G Darius and its greatness

[sjewkestheloon]

Felt the urge to post about how much i'm enjoying this game. Most shooters keep me enterained for a relatively short period of time, especially horis, as i usually reach a sticking point after a few hours and find it very hard to make any progress. With this however every play seems to help me improve, whether it's a place to use an alpha beam or a better way to avoid a boss attack, or just a score increment increase. i'm working on 1ccing the top route of the game at the minute but i feel it won't stop there and now i've decided that i want to make every damn fish in the game fall.

and that also leads me into the fantastic boss rush mode in the ps1 version. why has noone copied this? the ability to either use it to practise against one boss or attempt the mammoth 30 boss 1cc sprint (which at the moment seem close to impossible; has anyone here ever done it?) makes it an essential addition.

i was starting to doubt whether horis where actually somehting i could really get into but this game has proven that they can get total loving from me.

any other g darius players here?

[JBC]

I 1cc'd the boss rush after about a year of that game. It's pretty tough - i think i had alot of trouble with that damn Seahorse...

[~Kid Icarus~]

I have this game sitting on my shelf waiting to be played again. The capture ball system is fun, the bosses (considering it's running on a PSone) are incredible and it features some beautiful music as well. I've not taken to any of the other Darius games however.

Am I right in thinking an arcade port is gonna be on Taito Memories 2? That would be sweet.

[Neon]

Excellent game.

Rando wrote up a nice review which explains the scoring as well:

http://www.free-conversant.com/gaming_journals/2371

unfortunately the music doesn't work in MAME, the ports rank PS2 (Taito memories), PSX, MAME, best to worst, although the PSX port does have a bossrush mode.

@ Kid Icarus: Darius Gaiden is the real must-have of the other Darius games. Utterly excellent OST and great gameplay.

[SAM]

Try run the game on a PS2 with graphic smoothening truned on.

This is one of the few PS1 shmups could benifits from that feature.

By the way there is a details FAQ of the game posted at GameFAQ, of which my friend Alan Kwan got quite some a contribution and credit.

http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/file/g_darius.txt

[Accutron]

G Darius is one of my favorite horis...definitely in my top 5 or so.

Am I right in thinking an arcade port is gonna be on Taito Memories 2? That would be sweet.

The PS1 version is an arcade port plus extras, running on the home equivalent of its native arcade hardware. Boss rush elevates it above the PS2 version, IMO.

[sven666]

Try run the game on a PS2 with graphic smoothening truned on.

This is one of the few PS1 shmups could benifits from that feature.

By the way there is a details FAQ of the game posted at GameFAQ, of which my friend Alan Kwan got quite some a contribution and credit.

http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/file/g_darius.txt

i second that!

brilliant game anyways, one of my favs too, beutiful graphic and the soundtrack kics ass!
gameplay isnt really spot-on but that humungous laser makes up for any imperfections, by far the coolest weapon in any shmup ever!

[professor ganson]

I haven't spent enough time with G Darius to have a confident opinion about gameplay, but the game looks, graphics-wise, amazing imo.

[PFG 9000]

I was lucky to find G-Darius in a local game shop (shooters are rare around here), and I took it home expecting a mediocre shooter that might keep me entertained for a day or two. I was pleasantly surprised with the gorgeous visuals and the variety of stages. The sheer depth of the gameplay is the best part for me though -- stealing your enemies and using them to your advantage could not be more fun. The alpha beam, stage selections, alternate routes within stages, and powerup scheme (powering up can be a downgrade at times until you find more of the same types of powerups) also add great depth. And the stage backgrounds are simply beautiful.

I've MAMEd Darius Gaiden and the music in the first few stages is fantastic. I'll be getting the OST, but I'd also like to find the Playstation version. But so far the gameplay seems far less deep than G-Darius.

[JBC]

If you can find the US Saturn version of Gaiden then you'll already have the soundtrack... i'm not sure if it's missing anything from the Japanese OST, though...

[sjewkestheloon]

would anyone be interested if i started a hiscore thread for this game? i could do two tables, one for standard setting arcade game, and another for full boss rush mode. could be fun and might encourage some of the people who have it but don't play it.

just got to the 8th boss in rush mode but i hadn't fought him before and got cheekily shot while trying to nab a dude to counter the beam... grrr...

[Accutron]

http://forum.shmups.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=178

[Randorama]

*casts mind-rays to people, so they will appreciate more G.Darius*

Must found the G.Darius think-tank as well

[Smraedis]

I'm (suprisingly) a big fan of G Darius but I only finished one route as a 1cc so far.

Best part in the game has to be the last stage, with the great stage music, which goes to the great end boss music ^^ but yeah, I play it too.

[Neon]

G Darius is one of my favorite horis...definitely in my top 5 or so.

Am I right in thinking an arcade port is gonna be on Taito Memories 2? That would be sweet.

The PS1 version is an arcade port plus extras, running on the home equivalent of its native arcade hardware. Boss rush elevates it above the PS2 version, IMO.

PSX version supposedly has lots of slowdown. It might look better with the graphics enhancements on PS2 than the TM version, though.

