though, the PS2 version is exactly the same as arcade.

Darius Gaiden is best on Saturn, though I'm not sure if theres anything wrong with the PS2 version per se. I want to say a lot of people dislike it because the zero delay autofire cheat is not available. Gaiden PS1 is a bad port, with tons of slowdown.

G Darius PS2 is definitely best, as it runs very smoothly and looks beautiful.

And I'm sure you already know, but there is no home version of Burst AC, the PSP game is it's own thing. AC is really like Burst 2.

Thanks for the response!

Do you happen to know if there are any differences between the USA and Japan Saturn versions of Gaiden? I'm looking to pick one up, and I'd rather get the USA version unless their is a real reason to get the Japanese version instead.

How about Darius Plus for PC Engine? I have that one but I don't have Super Darius (which I've heard is the same except for the soundtrack). Any ideas if the CD version is worth it knowing that I have the HuCard already?

Thanks again!!

[ACSeraph]

Well, going by what MathU just said, the PS2 version may actually be the most arcade perfect for Gaiden, but you'll have to either play without zero delay or use a controller with that feature. I'm not sure if there are any differences between US and JP Gaiden, aside from the US versions hilariously bad cover art.

Darius Plus is mostly the same as Super, but there are differences. Powerup Distribution is slightly changed, which has a bigger impact on things than you would expect, and Super has additional bosses (and their placement is different). I definitely prefer Super to Plus, but there's nothing wrong with Plus. It just comes down to, do you want more Plus?

[pegboy]

So is the PS2 version of Darius Gaiden the best? Anyone played both that and the Saturn version?

[MathU]

The PS2 version may be more more "arcade perfect" (unless that thing I've heard about them messing up the shot mechanics in Taito Legends 2 PS2 where every game gives you one shot per button press is true), but the PS1 and Saturn (and possibly PC) versions fix a very important bug in my opinion. Sometimes accuracy isn't everything.

[ACSeraph]

Aren't there problems with the Western release of Taito Legends in general that weren't present in the Japanese Taito Memories release? Metal Black for example has some bug that messes up the laser duels right? Am I correct in assuming that for the most part the 4 Japanese releases are problem free?

[Kollision]

Beware of Darius Gaiden on the PS1.
It's got heavy slowdowns all over the place.

[Austin]

Anyone have any tips for Darius II on the Saturn? I picked it up over the weekend. I took the top path, made it about four stages in on one life, died once (lost all power-ups), then it was over quickly from there. My guess is you absolutely have to not die in this game and that's where I went wrong. Or is there perhaps an ideal path that's easier others? I guess I like the game (it beats the prior home ports of the game on lesser hardware), but if it's as punishing as this I'll probably just stick with Gaiden in the future.

[Captain]

Is Gaia Seed somehow related to Metal Black?

It has a similar charge weapon system. The final boss is a mysterious orb and has to be pacifist'd (as opposed to getting yourself killed to it in MB) for the good ending, and the bad ending can pretty much link to Metal Black directly.

Remember this post? Yea you do.

The final stage of metal black is called "A mirage of mind - gaia"

The slightly different weapon systems can easily be explained. After implementing newalone, there was no need for different weapon types, which is why there are no powerups in metal black, yet an identical system is used for charge attacks (only difference is timed recharge/orb collection).

Both games also feature a similar warp sequence. This could mean that aside from newalone weapons, the technology is the same.

The final stage of Metal black has a space wreck. A space wreck is also the final stage of Gaia seed. Both final bosses change the surrounding areas when encountered.

Both final bosses have a seemingly grotesque form surrounding the orb, I assume this is a defense mechanism or test of some sort. (the orb is also not inside an actual entity anymore in metal black, probably because it got destroyed in the bad ending of Gaia Seed!)

