Super Nova: 30th Anniversary Review (SNES - PS4 - Switch)

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Sturmvogel Prime
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Super Nova: 30th Anniversary Review (SNES - PS4 - Switch)

Post by Sturmvogel Prime »

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30 Years already. Time really flies by.

To begin this 2023, I'll make an in-depth review of a game that I've reviewed before: Darius Force, better known here as Super Nova.
To me, this game was what got me into the Darius universe, even if it was the second game of the franchise, since where I live in Mexico I've never saw a Darius arcade cabinet. Only the traditional Street Fighter II and its Neo-Geo competitors, along with some Sega stuff like G-LOC Air Battle, Super Hang-On, Turbo and After Burner II. If you've find shmups like Raiden II, Blazing Star and U.N. Squadron, then you're lucky. With the fighting genre being the most popular in the arcades, my shmup options were limited to the videogame rentals where Darius Twin, Super Nova, Gradius III, U.N. Squadron, Super R-Type and Axelay were among my favorite rentals, along with ocassional non-shmup games like Super Metroid, the Super Star Wars trilogy and Megaman X2 and X3. Yeah, when you were a kid, you wanted a subscription to the video club just for the games, not the movies, and as far as I remember, in SNES Darius games, I rented Super Nova more often than Darius Twin which I rented once, being the emulators and later Darius Cozmic Collection: Console the only way I revisited that game.

Back to Super Nova, this is the second time Taito's Silver Hawk shooter made an appearance on the Super Nintendo, and from what it looks, they've decided to make a series of unexpected, yet well received changes to the traditional formulas of the series without going astray too much.



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The history of Darius in four random images.

The story in the game's intro doesn't explain too much about the story of Darius, as it talks (through random images) about how humanity fought to survive since the invention of the weapons, jumping forward to the time that Belsar was defeated and the names of Proco and Tiat were long been forgotten, but history tends to repeat the saga of war and survival. On the other side, the Darius Force booklet provides a much complete explanation of the story. The story tells us that thousands of years have passed since Belsar's last attack (the events of Darius II back then), the names of Proco and Tiat were considered legends, the descendants of Darius established hundreds of "Planet States" establishing the Galactic Federation (not to be confused with the Galaxy Federation of either Metroid and Thunder Force). The old wise men ordered to enhance and improve their defenses and the Silver Hawks in preparation for Belsar's return. On the other side, the people of planet Darius considered fighting unnecessary since they're living in peace. However, history it was indeed destined to repeat itself. In other parts of the galaxy, a mysterious enemy emerged in different regions establishing new battle frontlines, but it was more than just Belsar, as it turned out to be that what they knew as Belsar was actually a part of the true enemy. A larger army acting "Behind the scenes" under the Belsar name: Galst Vic's army.


THEORY AND ANALYSIS: While at first it might look like a compilation of random scenes, if we analyze them, we will notice a profound meaning. The first one depicts an alignment between the Sun, the Moon and the Earth (or could also be Darius' sun, Kazumn and Darius). In science-fiction this is somewhat a depiction of the beginning of time and human history. The text that appears reinforces that possibility.

-"Since early man first discovered the ability to use weapons, made from the bones of his kill, he has fought for survival." Historically, the earliest bone weapons were made about 1.5 million years ago with the advent of Homo Sapiens and Homo Neanderthalensis. The use of bone tools and weapons went all the way until 10,000 years ago using animal and even human bones to create tools like barbed points regardless if it was for hunting or cultural reasons. While the original Darius Force mentions "Bones from his kill", Nintendo of America censored that line on Super Nova (due to the violent nature of the context), replacing it with "pieces of wood and stone". Despite NOA's censorship, the wood and stone weapons are historically accurate. These type of weapons were made 2.6 million years ago, although those were more like tools like hammerstones, stone cores and sharp stone flakes. These are known as "Early Stone Age Tools". In 200,000 years ago, the weapons were more like that as "Middle Stone Age Tools" were projectile points for darts, arrows and scrapers to prepare hide, wood and other materials.

-"A long time has passed since the war with ''Belser''" This flashback is represented by the classic fight between the Silver Hawk and King Fossil from 1986's Darius. There's not too much to say about this one, is the whole saga of Darius (The two "main" arcade games and Darius Twin back then) in a single image.

-"And the names of those heroic warriors have long been forgotten." This scene send us to a beach where the sun is rising over the sea but we can see two shooting stars flying by on the morning sky, clearly referencing Proco and Tiat's (or even Proco Jr. and Tiat Young) Silver Hawks returning to Darius. A passing reflection of an old story that came to an end. This is somewhat referenced on R-Type Final's intro with the Force Control Rod of the R-9 submerged as action scenes are later seen. Back to Super Nova, the cutscene rather than doing a fast change to static as if we're changing a channel on TV, it slowly fades to black as the text says "On this day, history is about to repeat itself.", a eerie premonition of an upcoming war.

