My 1st memory of Darius and Darius series magazine scans

[JohnR1900]

Hey all. I've started digging into the Darius serious recently. I love side scrolling shmups. I grew up on Gradius, Life Force, R-Type and Thunder Force, but never really got into Darius much.

In the 90s, I did own the Genesis version of Sagaia, and the Saturn version of Darius Gaiden. Later on, I played various games in the series via emulation

I recently purchased Dariusburst CS and Cozmic Collection Arcade, digitally, on PS4.

I had never heard of Darius until almost the end of 1989. I was 13 years old, and started picking up gaming magazines from newstands, including Electronic Gaming Monthly. I was anticipating the new 16-bit consoles that summer. Along comes EGM's 1990 Video Games Buyer's Guide around December 1989. It's also EGM issue #5. Looking at their Turbo Champ section and reading about TurboGrafx CD-ROM games coming soon, they show Fighting Street (Street Fighter 1) Monster Lair and this other game, "Darius".

To me, Darius looked really cool, with a big sea monster boss and what looked like detailed ocean waves. All very colorful, even from a single, small screenshot. To me, Darius was the most interesting of the three games they showed. I could tell it was a game like Gradius or R-Type and the recent Thunder Force II for Genesis. I ended up getting a TurboGrafx-16 in 1990 and the CD-ROM attachment in 1991, but I never got to play Darius.

So this is exactly what I saw:



EGM issue #5 - December 1989


https://archive.org/details/Electronic_ ... 9/mode/2up

When I become interested in a game, or a series from the 1980s or 1990s, I always want to read magazine articles (anything, everything) on that. I'll search for every preview, review, etc.

From what I can find, there wasn't very much from American console game magazines on Darius in the late 80s in general, mainly because most of them started in 1988 or 1989 and by that time Darius wasn't brand new. but in the UK, their magazines which started years earlier, regularly reviewed new arcade cabinets. I dug some up, thanks to System16.com

Computer and Video Games, March 1987.


Crash, April 1987


Sigaia, Sega Genesis - EGM, April 1991


Darius III / Gaiden (arcade) - EGM2





Darius Gaiden - Saturn - Diehard Gamefan and EGM







G-Darius - Diehard Gamefan





more to come!

[Sturmvogel Prime]

That's some good old vintage material! Those scans are good to have now that the magazines are probably gone.

[Klatrymadon]

These scans are incredible - thanks so much for sharing them! Really loved those early screens from Gaiden in EGM2 (maybe it's just the magazine printing, but the colour palette looks even more lurid and psychedelic), and "Unskilled Angler" would have been a great name.

Glad you're enjoying the series!

[JohnR1900]

Happy to post these.

Here are 2 previews of G-Darius from EGM, plus reviews from EGM and GamePro







Computer and Video Games (UK) on G-Darius: Arcade, and PS1 review.

[JohnR1900]

Back to Darius Gaiden for these next several scans

Mean Machines Sega (UK) preview and review





Computer and Video Games (UK) review (Saturn version)



Ultimate Future Games (never heard of this magazine before)



EDGE magazine (they often gave 2D sprite based games low scores)



Darius Gaiden - Gamest Mook Vol 6 (I guess this is just a strategy guide by Gamest, Japan arcade magazine)



https://archive.org/details/dariusgaide ... 6/mode/2up

[kid aphex]

Those scans are awesome! Mind if I post them to the shmups tumblr I have?
(It's not monetized in any way; just for fun)

I can credit any link you might have to yourself.

Let me know
Ray

[JohnR1900]

Those scans are awesome! Mind if I post them to the shmups tumblr I have?
(It's not monetized in any way; just for fun)

I can credit any link you might have to yourself.

Let me know
Ray

Absolutely! The more people see these old scans from the 80s/90s, the better.

Edit, no need to credit, just share

More on the way.

[JohnR1900]

Darius Twin.

First we start with EGM, in late 1990, as the Super Famicom was launching in Japan (and remember, magazines usually had a lead time of about 2 months).

