Darius Force/Super Nova...

[Accutron]

Well gee Accutron, you keep spitefully saying that I don't know how to play the game, over and over and OVER again, therefore you are the one that is trying to turn this into some little nerd fight or something, then when I say in my defense that I have beat the game a few times you say I'm "bragging"...okay, I'm not falling for your little nerd argument traps. I see people like you all over the internet...get a life, don't try and drag me into some stupid little nerd argument I don't want to get into. I've got more important things to do with my time. I've stated many reasons why I don't like G-Darius, and that's just my opinion. If you don't like it, then that's fine, but don't try and drag me into some little nerd argument just because you don't like my opinion about the game.

I think the music in the previous Darius games was the MOST notable point about them, not the only one. I think they also had solid gameplay, innovative features and level design, and cool bosses, among everything else.

Then why are you bragging about completions when it has absolutely no relevance to the discussion?

Why do you keep putting me down and saying I don't know how to play the game and trying to provoke me into a nerd fight, when you have something better to do in real life. Maybe you don't...

...

Spiteful? Put you down? What the fuck?

Dude, I'm not trying to provoke you. I never said you didn't know how to play; you suggested it, indirectly. Three times. I haven't put you down a single time, whatsoever. I never criticized your skills, merely questioned the depth of your knowledge based on statements you made. It takes more skill to beat the bosses the slow way than it does if you use the beta beam, so if anything I was assuming you were pretty fucking good to survive those bosses for that long.

You expressed your opinions on G Darius. I expressed mine, and pointed out why your opinions might be based on bad information. You got all weird and personal. I elaborated on my initial comments. You got more personal. Now you're tired of supporting your opinions so you neatly box up everything I said as 'nerd argument', and right at the end you even manage to squeeze in a backhanded insult. Now who exactly is being spiteful?

[tehkao]

Wow, I've never seen anyone get this worked up over Darius anything before.

Nice to see people express some passion for an underdog shmup series.

[Guest]

You expressed your opinions on G Darius. I expressed mine, and pointed out why your opinions might be based on bad information. You got all weird and personal.

Stance A, Accutron is Mr. innocent nice guy. Let's rewind a little, shall we?

If the boss battles in G Darius are lasting you a half hour, then you don't know how to play properly.

You've iterated three times that G Darius has half hour long boss battles. What exactly about that suggests that you know how to play?

That is a blatent self-contradiction. All of my statements were factual or subjective, and based on the game, I posted no personal attacks, until you came along. You are the one who cast the first stone in terms of personal insults, by saying I didn't know how to play the game right. There you have it, playing Mr. innocent, yet, I have just posted two examples of you posting sarcastic, spiteful comments in an attempt to provoke me into an argument.

I've seen your kind before. You won't come out and insult me directly, but you will pick apart every last thing I say, continue to post spiteful and sarcastic remarks to try and piss me off to the point where I do or say something stupid to make myself look bad, then you will use that and turn around and try and act like I was trying to start a fight with you.

However, I'm not falling for your little trap. I'm immune. Go start your little nerd flame war with somebody else. I am here to have intelligent conversation about games I like(and dislike). I'm not here to get provoked into a stupid little fight about nothing at all by some kid. If you are unable to carry out a conversation without posting your continuous spiteful and inflammatory messages designed to piss me off, then I don't want to talk to you. From this point forward I will ignore your comments, as obviously your only intention is to piss me off.

[Accutron]

If the boss battles in G Darius are lasting you a half hour, then you don't know how to play properly.

You've iterated three times that G Darius has half hour long boss battles. What exactly about that suggests that you know how to play?

I have just posted two examples of you posting sarcastic, spiteful comments in an attempt to provoke me into an argument.

Neither of those comments were sarcastic or spiteful. In fact, both were quite objective. I suggest you look up the definitions of 'sarcastic' and 'spiteful'. Really.

You won't come out and insult me directly

Of course not! I was never out to insult anybody.

I'm not here to get provoked into a stupid little fight about nothing at all by some kid.

That's just fucking hilarious. I've been married for 10 years, have a 2 year old son and a second one on the way. A kid I am not.

Once again, I was not trying to provoke you. I really, really wasn't. If I were however, it would seem I have succeeded admirably, considering how off kilter you are over this whole thing.

[Guest]

Here's the real story on Darius III, in case anybody is interested...

If this story is true, then neither Darius Twin or Darius Gaiden was ever really supposed to be the original Darius III.

According to several sources, Taito had a demo of an incomplete arcade game, which was supposedly going to be Darius III. However, for one reason or another, they decided to change their mind and finish up the game and release the game under a different name, Metal Black.

