Darius Cozmic Collection [Switch, PS4]

[TransatlanticFoe]

Got an e-mail from Strictly Limited today - their version of Cozmic Revelation on Switch will include the Game Boy version of Sagaia

[EmperorIng]

I saw that too. It's kind of a weird and pointless inclusion imo. I guess some will rejoice that Sagaia GB is 'finally' on cart, but it will look so out of place (a piddly game boy game) next to the two titanic 3D entries. Is this supposed to soften the blow of what will surely be many delays!?

[brentsg]

Honestly it would have been better to send out some codes to let people fiddle with it if they pleased, while they wait of course.

I guess more physical is better but I agree in this case it's out of place.

[John4300]

Hmh, Revelation still doesn't seem to be released on Switch, at least not in Europe. Not too surprising, it might release on Friday instead. I must be a rare breed who is waiting for DBEX+ instead.

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

No sign of it in Canada yet either.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T5EyFT6_h4

And as an extra bonus, Ti2, the protagonist of the Dariusburst saga, will be featured in Alice Gear Aegis!

Sequel confirmed? One of the cutscenes shows a damaged/warped Silver Hawk. Could the white Ti2 be her new form after she returns from Thiima?

[TransatlanticFoe]

I saw that too. It's kind of a weird and pointless inclusion imo. I guess some will rejoice that Sagaia GB is 'finally' on cart, but it will look so out of place (a piddly game boy game) next to the two titanic 3D entries. Is this supposed to soften the blow of what will surely be many delays!?

It's Switch only, so I don't think it's a sweetener - I think it's also only been delayed once so far which is pretty solid going considering covid. I'd guess that whatever stopped it being included on Cozmic (console) has been resolved and it was easy to implement, which is why it's not going on the PS4 disc.

It's nice to have anyway, and probably means we won't be seeing the other games missing from the console collection anytime soon.

[MachineAres 1CC]

Such a pointless decision to only have it on the Switch version. A complete waste of an opportunity not having it on the PS4 release. I can't understand how it would get put on one of these but not the other. I guess that's just a lot less sales for SLG, then, though scalpers will probably scrape up what's left, as usual in this shitty market of physical games.

[BloodHawk]

Hmh, Revelation still doesn't seem to be released on Switch, at least not in Europe. Not too surprising, it might release on Friday instead. I must be a rare breed who is waiting for DBEX+ instead.

If it follows the same path as Cozmic Collection it will be released digitally in US and Europe under a different publisher and will be conveniently held back from release until the SLG physical editions ship.

I haven't confirmed, but if that is the case and you want to play it before then you will have to either get the physical Japanese release or digitally off the Japanese eShop.

I confirmed that at least the PSN version defaults to your system region for language so it automatically started up with English. The Switch version appears to default to Japanese but can be switched as Rastan pointed out earlier.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Such a pointless decision to only have it on the Switch version. A complete waste of an opportunity not having it on the PS4 release. I can't understand how it would get put on one of these but not the other. I guess that's just a lot less sales for SLG, then, though scalpers will probably scrape up what's left, as usual in this shitty market of physical games.

It's not pointless, because it means people will now be able to play the game. It was originally a download code available with pre-orders of the original Japanese Switch release - only a certain fancy-pants edition of it and only through a certain retailer. After that it disappeared. It's likely a quick bolt on to the Switch edition given it already ran on that console - more work would be needed to port and test on the PS4, which would mean more delays and probably be too expensive anyway. The opportunity came up and they did it - it's not exactly a huge selling point, just a nice surprise for Switch owners. The alternative would be no-one gets the game, not sure how that'd be better?

[xxx1993]

No sign of it in Canada yet either.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T5EyFT6_h4

And as an extra bonus, Ti2, the protagonist of the Dariusburst saga, will be featured in Alice Gear Aegis!

Sequel confirmed? One of the cutscenes shows a damaged/warped Silver Hawk. Could the white Ti2 be her new form after she returns from Thiima?

Could be. Though I never considered that ending in Dariusburst canon.

[prophetic]

Such a pointless decision to only have it on the Switch version. A complete waste of an opportunity not having it on the PS4 release. I can't understand how it would get put on one of these but not the other. I guess that's just a lot less sales for SLG, then, though scalpers will probably scrape up what's left, as usual in this shitty market of physical games.

