Best Straight-to-Console Darius?

[louisg]

Besides Darius Burst, what do you think is the best home Darius game that doesn't have an arcade version? I played Darius Twin a long time ago and it seemed rather decent. Sagaia I've tried more recently-- It seemed a little like a let-down, but I didn't give it much of a chance (I guess I was expecting Darius II..). Any others? The PC Engine ones..?

[JGcontraman]

Never tried Burst, didn't care about it actually after trying G-Darius it became an unimportant desire. I'd go with Darius II or Darius Force, those are the best games in the series I've played so far. Darius Twin lacks difficulty in comparison but is alright. As far as TG16 games go, they may probably be better than II or Force. Then again, I just recently dled a TG16 emulator and have been on hiatus with it while trying to dl more SMS, Atari 7800, Sega CD, and NES games.

[Mortificator]

what do you think is the best home Darius game that doesn't have an arcade version?

I'd go with Darius II

Anyway, if you consider the PCE & Game Boy games as distinct from the first two arcade titles, Super Darius II is the clear winner. If you limit the question to the two games developed solely for console, Darius Twin and Darius Force... well, they're both mediocre, but if I had to play one I'd play Force.

[Plasmo]

Darius Force for SFC/SNES was quite an awesome console-only game. Great music (as usual), interesting bosses and a nice difficulty curve.

[Asherdude]

Hmmmm... I thought that Sagaia was a poor port of Darius II, the multi screen arcade game.

[Kollision]

Super Darius II on the PCE-CD is one of the most overrated games I've ever played.
It looks good from screenshots and such, but doesn't play nearly as good as Sagaia on the MD.

I can't really decide between Darius Twin and Darius Force/Super Nova. They're very different from each other, and while Twin is superior both graphically and musically, gameplay in Force is more varied, with better designed bosses.

[Slump]

I'll go for Darius Twin since thats the only Darius game I own however, for me there is no real winner as they are all kinda meh. The only Darius' I really cared for is Darius II and Darius Gaiden but both Darius Twin and Darius Force have their charm I suppose. I've probably played Darius Twin more than I should have, it's a nice break from Gradius III and Area 88 on the ol' super fami.

[JGcontraman]

Your just about on the ball but I don't understand why people like G-Darius since it is nerfed to the point you can't call it Darius anymore cause I always praised the difficulty and clever design mainly from Darius II. Darius Force comes close to the goodness of II out of all the ones I've played. The only difference is Force is probably up there being the hardest of the series, so the challenge holds up good expectations, thus why I find G-Darius to be a let down. Sure the graphics were fine, but what happened to that retro challenge? Also the design of the levels was more open than usual, kind of like Darius Twin but easier. Still Darius Twin is a relatively easy game. I'll get back to you when I try the PCE versions.

[louisg]

Hmm I thought Sagaia was supposed to be a remix, or an original game with nods to the arcade version. IIRC, stage 2 on that one is a tiled space station while in the arcade it's a planet surface. So what's the issue with Darius Twin? It looked pretty tight.. too easy?

Also, I looked up video of Super Darius II and.. jeez.. it's way too zoomed in!

[Slump]

Hmm I thought Sagaia was supposed to be a remix, or an original game with nods to the arcade version. IIRC, stage 2 on that one is a tiled space station while in the arcade it's a planet surface. So what's the issue with Darius Twin? It looked pretty tight.. too easy?

Also, I looked up video of Super Darius II and.. jeez.. it's way too zoomed in!

Yeah I probably watched the same video and thought the same thing . Seems cool and the music is great but having to scroll the screen upwards just to see the enemies on the top half of the level would be a bit much I'd think. Also, back to Darius Twin, I totally forgot about the fact that on the player selection screen it's just black with white text lol. I remember finding it a little weird to be presented with such a bland screen after watching the intro and neat start menu graphic. I mean really taito, can't even throw in a jpeg or fancy font .

[Kollision]

The only difference is [Darius] Force is probably up there being the hardest of the series, so the challenge holds up good expectations, thus why I find G-Darius to be a let down.