I downloaded the Rom and played it on Mame, and it's actually a pretty good game. It does have some striking similarities to the Darius games, as in, there is a big boss at the end of every level, preceded by a warning siren, there are mini bosses, and the attack patterns of the enemies seem eerily familiar. Also, the bosses progressively turn red until they are destroyed, just like in Darius 2. The whole game has a Darius feel to it. It's as if they made a Darius game, and then De-Darius-ified it.

The power-up system is somewhat unique, as rather than collecting red/blue/green/yellow orbs, you mostly go around and collect these molecule type things, which charge up a bar at the bottom of the screen. When you press the B button, it released all your charged up energy, and wow, what a blast you get! On the higher levels, the explosion is remarkably similar to the nova bomb explosion in Darius Gaiden.

Another obvious difference is that there is no branching level system, although you do get this cool bonus round in between stages.

Sadly, the game was never ported to any home console. Ah well, maybe if Taito ever makes a "Taito arcade classics" this will be one of the included games. It is actually quite fun. I recommend anybody here download this game and try it out.

[tehkao]

It was ported to the Saturn if I'm not mistaken....

[Ganelon]

Yes, and it was given a Satacore release as well. I frankly don't think of the game as anything amazing, except perhaps the ridiculous story and bizarre stages.

I've heard that rumor before but whether or not it was originally called Darius III, I don't know. I mean, I have proof on my hands that Darius Gaiden was originally publicly given Darius III and was to be released as such. A prototype cart of Darius III definitely exists somewhere. Until somebody finds an old Darius III development copy that refers to something that's not Gaiden, I'm still sticking with the only thing that's been shown to be the truth.

And even if Metal Black or Darius Twin were shown to also be Darius III, they're still not as much so as Gaiden was, which had already been exhibited to the public as Darius III, which neither of the other games satisfy.

[Guest]

Hmmm...the rumor apparently stems from the idea that in one version of Darius 2, when you beat the game, in the end credits it says something like "Look for Darius III: Metal Black coming soon!" I haven't ever seen this message, so I'm not sure which version it occurs in.

Ganelon...I'm curious, do you have any pictures of an early Darius Gaiden machine with a Darius III logo on it? I'd certainly like to see that.

Evidently, tehkao is right, as Metal Black was released twice on Saturn in Japan...once as an original release, and another time is one of those "Sega collection"(Is that what you mean by Satacore?) packages.

[BrianC]

Maybe Taito is just as confused about the names. Both Parasol Stars and Bubble Memories were called Bubble Bobble 3. The name conventions for some other Bubble Bobble games are just as confusing.

[Guest]

Upon further researching the game, this keeps getting more and more interesting! Now I also have read that the game was supposed to be the sequel to Gun Frontier, and I even read somewhere that the game is somehow related to the game Border Down, for Arcade/Dreamcast.

Of course, nothing about Taito's naming conventions suprises me at this point.

If this game was indeed originally supposed to be Darius III, then how I would kill to play those early beta versions!

[Ganelon]

Hmm, yeah, I don't recall ever seeing that message either in Darius II.

Metal Black is the sequel to Gun Frontier (at least development-team-wise rather than story or gameplay-wise). In fact, in the credits, the game is referred to as Project Gun Frontier 2 and many people of the same people worked on both games.

As found in Randorama's ST, a few guys from Border Down worked on Metal Black.

And yes, Satacore stands for Saturn Collection (the SS's budget line with the distinctive red/white label and the Satakore kana). How Metal Black sold well enough or was popular enough to get on it, I have no clue.

Unfortunately, I don't have images of a Darius III machine. In fact, there might not actually be one. I know for certain though that he game made an appearance as Darius III at the AMOA Show in 1994. I have at least 1 magazine (EGM, Gamepro, or both) somewhere that show both the Darius III logo and screen shots. However, they don't mention whether the game was shown in playable cab form or just a demo movie but either way, an original production board has to exist for them to have showed it as Darius III. I can try to find that article and scan it if you're interested.

However, IIRC, the screens looked practically identical to those same areas in Gaiden so the beta might not be such an amazing play.

[Guest]

I can try to find that article and scan it if you're interested.

Yes, in fact I would be rather interested in seeing those scans.

Wow...what a shroud of mystery surrounds this neat little game. I want the Saturn version now!

Let's see...I could go through the bother of trying to beat Darius 2(Sagaia) on MAME, Genesis, SMS, and Game Boy, to see if that strange message actually exists or not, though that would take a while. I do recall beating Darius 2 on MAME once and I don't recall seeing that message either, however, there's at least 3 different versions of the arcade game alone. Thank goodness for the save state feature

[Ganelon]

Sure, I'll post it here when I get back home this Friday or the next.