Hey, you're the guy that gave me a really snarky answer in the PS5 back compat thread.

Anyway, it's actually very simple: SLG is NOT a developer. They're just a western scalper company, which publishes existing content. Since Sagaia was ported to Switch only in Japan, there is no Japanese PS4 port. That means SLG can't create something out of thin air, and PS4 owners are SOL.

[Shebby289]

Got G Darius HD off the JP eShop and really enjoying the hell out of it. I am curious how are impressions on the other half of Cozmic Revelations though, is Dariusburst ACEX enjoyable in its aspect ratio especially on the switch’s smaller screen? Never played this title so I am curious if it’s worth picking up.

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

Could be. Though I never considered that ending in Dariusburst canon.

Spoiler

Zone J ending confirmed canon?
https://youtu.be/FuPMD0M8Mdk?t=1669

[Untitled1]

So what exactly is the difference between the PS4/Vita release 'Dariusburst Chronicle saviours CS' vs what's included in the new Cozmic Revelation release 'Dariusburst another chronicle EX'?

Are these the same game? debating if i should pick up both releases or just stick with the cozmic revelation package which includes G-Darius as well.

kinda new to these games so help is appreciated, thanks!

[John4300]

So what exactly is the difference between the PS4/Vita release 'Dariusburst Chronicle saviours CS' vs what's included in the new Cozmic Revelation release 'Dariusburst another chronicle EX'?

Are these the same game? debating if i should pick up both releases or just stick with the cozmic revelation package which includes G-Darius as well.

kinda new to these games so help is appreciated, thanks!

Cozmic Revelation has Dariusburst Another Chronicle EX+. This is an update to the two screen arcade game which features a ship from the CS mode of the earlier game. The update also features a ghost score feature (Does it actually have a transparent ship replay is still kind of tough to tell, someone might be able to answer that) and all previous "event" missions that were only on the arcade and some new event missions as well. I'm not sure have they changed scoring or other aspects of the game. This version ONLY features the two screen arcade game, and sadly cannot be played on multiple monitors I believe. I'm not sure have they made any kind of HD changes to this, I haven't personally been able to play it yet since it's not released in Europe yet.

PS4/Vita/PC release of Dariusburst CS features the arcade game Another Chronicle EX (Without the plus update) and also a single screen CS mode, with some extra bosses (And two boss types missing from the AC version), with music from the other games featured on some stages. CS mode here also has the extra ship which was featured on ACEX+ update, but is not on ACEX on this version.

If you get Dariusburst CS, I would recommend getting it on PC instead. It goes on sale on Steam on most of the sales and you can play this with two screens if you have two similar sized ones (Less border the better) or ultrawide screen. The only bad thing on PC is it's slightly buggy, not launching on some systems, crashing on some systems and some people have reported there to be save corruption. I personally haven't had problems.

Hopefully this answers your questions, if you have any extra questions, ask away or PM me.

[BIL]

^ Excellent rundown, thanks. Snapped up G-Darius HD on sight, but was puzzled at what the other release offered over the PS4 DariusBurst I've already got.

[Untitled1]

So what exactly is the difference between the PS4/Vita release 'Dariusburst Chronicle saviours CS' vs what's included in the new Cozmic Revelation release 'Dariusburst another chronicle EX'?

Are these the same game? debating if i should pick up both releases or just stick with the cozmic revelation package which includes G-Darius as well.

kinda new to these games so help is appreciated, thanks!

Cozmic Revelation has Dariusburst Another Chronicle EX+. This is an update to the two screen arcade game which features a ship from the CS mode of the earlier game. The update also features a ghost score feature (Does it actually have a transparent ship replay is still kind of tough to tell, someone might be able to answer that) and all previous "event" missions that were only on the arcade and some new event missions as well. I'm not sure have they changed scoring or other aspects of the game. This version ONLY features the two screen arcade game, and sadly cannot be played on multiple monitors I believe. I'm not sure have they made any kind of HD changes to this, I haven't personally been able to play it yet since it's not released in Europe yet.

