This guide is a compilation of the notes I took during my efforts to 1cc Darius II. The goal of this guide is to assist new players in securing their first 1cc in this very difficult game. As such it will not feature scoring tips. I will not be giving a word by word guide of everything you face in the game, rather I will focus on points that I personally found tricky and how to deal with them. Currently it only covers one course, but more stage survival strategies may be added in the future.
This guide is primarily based on the 2-screen PCB. However I also spent a lot of time practicing in the Saturn version. Though very similar, these versions are not identical and occasionally require a different approach. I will try to make notes on the differences where applicable.
If you wish to use any part of this guide on another website please PM me first and credit me as the author. This guide is made free to all potential Silverhawk pilots and may not be sold.
Finally, suggestions, corrections, and discussion are very welcome, feel free to post anything you want in this thread.
Part One: Darius II System Guide
I will be playing on MAME Darius II 2 screen Japan Rev. 2. I suggest using MAME’s default auto-fire rate as anything higher will make crowd control difficult due to the shot limit. All settings are on default; easy mode is for suckers.
General Information:
The game features two buttons: shot and bomb. The bombs work like the missiles in Gradius and are unlimited. After collecting your first gold powerup you will also have lasers at your disposal which fire along with the main shot.
There are also screen clearing bombs scattered throughout the stage that are activated by shooting their expose cores. I will refer to them as nukes from now on to avoid confusion. The blast shields on the cores open and close so you must use good timing and precision to activate them, but their effects are often devastating.
Spoiler Alert: Proco dies of cancer at the end
Through the course of the game you will encounter 5 different types of powerups along with 1-up medals that can be collected. They spawn when you kill a full set of gray UFO-looking enemies. Red medals upgrade your main shot, green upgrades your bombs, gold upgrades your lasers, and blue upgrades/refills your shield. Powerups are distributed in such a way that you gradually become more powerful throughout the course of the entire game. You won’t max out until the very very end.
This is very important, because infuriatingly if you get killed you lose all of your powerups. Because of the way they are distributed this means you are effectively crippled for the rest of the game, and generally your run is ruined. After you die there is a possibility that the fifth powerup will show up. It looks like a glowing orb and will give you ship multiple upgrades at the same time in order to aid with recovery. However they are rare, and generally not helpful enough to save a run because the stages are clearly designed around the assumption that your ship has all of its powerups intact. Darius II is not a case of difficult recovery it is a case of impossible recovery, so it’s best to view this as a game where you only have a single life. The survival guide is written under the assumption you have all of your powerups intact; if you die you are on your own.
Scoring in Darius II appears to be fairly simplistic: kill stuff, get points. Enemies come in groups usually. If you kill every enemy in a group you get a score bonus. This, combined with following a high scoring course is the primary way to get big digits. There are score based extends, however as mentioned you are generally fucked once you die and lose your powerups so they aren’t important.
Weapons:
Main Shot
The amount of shots allowed on screen at one time is limited, so as you move farther backwards the gap between your shots will become much more pronounced and can get you killed. In order to kill enemies quickly it is best to stay at least as far forward as the center of the playfield as much as possible. Try to get in somewhat close to meaty enemies in order to deal damage quickly.
Stage 1: Pea shooter
Stage 2: Dual pea shooter
Stage 3: Uber pea shooter; same as stage 2, but with meatier more damaging shots
Stage 4: Spreadshot; stage 3 shot in the center, with a single stream of upward angled shots, and a single stream of downward
angled shots.
Stage 5: Increased spread; angled shots are now double streams
Stage 6: Power spread; same as stage 5 except the center stream is replaced with powerful, huge blue blasts
Bombs
The reach of your bombs can be increased by quickly moving your ship back and forth. Basically you are using the inertia of your ship’s movement to sling the bombs a little farther. This is very important for safely and quickly dealing with a lot of the ground based enemies in the game, so take advantage of it.
Stage 1: Single; down-forward angled bomb
Stage 2: Double; down-forward and down-backward angled bombs
Stage 3: Double +; bigger and I assume more damaging
Stage 4: Sliding; double bombs that slide forward until they hit an obstacle
Stage 5: Rolling; double bombs that roll forward and over obstacles
Stage 6: Rolling +; rolling bombs plus dual vertical bombs
Lasers
Effectively utilizing your lasers is one of the biggest keys to surviving the stages in Darius II. Use their angle to help deal with enemies not directly in your line of fire, such as ground and ceiling based enemies. The lasers also pierce the landscape allowing you to kill otherwise protected enemies.
Stage 1: Vertical; double lasers shooting up and down at a right angle
Stage 2: Angled; double lasers angled up-forward and down-forward
Stage 3: Quad; four lasers angled up-forward, down-forward, up-back, and down-back
Stage 4: Multi; combination of quad and vertical lasers
Shields
As you collect more shields the color changes, however I'm not sure what difference, if any, there is between them. A fresh shield can take 3 hits regardless of the color. When you pick up a shield power up it will either power your shield up to 3 hits, OR it will stack. So for example, if your current shield has one or two hits left, picking up an icon will power it back to 3 hits. But if it's already 3 or more a new shield adds 1 hit to the stack. There doesn't appear to be a limit to how many hits can be stacked. Therefore, it is best to view the shields as a constant stream of extends rather than a refillable health bar (as it is in later games). If you get hit in stage one, you have effectively lost a life from the total pool of lives you have to complete the game; it isn't simply refilled as you pick up new powerups. Any hit you take in this game should be considered a major error.
Stage 1: Green
Stage 2: White
Stage 3: Gold
General Strategy:
The general strategy for survival play is fairly simple. Most of the time you can fire both your bombs and main shot constantly, although there are specific times where you may want to stop shooting one or the other or both. Your ‘neutral’ position should usually be around the center of the playfield. Darius II is definitely an offensive game, rather than a game that focuses on precision dodging. Your hit box is quite large, so you want to kill things quickly before you get overwhelmed with more bullets than your bulky ship can dodge. Especially try to quickly destroy mounted turrets as soon as you possibly can using your lasers and bombs to avoid difficult situations. Also take advantage of the landscape to shield yourself from incoming shots.
.
.
I've also gotten a lot better at the game over the years and use pretty different strategies now from what is detailed here.