Where the Darius Love at?

[Bloodreign]

Seeing those Darius screenshots, mainly the gameplay ones, on an arcade machine makes a man proud to love the series. I remember a fellow on Youtube from Japan had posted up some video footage of the games (mainly original and Darius II), I wound up subbing that guy because he later on showed off videos of Salamander and other Gradius goodies, and Night Striker cabinets.

[Sinful]

Hmm, I missed two posts above Kollision. So ACSeraph was sick? Wish I had Darius Arcade cabinet games as a getting well reward.

I did want some pics of these Darius games you've been playing. And Japan sure loves their Darius allright. At least it's popular there, thank goodness. Ditto for Arcades too. Thanks for the pics. Really appreciate them. Plus wondering how shmup Arcade sticks feel? I only have the Street Fighter & MK Arcade sticks. Buttons on the MK stick are way to far apart. So I'm using the SF stick, since my brother took my PC pad to his over a month vacation. Is this stick close enough to shmup Arcade sticks?

Darius II practice you say... switch to easy difficulty! Now! Before you suffer the wrath of very repetative restart burnout. ... I see the Genesis version fixed this. As you always get the extra powerup orbs in that version ASAP... unlike Arcade where you can go an entire level without it... my Darius love is at an all time low now because of the switching to normal mistake.. can't even move on to other Darius games until I beat this one for some reason either? Some weird mental OCD behaviour I got going on here? Maybe cause it was so easy to start with the first game in this series? Something that's usually very hard for me... even playing other shmups ain't doing pleasing me... like I need a break with another genre or something... yes, very depressing scenario I got here... what to do, what to do.. sigh... guess Darius II via MAME...


Kaleb Parham says G Darius is tougher. Interesting.

[KAI]

Love this pic

[Skykid]

Viva Japan!

I'm speechless!!!!

I'm stealing! (Thanks AC!)

Didn't remember HEY having headphones - is that just for the Darius titles?

Love this pic

That's awesome.

[Sinful]

Well, slowly but surely I finally got in the mood to play Darius II AC a lot again. Thanks to the break I took and returning to Easy difficulty setting. Not getting another shield for 2 entire levels + 2 bosses that take place before the last level is too much perfection required on Normal, in a one slip up and you're dead game. >_< Having that one shield in between them two levels is thee biggest difference Easy difficulty makes. Cause rank & enemy resilience increase with the extra powerups you recieve on Easy, so yes, things start to balance out again a bit between the two difficulty levels (ie. bosses like Fatty Gluton, Yamato, etc, can take twice as much more damage... unless you're weapons get that much weaker too? >_<).

Yesturday I also secured a 1cc on Easy for Darius II AC, giving me some relief (lost all powerups at first midboss for last level. Luckly I had a pretty good tactic for last boss. Just stood in front of him ) Though there is something else that helped me in securing that 1cc with more ease; I've switched & adapted to the easier 3 screen version. At first I avoided it, even though I suspected it was easier with 3 screen for obvious reasons, because things didn't looks as big even on my 50" TV. And, the powerups always flying up and possibly off the screen initially scared me. But this actually works in you're favour too at times.

Not gonna budge away from Easy until I've beaten all other paths first. Sticking to my gut instincts all the way through this time & thus securing that this game leaves me with a most favourable impression instead of ending on a sour note and broken TVs, gamepad & flying Kitty... no, I couldn't do that to Kitty (we just got re-united again! ). Plus, I'm also slowly starting to incease my playtime for the heavily remixed & altered early 90's ports of Darius II ports (Genesis, PCE CD, & SMS). I'm so happy that all these ports are so very different, each and every one. It's like getting 4 very different Darius II games (5 if you include also heavly altered Sagaia Arcade, US version of Arcade Darius II). It's an ultimate fans wet dream! You see, this is what rules about pre 32-Bit era. So I can't believe folks still complain about these ports not being perfect instead of seeing the big picture that we get way more games this way. You want perfect ports, play MAME or offically released hacked MAME games, lol (looks at Taito collections for PC, and yep. There're the MAME roms matching the ones I have in MAME folder exactly. Ain't that cute? ).

[FRO]

With all this talk of Darius, I decided to do a Darius Gaiden "Induction" ringtone on my work phone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmw_VkVc ... 8-N1oEy8Fw

[ACSeraph]

Viva Japan!

I'm speechless!!!!

I'm stealing! (Thanks AC!)

Didn't remember HEY having headphones - is that just for the Darius titles?.

Yeah, that seems to be something new at hey. It's not just Darius either, it was almost all of their shmups. I really wish audio out was standard on nesica and allnet too.