PS4/Vita/PC release of Dariusburst CS features the arcade game Another Chronicle EX (Without the plus update) and also a single screen CS mode, with some extra bosses (And two boss types missing from the AC version), with music from the other games featured on some stages. CS mode here also has the extra ship which was featured on ACEX+ update, but is not on ACEX on this version.

If you get Dariusburst CS, I would recommend getting it on PC instead. It goes on sale on Steam on most of the sales and you can play this with two screens if you have two similar sized ones (Less border the better) or ultrawide screen. The only bad thing on PC is it's slightly buggy, not launching on some systems, crashing on some systems and some people have reported there to be save corruption. I personally haven't had problems.

Hopefully this answers your questions, if you have any extra questions, ask away or PM me.

wow! thanks so much for the reply, that more than answers my question. I'll try to get both.

I absolutely fell in love with these games after playing Darius Gaiden in the Cozmic Collection on Switch so I'll probably get enough enjoyment out of them to justify it.

Thanks!!

[xxx1993]

Could be. Though I never considered that ending in Dariusburst canon.

Spoiler

Zone J ending confirmed canon?
https://youtu.be/FuPMD0M8Mdk?t=1669

But I thought the true ending was the hardest path, when you fight Great Thing at the end...

[MachineAres 1CC]

Hey, you're the guy that gave me a really snarky answer in the PS5 back compat thread.

Am I? Sorry about that, I just remember seeing some console warrior comments and just tend to not let those go unaddressed when I see them. I think I also posted it at 5am when I was half-asleep, oddly enough, so it probably didn't come out as clearly as I wanted, but now it's been deleted, so I don't even know

Also, I could've sworn Sagaia GB was on a retailer specific PS4 version in Japan as well, but most of you seem to be saying it wasn't, so we'll go with that, my mistake.

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

Looks like PS4 still has the sound glitch when bursting with Murakumo:

https://youtu.be/TbQIQkSCQ2E?t=444

[Jonpachi]

Got my Switch copy yesterday and I have a few questions.

Any way to turn all the options to English?

I haven't played G Darius since high school. Can anyone explain the controls? How do I fire the counter beam, and how does it work? I heard about some "Street Fighter" style controls. What's up with that?

[Rastan78]

The English option is at the main menu, the one where you choose HD or old school ver. Go to options and it's the first one. Change it and exit back out. Even the manual has been translated for basic controls etc.

Hold A (default) to charge the beam and release to fire when you have a capture. You can counter boss charge beams up to 4 times in a row on certain bosses for an increasingly huge counter beam. Hold auto or mash to extend the beam and reverse the boss beam when countering.

The SF control inputs can be found in the gallery that displays all the enemies. It's the larger midboss captains that have special inputs. There can be a bit of a delay/recovery on how fast you can spam the specials.

There's also a tricky technique where you can charge beam cancel to make your captured enemy temporarily invincible by holding down the charge to shrink them and releasing right before the beam actually charges. This is more for advanced scorers who want to keep the captain alive for as long as possible to get extra points.

Without going into detail, basically multipliers from destroying enemies with captured enemy attacks and charge beams as well as countering the boss charge beams are the essentials of the scoring system.

[Jonpachi]

Thanks Rastan!

I'm loving what they did with this port. I can see some disappointment from folks wanting updated textures, but this is exactly how I'd like to see the game preserved.

Curious for people familiar with the arcade game how accurate the slowdown feels to them. I have only spent time with the Playstation version, and I haven't owned it in a very long time, so I don't really have any sense of when/where the slowdown should be expected.

[Rastan78]

I think Icarus was saying it feels pretty accurate with slowdown having played the PCB. With the PS1 version being too slow and the PS2 being too fast. And I think the sound emulation is not great on emulators? So this should easily be the best way to play GD outside of the actual PCB. Maybe somebody will do side by side comparison vids at some pojnt.

I also like the way they handled the upgrade. HD emulation of games like this does kind of expose that the textures and geometry were never really meant for high resolutions. But IMO it looks great either way. I still like the look of the original 240p with scanlines as well.

I know there are those that don't like 2.5D games, but I think G Darius has some of the best graphics/atmosphere ever in a shmup and they hold up just as well as 2D pixel art of the era. Granted many games that took the same approach did not fare so well as this or R Type Delta.

