Where the Darius Love at?

[Steven]

Cool, thanks. I was very surprised to see that this game has internal auto. I've actually been playing Darius Old over the last few days, and when I went to Mikado to do the Kyuukyoku Tiger stream I played Darius Old and got relatively close to getting a clear on the upper path, as I game overed at P, so I'll probably do Darius Old first and then do Gaiden. It's really fun to play Darius on the triple screen cabinet monstrosity.

[DEL]

^I also remember playing the original white Darius cab in London's Soho arcade back in 1986.
Subsequent cabs were different.
Anyway, as per the title of this thread, the Darius love is still here. I've been playing DariuBurst EX+ for the last 2 years+.
Currently have 361 Records on the Switch Chronicle Mode. I do have a Hell a lot of trouble beating RXG though .

[Lemnear]

There are really graphical improvements and/or differences in ACEX+ compared to CS ? Excluding the Event Mode.

[John4300]

There are really graphical improvements and/or differences in ACEX+ compared to CS ? Excluding the Event Mode.

- Event mode with few extra stages and music
- Gamepad vibration support emulating the original cabinet's vibration
- "Ghost Score" where a selected score (World top or your top only) score is updated under your own score
- Extra ship (Which is available on single screen mode on CS)

I don't think there are graphical differences and no dual screen mode.

I've said it before, but I would just recommend getting CS on PC, especially since it is -70% right now. You get dual screen mode which is better than what ACEX+ has to offer.

[Lemnear]

There are really graphical improvements and/or differences in ACEX+ compared to CS ? Excluding the Event Mode.

- Event mode with few extra stages and music
- Gamepad vibration support emulating the original cabinet's vibration
- "Ghost Score" where a selected score (World top or your top only) score is updated under your own score
- Extra ship (Which is available on single screen mode on CS)

I don't think there are graphical differences and no dual screen mode.

I've said it before, but I would just recommend getting CS on PC, especially since it is -70% right now. You get dual screen mode which is better than what ACEX+ has to offer.

I have CS for PS4 for only 17,99€ (including the beatiful Darius Odyssey artbook)
now i want to ear the new musics T__T

[Samildanach]

There are really graphical improvements and/or differences in ACEX+ compared to CS ? Excluding the Event Mode.

- Event mode with few extra stages and music
- Gamepad vibration support emulating the original cabinet's vibration
- "Ghost Score" where a selected score (World top or your top only) score is updated under your own score
- Extra ship (Which is available on single screen mode on CS)

I don't think there are graphical differences and no dual screen mode.

I've said it before, but I would just recommend getting CS on PC, especially since it is -70% right now. You get dual screen mode which is better than what ACEX+ has to offer.

I have CS for PS4 for only 17,99€ (including the beatiful Darius Odyssey artbook)
now i want to ear the new musics T__T

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7 ... 4ds9H2RGbY

Tracks 4 to 10 (inclusive) are the new ones, found in the new events stages I believe.

[Klatrymadon]

Just saw that MD Darius Extra Version (the Hidecade port) is now on the Japanese PSN store for 660 yen. This is great news, although I can't personally enjoy this incredible bargain - I already paid a private seller through the nose for a download code when it was Amazon-exclusive nonsense...

[BIL]

Just saw that MD Darius Extra Version (the Hidecade port) is now on the Japanese PSN store for 660 yen. This is great news, although I can't personally enjoy this incredible bargain - I already paid a private seller through the nose for a download code when it was Amazon-exclusive nonsense...

Sha-weeeet! I got the physical but left all my stuff in storage before crossing the pond to Danger Town on the corner of RumpyPumpy BLVD, so I'm yet to try it out. Thanks for the heads-up, that's an easy pickup!

[Klatrymadon]

Yeah deffo! I have the Columbus Circle cart too but this version is definitely a lot more convenient for practicing and sharing videos, which I hope to get around to soon!