- In the middle of this darkness we see air bubbles implying an underwater darkness, but also that something unseen is moving. This could be a metaphor of the beginning of life at the oceans, but the text implies something else and more complex. "It's a saga of war and man's perpetual fight for survival." We can probably assume that the bubbles in the water are a reference to Galst Vic's machinery awakening and emerging from the depths of the oceans where some of them were hiding for a long time waiting the moment to emerge and attack (example Mudy Crystal on Zone B). The silence of the opening is broken by the sound of heart beats that will follow us through the title screen and options menu until we press start or let the game demo play. A metaphor of pulsing life, but also the primal fear of facing the unknown.


Now that we went through the introduction and doing a brief analysis, it is time to have a look to the Silver Hawks.



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The classic Silver Hawk model is reassigned for the final assault.

ZZ9X-0001: The original Silver Hawk from the first Darius, "Origin" as it is referred on Dariusburst. This ship is by far the most effective of the game, as its Level 4-6 Laser fire is incredibly devastating as it inflicts damage in parts that regular bullets can't reach, but where it reaches its true strength is on its Wave Shot at levels 7-8, granting the player the upper advantage as the Waves can pass through the enemy fire.



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The power of Air-to-Ground artillery turned into a lethal beam.

FF5A-0014: Known as "Second" in Dariusburst, this is the Silver Hawk utilized in the battle of our Solar System (Darius II/Sagaia), and is the Air-to-Ground type fighter. While the beam weaponry's strength ranges from Average-to-Strong, its bomb upgrading is focused on ground attacks, making it vulnerable to air-to-air combat until the ship is at power level 5. Its Laser is the same of the green Silver Hawk. Unless you are an expert who is asking for an additional challenge for the game, you've better give this ship a miss.



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Hi-Press and Armor Piercer, a powerful combination.

FR5A-6351: Its lack of data cleary implies this is a new model of Silver Hawk and this war is its first sortie. Its first two power levels have the same laser than the blue Silver Hawk. Once the ship reaches levels 4 to 6, it utilizes lasers that swing and cross up and down like a variation of the Round Vulcan from Axelay. This can be troublesome for new and average players, but kinda addresses the horizontality of the ships weapons. On levels 7 and 8, this Silver Hawk will change its weapon again for a more effective weapon, the Hi-Press Laser, thin screen-long beams that passes through everything like the Wave Shot of the green Silver Hawk. They're effective to take on multiple enemies, but here's the catch: The beam's are slightly weaker than the Wave Shot. The bomb utilized on this ship is the Break Bomb which releases large explosions after impact and its upgrading is similar to the green ship, making it effective for both Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground attacks. This Silver Hawk is also the exception with its "Laser" utilizing the "Round Laser", which fires a rapid laser clock-wise, making it a full radius short ranger Laser.



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The first battle is going to be your first space battle.

ZONE A: This zone is basically your "Basic Training" level which throws you simple enemy formations combined with a few ambush elements from behind and both above and below. This is also the stage where you can get familiarized with the game's mechanics. So, before going on with the game, here's what you've need to learn about the Silver Hawks weaponry. Unlike Darius II where you had both laser and bomb simultaneously, you can toggle between bomb or laser. It's a simple, yet functional weapon switching option, but here's a catch: The laser no longer has wave-like passing through properties and is weaker than the bomb. You weapon leveling up is more like in Darius II and Darius Twin. Increasing on each power up and automatically switching from different weapons (Example: Bullets in Levels 1-3, Laser in 4-6 and Wave in 7-8). Once your power level is on 2 you can fire both shot and bomb simultaneously, but at expense of downgrading the weapons power level to the previous one. This is addressed by constant power up picking throughout the game. Your shield system has also a quite different mechanic. It no longer stack "Shield Points" like in the previous games, acting more like it did on Darius Twin. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO LEARN about the shield is that you have to keep it active, even if its one hit to go down. Otherwise, your shield level will reset to its initial level (picking other three to upgrade the green shield to the silver one for example). The score item mechanic was also changed. Since the red orb is both shot and bomb, the green orb takes the place of the gray orb from previous games. Giving you 3200 points or 1400. There's also a green orb that grants you a 1up, making this item even more random than the classic bonus item. The instant respawining from Darius II and Darius Twin is gone. If you lose a live you'll start back from a checkpoint, and unlike Twin, your weapon levels will be resetted, but the game will throw you an item carrying enemy or turret to provide you some defenses even at a basic low level.



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His shape is a "Blast from the Past".

In this zone you'll be facing your first fight against a "Captain" or mid-boss. A Trilobyte Captain which you can destroy before it escapes after firing a twin laser backed up with two diagonal bullets for a little while. It is possible to let it escape due to your Silver Hawk's low level of power, but it's more reasonable to try and take it down.



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The evolution of the Coronatus model. Equipped with lethal arms
and a bubble shield that protects the core from enemy attacks.


