Difference between revisions of "Darius Gaiden"

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Revision as of 12:23, 18 June 2016

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DariusGaiden title.png

Darius Gaiden
System(s): Sega Saturn
Publisher: Acclaim, Taito (JP)
Developer:
Developer(s) of original games: Taito
Sound driver: SCSP/CD-DA (15 tracks)
Genre: Shoot-'em-Up

















Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Saturn
JP
¥5,8005,800 T-1102G
Sega Saturn
US
T-8123H
Sega Saturn
EU
T-8123H-50

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Darius Gaiden (ダライアス外伝) is the third main entry in Taito's Darius series of horizontal space shoot-'em-up games, first released in 1994 in arcades as a sequel to Darius II. During development it was known as Darius III. Why it was changed to a"gaiden" type of story (roughly meaning "side story"), is unknown. The game's soundtrack was composed by Taito's house band Zuntata.

Gaiden was ported to the Sega Saturn and released in late 1995, curiously arriving before the Saturn port of Darius II. It was the second of two Darius games to be brought to Sega systems - its arcade successor, G-Darius, which used polygonal graphics, skipped the Saturn in favour of the PlayStation in 1998.

Darius Gaiden follows the established formula closely, but dropped the multiple screen setup. Difficulty is considered to be lower than in part II. So called black hole bombs have been added, that damage enemies and neutralize projectiles, but also sucks in power ups. Not using any of these yeilds a special score bonus at the end of the game, but is tied to not using continues.

Stages are selectable in the usual branching path fashion after defeating a boss. Each path has its unique ending

Strangely autofire, a common feature in shooting game ports, is missing from options. It must be activated by a cheat code.

Trivia

  • The game upholds the series tradition of offering branching paths, with the "upper" routs being easier to clear. However, the upper routes also offer more scoring chances, which goes against the usual risk=reward design in arcade games. Scores are lumped together in a single table and not sorted by the path taken through the game but total score only.
  • The game has a dynamic difficulty level, depending on power ups collected, survival time etc.

Production credits

~In-game credits~[2]

Producer: Hidehiro Fujihara
Game Design: Hisakazu Kato, Akira Kurabayashi, Masami Kikuchi, Hidetaka Harada, Naoto Omura, Rintaro Doi, Katsumi Kaneoka, Hisayoshi Ogura, Katsuhisa Ishikawa

Thanks: Kentaro Matsumura

Art Director: KAT, Masami Kikuchi, Baw-Baw
Programmer: Kurabar, Naoto Omura, Hidetaka Harada
Hardware Engineer: Katsumi Kaneoka
Decorator: Rintaro Doi
Sound Director: OGR (Zuntata), Katsuhisa Ishikawa (Zuntata)
Bit Pattern: Makoto Fujita, Ucky Maeda, Toru Kawaishi, Miwa Kamiya
Special Thanks: Hisao Shimizu, Rie Amino, Takako Akitsu, Masahiro Tashiro, Nakayama Jotohei, Nobuyuki Hayashi, Ryoto Komai, Yasunobu Kosokabe, Saori Hiratsuka, Ryota Sasaki, Naoto Yagishita, Takao Yoshiba, Nobuaki Kuroki, Yuichi Onogi, Makoto Osaka, Yoshihiro Mori, Naomitsu Abe, Masatoshi Tsuneoka, Yosuke Tsuda, V.G. Tokyo All Staff, Papara Kaito, Yoshinari Mitani, I.G Tatsunoko, ...And Default Members

Presented by: Taito®

Track list

1. [data track] (02:14) 
2. VISIONNERZ: Genshibito (04:38) 
Japan VISIONNERZ~幻視人~
EN: VISIONNERZ ~Hallucinated People~
Composed by: Hisayoshi Ogura
3. (Punctuation) (00:06) 
Composed by: Hisayoshi Ogura
4. Burst Out (01:53) 
Composed by: Hisayoshi Ogura
5. Induction (01:48) 
Composed by: Hisayoshi Ogura
6. E.E.G. (04:16) 
Composed by: Hisayoshi Ogura
7. Axon (02:20) 
Composed by: Hisayoshi Ogura
8. TOUEI (04:11) 
Japan 投影
EN: Reflection
Composed by: Hisayoshi Ogura
9. Fake (02:02) 
Composed by: Hisayoshi Ogura
10. Singing In The Brain (01:46) 
Composed by: Hisayoshi Ogura
11. Tranquilizers (02:58) 
Composed by: Hisayoshi Ogura
12. SELF (04:12) 
Composed by: Hisayoshi Ogura
13. Refrain (01:39) 
Composed by: Hisayoshi Ogura
14. Name (00:56) 
Composed by: Hisayoshi Ogura
15. End Titles (02:30) 
Composed by: Hisayoshi Ogura
16. over (00:09) 
Composed by: Hisayoshi Ogura
Running time: 37:38

