Darius Gaiden

Darius Gaiden
Japanese arcade flyer
Developer(s)	Taito
Publisher(s)	Japan Taito (Arcade, PS, Saturn), Gamebank (Win), Cyberfront Corporation (Win), MediaKite (Win) North America Acclaim (Saturn), Interplay Value Products Division (Win) Europe Acclaim (Saturn), Conspiracy Entertainment (Win)
Platform(s)	Arcade, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Sega Saturn, Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	Arcade JP October 1994 Saturn JP 15 December 1995 NA 1996 EU 1996 PlayStation JP 20 December 1996 1999 PlayStation 2 JP 28 July 2005 JP 6 July 2005 (rerelease) Windows (PC) JP November 1997 (Gamebank) JP 19 November 1999 (CyberFront) JP 16 January 2004 (MediaKite) JP 5 March 2004 (MediaKite) NA 1999 EU 1999
Genre(s)	Horizontal Scrolling shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, 2 player Co-op

Darius Gaiden (ダライアス外伝, Daraiasu Gaiden^?) (planned to be released as Darius III^[1]) is a shoot'em up arcade game, developed and released by Taito in 1994. It is the third arcade installment of the Darius series.

Gameplay

Darius Gaiden is a two-dimensional shoot'em up. The player controls a space ship named the Silver Hawk and must guide it through scrolling stages, destroying enemies and avoiding obstacles along the way. The ship is armed with forward-firing missiles, aerial bombs and a protective force-field, all of which can be upgraded by various power-ups that are dropped by specially-colored enemies when they are destroyed by the player. New to the Silver Hawk's arsenal in Darius Gaiden is the 'black hole bomb.' When fired, the black hole bomb will create a large vortex in the center of the screen, which sucks in enemies and projectiles on the screen for a short moment, until it explodes into a powerful ball of lightning that inflicts massive damage onto every enemy on the screen.^[2][3]

The Silver Hawk faces the first boss.

Another feature introduced Darius Gaiden is the ability to capture minibosses, who appear in every stage. Each miniboss has a small, circular ball placed on them that, after receiving enough damage, will detach and float away, causing the miniboss to turn idle. If the player collects the ball, the miniboss will follow and aid the player. After a brief period of time, or the player loses a life, the miniboss will explode.^[2]

Story

Shortly after the events of the first Darius, protagonists Proco and Tiat help refugees from the planet Darius flee from the destruction caused by the Belser Army. They eventually find and set up a temporary colony on a planet named Vadis.^[4] Suddenly, Belser rises again and launches a surprise attack on a spaceport on Darius, which was being used to help ferry the remaining Darians to Vadis.^[5] The remaining refugees are killed, and Belser sets course for Vadis. A fleet of Silver Hawks are sent to fend off Belser, but are easily annihilated.^[6] Once again, Proco and Tiat are given no choice but to fight off Belser once more.

Ports

Darius Gaiden was ported to the Sega Saturn in 1995, and to Microsoft Windows^[7] and PlayStation in 1999. The Saturn and PC versions were released in North America by Acclaim and Interplay^[7], respectively.

Notes

1. ^ "Taito Cybercore System". arcadeflyers.com. http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=5665&image=1. Retrieved 11 January 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Dollins, Josh (September 2, 2007). "Antiquated Reviews: Darius Gaiden". Defunct Games. http://www.defunctgames.com/shows.php?id=review-924. Retrieved January 13, 2011. 
3. ^ "Darius Gaiden - The Dawn of a New Battle". arcadeflyers.com. http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=271&image=3. Retrieved 11 January 2011. 
4. ^ Taito. Darius Gaiden. (Taito). Arcade. Scene: Attract Sequence. (1994) "Narration: Proco and Tiat started on a journey for new world. About that time, there were emigration ships starting from the death star, "Darius", and they arrived at a small planet, "Vadis". The years went by, and people were about to return to their native place "Darius" star." [sic]
5. ^ Taito. Darius Gaiden. (Taito). Arcade. Scene: Attract Sequence. (1994) "Narration: Someone destroyed the strongpoint of the migration on "Darius". Also, the transport ships being to go home are....The Demon's hand reached "Vadis" too." [sic]
6. ^ Taito. Darius Gaiden. (Taito). Arcade. Scene: Attract Sequence. (1994) "Narration: A company of Silver-Hawks were almost all annihilated. Having high hopes, "Silver-Hawk" sallied." [sic]
7. ^ ^{a b} Daniel Erickson. "PC Gamer: Darius Gaiden". PC Gamer. http://www.pcgamer.com/archives/2005/06/darius_gaiden.html. Retrieved 2011-01-19. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• Mobygames: Darius Gaiden: Saturn, Windows
• Gamebank Darius Gaiden page
• F3 SYSTEM HARDWARE: Darius Gaiden Extra Version