BOSS: BIO HAZARD - Despite its appearance, it is a very simple boss. The first attack pattern is a 3 way spread fire from its arm, which you can destroy with either your shots or bombs if you want. Destroying this part will unlock the second attack form: Bubbles from its "Bubble Barrier". You have to take down the barrier until it splits in two large bubbles and then you'll be able to finally hit the core which the boss will try to keep you from firing by firing an 8 way bullet fire and 3 missiles which can be destroyed by your shots. You'd probably consider to exploit the missiles and get some good points, but that couldn't be a good idea. In this game, the Yazuka's (the cube-like things that appear when you spend too much time in a boss fight) will surround your ship and fire with deadly precision, ensuring your death for taking too long to finish the fight.



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Still experimenting with the routes.

If the premise of using different Silver Hawks and toggling between the standard bomb or the laser was a curious way of experimenting with the Darius formula, Taito pushed that concept even further with the branching. While the original games and Darius Twin granted players the choice of going either up or down, in Super Nova, what goes up stays there or makes another step up, leading to three possible routes.

EASY ROUTE (5 Stages)
The shortest path to finish the game, since this is a single route that comprises Zones A-C-F-I-L

MEDIUM ROUTE (6 Stages)

This one features more combinations for a more adjustable "Player personal" experience as we have the following combinations:
1.- A-C-F-I-K-N
2.- A-C-F-H-K-N
3.- A-C-E-H-K-N
4.- A-B-E-H-K-N

HARD ROUTE (7 Stages)

The complete and final route of the game, and the one with the major number of possible paths in the game, giving a staggering total of 10 possibilities:
1.- A-C-F-I-K-M-O
2.- A-C-F-H-K-M-O
3.- A-C-F-H-J-M-O
4.- A-C-E-H-K-M-O
5.- A-C-E-H-J-M-O
6.- A-C-E-G-J-M-O
7.- A-B-E-H-K-M-O
8.- A-B-E-H-J-M-O
9.- A-B-E-G-J-M-O
10.- A-B-D-G-J-M-O




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Don't let the natural beauty fool you. The enemy is out there trying to kill you.

ZONE B: This is your first in-world battle, which will throw you these helmet-shaped ships that can take some hits before going down. If you've hadn't lost your shield in Zone A, you can upgrade it into the silver shield (Super Arm).



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Unlike Dig Dug, you're using a Silver Hawk rather than a harpoon.

The stage starts in the surface above a river until it takes you down for a deep dive in the enemy caverns, where you'll be dealing with ground based enemies and a new type of obstacle: Destructible mud that blocks your path. This can only be destroyed with your shots (bullets/lasers).



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Captain Ammonite will be sorry for standing in your way.

Before fighting the "Ammonite" Captain of this stagem you will get an item which looks like the weapon changing item from Darius Twin, but since this game already as presetted weaponry, this thing acts as the special "Murderbeam" of the game, giving you a powerful energy blast that passes through everything for a few seconds. You can also ignore it and take on the Captain by yourself. Its main weapons are a homing missile backed up by a beam.


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First underwater boss fight.

BOSS: MUDY CRYSTAL - Despite its sinister appearance, this is another easy boss. Its basic form of attack is by throwing you circular grenades that split into a three way bullet shot. But what do you have to pay attention through the whole battle is on the tentacle that constantly moves. After a while it will retract and then will strike towards the Silver Hawk's last position. You can start destroying the lower tentacles before hitting the canopy. Once the tentacles are trimmed, you can concentrate your fire on the canopy that protects its core. The best strategy here is to take down the tentacle despite its regenerations in order to buy more time to inflict damages on the boss. Once the canopy is gone, it will fire a "charged" shot from a crystal-like cannon on the bottom right where the lower tentacles were. You can try and destroy it for the sake of getting a few points. Once its down, the only thing left to do is to shoot to its core until it finally goes down.



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The universe is full of twists and turns.

ZONE C: So, you've decided to take the lower route? Despite its short length, there's still surprises along the way, so better pay attention. In this level, the game will literally turn things upside down since this stage breaks with the common side-scrolling of any other shmup. The reason? The stage will suddenly take you to a dead end but it will immediately begin to rotate and change the screen scrolling from horizontal to vertical, and then doing another rotation. The best way not to get caught in the screen shift is by placing the Silver Hawk in the center of the screen. In case you've picked this stage, it will be the first time you'll meet the open-and-close gates that will try to crush you, you need to time when you can move (in this case, going up) in order to pass them with no damages.



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At least is not an underwater fight.

BOSS: MUDY CRYSTAL - Despite the color change, its attacks are identical to its Zone B counterpart, so there's not too much to say about how to fight this boss.



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It's their party and you're the unwanted guest.
Time to show them who's boss, pilot.


ZONE D: Once you're on the top route, there's no way down. In this enemy base-themed stage, the game will introduce and exploit the layouts utilizing platforms and cannons placed strategically on them. Also, you'll be facing slow falling enemies that will explode into a spread fire when they're destroyed. But what do you have to pay attention along with the sudden frontal (and rear) enemy attacks from the narrow tunnels is from the shutting gates that open and close non-stop. If you have the green Silver Hawk on fire level 7 or 8, you can use them on your favor to fire and letting the door take the bullets for you.
The "base" levels like D, F and K will introduce a new "Captain" which is shaped after a phage bacteria, mostly reminiscent of AIDS viruses. This unnamed "Bacteriophage" sub-boss hops across the screen and then fires a 5 way shot three times before resuming its routine while being backed up by small popcorn enemies that go down in a curve path.