Lets look at the metal black "good" ending. You see a wacky explosion and the earth gets split, yet we still see what appears to be earth later?
Wait a damned second, doesn't the pilot crash into earth after getting the bad ending of gaia seed too?
A simple explanation, the pilots died, and these grim fates were the last things they saw, and not real. MB's final boss kills the pilot in the explosion, Gaia Seed's final boss rams the ship while exploding (which is also why you cannot actually crash into earth after that). So yes, Metal black's proper ending is actually good, its just that your guy dies, while the bad one just has an army clean up after you.

But wait, there's more? Gaia Seed's final boss is able to project an image around itself, shown in the final form, it can still shoot out stuff while doing so. Doesn't Metal black's final boss do the same thing, only replacing an angelic figure with that grotesque thing? This is also fitting, as the bad ending of Gaia Seed links to Metal Black, the first pilot failed the "test" of the final boss, which angered it, so the thing had no good intentions anymore, and displayed that horrible appearance. It also explains the massive alien invasion from metal black.

The earth in Gaia Seed is apparently in a horrible state, which would explain why humans were helpless in MB and had to surrender.

Finally, the entire Gaia Seed affair is forgotten in the game's bad endings, explaining why it wasn't mentioned at all in Metal Black.

And no Trap, this doesn't mean Metal Black is not in the same universe as Gun Frontier, it is just an addition.

[Sinful]

Anyone have any tips for Darius II on the Saturn? I picked it up over the weekend. I took the top path, made it about four stages in on one life, died once (lost all power-ups), then it was over quickly from there. My guess is you absolutely have to not die in this game and that's where I went wrong. Or is there perhaps an ideal path that's easier others? I guess I like the game (it beats the prior home ports of the game on lesser hardware), but if it's as punishing as this I'll probably just stick with Gaiden in the future.

Don't give up so soon. It's really a great game once you get hooked a bit more (it took me sometime until I got hooked enough).

Sadly, it really is a don't die game. I mostly reset/continue countdown ASAP after every death, outside of boss practice exceptions and just scanning areas I haven't reached yet for further practice/preparation. So be prepared to play the heck out of the first stage. But the game does give you shields, so it's still not a 1 hit game over game. I heard here that shields can stack if you don't take any hits with the shield on. An area I failed in & a lesson learned too late.

I found the 3 screen version easier. So try that and report back here with further evidence if this is true.

[ACSeraph]

Anyone have any tips for Darius II on the Saturn?

ST Darius II

This was actually written for the arcade version, but it mostly applies to Darius II sat also. Main difference is that the guide details stage L in the route, but you want to take K instead because L is broken in the SAT version.

It's a hard game for sure, but a very satisfying clear. Practice, learn and master a strict route, and go ahead and assume it's game over if you die. About the only place you may be able to still pull a victory post death is the final boss. It's all in the guide, but shields stack infinitely, so assume any hit you take is a "death" and treat shield powerups as though they were extends.

[M.Knight]

Yeah, once you die in Darius 2 the run is more or less over.
However, Little Stripes and Bio Strong are rather easy final bosses. Therefore, if you lose your first life during any final stage having one of those bosses, there's a chance the bazillion extends the game previously threw at you may allow you to reach the boss and clear the game. I know it happened to me a few times, at least.

By the way, ACSeraph, is zone L the only one affected by the broken satellite hitbox? I guess it is the most affected, but I remember seeing the same kind of enemy in zone F for instance.

I don't get. You can still use faster then default auto fire rate by tapping it yourself. And if you really hate tapping for extra fire rate even every now and then as Gaiden was setup. Why not set it to a fire rate that's humanly possible? I mean. It's really a simple solution. Why does everyone have to choose the fastest fire rate possible to begin with when the fastest inhuman fire rate usually break most other STGs? Why is everyone always making Gaiden as the only exception for superhuman fire rate? Especially with so many proving otherwise. Why can't everyone at least agree on a humanly possible fire rate for Darius Gaiden as a neutral to please everyone?

And I can't imagine Gaiden being anywhere near as hard as 2 screen Darius II anyways (DII is like the hardest STG I've ever played). So more fuel to my puzzlement.