[pablumatic]

Just saw that MD Darius Extra Version (the Hidecade port) is now on the Japanese PSN store for 660 yen. This is great news, although I can't personally enjoy this incredible bargain - I already paid a private seller through the nose for a download code when it was Amazon-exclusive nonsense...

I'm going to guess this particular version won't be coming to the US PSN store, correct? I have a Japanese PSN account, but always prefer to keep things in my primary US one if possible.

[jpd66]

Is the MD Darius Extra version pretty similar to PC Engine Darius Plus? I’ve played a little of the latter on the Darius Cozmic Console collection and enjoy it. Just watched some playthrough footage of MD Extra, and they appear to be very similar. Maybe the playfield and graphics are slightly different? For anyone who has experience with both, what are the differences between the two, gameplay-wise, presentationally, or otherwise?

[CRP]

Darius Extra MD, also up on jp switch store
https://store-jp.nintendo.com/list/soft ... 33839.html

[Steven]

Is this for one of the collections or is this a standalone thing? I kind of want to get this on Switch because Japanese MD carts don't fit in the Nomad without modifying the cart slot, but I don't have any of the Darius collections on consoles.

Is the MD Darius Extra version pretty similar to PC Engine Darius Plus? I’ve played a little of the latter on the Darius Cozmic Console collection and enjoy it. Just watched some playthrough footage of MD Extra, and they appear to be very similar. Maybe the playfield and graphics are slightly different? For anyone who has experience with both, what are the differences between the two, gameplay-wise, presentationally, or otherwise?

Not only is it way better than the PC Engine version, it's arguably better than the arcade version and possibly the best version of the game in general.

[jpd66]

[/quote]
Not only is it way better than the PC Engine version, it's arguably better than the arcade version and possibly the best version of the game in general.
[/quote]

Oh, cool! You mind elaborating a bit on what makes it so good compared to the other versions? I take your word for it, just curious.

[Steven]

Well, it doesn't scroll vertically, which automatically makes it better than the PC Engine version lol.

Aside from that, it has Old, New, and Special versions, boss rush modes for Old, New, and Special, it lets you choose between arcade copy & paste bosses or the 26 boss mode, it sounds almost exactly like the PCB, doesn't have the awkward gameplay that results from the arcade triple screen presentation, has separate customizable autofire rates for both ABC and XYZ, and probably some more stuff. Pretty sure it's also not as zoomed-in as Super Darius and Darius Plus, so it feels much better to play. It's awesome. Doesn't save your high scores like the Mega Drive Mini version does, unfortunately.

[Angry Hina]

For me its at the moment as well better as the arcade version but thats especially because its not that hard, which is good for getting into the game/practicing for the arcade version.

It would be great if you could turn the volume for the firing sounds down so that you can hear the outstanding soundtrack better.

[Steven]

It would be great if you could turn the volume for the firing sounds down so that you can hear the outstanding soundtrack better.

It's one of many games that I wish had this feature.

*proceeds to be sad because Vimana has even worse sound balance than Darius does*

[jpd66]

Well, this seems like a no-brainer for the super low price. Definitely gonna grab this at some point. So far, I’ve enjoyed nearly every Darius game that I’ve tried.

[Sengoku Strider]

it's arguably better than the arcade version and possibly the best version of the game in general.

Co-sign...though I haven't played the PC Engine version, and that system is my happy place. Not having 3 screens seems to mean the first stage of the MD version chews up and spits out a lot of new players, there was a thread here that had a graveyard of people declaring it too hard and throwing in the towel. But once you get used to memorizing the waves the game's a great time, and the additional bosses make it objectively better than the arcade, which it otherwise replicates flawlessly. It's really impressive.

[Samildanach]

it's arguably better than the arcade version and possibly the best version of the game in general.

Co-sign...though I haven't played the PC Engine version, and that system is my happy place. Not having 3 screens seems to mean the first stage of the MD version chews up and spits out a lot of new players, there was a thread here that had a graveyard of people declaring it too hard and throwing in the towel. But once you get used to memorizing the waves the game's a great time, and the additional bosses make it objectively better than the arcade, which it otherwise replicates flawlessly. It's really impressive.

