At all, or do you just avoid the level-up to the laser? I'm guessing this is for rank control, but I'd assumed it was mainly the wave shot that increased the rank noticeably. I'd be interested in trying out your method.
When I first played this game, I wondered if to power up before Fatty Gluton or not too... back then I wouldn't do.
However I think it is best to power up and just survive the boss. Of course this is harder, but the extra power ups seem worth it.
Klatrymadon wrote: I'm guessing this is for rank control,
it's because your laser shot is pretty poor against bosses, and takes a long time to take the boss down, while if you keep the standard shot at its highest level, the boss goes down at a more normal time.
Ah, yeah, good call. I've never tried hanging back on the power-ups before - I normally just handle the more fiddly boss battles patiently. The three-bullet spread would clearly take down the likes of Glutton in no time, though.
It's mainly because I have practiced and practiced at Fatty Glutton, with the highest amount of power-ups you will have at the time you fight him (which is roughly LV5 laser, one or two before wave), and the margin of error is so large that the boss battle is way too much a battle of attrition.
With bosses like Keen Bayonet and Iron Hammer, this is ok, because the bosses' patterns are far easier to dodge (and you can damage them quickly if you point-blank missile spam them), but Fatty Glutton's attack is just too hard to dodge consistently, unless Smraedis has some tricks up his sleeve he's willing to share! The way I see it, when I had my normal shot powered up as far as it could (3-way, red-color), Fatty Glutton went down in seconds, and I still managed to get the Wave power-up before I finished the game, which kept the rank more or less manageable. It helps that Zone X is fairly simple, and gives you a lot of room to maneuver (because it's a Cosmic Airway stage), and its version of Octopus is a total push-over. Other zones (like the ones that play Capt. Neo) are veritable death-traps without the Wave powerup.
And thanks for the congrats! I'm really happy I managed to get through the game without dying - I was at work at the time, so I wasn't even expecting such a good run! If I was at home I would have been jamming the volume all the way up, but alas.
unless Smraedis has some tricks up his sleeve he's willing to share!
I haven't played the original version for a while, so I'm not sure if his movements are exactly the same, but I've been practicing your route in Super Darius, and have noticed that if you move towards Fatty Glutton, he backs off. If you time it so that you're pushing him to the right between his shots, and then moving back and shooting the small fish as it comes out, you have a lot more space and time to dodge the spread. (In Super Darius, if you just hang back to the left, he dominates the screen and the spread is always right in your face - Octopus is tough for the same reason.)
It makes the battle so much easier that you'd probably have no problem doing it with the laser, though I did try your method of sticking with the red missiles this time, heh.
A slight improvement on my last score. It's a fun route, but I'm not overly keen on tackling stage X and Octopus with the laser. The stage gets really hectic towards the end, at least if you're unfamiliar with it (I think I've only ever gone to Zs and Vs!), and Octopus is certainly no pushover in this version!
Forgive me if I post another score soon - I want to try this again, fully powered up.
I'm trying that out right now, and if you're up in Fatty Glutton's grill, he seems to move back towards the right of the screen. However, his fish spread still has a lot of chance hitting you...
Unless, that is, you are underneath Fatty Glutton. And I mean directly underneath. I'm trying out a bit of a new strategy right now - I'll have to post the results when I get it down consistently. Keeping myself from powering up is always the most annoying thing in Darius, but if there's a way around it, that'd be pretty sweet. We'll see!
Great score! I guess Super Darius gives you a lot more opportunity for scoring, or you got extremely lucky with the bonus balls! Or, the extremely likely possibility that I suck at scoring at this game : p
Hehe, I did get one max-value bonus ball, but only picked up about 4-5 in total, and most of them were pretty low. I got most of the bonuses for killing groups of enemies, though, until Zone X! But yeah, the scoring is probably different.
Thanks, Ing! Just took the same route and one-lifed it to Octopus with the wave shot, but ended up with about half a million less than last time. I guess I did get lucky with the scoring!
I should upload mine later. Everyone seems to take that course that ends with X, why is that? Is it easier/higher scoring? The top course was a bitch because of the powerup distribution.
I like how they just call it "octopus" since they ran out of cool name ideas.
On top of being easier the scoarboard suggests it's also quite a bit higher scoring than the Great Thing course I took. I think I'll give it a go just to see if I can improve my score a bit.
No it seems that the Great Thing route has the highest scoring potential in the game because you can get over 7.7 million by checkpoint milking the final boss for over half an hour.
Darius - MAME
& ACSeraph & 4,313,760 & ALL & ACEIMRX & On
Wow this course is a fucking joke. It's literally like novice mode compared to the Great Thing clear and gives you over 4 million without any milking, where Z course only gives you 3.5 And what the fuck is up with that Octopus, he's easier than the damn King Fossil is.
This may be my highest score but I'm way prouder of the Z clear, that shit was brutal.
Last edited by ACSeraph on Tue Mar 04, 2014 4:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
Darius - MAME
& ACSeraph & 5,295,370 & ALL & ACEHMRX & On
X course is dumb.
And now I am faced with a decision. Do I continue to maximize my X score in order to take number 1 (Better luck with white orbs and less mistakes on enemy waves would give me just enough I think) OR do I learn to milk Great Thing in my beloved Z course to kick things to the next level.
I also kind of want to start learning Darius Extra, considering that is the version they have at my arcade of choice, Taito Hey!.
Jaimers wrote:No it seems that the Great Thing route has the highest scoring potential in the game because you can get over 7.7 million by checkpoint milking the final boss for over half an hour.
You wouldn't happen to have access to a superplay that demonstrates the GT milking method would you?
Last edited by ACSeraph on Wed Mar 05, 2014 12:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
Btw, updated. ...aaaaaand roadrunner has been eliminated from the Darius MAME table. Sorry boy, but if you want to go back to the tables, you have to keep playing for score.
YT|2nd YT|1ccs| Good, bad, I'm the guy with the keyboard! Note:Please PM me if you need scores to be updated!
I figured as much, but that's easier said than done. I'm wondering if there's some sort of relatively safe positioning for the milking like there is with Octopussy, or if you have to stay moving constantly. I'll be doing some testing tonight on it for sure. I can't stand an X course being at the top of the western scoreboard <_<
Major thanks for this, I'll try to put it to good use. I tried milking strategies for about 30 minutes last night but couldn't get anywhere, because the killer whales always fuck me over. It does give a shitload of points for sure, even half ass-ed scrub milking gives about 100k. It's gonna take more than that to top an X score though, so I've gotta learn to do it right.
Saw this thread active recently and decided to give it a go myself. Long time coming to really play this game. I don't even remember submitting my previous score. Anyway awesome game! After smashing my head against the easy all top-route, ending at Fatty Glutton every time. I decided to go d,d, then all up and got the clear on the first go Crazy... will play more for sure.
Darius - MAME
& Aquas & 3,662,890 & ALL & ACFIMRW & On
STG Weekly!, 1cc's, twitch, XBL: DJ Aquazition The in-game papers prove that being the paperboy is actually a position of the greatest importance,
ranking alongside top elected officials for notoriety. -Ed Oscuro