You mean hardest among console exclusive? Maybe.
I haven't given proper time to G Darius yet, but overall I think Darius Gaiden takes the cake as the hardest one, hands down. It's just evil hard...

[saucykobold]

Your just about on the ball but I don't understand why people like G-Darius since it is nerfed to the point you can't call it Darius anymore cause I always praised the difficulty and clever design mainly from Darius II.

I think you might be dismissing G-Darius too hastily. Try the version that comes with Taito Legends 2 for the PS2--the complete lack of slowdown makes for a much more challenging experience. Alternatively, you could create a disc image of the PS1 port, mount it in Daemon Tools or a similar program, and play it in an emulator.

Personally, I find that G-Darius (sans slowdown) is a fair bit harder than any of its console or arcade predecessors.

[BIL]

Isn't the original G-Darius PCB a lot faster than the PS1 port too? I've not played it recently enough to remember, but the arcade version ALL at superplays.co.uk seemed to blow away the sluggish PS1 port.

[Xexyz]

Since we're dismissing Burst, the only two console specific Darius games I ever knew of were Darius Twin and Super Nova. My vote goes to Super Nova. When compared to Twin, the graphics were a little underwhelming, and the music wasn't nearly as booming, but the game play and stage designs were above and beyond what Twin had to offer. It also offered a little challenge, unlike Twin which only gets mildly difficult with the whole mid-boss rush final stage.

[Austin]

Darius Force, easy. I enjoy Darius Twin, but in reality it is a mediocre shooter with extremely repetitive enemy patterns. Darius Force in it's own right isn't fantastic when sat next to later Darius Games, but it's a big step up from Twin and is nice to go back to.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Isn't the original G-Darius PCB a lot faster than the PS1 port too? I've not played it recently enough to remember, but the arcade version ALL at superplays.co.uk seemed to blow away the sluggish PS1 port.

Yes, the original Taito FX-1B powered G-Darius PCB is the definitive version to play/own as all the ending stories/staff credits/opening intro is presented in real time (and not in FMV format like with the PSX port of the same name). The G-Darius PCB does suffer from a bit of slowdown in certain areas but does go back to it's arcade spec 60fps framerate speed. Taito did manage to cram everything into a PSX 650MB+ single disc is nothing to sneeze at though-

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[JGcontraman]

Idk about G-Darius being the hardest, the first stage disappointed me so much to the point I didn't care, also the slow down was just overly shitty. Your telling me I should try the PS2 port and I'll have a better experience? Maybe slightly, but it sort of seems very similar to Darius Twin in a way, idk if its just me. But yea Darius Twin is quite easy in comparison to Force and II. Only challenge is lack of lives if you fuck up. Its a rather decent game though but if your looking for a time worthy shooter, just ignore the title in general. Its just a waste of time to those who are familiar with the series.

[Kollision]

Idk about G-Darius being the hardest, the first stage disappointed me so much to the point I didn't care

So you're saying you dismissed G Darius thinking it's easy because of the 1st stage alone?

[JGcontraman]

Not only that but the overly slow gameplay (that i've experienced anyway), and checking out videos and stuff on youtube wondering if its worth wasting my time with. I don't see the beauty of that game, it just seems like they nerfed it to me.

[Xexyz]

I don't encourage dismissing shmups because of an easy first stage. I mean, most shmups in general give you an easy warm up 1st stage that tends to get boring after awhile.

[saucykobold]

the slow down [in G-Darius] was just overly shitty

But see, the game isn't slow at all if you play a good version. I think videos would do a better job of demonstrating my point, so take a gander:

PS2 version
PS1 port via emulator

Like BIL mentioned, the original PCB is pretty fast. I think the PC version has a similar speed.

On-topic, I agree with Austin's post on the SNES exclusives. Darius Twin was one of the first shmups I played, so it does have some nostalgic value for me. Still, Force is undeniably the better game. Twin has generic levels, weak bosses, and a half-finished branching path structure. I still boot it up in ZSNES every so often, mainly for the music (love that last level track).