I'll third that. The MD version is just so fast paced and perfectly formed compared to the drawn out, turgid pace of the PC Engine versions.

[cfx]

There's a video of the game here for anyone who'd like to see it.

Motion has a weird jerkiness to it which I find nauseating, but maybe that's just the video? I have the same reaction I have to nearly any single-screen Darius that isn't Darius Gaiden--it feels claustrophobic with everything on scrren too huge.

[BIL]

Motion has a weird jerkiness to it which I find nauseating, but maybe that's just the video? I have the same reaction I have to nearly any single-screen Darius that isn't Darius Gaiden--it feels claustrophobic with everything on scrren too huge.

Definitely the video/Youtube; played for the first time just now on PS4, it's an immaculately smooth 60hz, just like M2's emulation of MD Darius II.

Surprised to hear the first stage beat people here up that badly, but it most definitely is fast-paced; takes off like a rocket. So tired I almost ate shit at the zone select wall; I play OG Darius so rarely, I always forget it's a physical junction, not a nice safe menu like the later games.

[Sengoku Strider]

Motion has a weird jerkiness to it which I find nauseating, but maybe that's just the video? I have the same reaction I have to nearly any single-screen Darius that isn't Darius Gaiden--it feels claustrophobic with everything on scrren too huge.

Definitely the video/Youtube; played for the first time just now on PS4, it's an immaculately smooth 60hz, just like M2's emulation of MD Darius II.

Surprised to hear the first stage beat people here up that badly, but it most definitely is fast-paced; takes off like a rocket. So tired I almost ate shit at the zone select wall; I play OG Darius so rarely, I always forget it's a physical junction, not a nice safe menu like the later games.

I'd suspect there's a lot of overlap between people getting mangled by the first stage and players who don't know that point-blanking enemies as they appear is a pillar of good shmup play. Because that's pretty much what you have to do to survive.

it feels claustrophobic with everything on scrren too huge.

The flip side is that the arcade has a 3-shot limit, meaning that if you miss you need to wait for it to travel the entire distance of those 3 screens if you miss while at the back of the playfield. The single screen becomes an advantage that way.

[BIL]

Surprised to hear the first stage beat people here up that badly, but it most definitely is fast-paced; takes off like a rocket. So tired I almost ate shit at the zone select wall; I play OG Darius so rarely, I always forget it's a physical junction, not a nice safe menu like the later games.

I'd suspect there's a lot of overlap between people getting mangled by the first stage and players who don't know that point-blanking enemies as they appear is a pillar of good shmup play. Because that's pretty much what you have to do to survive.

Having slept on it, I can't believe I didn't see the resemblance to MD Kyuukyoku Tiger. Faithful translation to an inevitably transformative crop. Stuff that would be sniped at comfortable distance is now encountered at close range, often with supports in tow. Werewolfs an amiable st1 into a noob-slapping st3 whose aggression might catch even adepts napping.

That's fuckin rad ofc Darius's st1 is much less innately harrowing than KT's and its checkpoints, total lack of shield, and authentically venomous Fast Aimed Shots™.

Gave it a few more zones this morning, this is absolutely killer. What a lovely surprise to see it pop up out of nowhere, let alone for next to nothing! As Klatrymadon says, even if you've got the cart, this is easily worth doubling up on for its ShotTriggers accoutrements.

Beautiful.

[Randorama]

Does anyone have a list of all possible routes in the arcade Darius games?

I would like to clear each game in the series by choosing each possible route for each final stage. For instance, in the first three chapters the route to the topmost final stage is (up*6 times), the route to the second final stage from the top is (down *1 times)+(up*5 times), and since a player can choose after stages 1 to 6, there are 6 possible sequences as variants.

I wanted to know if anyone plotted all the possible routes; I wanted to double-check that my own plots were correct.

