After Queen Fossil, Absolute Defender probably has the most killer intro in G-Darius. For sheer eye-candy, there always is Eight Feet Umbrella, though. Zone z is a really pretty level, with the kind of artificial planetary world that Gerald O'Neill thought of (which appears in more than one Taito shoot'em up, incidentally) and a killer travel through the rings of what looks like Uranus. When the comet starts to zoom in, watch out. Some funny Thiiman critter blasts the comet ,and out comes Absolute Defender. A second blast bounces off him, and then he nukes the critter with a dual beam from his head. Looks like something out of Albator 84, but what the hell. Gulp...
Some very nice bullet and laser patterns, I must confess.
Tips:God aka Zach Keene says Absolute Defender has little different in Zones K and L(*). I will go by it until I screw up the courage to
go there again...
In both levels, though, Absolute Defender has a *&#@ing shield. Its generator is a little blue bulb under his chin (don't think it's bad acne or a wart, now) and needs to be taken out if you want to inflict any kind of damage on him. Mind. In-between, if you've blown off his shield and he's taken some damage, he beats it, swirls around (you can hit his tail if you feel like it) and returns to the fray. I will now describe his attacks as I met them. Absolute Defender warms up by firing a few biggie missiles which explode into circles of bullets. Following this, he fires some monstrous seven- or eight-bullet arcs reasonably fast. Then come some straight-laser arcs. If you've met Queen Fossil-E, you know what I mean, and you know how to dodge it too. In fact you should have had to survive it to reach this guy. These attacks cycle a bit and then Absolute Defender disappears in wireframe.
When he resurfaces, Absolute Defender's tail is probably facing you, but it's shielded now, so forget it. When he turns to face you again, he fires out this fancy pattern of alternating blue and red droplet-shaped laser arcs, which is not nice. The previous attacks cycle a bit more, and eventually, when he turns tail, when he returns to face you, he fires bullets aimed at you. When you've knocked his shield off and he turns tail, he faces you at the other side of the screen. Here, he fires a nasty dual laser beam, which then turns into a dual Beta beam. Unfortunately for us, Absolute Defender doesn't have the good sense to send us something to capture and counter his beams with. You'll have to sit it out, preferably above him or under his chinny-chin-chin. I'm assuming the whole thing loops after this, because he went DOWN! after the beams for me.
(*) Regarding the differences in areas K and L, Skyknight has this to say:
"1. They (the K and L attacks) differ as to which points in the attack cycle they may attempt to use those red/blue droplet lasers. One uses them when facing you head-on. The other uses them when its side is facing you...
2. The nature of their straight lasers when facing you head-on differs. K uses long beams that stay put (relative to Absolute Defender's head) for a while (I've gotten sliced up by them fairly often, even at the very bottom of the screen...). L uses short beams...and lots of them.
They don't fire the beams in the same order. K shoots the one from its forehead straight ahead, then the one from its mouth directly at you. L does this in reverse (i.e. mouth straight, then forehead aimed)." Thanx, mate!
Rating:
Colour Scheme:
83%TD>
Design:
78%
Attacks:
86%
Name:
100%(makes me think of the Ultimate Warrior)
Real-Life Inspiration: A pinecone fish (Monocentris japonicus). This mother has a lot of real-life features which match up with Absolute Defender; first, it has plate-like scales which give it its name and it has two organs on its lower jaw which house symbiotic bioluminescent bacteria, which, well give out light (and which you blow up in the game!). Curiously enough, pinecone fishes are non-aggressive.
him, and then he nukes the critter with a dual beam from his head. Looks like something out of Albator 84, but what the hell. Gulp...