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The latesty entry on the Darius series adds something completely different from the usual sea creatures.

BOSS: SPIRAL SNAIL - The first thing this boss does is to fire small bullets in a basic "spiral" before detaching its shell from its body. While the slug is invinicible like the shell that protects it, it is its cannon mounted on its top the weak point. But that doesn't mean is not defenseless. While the shell will begin to roll before going offscreen flying through the left, the cannon will fire two fast lasers aimed to your last position. Then the slug's antenna will fire a small laser that will chase your ship based on its previous position. Once the cannon is destroyed, its blue core is now exposed for a few hits before the shell protects it and unleases a 5 mid-sized bullet attack which can be destroyed with your shots. After that you'll have to wait for the shell to detach and repeat this process until its down.



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This is where the game takes different ways.

ZONE E: This zone introduces a new feature in the series: Split Paths. By moving to the upper or bottom side of the screen, the game will scroll to the position the Silver Hawk is placed. This will affect the stage route, which means fight different enemies and even getting different items (Go up in the second split and you'll get a Shield Power Up while going down will give you a Weapon Power Up). Making the correct decision on choosing paths will mean if you're going for the offensive and take a risk for powering up your weaponry or being defensive and take the shield.



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This boss is an electrifying 2-in-1 anemone team-up.

BOSS: THUNDERBOLT FANS - This boss has some attack patterns that require to pay attention. As soon as it appears, its first attack will be a mid-fast bullet firing from the small anemone on its back, while the main body fires a 5-way spread fire. During this attacks, it will try to ram you, which you can avoid by placing the ship on the middle of its body when it rams. After that it will go up doing a circular move and it will detach the purple small anemone which will place on the other side followed by two objects that resemble air mines, but they're actually the main weapon of this boss: An electric chain that swings up and down based on the conductors vertical movement. Right after that, the purple anemone will dock with the main body. Since the main body is immune to enemy fire, the first thing to do is obviously destroy the purple anemone. It will be hard to hit it with the blue Silver Hawk, making the green and red one the best options out there. You can also try to damage it with the rear bombs if you're strong enough to have the back bomb support. Once it goes down, you'll have to be fast this time, as Thunderbolt Fans will fire a fast up and down sweeping lightning beam attack, backed up with a laser shot and its constant 5-way spread shots. You can stay out of the range of the lighting beam and use the vertical bombs to damage it until it goes down, or go full frontal if you feel luck is on your side.



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Closing gates, missiles below and Captain Bacteria are the common threats here.

ZONE F: Zone F is pretty much like a variation of Zone D, being the blue tones and the layout the only differences. Like in Zone D, the open-and-close gates are going to be the main obstacle, which like I said before, they can be used on your advantage if you have the green Silver Hawk in power level 7 or 8 due to its wave shot. Just pay attention to the bottom on the screen between gates, because there's gonna be missiles waiting to ambush you from below. Fortunately, you can take them down with your bombs. Also, the "Bacteriophage" Captain is the midboss here and acts the same as in Zone D.



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Sluggish, yet lethal if you're careless.

BOSS: SPIRAL SNAIL: The F-Type Spiral Snail acts very similar to its Zone D counterpart. The only difference is the core replacing the laser turret with a missile launcher that fires three projectiles, which can be destroyed by your shots.



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A slight sense of familiarity, yet with new threats and old faces.

ZONE G: At first it seems to be another outer space-asteroid belt zone like Zone A where the "Flashing Asteroid means Score or 1up" rule applies. This only applies at the beginning of the stage right after the first wave of enemies, but the most annoying problem will be the diagonal attacking enemies and the slow falling mines that shoot bullets when they're destroyed. Also, the Trilobyte Captain will make an appearance here with the same attack pattern of its Zone A counterpart.



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Devil is right, but not too much of a fish for a squid-shaped ship.

BOSS: DEVIL FISH / ICTHYION - This boss is the second instance of Nintendo's censorship as it renames Devil Fish with Icthyion. It's main weapons are a grenade that explode leaving a trail of explosions if its not destroyed by your fire, followed by a 5 way spread shot cannon and retractable tentacle claw until you destroy them. It is highly recommendable to destroy the cannon and the bomb dispenser first before taking down the tentacle. Once that's done, the core on its forehead will be exposed for a while, but it still be able to counterattack you with rapid frontal laser shots.



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Graphical description of "Getting Trapped".

ZONE H: This stage is another "Asteroid Belt" similar to Zone A. The first thing you'll face (after the item carrying enemy formation) will be asteroids, including a couple of flashing ones carrying a 1up and bonus points. After that, you'll be facing enemies from both left and right that will descend/ascend as they shoot frontally. Having a 4 way bomb is useful here as you'll be facing enemies that come from behind a little more often, along with a new type of enemy: Swirl-moving dome-shaped drones.



