With the passage of time, it is perhaps fitting that the bosses of Darius show some evolution in a strictly biological sense. Granted, some consider it a sacrilege (this reviewer as well, to an extent) and are quite happy with nothing above fishes (with the exception of the odd turtle) on the Tree of Mechanised Belser Life. But considering they could've done worse, I present to you the last boss of Darius Twin: Great Tusk. However, he doesn't deserve even the lamest Beatles joke.
Tips: After promisingly facing off a barrage of sub-bosses and dismantling an Alloy Lantern who certainly looks the part of 'final boss', you enter his maw to face the true final boss. the first thing which will strike you is that this is a singularly ugly walrus you're up against, as far as walruses go. But anyway. Great Tusk, during his battle with you, moves back and forth across the screen and can only be hurt at his head. His first attack is to fire an arc of six homing but perfectly destructible bullets, which your missiles should handle. Next ,he lobs a ball which sprays out bullets in a vaguely spiral fashion. Not too fast or closely-sapced, but a bit hard to see against the background. The attack only poses a real threat when he moves in about half across the screen, and there isn't much elbow room.
NOTE: Yawn. What happen?
After a bit beyond the half-point of the screen, Great Tusk begins to move backwards, unleashing an arc of six little boomerangs, which don't make any particular effort to find you. As he moves backwards further, he typically fires a few more bouncing balls before starting the attack patterns again. Eventually, you do a Charles I on him:
There are some lame POW-type explosions before you are treated to one of the worst endings among all the Darius games. Darius Gaiden has wierder ones, but that's detail.
Rating:
Colour Scheme:
72%
Design:
68%
Attacks:
66%
Name:
80%
Real-Life Inspiration: The walrus. I had a neighbour who looked like a
walrus (but not Great Tusk) once. Sigh. Or were they thinking of the leopard seal (who got teeth!) in The New Zealand Story (fun platformer by Taito) here? You should well know that game, because you might then play it yourself...^_^