[Spyke]

I'm a fan.

So far I only have Darius II for Japanese Mega Drive, and Saturn Darius Gaiden is in the mail for me as I type!
I've got G-Darius on the Taito coll3ection for PS2 but have not got into it really as I want to get the PS1 version "properly".
Saturn version of Darius II might be on my list too...

Ant

[Terramax]

I actually have a small phobia of fish. Therefore, I like Darius. Shooting some goddamn, scary ass fishes!

Fav is Darius Gaiden. The trippy visuals and music mainly.

"Close your eyes...... close your..... head....."

[ACSeraph]

Soooo...

I've been practicing Darius II hardcore for the past 2 days, and I'm at a point where I think I have a pretty solid plan for everything in the game. I've been practicing primarily in MAME with save states but my goal is actually to transfer those skills to the Saturn version.

I was under the impression that the Saturn version was the same as the arcade version, but clearly this isn't the case. In fact as it turns out the Saturn version is honestly pretty fucked. The hotboxes on the laser satellite"s lasers in stage L appear to be totally fucked up. Like, you take damage from them even when they aren't connecting with your ship. Now, in the arcade version to deal with them you have to ride pretty close and use the slightly wider angle of your own laser to take them out, but with the fucked up saturn hitbox it doesn't appear to be possible to destroy them without getting hit. What the fuck? Am I missing something here? I'm kinda pissed off right now...

[Kollision]

Stage O on Darius Gaiden has to be one of my favorites ever
Awesomest music + graphics + Fatty Gluton at the end

[ACSeraph]

FUCK YEEEEAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





I finally cleared Darius II!!!

That had to be one of the most satisfying clears I've ever done and a great start to 2014.

I got to the final stage with all my powerups intact but no shield. I literally thought I was going to have a heart attack fighting Iron Fossil before picking up a new shield.

In other news I'm in the process of writing a thorough guide to help new players secure their first 1cc of this brutal game. I'll let you guys know when it's finished

[royalfan84]

Congrats on the clear! Man, it really makes me wish I had more free time to fully divulge in one shmup fully....I will have to give Darius II a whirl sometime.....still working on Gaiden and in the early phases of G-Darius.

[Sinful]

Hmm, and here I am having trouble to secure even the Sega Genesis Darius 2 version 1cc. Guess Darius II luck with me is just perma bad or something? Anywho; that 1cc of yours was much sooner then I expected. Congrats.

[ACSeraph]

Congrats on the clear! Man, it really makes me wish I had more free time to fully divulge in one shmup fully....I will have to give Darius II a whirl sometime.....still working on Gaiden and in the early phases of G-Darius.

Thanks! It's not really an issue of free time I don't think, it's just making your practice efficient and focusing on a single game. Drop G Darius for now, find a path that appears doable in Gaiden and then stick with it. Try to do at least one credit per day, and more focused practice if you have a little time (like an hour). Do that and you should take Gaiden out pretty quickly I think.

Hmm, and here I am having trouble to secure even the Sega Genesis Darius 2 version 1cc. Guess Darius II luck with me is just perma bad or something? Anywho; that 1cc of yours was much sooner then I expected. Congrats.

You sound a little bit down man Don't give up on DII, the game takes absolutely no shit from anyone, and it can get under your skin if you aren't careful.

I can tell you now exactly why I was able to clear it as quickly as I did, it was two things.

1: I carefully watched multiple high level players destroy the game at Taito Hey! to learn strategies. (Side note: the strategy you outlined earlier in the thread for dealing with Grand Octopus is exactly how the high level players in Akiba do it, so pat yourself on the back for that.)

2: I used what I learned there to polish up a gameplan that suited my own playstyle using savestate practice. Note that I did not mimic exactly what I saw, I simply used the info to bolster my own strategies.

Now you strike me as the kind of guy who will not want to use savestates, but I've gotta tell you Darius II requires heavy planning and nearly perfect execution to complete. It will take you an eternity to develop a plan and also master the execution if you start a new credit every time you make a mistake. If you want to clear it I really implore you to give up that mindset. It took me quite a lot of playtime even with states.

Heres the way to do it:

Start a new credit from stage one. I assume you will complete it without taking a hit. Make a savestate at the stage select screen (state "1").

Proceed through stage two once from the beginning to the end. Did you take even a single hit? Shields stack in this game, so even a single hit matters, it's not like you can just ignore it and refil the shield later, you have effectively lost a life.

If you got hit somewhere go ahead and reload from the state "1". Assuming the hit you took was not a random fluke, but rather a difficult section (for example the midboss section in stage 2) make a new save state right before the beginning of that section (use a different key and don't overwrite any of your states, for example state "Q"). Use the save state to repeatedly drill that section until you can clear it without getting hit. Try new things and experiment to find new strategies; you can always reload if your idea doesn't work.