Sure there are issues with precisely placing your ship, especially in relation to the environmental geometry. But I think they designed around this well enough. Navigating around the environment is never really demanding like it can be in the earlier games.

Not to mention GD has some of the best music/sound design you'll find in any game.

[Jonpachi]

Can anyone recommend a good "survival" order of stages in G Darius?

[Rastan78]

This is from the Japanese G Darius wiki via Google translate so sorry if it's a bit confusing. You can get the gist of what they're saying is the easiest and the highest scoring.

Those who do not have a big difference in difficulty for each zone compared to other series.

Although there are individual differences, α above → β below → δ above → η above → λ above.
Or α above → γ above or β below → ε below → ι above or below → ν above is common.
The former is a route that allows you to go through boss battles as easily as possible. Many bosses are easy to pattern.
However, the zone branch is always on top. There is a difference in difficulty between the upper and lower branches other than α, and it is virtually fixed, so it is necessary to overcome the boss who is not good at it.
The latter is a route that aims for a relatively easy boss, although some bosses have a little habit.
The advantage is that you can change the zone or area to some extent depending on your strengths and weaknesses.

By the way, those who want to prematurely strongly shot, people of score aim is to top the α
may those who want to prematurely strongly bomb and arm to branch the α under.

On the contrary, when aiming for clearing, it is necessary to avoid ε upper route on 3 sides, ζ (especially the upper route is easy on the way but the boss is hard), μ on 5 sides. Routes below η and θ on four sides. Both bosses along the way are pretty tough.

If you aim for a higher score, α up → γ up → ζ down → κ up or down → ο up or down, but be careful because it is difficult for the boss along the way as a whole.

[Icarus]

I think Icarus was saying it feels pretty accurate with slowdown having played the PCB. With the PS1 version being too slow and the PS2 being too fast. And I think the sound emulation is not great on emulators? So this should easily be the best way to play GD outside of the actual PCB. Maybe somebody will do side by side comparison vids at some pojnt.

Here's your side-by-side comparison.
https://twitter.com/charlie0816/status/ ... 18562?s=20
Since the Cozmic Revelation version of the game is based on arcade code - all of the previous ports including the PC version are based on the PS1 port - it stands to reason that it is absolutely the best version of the game to play for accuracy. It's probably a few frames off in total, but nowadays that kind of issue is easy to fix compared to in the past, when games once shipped are impossible to update.

From a recent interview:

Yuichi Toyama: G Darius was released in the arcades on Taito’s FX system arcade board, and then ported to the PlayStation. The FX system, while based on the PlayStation’s architecture, differs in several important aspects. For example, the FX-1B board used in G Darius has twice the amount of VRAM of the PlayStation, and also adds a completely different sound source. In order to port G-Darius, which made full use of the extra VRAM, to the PS1, concessions had to be made to reduce memory footprint, such as changing the graphic and motion data and changing the opening and endings to use movie playback. Over the years, G-Darius has been ported several times, but the base has always been the PlayStation code. G Darius HD represents the first time a port has been based on the arcade version.

[Rastan78]

Ah thanks for the link. This new version does look really close to the Arcade. Surprising to see just how slow the PS1 version is in comparison. And that's just the first stage. Also surprising to see how close is it running on a PS3. This is the main way I used to play (PS1 disc on launch PS3) so I didn't notice a huge difference at least to my memory. It did look nice and crisp this way on an HD set as well.

I posted that exact Toyama quote bottom of the previous page. Great minds. . .

[Icarus]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the PC version (which again is based on the PS1 port). I've heard that it's about as fast as the PS2 Taito Memories port or thereabouts - so it's actually much faster than the arcade version and G.Darius HD port comparatively - but I haven't had a close look at it myself, since the rip I have is kinda crappy and has no music.

Luckily, I've just recently managed to find and acquire a complete copy of the PC port from YAJ, and will do some comparisons myself, to be completist, when it arrives.

[Klatrymadon]

Nice one, Icarus - interested to see your findings! I've had a rip of the PC version for donkeys' years but, like you, I was never able to get the music working. Definitely need to keep my eyes open for an original disc!

Edit: I was expecting them to be going for pennies. They aren't.