[JGcontraman]

Wow holy shit the PS2 version and PS1 version looks shitloads better and quite a bit more challenging. Interesting. I played the arcade version and it was dissappointing and slow as omega shits. Well I'll give it a try on the PS1 then.

[Paradigm]

So which is the best G-Darius port then?

I was always put off before because I'd heard the ports were all botched in some way, but watching those Youtube vids, the game looks awesome.

Anyway, why is G-Darius even being discussed in this thread?

[Limbrooke]

Wow holy shit the PS2 version and PS1 version looks shitloads better and quite a bit more challenging. Interesting. I played the arcade version and it was dissappointing and slow as omega shits. Well I'll give it a try on the PS1 then.

Just remember it is under emulation. On an actual PlayStation it does not run as fast. saucykobold's video reminds me G-Darius is most definitely not easy nor slow when taking on the likes of G.T. and Accordion Hazard.

So which is the best G-Darius port then?

I think consensus would be in favour of the PS2 release in terms of accuracy whereas PlayStation has boss rush as a bonus as the cost of being a little slower at times over original hardware.

As per this topic, there is (was) a copy of Super Nova (Darius Force) for $4 at a local store. It's probably worth the purchase given the upgrade over Twin.

[BIL]

Anyway, why is G-Darius even being discussed in this thread?

Falsely accused of being slow and mild when it is in fact difficult and very quick. Justice overrides topicality. ^_~ The misconception doesn't do prospective players any favours either. "LOL Gradius III is easy (on mah SNES)"

edit:

The G-Darius PCB does suffer from a bit of slowdown in certain areas but does go back to it's arcade spec 60fps framerate speed.

Cheers, PCEFX!

[sunburstbasser]

I like Super Darius II a lot. Having to scroll to see all the enemies because of the zoom is not something I really like, but I can live with it. Besides, pretty much every other PCE hori scrolls that way as well. It tends to go way too high on Ebay for what it is though, at most it isn't worth more than $30 or so. On easy mode, it lets you keep your powerups after death just like Darius Twin and it blows Twin out of the water in every way.

One thing I noticed about Twin is that after the first stage, you'll be destroying enemies so fast that there are NO enemy bullets. It's an OK game and it was one of the earliest shmups I really played so it has some nostalgia, but beyond that it's just too bland. If you go for this one, get the Japanese version. The treble in the music was really cranked up for all the other releases and it gets very annoying.

I really like Darius Force. I actually consider it to be superior to Twin in every regard-graphics, music, level design, enemies, you name it. I also like that it allowed a choice of three different Silver Hawks. The weaponry on the red one was very cool and I'd love to see it make a comeback. The levels that rotate around you are silly Mode 7 gimmicks, yet they work well.

[Kollision]

[about Darius Force] The weaponry on the red one was very cool and I'd love to see it make a comeback.

Same here. It seems the most awkward and weird, but it is the best weapon choice to play the game.

[Dragoforce]

The difficulty level (or lack of) has always been the main problem with the Darius series. The console games adds to this by being what console games always are compared to arcade games - easier. Since both Darius Twin and Burst are too easy to pose an intresting shmupping experience i would consider Force to be the best one. Simply based on the fact that you probably wont finish it on your first credit ever.

On a related note. If Randoramas old statement about Metal black being intially conceived as a Darius game it would be quite an intresting leap from the usual easy difficulty of the Darius series.

[MathU]

I don't know how anyone can call the first two Darius arcade games easy. If anything they're the hardest because of that extremely unforgiving power-up system.

[louisg]

Wow.. Super Darius 2 is really zoomed in! Doesnt that make it hard to play? I guess if I got a Darius 2, besides the genesis one, I'd grab the Saturn port (any widescreen support? )

Re Metal Black : I found that one not too difficult compared to Gaiden. I think Gaiden's unforgiving power up system is what does it.