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One...hell...of a monster.
A challenge not suitable for beginners.


BOSS: PEACE DESTROYER - This boss is an unique character of the whole boss list 'cos it is the largest Darius boss ever. To begin with, you'll be facing its head. It's main attacks consists of firing large laser bullets followed by small missiles and grenades that split into three bullets when they're destroyed by your shots. He will do this attack pattern a few times and after that will pretend to ram you, but that's only a strategy to ambush you with its spread fire shooting at intervals of 5 and 4 as it retreats and repeat its first attack pattern. Its main weakpoint is its mouth when its open, but destroying its mouth would not mean the stage is over, this boss is a stage itself as you'll be resuming the battle inside (talk about being the "Enemy Within") where you'll face a few turrets and catch items so you can fight him a little better. Being inside the boss doesn't mean it will stay still, it will move trying to crush you with the surface inside, making you use the few gaps in the terrain as you fight your way to survive while three unfortunate Silver Hawks outside will go down without even doing a thing. After that, you'll face a couple of turrets and you'll be heading to the final part of the boss battle. This time you will be facing its Core which is guarded by missiles that act more like turrets that shoot arch-falling bullet volleys and a spinning "Voltage Orbs" that "closes" as the orbs "merge" in the same space. Destroying the Missile-Turrets will activate the Core, which will fight you with twin bullets that cross their paths, falling debris from the ceiling, and laser fire from the Core itself. Like they say on Gradius: Shoot The Core.



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Evening at the river, but this is no vacation, buddy.
You're in the middle of an enemy attack.


ZONE I: The first thing we will notice is that Zone I is a color edit of Zone B, but that's only the surface of what we will see in this stage. Starting off with the enemy formations which will throw you more resilient "heads" and drones that will surround your ship and even fast enemies from behind your ship, until you descend into the depths of the river/basin area. The descent into the underwater cavern will be more saturated with exploding probes and turrets, along with the bubbles, which some of them give you items to keep you alive for a while. The tunnel segment is more elaborated and designed to give the turrets a "natural barrier" against your shots adding more challenge while removing the unnecessary "mud walls" from Zone B. This work pretty well with the blue Silver Hawk, but not when the player picks the Green or the Red one which have wave properties on their highest levels. The Superbeam is back along with the Ammonite Captain from Zone B which acts the same way, only using the cavern layout to somewhat protect itself from regular fire.



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Different attacks, different color, but not-less menacing.
Be careful with this one.


BOSS: DEVIL FISH / ICTHYION - Unlike Zone G's version, Devil Fish's grenades won't explode in a "trail" of explosions. Instead, they will explode in 3 way and sometimes, in an X-path 4 way shots (for the second grenade) whether if you destroy them or not. It replaces the 5 way shotgun with a Single shot laser cannon. Once they're gone the pattern will change again, firing 5 way shots before opening his crystal core in its forehead, replacing its rapid frontal laser shots.



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Time for another spinning trip across the rotating space station.

ZONE J: If you're familiarized with Zone C, you'll soon notice that Zone J is a variation of Zone C, as it also takes place on a rotating facility where the layout changes on each screen roll. However, you can no longer rely on the "stay on center" trick of the first rolling on Zone C. Also, you can take down enemies that try to use the layouts as an advantage with your Wave Shot.


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Introducing robotic lizards to the ever-growing list of non-fish themed enemies.

BOSS: STEALTHER - Seahorses, manowars, anemones, oarfishes and now a chameleon. I'll talk about this change on the creatures later, so let's talk about this boss. Its main weapon is to fire a 3 way laser from its horns, supported by random collapsing ceiling sections like those from Zone K, followed by orbs that explode into 4 way bullets. It will try to stop you from firing by using its tongue to trap you on a bubble, acting as a passive weapon. After that it will make itself invisible and fire lasers from its back. After using its laser attack twice, it will make itself visible, repeating this attack pattern. Its weakpoint is located on its head.



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The ceiling and the floor are about to give you a smashing surprise.
Be careful in this area.


ZONE K: This stage is similar to Zones D and F as they take place on a large enemy base. Like in both areas, you'll be facing the "Bacteriophage" Captain. But the challenge factor this time will come from the collapsing ceiling/floor segments that will try to block you path or even crush you. Like the closing gates in Zones D and F, you can take advantage of the collapsed segments if you have the green Silver Hawk and the Wave Shot, sparing you from taking hits from the exploding bomb-like enemies on the ceiling. However the final collapsing surfaces at the end of the level will try to block your path entirely, but they are very easily to avoid as soon as the first one closes.



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The Giant Mechanical Lizard Strikes Again.

BOSS: STEALTHER - While the boss seems to be a color change, its attacks are slightly different from its Zone J counterpart. While the first thing it does is to shoot you a 3 way laser spread from its horns like in Zone J, it no longer uses the random collapsing ceiling and replaces the bullet splitting orbs with grenades that will explode if you destroy them with your shots and if they hit the ground will create a pillar of fire on impact. Its tongue attack is the same as before as it blocks you from firing your weapons.