I've MAMEd Darius Gaiden and the music in the first few stages is fantastic. I'll be getting the OST, but I'd also like to find the Playstation version. But so far the gameplay seems far less deep than G-Darius.

Saturn version is better and many times cheaper, if that makes a difference. I'd like as much as the next guy to have all my games on one console (ps2) but Gaiden and a couple other games/better ports make Saturn still worth owning.

[Lyle]

Is the boss rush mode to be unlocked ? I didn't find it in the options.

[Ganelon]

Saturn version is better and many times cheaper, if that makes a difference. I'd like as much as the next guy to have all my games on one console (ps2) but Gaiden and a couple other games/better ports make Saturn still worth owning.

Aww, but everyone wants some CG in their shooters, don't they?

[PFG 9000]

That's it...I'll have to get both.

[Vexorg]

The PSX version of this also got a port to a Windows PC version by CyberFront (along with Darius Gaiden, Raystorm and RayCrisis.) Pretty much a straight up port (right down to needing to map the PSX controller buttons to keys on the keyboard) but it seems to run reasonably well.

[crithit5000]

I always forget this game exists (I've played a demo of it on a really old OPM disc), and I do love Darius Gaiden and have wondered if G Darius is better...anyone care to let me know?

[Thunder Force]

I do love Darius Gaiden and have wondered if G Darius is better...anyone care to let me know?

Yes.

[sjewkestheloon]

i'd say it's better without a doubt. it just oozes far more class than gaiden and i think it flow s a lot better.

get it

[PFG 9000]

The PSX version of this also got a port to a Windows PC version by CyberFront (along with Darius Gaiden, Raystorm and RayCrisis.) Pretty much a straight up port (right down to needing to map the PSX controller buttons to keys on the keyboard) but it seems to run reasonably well.

I found this in a used game shop about six months back for $2. At the time I didn't have a computer, and that was before I'd played G-Darius, so I passed it up. Changed my mind a day later, went back, and it was gone. :/

[CMoon]

Never played the arcade (or ps2 version), but the PS1 version does play like it is in constant slowdown. That said, it is still excellent. I am imagining the one on the taito pack plays faster, but I haven't picked it up yet.

[Randorama]

Never played the arcade (or ps2 version), but the PS1 version does play like it is in constant slowdown. That said, it is still excellent. I am imagining the one on the taito pack plays faster, but I haven't picked it up yet.

Full speed, something that was not possible even in the arcade revisions. I'd say: buy it now and you will see (again) the creation of new lives!!1! [/hypnosis mode]

[PepsimanVsJoe]

I don't even know how you people can play the PSX version of G. Darius. I mean in a way yeah but...My God...the slowdown.

The thing about the slowdown is that it's set so that if you tried to run it on epsxe with the constant 60 fps ticker on you'll end up with everything moving too fast for you to dodge.

Course if you just play it on the PSX the slowdown just makes the game look bad. The way the bosses choppily move about the screen looks like an awful early 3D game on the PC. The slowdown itself never reaches R-Type Final stage 3 bad but it's still very lousy. The soundtrack also sounds rather off as in it takes too long to load sometimes so you'll go through brief sections of the game with no music at all..rather jarring.

Otherwise I guess it's a decent port but you'd be much better off with the Taito Memories release.

And Darius Gaiden > G. Darius, although I enjoy G's soundtrack more. The Final Boss theme with the bass turned up rocks the house, and I for one dig the very unique style brought to the game. The game well..not so much, I didn't particularly care for all of the bosses moving in and out and around screaming HELLO I'M THREE D! . And well I just couldn't get into the whole capturing enemy ships mechanic.

[Marc]

Damn, I thought Darius Gainden was a cheap-assed piece of shit. Each to their own I guess.

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

G.Darius needed an 'Official Hack' style campaign mode. I would have liked to have been able to play every level in succession.

I've played this to death on the PSX and I can't say that I was bothered by any of the slowdown. I haven't seen any of the other versions though so maybe I don't know any better.

[elvis]

unfortunately the music doesn't work in MAME, the ports rank PS2 (Taito memories), PSX, MAME, best to worst

Also check out ZiNc:
http://www.emuhype.com/index.phtml?s=zinc&ss=index

Faster than MAME due to it's ability to offload 3D to OpenGL/Direct3D capable video cards. This also means the ability to use higher-res modes, extra texture filters, etc.

1600x1200 G-Darius with Anisotropic filtering, anyone?

[Neon]

unfortunately the music doesn't work in MAME, the ports rank PS2 (Taito memories), PSX, MAME, best to worst

Also check out ZiNc:
http://www.emuhype.com/index.phtml?s=zinc&ss=index

Faster than MAME due to it's ability to offload 3D to OpenGL/Direct3D capable video cards. This also means the ability to use higher-res modes, extra texture filters, etc.

1600x1200 G-Darius with Anisotropic filtering, anyone?

Sweet. The music works in this?

Damn, I thought Darius Gainden was a cheap-assed piece of shit. Each to their own I guess.

Ah, everyone thinks so at first. The game is hard as balls, but has beautiful graphics (mostly in the later levels), great gameplay, and one of the best soundtracks ever.