I play Gaiden the same way you do, with the 5-delay autofire. Aside from Great Thing which is still out of my league, I cleared the other final zones, so it is doable even considering the rank issues mentionned by ACSeraph.
Having seen MathU's incredible runs, I know for sure that the game is clearable with the default fire rate, but I personally find the game more enjoyable with an autofire rate that's in between the two extremes. Mostly because as trap15 said, there is this feeling that ennemies take forever to die. I guess that's 'cause I don't make the best use of my missiles but that's still a frustration that hit me really early when I first tried out the game. Maybe I'll try with the regular autofire one of these days to see by myself, now that I'm more experienced.

[Sinful]

No, I haven't yet played Gaiden with only 5 delay. I would tap myself for extra fire rate in all the plays I done for it. But for all other MAME shooting games when I want auto fire, I never go above 5 delay. And if I want both, I set one fire button for 5 delay and another for no autofire. Or, as I did for Darius II, I may use 2 auto fire setups. One button for 5 delay, and another with even more delay to keep a more consistent on screen max shots fired.

But I've been thinking ever since about that reply to Gaiden with 5 delay & relation to rank since it was mentioned in the last page. As the rank never occurred me, since I have yet to investigate deeper into this game's rank. So I was really wondering ever since how it would handle with the 5 delay from others who tried it? So thanks for that info on this perspective. I really appreciate it and actually want to try it for myself next time I play this game again too. So glad you had fun with it.


Gaiden is a game I'm savouring. So really saving that 1cc for when the time is right. So I'm also going to make my first 1cc with no auto fire (but using an Arcade Stick makes tapping for extra fire rate much easier & actually fun VS a regular gamepad, where I'd most likely set one extra button for 5 delay). Then for 2nd 1cc I'll repeat same path with 5 delay and see how it goes? Sounds like a fun plan to me.

[ACSeraph]

By the way, ACSeraph, is zone L the only one affected by the broken satellite hitbox?

No. The satellite lasers are just broken in general, but stage L in particular is rendered nearly impossible by it. You definitely have to face more of them later in the game, usually on Mars, but by then you have rolling bombs and can deal with them from a safe difference.

The only strat I know of that even sort of works for L is riding the right edge of the screen, so that you clear the satellites before they ever shoot. But if you do this you are going to get murdered by the incoming enemy waves anyhow, so I've never beaten the stage this way. It's not supposed to work like that in the arcade. In the arcare the angle of your own lasers isw just wide enough that by riding the top edge you can kill the satellites without getting hit. In saturn the hitbox on the enemy lasers is quite a bit further forward than the actual laser, and so there is no way to for your lasers to hit it without trading damage. And I'm sure you know, but the satellites in Darius II shoot kind of unfairly quickly, so you can't just fly through the breaks in fire like you can in Darius 1.

tl;dr Don't play Sat Darius II if you can avoid it, and especially don't play Saturn L

[Austin]

This was actually written for the arcade version, but it mostly applies to Darius II sat also. Main difference is that the guide details stage L in the route, but you want to take K instead because L is broken in the SAT version.

It's a hard game for sure, but a very satisfying clear. Practice, learn and master a strict route, and go ahead and assume it's game over if you die. About the only place you may be able to still pull a victory post death is the final boss. It's all in the guide, but shields stack infinitely, so assume any hit you take is a "death" and treat shield powerups as though they were extends.

Don't give up so soon. It's really a great game once you get hooked a bit more (it took me sometime until I got hooked enough).

Sadly, it really is a don't die game. I mostly reset/continue countdown ASAP after every death, outside of boss practice exceptions and just scanning areas I haven't reached yet for further practice/preparation. So be prepared to play the heck out of the first stage. But the game does give you shields, so it's still not a 1 hit game over game. I heard here that shields can stack if you don't take any hits with the shield on. An area I failed in & a lesson learned too late.