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Descent into the enemy-infested darkness for the final attack.

ZONE L: This is the fifth and final level of the "Lower Route" of this game. This stage combines both the base and cavern features and like in Zone B and I, being the closing gates the first thing you'll face here along with missiles from below. it mixes horizontal scrolling with a vertical descent for the second part of the level. One word of advice: If you're using the blue Silver Hawk, you're gonna be in a lot of trouble since its weapons lack of wave-like properties, so don't be surprised if you lose 2 lives or even a continue while trying to clear this level.



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A new type of Captain makes its initial debut...
...and demise in your hands.


This is the first of the final levels where the unnamed Dunkleosteus "Captain" of the level is introduced. Its main way of attack is using a 5 way spread fire. After shooting 5 times, it will try to ram you, and don't try to hide from the spread fire by "hiding" below or above him, the Dunkleosteus will shot 3 vertical lasers if you do that.



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Jurassic Threat.

BOSS: ZANDICK II - Another twist on the fish-themed formula of boss designs, as this one is a Plesiosaurus/Elasmosaurus that will utilize its neck to smash you and the terrain as it now scrolls to the left. It will also utilize grenades that arch in a curved trajectory, a 16 way-like bullet spiral and its deadly fire breath based on your ship's position. Keeping your distance and using the right Silver Hawk is the best strategy to defeat this one, and that means the green one most of the times, being the red one a second option.



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Take a well earned rest, pilot.
You're gonna need it.


After defeating Zandick II, this is gonna be your ending. The Silver Hawk returning to what it seems to be an aircraft carrier runway.

THEORY AND ANALYSIS: Although the scenes freezes to a sepia tone as the Silver Hawk is in the center, the fact that is being moved on the carrier by the personnel implies that the Silver Hawk is not landing, but is placed on standby for the next sortie, clearly implying the battle is far from over. The "narration" heavily implies it saying "Although we cannot see the future, we will continue to fight and stand guard over our maternal star". It is also possible that "Maternal Star" was a mistranslation of "Mother Planet", referring the Silver Hawk will fight again to defend Darius.



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Quiet caverns that hide the final defense lines of the enemy.

ZONE M: The pentultimate level in the "Upper Route". This is a complex combination of tight corridors, "mud walls" and branching paths where the side you choose will determine if you get a red orb or a blue one. But the major problem will be the enemy placement here. Especially the turrets. Despite being a single shot, one mistake you do here will either compromise your shield strength or even kill you. You are granted the special capsule from Zone B and I which could give you the beam or a screen clearing flash. In this stage, any option is good enough. The best strategy is to use the green Silver Hawk to clear most space of the mud wall and to deal with turrets hidden on "natural trenches".



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Galst Vic's idea of the successor of Thiima's G.T. model.

BOSS: GREAT FORCE - The successor of Great Thing, and like its predecessor, it is a heavily armed monster. Armed with two back cannons, a 7-way spread gun, a cannon that shoots a fireball that creates a small pillar of flames on the ground and a frontal laser that gradually goes down is only the first part of the arsenal since that's the top of the boss, on the bottom is a rapid firing railgun and a bomb that splits into small missiles. If you don't have the Silver Hawk on a reasonable power level, this boss could mean your demise very easily. So the first thing to do is to destroy the most "menacing" weapons and that means the railgun, the spread gun and the frontal laser. You'll notice you're damaging them as they make a small explosion when a bullet or bomb hits them. Dodging the attacks from the bomb and the back cannons are the easiest part of the boss. But once they're down you'll have to face Great Force's main attacks. Getting close to the boss is gonna be the worst mistake you can make, as it will ram you in any moment without warning and it spits a large laser fire. Shooting on a very large distance (far left of the screen) is the best strategy against Great Force.



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Final Mission: The Orbital Assault

ZONE N: The sixth and final zone in the middle route. It takes place on the orbit of an Earth-like planet, probably Darius. This stage is the worst of all if you're powered down 'cos the game will throw you enemies diagonally, making them quite difficult to take most of them if the Silver Hawk is not on a reasonable power level. Among this diagonal assault you'll encounter blue rhomboid crystals which will act as the asteroids of Zones A, G and H that drop items for a little help and a bonus boost.



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Hawk-shaped, but not an ally of yours.
These birds are out there to kill you.


It will also introduce a new type of enemy: Robotic Hawks colored like the ship you're using on the stage. After that, you'll be facing the floating mines followed by the blue crystals falling down diagonally again just before facing the final boss of the "Middle Route".



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Jurassic Threat II: Above The Earth.

BOSS: MEGALOPROS - If the stage was hard for its "diagonal attack vector" nature, this mechanical Pteranodon is even worse. To begin with, it places right behind your ship, making it hard to hit unless you have 4 way bombs or switching to the even weaker Laser. It's main attacks are missile volleys and a beam from its stomach. After that, it will move to the front, making it vulnerable for a while as it fires rear lasers from its wings, After this pattern, Megalopros will once again place behind the player and it will fire a spread bullet attack along with lasers from its wings (backed up with missils), move to the right again and throw you grenades and firing the rear lasers. Sometimes it will fire a laser beam from its beak, so this is gonna be by far the hardest boss of the game and if you don't pay attention you'll be burning all your lives and continues in this battle.