Proceed to do this for every trouble point within the stage, and eventually the entire game, creating a state for each so you can go back and practice. I also suggest creating a state at every boss and every stage select, and only create states if you have proceeded to the point in question without taking a hit or missing a powerup.

It may take you a few days to create a states for the entire course. JUst do as much as you can for the day. I suggest beginning and ending each practice session with a full 1-credit run of the game to identify which points are still giving you trouble.

After creating states for the entire game you training plan should be, 1-credit run -> state practice the parts that you have trouble with -> second 1-credit run -> go to bed. Don't stress and run after run after run if you are still making mistakes. JUst do a couple each day and if it isn't going well take a rest for the day and give your brain time to digest the information. I promise you are improving, it just takes time.

Trust me, if you do this you can clear Darius II without wanting to burn down Taito headquarters. Please consider giving it a shot. Using states is not easy or cheap, it's efficient training and it's playing to win. At the end of the day no one cares how you learned to play, they only care about your results in full runs.

Go forth and kick some ass!

[stryc9]

Well, after about four hours of owning the game I cleared the MD version of Darius II with 5 lives in stock. With Tiat Young, so maybe not so impressive, eh?

I guess the challenge in the game comes from using Proco Jr and the fact he respawns with the weakest fire power at the most inconvenient time.

I'll try for the Proco 1CC tonight, wish me luck.

PS is the arcade version a shit ton more difficult or what? What exactly are the differences (apart from the dual monitor setup, obviously)?

[ACSeraph]

Congrats on the clear

I've never played the MD version, but I'm under the impression it's pretty different from the arcade version and definitely easier. I can't imagine any normal person beating the arcade version within 4 hours of their first credit.

In the arcade version you'll definitely clear with a lot of lives in stock, or you won't clear at all because recovery is impossible. My clear was a no miss. The stages seem to be designed around the assumption that you have collected all the powerups preceding any given point. I can't really imagine it being possible to clear any of the final 3 stages without powerups.

On a different subject:

REQUEST TO SKILLED DARIUS II PLAYERS

For the life of me I cannot figure out how to deal with the laser satelites in Saturn Stage L due to their broken hitboxes. Can anyone attempt to learn the stage in the Saturn version and tell me how it's done? For now it seems my only recourse is to pick a different stage and fight Yamato, but I'd rather not since that fight is a lot more random than Leadain.

[ACSeraph]

By the way, I just got these pics uploaded from my return trip back through Tokyo last weekend. More Darius Love from Taito:

First off they have a new music game out that features music and references to Darius. The game itself is pretty fun; plays similarly to Project Diva:








Next up, I showed you guys the medal machine before, but this time when I went back they also had Silverhawk medals up for grabs, not just the Iron Fossil:





Sale also started on this fairly large Iron Fossil towel. It's made of a thin material and obviously not for drying things, it's more like a cloth poster. I also god a little Silverhawk model to go with it. Here they are pinned up in my room:














And finally the best for last, I bought this unbelievably badass limited G Darius B1 poster for only 2000 yen:








Forgive the blurry pics by the way, I can't afford a real camera because I spend all my money on Darius shit

[stryc9]

Got the MD NTSCJ proc Jr clear.

Lost a life near the end of the second to last zone, managed to take the boss without a shield. Brute forced the final boss losing another two lives in the process.

Great shooter, one of the best on MD now I've devoted some hours to it. The 1LC shouldn't be too difficult from here.

[ACSeraph]

Just finished ST: Darius II! I worked really hard on this, so I hope you guys find it useful.

[Sinful]

Wow, you've got a guide done already?!

And hey, you can get rid of that center line in MAME via pressing TAB (default button) to bring up the menu, then under the screen options or whatever it's called? Select "gapless."

Anywho, good stuff you've posted here related to Darius. Makes a Darius fan proud.

[ACSeraph]

Thanks! Oh I had no idea I could get rid of the line. Oh well, guess it looks more "authentic"

So seriously I think stage V in the Saturn version is impossible to no-miss because of the satellite glitch. Somebody please prove me wrong. Seriously fuck that shitty broken porting. I think I will have to take a Yamato course in order to clear this version, and I hate that douchebag.