I found the 3 screen version easier. So try that and report back here with further evidence if this is true.

Thanks for the tips! I'll check out the guide for sure. As far as practicing.. yeeeah, I don't know if a serious effort at that will happen, especially if it's pretty much impossible to recover from one death. I'll probably still bust out the game out here and there, but I don't expect to sink serious time into it. I just don't have the time or patience for that kind of brutality these days, haha. The Darius games have always been tough on a player, but this is the first one I've personally played where they are this tough on the player.

As far as three-screen, that's the way I've been playing. There's just not nearly enough room to avoid enemies and see what's coming at you when you zoom in.

[ACSeraph]

Yeah I'm not gonna lie to you, Darius II is about as forgiving as a bible belt baptist, and it hates you and wants you dead. It takes a certain degree of stubbornness to really get into it.

As far as three-screen, that's the way I've been playing. There's just not nearly enough room to avoid enemies and see what's coming at you when you zoom in.

He's not talking about the zoom feature in the saturn version, there's actually an arcade only variant of Darius II made to run on the older 3 screen cabinets. It's basically a super wide screen Darius II. There are numerous changes that go with it, and I personally didn't find it easier. You gotta remember that even with 3 screens the shot limit remains unchanged, so that causes it's own problem.

Anyhow Darius II Saturn is a port of the 2 screen game, which is the standard version and the version you will still see rocked in arcades here. The zoom feature is just a little bonus, never ever play while using it unless you want to die.

Also as a little bonus, if you pause Darius II Saturn and press up/down on the D-pad you can adjust the location of the hud. This allows you to use the zoom feature on a 16:9 HDTV for a more comfortable wide screen experience.

[Austin]

He's not talking about the zoom feature in the saturn version, there's actually an arcade only variant of Darius II made to run on the older 3 screen cabinets. It's basically a super wide screen Darius II. There are numerous changes that go with it, and I personally didn't find it easier. You gotta remember that even with 3 screens the shot limit remains unchanged, so that causes it's own problem.

Anyhow Darius II Saturn is a port of the 2 screen game, which is the standard version and the version you will still see rocked in arcades here. The zoom feature is just a little bonus, never ever play while using it unless you want to die.

Also as a little bonus, if you pause Darius II Saturn and press up/down on the D-pad you can adjust the location of the hud. This allows you to use the zoom feature on a 16:9 HDTV for a more comfortable wide screen experience.

Ahh, ok, I didn't know that. The screen looks so thin and wide I actually originally assumed it was three screens, but apparently it's just two. I'll have to try playing it on a wider screen though just to see how it works out, sometimes I do bring my Saturn out to the main room where I have my HD TV.

[Skykid]

Does anyone have a hi-resolution scan of this King Fossil image?

I guess that's a no then.

Tracing this as a vector is going to be brutal.

[ACSeraph]

Sorry man, the best I could do is take a photo of the towel on my wall, and I don't have a decent cam, just my iPod. If you want me to I will though, it would certainly be a lot bigger than that.

[Skykid]

Sorry man, the best I could do is take a photo of the towel on my wall, and I don't have a decent cam, just my iPod. If you want me to I will though, it would certainly be a lot bigger than that.

Already have the towel.

[Sinful]

The only strat I know of that even sort of works for L is riding the right edge of the screen, so that you clear the satellites before they ever shoot. But if you do this you are going to get murdered by the incoming enemy waves anyhow, so I've never beaten the stage this way. It's not supposed to work like that in the arcade. In the arcare the angle of your own lasers isw just wide enough that by riding the top edge you can kill the satellites without getting hit. In saturn the hitbox on the enemy lasers is quite a bit further forward than the actual laser, and so there is no way to for your lasers to hit it without trading damage. And I'm sure you know, but the satellites in Darius II shoot kind of unfairly quickly, so you can't just fly through the breaks in fire like you can in Darius 1.