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A symbol of faith and hope for all humanity.

After clearing this stage, the ending will show a white dove flying over the clouds as the game explains how although peace is not inevitable, the longing for peace exists within the human heart.

THEORY AND ANALYSIS: The white dove is commonly known as a symbol of peace, while as a bird it might be possible that also refer to the Silver Hawk. The ending narration is a description of hope and mostly faith as the closing words say "If you believe this, then it must be so."



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This is the last stage.
You are on your own now.


ZONE O: This is it. The seventh and final stage in the upper route. This time the game will throw you a layout with all the tricks you've saw throughout the stages. For instance, the collapsing gates, which now can be destroyed with your shots and take advantage of their safe spaces with the Wave shot, along with collapsing ceilings and the return of the Dunkelosteus captain of Zone L. The multi trajectory enemy patterns will also pull a final challenge against you going frontal and fast, diagonal and rear attacks that can only be countered with bombs.



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His form is a methaphor of how war brings the worst of humanity.

BOSS: GALST VIC - The mastermind who was acting behind the stage under the Belsar name all this time. He will try to defend himself with these turret-domes on top and bottom which can be taken down easily with your bombs. His main attacks are a volley of fire balls shooting three on top and bottom in a somewhat arched way that closes once it gets to the far left. But you have to pay attention to the shield sorrounding him. Once it stops flashing, Galst Vic will raise his arm to shoot lightning and a laser from its eyes, and this is when he is vulnerable to enemy fire, the first thing to go will be his arm. Once that happen, you'll have to shoot to its head until it goes down.



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Looks like you're far from done.

Galst Vic exploded, but no "Zone O Completed!" ("Zone O is Over!" if you're playing the Darius Force version), instead the stage will explode and you'll be on a speed escape where do you have to avoid crashing with the obstacles.



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Things come to a head at the end of the game.

You've made it to the end, but the battle is still going on. Galst Vic's head is still alive and it won't stop at nothing until you're dead. He will shoot a large beam that splits into 8 small laser beams, he can also increase its size and shoot you green orbs that split into small 3 way spread shots and even a 6 way spread fire, like in its initial form, it has a barrier that goes off with time allowing you a brief time to damage it. This is all what you need to learn, its up to you to take the final shot.



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¿Guess who's coming home with the victory?

Well Done, Pilot! You've finally made your way to the real ending of this game and your Silver Hawk returns with the glory and the end of the conflict.
The game ending will explain that fighting was natural throughout our history and humanity always fight back when we're confronted by danger. But the game throws this unexpected words: Continue the fight, for the war is not yet over right before the Silver Hawk flies its way home.



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One day, in another continuity, the fight will truly end.

ANALYSIS: The war is over for now. When this ending was written, Super Nova was considered as part of the Darius canon back then, until Taito declared Super Nova and Darius Twin as non-canon and established Dariusburst as the official continuation of the Darius series. While Twin was already out since it takes place after Zone X ending (Super Darius II's ending replaced the unnamed purple Belsar ship with a Red Mist like boss), in Super Nova's case the story never continued leaving it as an open ending.



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Its you against the majority of the bosses.

ZONE X: THE BOSS ENDURANCE - Both Darius Force and Super Nova features a hidden "Zone X" where you are pitted against the game's bosses. To enter this mode you have to press Down, X, Up, B, L, R, Left, A on controller 2 when the Taito logo appears (at startup) on the SNES, the Darius Cozmic Collection port has this mode separated when you choose Darius Force. Before each battle you are granted 1 Power Up and 1 Shield Upgrade. In case you're wondering how's the boss line-up, it goes like this: Bio Hazard > Mudy Crystal (Zone B) > Spiral Snail (Zone D), Thunderbolt Fans > Devil Fish (Zone G) > Stealther (Zone K) > Great Force > Megalopros. So we have a "Spoiler Free" mini-game as it omits Peace Destroyer, Zandick II and (obviously) Galst Vic.



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One of the most beautiful sights in shmups.

Now that we're done with the gameplay aspects of the game, let's talk about the graphics. While the game makes a full turn of the arcade-influenced Darius II-ish big sprites and bright colors of Darius Twin, Super Nova takes the Darius saga to a more "dark" approach. While not as dark and post-apocalyptic as Metal Black, Super Nova still manages to get things to a more serious approach by removing some of the brightfulness in moments that require things to get serious like the caverns and the space stations. As a SNES game, it relies on the multilayered scroll parallax which manages to bring up to 7 layers in the Zones D, F and K, adding a well made sense of depth making the enemy base much bigger that you might expect. The use of Mode-7 effects is also present in this game and is mostly notorious on zones C and J where the pixel rotation is constantly utilized, along with Spiral Snail's shell, Galst Vic's head mass shifting and of course the Silver Hawk flying away in Zone O's ending. This basically manages to bring some arcade quality to the SNES, even more than Darius Twin did. While all the artificial structures are incredibly detailed, it is the natural scenery which takes most of the visual attention, Zones B and I are the best example of this, where the river and its coastline are gorgeously rendered in a much realistic way than Darius Twin's Zone A.