...and yes, 37 years later I realised that I still deeply love this series (...the arcade titles, to be honest), and it is time to explore every nook and cranny of the games before moving to the third millennium incarnations. Thanks in advance for any reply, lads.

[Klatrymadon]

Oh wow, this is a great question. I've cleared the original Darius via every final zone, making sure to hit all of the other zones at least once, but clearing every possible combination is a much bigger task. Just quickly glancing at this zone map, though, it's clear zone X in the middle has the largest pool of potential zones/routes, so I can't lazily apply your 6 total sequences to V, W, X, Y and lower Z. I'll have to come back to this later when I'm more awake!

[Randorama]

Klatrymadon: For zone X, you need to choose down three times and up three times in any combination.

I intuitively think that the number is given by the factorial function, since a player can choose three times either up or down out of six possible choices. So, if the factorial function is:

(1) n!/(n-r)! (With n=number of times the players choose a stage/route after a boss, r=the number of times the players can choose one direction to reach the target final stage)

Then the number of choices for X would be:

(2) 6!/(6-3)!=
6!/3!=
(6*5*4*3*2*1)/(3*2*1)=
6*5*4=120

...and I am getting this impression that 120 choices is somehow too many.

However, the formula seems to be fine for the "outer" zones (topmost, bottommost), and the "first inner" zones (second ones from the extremes). Just in case, we have the formula for the outer zones in (3), and the one for the "first inner" in (4):

(3) 6!/(6-0)!= (i.e. players can choose zero times: it's either "all up" or "all down" for these routes).
6!/6!=1

(4) 6/(6-1)!=
6!/5!=
(6*5*4*3*2*1)/(5*4*3*2*1)=
6

That is, we get 6 possible routes to reach these two final stages. With two possible choices (second from top, second from bottom), we have 6+6=12 routes. Ad 1+1 choices for the other routes, and we are at 12+1+1=14 routes.

The "second inner" zones require quite a bit of extra work, as (5) shows, because players can choose either "up" or "down" twice:

(5) 6!(6-2)!=
6!/4!=
(6*5*4*3*2*1)/(4*3*2*1)=
6*5=30

We can 30+30=60 possible routes (i.e. 30 for the second stage from the top, 30 for the second stage from the bottom). The grand total would be something like the column in (6):

(6) 1 (routes for top final stage)+
6 (routes for first from top final stage)+
30 (routes for second from top final stage)+
120 (routes for mid-final stage)+
30 (routes for second from bottom final stage)+
6 (routes for first from bottom final stage)+
1 (routes for bottom final stage)=
194 possible routes to clear

...Now, combinatorics is a branch of mathematics I have not touched since high school, so I am perfectly fine if someone can correct my assumptions and tell me how to get to the right number...and keep track of all the possible routes that I can follow.

The intriguing bit is that the formula would work for Darius, Darius and Darius Gaiden. Since in G-Darius players must also choose the second halves of each stage (but there are "only" five stages), things should get even more interesting, shouldn't they?

...And I am setting aside the Extra versions, for the the time being

[XoPachi]

Oh my god, I've never heard the Super Darius 2 PCE music. What a treasure!

[gradiusscrub69]

G-Fish HD keeps kicking my ass I'm tired of Taito bullying me fish bros. The giant flying lobster in space boss that flies all over the screen and does bullet hell style patterns nukes me every time and I lose my alpha beam

[copy-paster]

G-Fish HD keeps kicking my ass I'm tired of Taito bullying me fish bros. The giant flying lobster in space boss that flies all over the screen and does bullet hell style patterns nukes me every time and I lose my alpha beam

Pretty sure that bullet hell patterns also comes with massive slowdown too (if you don't turn the reduction on), but yeah even on the "Easiest" route it still needs some learning on the bosses and figuring the potential of capture balls for beam counter/lasering enemies. You can use training mode built-in or use savestates to learn the game, not to mention the game will autosave between zone selection, area selection and before boss fight everytime it's neat.