Was that one of the strategy I mentioned? I thought I had at least two ways to make it through? Regardless. State Saves for practice is highly recommended. It's what I did to test the bugged sat lazers on that snow stage (is that stage L?).

... Oh yeah, I remember the other strategy. You can still safely hit them with the angled green lazers (I also recall hovering my ship near the very top of the screen, just not sure if this is required). But the timing is quite brutal because instead of the hitbox being on the lazer sprite, it's much closer to you then it seems (that's the bug). But this method requires very careful timing. And also remember they take quite a few hits to kill, so don't get crushed by the screen scroll.

So I guess for some it might be better to use the angled green lazer (first or first few) and some to just pass them before the activate.

[M.Knight]

I remember this strategy being mentionned in previous discussions about the Saturn port, it is too bad pulling it off is that difficult. It baffles me how something so game-breaking was not noticed in play-testing sessions, but at least we have other ways to play the game. Though MAME seems to have weird sound issues : the sound level in some music tracks is inconsistent with some parts being louder than the rest, and some boss fights don't have a proper track but just some weird crackling noise on loop.

[ACSeraph]

Was that one of the strategy I mentioned? I thought I had at least two ways to make it through?

Yeah, we both came to the same conclusion about riding the right edge at the time. But the other strategy of riding the top edge doesn't work consistently in Saturn unfortunately. There are times when you get lucky and avoid damage, but most of the time you will trade and lose your shield. riding the top edge in DII AC works 100% of the time, and that's how everyone's in arcades here does it.

And then, complicating things further, is the fact that for the most part the Saturn version is a lot easier than AC. About half of the nukes in AC are inactive, whereas all of them are active in Sat making quite a few of the stages far easier. The stage portion of K on Sat is a completely different beast from AC due to this, you can just glide through the whole thing effortlessly by setting off nukes. It makes some of the midbosses easier too, as the nukes also apparently do more damage (or the midbosses have less health). It's frustrating to learn a stage route in Saturn only to realize (via your own death) that it doesn't apply to the pcb.

Anyhow I've put a lot of credits into the PS2 version now and I'm really happy with it. Playing with a zero delay controller you can setup a control scheme that mirrors the usual arcade setup (two shot buttons, one slow auto and one zero delay). The game is basically identical to AC; I finally feel like I have unlimited non-MAME access to the arcade version now.

[DunlapDunlap]

Where can I find some Darius porn? I came to this thread searching for hot fish-on-fish action, and I demand to get it!

[ACSeraph]

Where can I find some Darius porn? I came to this thread searching for hot fish-on-fish action, and I demand to get it!

Just go fight Great Thing and get pierced by his humongous lance

[Skykid]

Aquatic anal.

[ACSeraph]

So would anyone care to enlighten me as to what the absolute easiest survival path is in G Darius? This is the one game in the series I've been completely unable to get into, and at this point I just want it out of the way.

[Icarus]

So would anyone care to enlighten me as to what the absolute easiest survival path is in G Darius? This is the one game in the series I've been completely unable to get into, and at this point I just want it out of the way.

All down. :3

[Batchee]

So would anyone care to enlighten me as to what the absolute easiest survival path is in G Darius? This is the one game in the series I've been completely unable to get into, and at this point I just want it out of the way.

The easiest route are A-B-D-H-L ZONE Wise! I can't remember which areas that were the easiest

All down. :3

Stream today you will

[MathU]

So would anyone care to enlighten me as to what the absolute easiest survival path is in G Darius? This is the one game in the series I've been completely unable to get into, and at this point I just want it out of the way.

All upwards for α-β-δ-η-λ. Fire Fossil is by far the easiest of the stage 4 bosses (practice on Queen Fossil if you want, they're nearly identical) and I'm of the opinion that Lightning Coronatus is the easiest of the final bosses as well. My personal route for that final destination is αA-βD-δH-ηM-λV but I think I might have chosen some of those stage pathways looking for the most points rather than the least difficulty.