Darius series shield mechanics

[Sinful]

Was going to post this in that cool Darius super thread, but can't find it and seems Darius Chronicles replaced or killed it when it very well could have been discussed in that Darius thread too.

Anyway, what the title say. Plus can someone find that old Darius thread for me too (would like to bookmark it).

[copy-paster]

can someone find that old Darius thread for me too (would like to bookmark it).

You mean this thread?

Well your post seems a bit ambiguous, better to add more descriptions.

[Sinful]

Yes, that thread. Thanks.

And I didn't think more clarification was needed. From what I recall how the shield stacks in Darius 1 is different in Darius 2. I think in 2 you can't take any hits with a shield for you to get something like an extra shield hit point for when you pick up another shield powerup. I also forget how it works in Darius 1, and I have no idea how it works in Gaiden, G, and Chronicles.

[Shepardus]

I'm not sure about the older games, but at least in Gaiden onwards it works as follows:

• If you don't have a shield and pick up a shield powerup, it'll be set to three hits.
• If you have a shield already, the amount of extra shield you get depends on the grade of shield you have (green/silver/gold). If you have green you get one more hitpoint, if you have silver you get two, and if you have gold you get three. So if you're at one hit left on your green shield, it's actually better to lose the shield before grabbing a shield powerup so you'll be set to three rather than two hits.
• The maximum durability of the shield is also dependent on the color. Green goes up to three, I don't remember the others.
• Like missiles and shot, your shield gets upgraded to a new color when you get enough shield powerups to fill up the shield bar in the HUD.
• Gold shield protects you from terrain collisions (though it depletes very quickly when doing so), others don't.

[Sinful]

Thanks for that info, Shepardas.

[MathU]

I'm not sure about the older games, but at least in Gaiden onwards it works as follows:
The maximum durability of the shield is also dependent on the color. Green goes up to three, I don't remember the others.

Four for silver, five for gold.

Another mechanic to keep in mind in Darius Gaiden regarding shields is that, when you grab a shield medal when you're already maxed out for that shield level, you gain a little point bonus and the game adds a significant value to the adaptive difficult modifier. Point bonuses from power-ups when you're already fully powered up are the second-biggest contributer to adaptive difficulty in the game, equivalent to half the value of a destroyed boss body part. Sometimes it makes sense to take a hit on purpose before you grab that next shield power-up in order to keep progressing to the next shield level without the adaptive difficulty bump.

Also the shield increases your hitbox in most Darius games but it's particularly noticeable in Gaiden where there are certain attacks that can't be dodged with a full or sliver shield but can once your shield is gone.