"Super Darius" for the Super Famicom, later covered with its proper title, Darius Twin, previews.

EGM #15 October 1990 and #16 November 1990




GamePro August 1991 and Video Games & Computer Entertainment August 1991 - Super Famicom coverage




Super NES Buyer's Guide / EGM review


Computer and Video Games (CVG, UK) review


Print advert

[JohnR1900]

CVG UK review of Darius II on the Mega Drive (I forget the specific differences if any, with Sagaia on Genesis)





Diehard GameFan review of Darius II on the Saturn






Gamest magazine 1989 on arcade Darius II https://archive.org/details/gamest0038/mode/2up









https://archive.org/details/gamest0037/mode/2up

[Bassa-Bassa]

Is it true that Saturn Gaiden loses some of the bosses' animation frames?

[JohnR1900]

I've heard that. the Saturn version is apparently missing frames from the Taito F3 arcade version. IIRC the PS1 version was inferior to the Saturn version, as was typical of most (not all) 2D sprite based games on PS1 and Saturn.

I have Taito Memories 2 on PS2. It has Darius Gaiden, but I'm not sure it's not the PS1 version.

[Bassa-Bassa]

It's sure it's not the PS1 version. That's even entirely by another publisher which simply got the license from Taito.


The Saturn version lost/changed some of the weird effects from the original (nothing major, apparently), but that some bosses had animation frames cut as can be read in one of the scans is news to me. And I never trusted video game mags, so I gotta ask.

[XoPachi]

These are lovely. I love old video game stuff like this. It's so bold but so innocent.

[Martinov]

Thanks for posting, JohnR1900! I first got into gaming in '91, and these scans really do remind me how exciting the 16-bit and 32/64-bit era really were! I still own some of the UK magazines, and I get them out of storage a couple of times a year to give myself a little nostalgia trip. Gaming just doesn't feel as fun or exciting anymore.

[JohnR1900]

Original Arcade Darius - Flyers and Gamest magazine coverage

Arcade Flyers




Gamest 06



https://archive.org/details/gamest0006/mode/2up









Gamest 07




https://archive.org/details/gamest0009/mode/2up

[JohnR1900]

Thanks for posting, JohnR1900! I first got into gaming in '91, and these scans really do remind me how exciting the 16-bit and 32/64-bit era really were! I still own some of the UK magazines, and I get them out of storage a couple of times a year to give myself a little nostalgia trip. Gaming just doesn't feel as fun or exciting anymore.

No problem, it's fun for me to share these.

I got into gaming in 1988, so we're not that far apart. We both saw the birth and rise of the 16-bit generation.

[TWITCHDOCTOR]

Awesome post, very nicely done!!! Looks as though you put in some research time here.
Thank you for that! Those times were the prime times for video games imo (87 to around 93-ish)

[Gamer707b]

Thanks for the post man!! I used to buy every issue of EGM back in the 90s. My favorite magazine back in the day. My first experience with Darius was a few years ago, when I bought Gaiden. Now I love the series. The one on the Genesis is also a really good game and port.

[JohnR1900]

I am kinda disappointed that the 4 main magazines I read during 1989-1990, all from the U.S. (Video Games & Computer Entertainment, EGM, Game Players abd GamePro) didn't have more coverage of the PC-Engine / CD-ROM Darius releases. Darius coverage didn't really pick up until the domestic release of Darius II / Sagiai and the then-new SNES which had a Darius game within months of launch.

I can see the recently made version of Darius for the Genesis, exclusive to the the MD/Genesis Mini, being perfect for a 1989 release on Mega Drive in Japan and Genesis in 1990.

[Stevens]

Great stuff John! And welcome to the forums.

[JohnR1900]

Thanks for all the welcomes guys!

[OldSkoolShmuper]

Wow. Awesome!

[Spacemonkey]

Awesome scans, used to love the ads in the back of the magazines for import Japanese games.