Promotional material

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
67 №15, p92/93[3]
88 №51, p98/99
87 №172, p46/47[1]
60 №30, p70
83 №366, p33
40
76
79 №42, p76/77[4]
69 №43, p88[5]
90 №62, p94
35 №77, p52/53
80 №5, p72/73[6]
80 №1995-14, p200[7]
89
Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "'".
79 №16, p68/69
Sega Saturn
Expression error: Unexpected < operator.
Based on
16 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
CD Consoles (FR)
40
[3]
Consoles + (FR)
88
[9]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
87
[1]
Edge (UK)
60
[10]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
74
[11]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
83
[12]
Fun Generation (DE) PAL
40
[13]
GameFan (US)
94
[14]
Game Players (US) NTSC-U
53
[15]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
78
[16]
GamePro (UK)
83
[17]
Game Informer (US) NTSC-U
44
[18]
Joypad (FR) NTSC-J
85
[19]
MAN!AC (DE) NTSC-J
76
[20]
Mega Fun (DE) PAL
61
[21]
Mean Machines Sega (UK) NTSC-J
79
[4]
Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL
69
[5]
Player One (FR) PAL
90
[22]
Saturn Fan (JP) NTSC-J
81
[23]
Saturn+ (UK) PAL
84
[24]
Sega Magazin (DE) PAL
80
[25]
Sega Power (UK) NTSC-J
35
[26]
Sega Pro (UK) NTSC
69
[27]
Sega Saturn Magazine (UK) PAL
80
[28]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
80
[29]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
89
[8]
Total Saturn (UK) PAL
46
[30]
Ultimate Future Games (UK) NTSC-J
79
[31]
Última Generación (ES)
68
[32]
Video Games (DE) NTSC-U
60
[33]
VideoGames (US)
70
[34]
Sega Saturn
71
Based on
31 reviews

Darius Gaiden

Saturn, US
DariusGaiden Saturn US Box Back.jpgDariusGaiden Saturn US Box Front.jpg
Cover
DariusGaidenSaturnUSDisc.jpg
Disc
Dariusgaiden sat us manual.pdf
Manual
Saturn, EU
DariusGaiden Saturn EU Box.jpg
Cover
DariusGaiden Saturn EU Disc.jpg
Disc
Saturn, JP
DariusGaiden Saturn JP Box Back.jpgDariusGaiden Saturn JP Box Front.jpg
Cover
DariusGaiden Saturn JP Spinecard.jpg
Spinecard
DariusGaiden Saturn JP Disc.jpg
Disc
DariusGaidenSaturnJPManual.pdf
Manual

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 File:CVG UK 172.pdf, page 46 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:CVG UK 172.pdf_p46" defined multiple times with different content
  2. File:DariusGaiden_Saturn_JP_SSEnding.pdf
  3. 3.0 3.1 File:CDConsoles FR 15.pdf, page 92 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:CDConsoles FR 15.pdf_p92" defined multiple times with different content
  4. 4.0 4.1 File:MeanMachinesSega42UK.pdf, page 76 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MeanMachinesSega42UK.pdf_p76" defined multiple times with different content
  5. 5.0 5.1 File:MeanMachinesSega43UK.pdf, page 88 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MeanMachinesSega43UK.pdf_p88" defined multiple times with different content
  6. File:SSM_UK_05.pdf, page 72
  7. File:SSM_JP_19951222_1995-14.pdf, page 202
  8. 8.0 8.1 Saturn no Game wa Sekai Ichi~i~i~i!: Satamaga Dokusha Race Zen Kiroku, SoftBank Publishing, page 11 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:SnGwSISDRZK Book JP.pdf_p11" defined multiple times with different content
  9. Consoles +, "Février 1996" (FR; 1996-0x-xx), page 98
  10. Edge, "March 1996" (UK; 1996-02-09), page 70
  11. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "March 1996" (US; 1996-xx-xx), page 29
  12. Famitsu, "1995-12-22" (JP; 1995-12-08), page 1
  13. Fun Generation, "03/96" (DE; 1996-02-12), page 48
  14. GameFan, "Volume 4, Issue 2: February 1996" (US; 1996-xx-xx), page 18
  15. Game Players, "Vol. 9 No. 4 April 1996" (US; 1996-03-19), page 66
  16. GamePro, "April 1996" (US; 1996-xx-xx), page 82
  17. GamePro, "May 1996" (UK; 1996-04-xx), page 38
  18. Game Informer, "April 1996" (US; 1996-0x-xx), page 59
  19. Joypad, "Février 1996 (Joypad International supplement)" (FR; 1996-0x-xx), page 24
  20. MAN!AC, "02/96" (DE; 1996-01-10), page 41
  21. Mega Fun, "03/96" (DE; 1996-02-20), page 80
  22. Player One, "Mars 1996" (FR; 1996-0x-xx), page 94
  23. Saturn Fan, "1996 No. 4" (JP; 1996-02-02), page 62
  24. Saturn+, "Easter/April 1996" (UK; 1996-03-07), page 62
  25. Sega Magazin, "März 1996" (DE; 1996-02-14), page 68
  26. Sega Power, "April 1996" (UK; 1996-02-15), page 52
  27. Sega Pro, "March 1996" (UK; 1996-01-25), page 60
  28. Sega Saturn Magazine, "March 1996" (UK; 1996-02-24), page 72
  29. Sega Saturn Magazine, "1995-14 (1995-12-22)" (JP; 1995-12-08), page 202
  30. Total Saturn, "Volume One Issue Four" (UK; 1996-12-29), page 20
  31. Ultimate Future Games, "March 1996" (UK; 1996-0x-xx), page 68
  32. Última Generación, "Febrero 1996" (ES; 1996-0x-xx), page 90
  33. Video Games, "2/96" (DE; 1996-01-24), page 83
  34. VideoGames, "May 1996" (US; 1996-04-23), page 63