[Sinful]

Grr, I'm so freakin lazy lately. I actually fired up SSF Saturn emulator to check that out when you first mentioned it, but as I got to that stage I was like "I better make a state save if what's been said is true?" Course as I'm fumbling for where the bloody state save option is located at, it becomes too late as I didn't even get to adjust selecting my course and I start at the upmost Yamato stage instead. Well, that's as far as my lazyness allowed for that day. And Yamato kicked my butt, of course. >_<

But yeah, I'll look into it again with a state save today again and let you know what I can come up with? Just for you, OK? So... yeah. Think about.

[EmperorIng]

So seriously I think stage V in the Saturn version is impossible to no-miss because of the satellite glitch. Somebody please prove me wrong. Seriously fuck that shitty broken porting. I think I will have to take a Yamato course in order to clear this version, and I hate that douchebag.

Satellite glitch?

Are you talking about those ground-based enemies (the yellowish satellite dishes)? The ones that fire constantly leaving no room to get through?

If so, yes, those have ruined MANY a run for me.

[Sinful]

So seriously I think stage V in the Saturn version is impossible to no-miss because of the satellite glitch. Somebody please prove me wrong. Seriously fuck that shitty broken porting. I think I will have to take a Yamato course in order to clear this version, and I hate that douchebag.

Satellite glitch?

Are you talking about those ground-based enemies (the yellowish satellite dishes)? The ones that fire constantly leaving no room to get through?

If so, yes, those have ruined MANY a run for me.

No, I don't think it's what you think it is? I thought it was something else too. It's in the Earth Ice Level, second from the top on the map. And it's right at the start of the level. And dam! I see what you mean, ACSeraph. But I got your solution too.

Your best bet is near the top of the screen. Get somewhat close but not too close cause of the massive hitbox you're all too aware off, lol. Anywho, keep tapping back so you stay in that position. But as you keep tapping back, you're also whipping your missiles more forward too. But I also think you screen lazer angle is good enough to be hitting too, maybe? But either way, it's still not that easy as you've got pressure from other enemies & their bulets too. Took me quite a few tries with state saves to get up to the entrance of the ice cave. So oh boy, you've got quite the challenge here. Have fun.

[Sinful]

Got the MD NTSCJ proc Jr clear.

Lost a life near the end of the second to last zone, managed to take the boss without a shield. Brute forced the final boss losing another two lives in the process.

Great shooter, one of the best on MD now I've devoted some hours to it. The 1LC shouldn't be too difficult from here.

Oh hey, I've been meaning to ask you. You in the mood to still play Darius II for the MegaDrive, but on a higher difficulty level to see how much harder they are and how much longer it'll take you to 1cc? But only if you're still in the mood, if not, I'll wait for when you are. It's never good to be forced. Heck, I'll even take a few tries + how far you've made it? Any ship. Plus remember, Hard gets somewhat harder, but Very Hard really starts getting harder at the midway point as you powerup more forcing rank to skyrocket to insane blast processing speeds from what I've tried (Tait Young up till stage 4 when I started deing like crazy. But I still need to 1cc the game on Normal as of yet. Want to do it with default ship first too. I'll save Tait Young for maybe the hardest? Though I've messed around with that ship enough too as is). I basically want to know if the hardest difficulty might be enough for someone who wants a lot more challenge? Since this series lack extra loops, hardest difficulty should come close for the dedicated gamer.

Anyway, glad your enjoying this game a lot too. Seems like a hidden gem to me too so far, cause everywhere I've read about this game folks only say it's "Meh, it's ok. It's no R-Type, though. Duh." Kinda lame saying from a "Hey, what's a schmup?" Type of gamer, usually. lol.

[stryc9]

Oh hey, I've been meaning to ask you. You in the mood to still play Darius II for the MegaDrive, but on a higher difficulty level to see how much harder they are and how much longer it'll take you to 1cc?

I was planning on giving it a few runs on the higher difficulties if I'm not too busy this coming week, hopefully. I really wanted to get the 1LC on normal but now I keep getting shut down... I'll post back here with how I go, trying Hard first, maybe with Tiat Young since I gave myself brain damage over the weekend

But only if you're still in the mood, if not, I'll wait for when you are.

I've heard this line somewhere before. Just can't put my finger on where

Heck, I'll even take a few tries + how far you've made it? Any ship. Plus remember, Hard gets somewhat harder, but Very Hard really starts getting harder at the midway point as you powerup more forcing rank to skyrocket to insane blast processing speeds from what I've tried (Tait Young up till stage 4 when I started deing like crazy. But I still need to 1cc the game on Normal as of yet. Want to do it with default ship first too. I'll save Tait Young for maybe the hardest? Though I've messed around with that ship enough too as is). I basically want to know if the hardest difficulty might be enough for someone who wants a lot more challenge? Since this series lack extra loops, hardest difficulty should come close for the dedicated gamer.