Time to talk about the boss designs. This time, Taito decided to test the boundaries of how far Darius could go on adapting other lifeforms beyond their trademark sea creatures, but without leaving that tradition, and to be honest and fair, they made a good approach on that concept by bringing reptiles and insects like pterosaurs, plesiosaurids, chameleons, and snails along with a human skeleton as if they made a research about what else people wanted to see besides fishes rather than putting random things in the game. The sound department is impossible to avoid, the music breaks with the controversial and sometimes fan-hated "Capcom-esque" soundtrack of Darius Twin, but also breaking the traditional Taito wackiness of Darius and Darius II by giving us a more epic, serious soundtrack that gains momentum, force and brightness as the level advances, like Zone A and K theme "Saisei" (unofficially called "A King") or the calm and fanfarrious "Darius Force" (fan-named "Bio") which fits well on the mysterious nature of the scenery and breaks in an adventurous fanfare as if we were witnessing how the Silver Hawk heads to its final destiny. While some fans might compare the soundtrack with Star Wars, it feels more like a prequel or an addendum of Metal Black's style. "Zone L-M" (unofficially called "Lame") is a proof of it, due to its calm, yet enigmatic atmosphere which somewhat reminds me of "Waste Days" (Level 4: Crystal Lize) from Metal Black.



SUPER NOVA: SUPER CURIOSITIES


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Too bad it just appeared on a flashback.

- Super Nova/Darius Force was the second and last game for the Super Nintendo.
- It is the lone game of the SNES releases without a 2 player co-op mode.
- The use of the "computer-like" font for the main texts of the game can lead to confusion since "S" looks like a "5" and "4" look like a "9". The FF5A-0014 and FR5A-6351 Silver Hawks are mostly
(and wrongly) written as "FFSA-0019" and "FRSA-6351".
- The name "Icthyion" comes from the Old Greek word "Ichthys" which means "Fish".
- Another greek name is "Megalopros" which comes from the words "Megalo" and "Prota" which means "Great First".
- This is the second Darius game without Great Thing as a boss.
- While Super Nova omits the Fossil type ship as a boss, it makes a brief appearance on the intro scene.
- Zandick II is the succesor of Zandick from Syvalion.
- Galst Vic is another reference to Syvalion. In this case is the original Galst, an enemy that appears when the player takes too much time on the same spot.
- Some scenarios from Syvalion links the game with the Darius series as they mention Darius in a few ways such as Tiat sending a message about Belsar's invasion, and revealing that Belsar is actually a creation of Varia, and like them they're amorphous mutants with human forms.
- Peace Destroyer's concept as a superlarge boss was reutilized on Titanic Lance from Darius Gaiden.
- The concept of split paths between levels will be utilized on G-Darius.
- The game trophy "Piece Destroyer" from Dariusburst CS: Chronicle Saviours is a reference to Peace Destroyer.
- If Super Nova wasn't removed from the canon, it would be around the Darius year 3000-5000
(that's my approximation since the manual only says "Thousands of years"), placing it in the "Age of Prosperity".



POP CULTURE, GAMING REFERENCES AND SUPER NOVA NODS IN OTHER GAMES


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Also Sprach Zuntathustra

- The "Earth-Moon-Sun alignment" from the opening screen mirrors that of 2001: A Space Odyssey.



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It might be possible that Galst Vic's assault took place on planet Iccus.

- The scenery of both Zones B and I is very reminiscent of the second stage of Gynoug/Wings of Wor.



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The Final Challenge: The Obstacle Race of Death.

- Zone O's escape speed tunnel sequence mirrors the fast tunnels of the Gradius series, mostly the arcade version of Gradius III where the player had to navigate through a speed maze after defeating the final boss.



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"Danger Zone" will be playing as soon as they take off.

- Zone L's ending is very reminiscent of the opening sequence of Top Gun as the Silver Hawk appears like a large silhouette just like the F-14 did.



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We get the point: We need a summer vacation.

- The endings of Metal Black and Operation Wolf 3 have a similar "sun rising on the sea" scene. In fact, Super Nova's sea scene is a reference to Metal Black's ending.
- IREM's shmup R-Type Final has a "beach at dawn" moment like Super Nova in the opening and title screen, with the frame of the Standard Force partially submerged.
- Qute's game Natsuki Chronicles utilizes the same simultaneous Primary-Subweapon downgrading when both weapons are used at the same time.


With 30 years already, Darius Force/Super Nova takes a stand as one of the classics of Nintendo's 16 bit console and a fundamental piece of Darius Cozmic Collection. You can still play this game today and you won't be disappointed with the challenge factor. Along with Axelay and U.N. Squadron, this game is a "Trial of Fire" in terms of vintage shmup action.
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