I was surprised at this game. On defaults Thunder Force III and MUSHA Aleste put up more of fight, and they are the two MD shmups that always take shit for being too easy. You'll get the clear of this before you know it dude. Just remember it's not a good idea to die at the later bosses, level recovery seems easier on that front.

Anyway, glad your enjoying this game a lot too. Seems like a hidden gem to me too so far, cause everywhere I've read about this game folks only say it's "Meh, it's ok. It's no R-Type, though. Duh." Kinda lame saying from a "Hey, what's a schmup?" Type of gamer, usually. lol.

Typical casual response from casuals. Maybe R-Type is better, maybe it isn't. These people generally wouldn't know.

The game doesn't do anything remarkable as such, it just does what it sets out to do really well as it were. The control is butter smooth and the firepower is satisfying to use. I also rate the music highly. It's strange, coming form Zuntata, that's a given, but the way it blends with the action is unlike many other MD shooters.

[stryc9]

Double Post! Cleared Hard with Tiat Young, final score 4269450. A-C-E-I-M-S-Y was the route used.

No-missed up to Red Crab, unfortunately the preceding stage took it's toll on my gold shield and I went into the fight without it. A stupid death on his first form robbed me of my shot power and I lost another couple of lives trying to acclimatise to the faster bullet spray of his final form. Entered Zone Y with 6 lives in stock and lost another three in a horrible showcase of reactive skills to finally clear the game.

My consistency suffered in the latter half of the run, compounded by the fact that the game more or less stops fucking around in the last two zones. Speaking of which, I have no idea really what route is what - I know I don't like fighting Ledain, despite burying him in this run. Prize for most dangerous normal enemy I think goes to those little surface to air missile launchers on the ground, they seem to take me by surprise if I'm busy dealing with other stuff at the same instant.

I suspect Hard will be tricky with Proco, depending on exactly where I lose my shot power, and as for Very Hard, I can only imagine what the final zones are like on that.

[ACSeraph]

So seriously I think stage V in the Saturn version is impossible to no-miss because of the satellite glitch. Somebody please prove me wrong. Seriously fuck that shitty broken porting. I think I will have to take a Yamato course in order to clear this version, and I hate that douchebag.

Satellite glitch?

Are you talking about those ground-based enemies (the yellowish satellite dishes)? The ones that fire constantly leaving no room to get through?

If so, yes, those have ruined MANY a run for me.

Yeah those assholes. They are broken in the Saturn version, their lasers hit and kill you even when they don't actually connect, ruining the stage and rendering the proper arcade strategy against then useless.

Your best bet is near the top of the screen. Get somewhat close but not too close cause of the massive hitbox you're all too aware off, lol. Anywho, keep tapping back so you stay in that position. But as you keep tapping back, you're also whipping your missiles more forward too. But I also think you screen lazer angle is good enough to be hitting too, maybe? But either way, it's still not that easy as you've got pressure from other enemies & their bulets too. Took me quite a few tries with state saves to get up to the entrance of the ice cave. So oh boy, you've got quite the challenge here. Have fun.

I appreciate you attempting to figure it out. I've tried your strat countless times (it's really just a variation of the proper MAME strategy) but I can't get any consistency out of it. It almost seems random, sometimes I get through without taking damage, sometimes I take damage without every getting hit. It's really disgustingly broken, enough so that I would warn people away from the Saturn port.

I did finally discover a relatively consistent counter-strategy, but it requires perfect memorization and makes the stage infinitely harder than it was originally intended to be, so I would no longer recommend taking V for anyone looking to clear the Saturn version. basically what you do is ride the very far right edge of the screen, which will cause you to pass over the satellites before they begin firing. Problem here is that there are IIRC 5 different points in the stage where you have to do this, and all of them have popcorn waves coming from the right and firing at you, giving you virtually no room or time to dodge. It's clearly not the strategy intended by the stage designer, but it's the only one that will semi-consistently work (assuming you position yourself perfectly every fuckin' time and manage to micro-dodge all the random popcorn fire which is unlikely).

Fuck whoever programmed this port seriously. There's no way it could have possibly been tested given how obviously broken it is. The verdict is for Saturn survival runs you should avoid stage V like the plague.

Double Post! Cleared Hard with Tiat Young, final score 4269450.

Congrats on your clears! I kinda wish I had access to the MD version just so I could relax and enjoy this game with wanting to light my Sega Saturn on fire.

[stryc9]

I'm guessing Very Hard MD is the equivalent of the arcade difficulty, or maybe not even by the sounds of it. So the Saturn version is more difficult than the arcade on account of broken level sections is it? That's not good at all