Taito already tried a large, multi-screen boss with Revenge Shark in Super Darius II. While it was nice and no cake walk, it still wasn't the proper bastard it could have been. In the same year, they seem to have tried again; Darius Force gives us Peace Destroyer in Zone H.
Of course it ain't over yet!
Tips:Just like Zone M in Darius Gaiden, one has a rather short regular level. Then comes Peace Destroyer, head-first. A decidedly ugly head, too. Now, he can be hit in the mouth region, but only when his eyes are open; this always coincides with his attacks. He starts off by gnashing his jaw, which is the sign for you to get out of the way, as he fires a few quick lasers from it. Then come several heatseekers from torpedo tube-like ports near his head (a rather neat detail), with some lobbed grenades which explode into three-bullet arcs when destroyed (ergo, don't shoot them). These two attacks cycle until the head blows off. When this happens, the rest of his body moves into the screen. What you want to do is to fly into it-it's not obvious, and if you don't he will squash you against the edge of the screen.
NOTE: Here we are in the belly of the beast-literally.
Peace Destroyer's innards aren't too exotic, mostly skeletal. There really isn't much to blow up in here either; the more important thing here is timing your movement inside him. While you travel down the him, he also moves up and down to crush you either at the top or bottom of the screen. The terrain inside if often all too uneven as well. It's not too hairy, but there are two nasty bits shown in the two rightmost pictures above. There will be a bit of raised ground at the right, but you should not move into it until P.D. has moved as far down as possible (which is when you could nearly crash in nose-first into the raised floor). A little further in, while flying above this bit, there is a depression you should stay in while the P.D. moves up. Otherwise you can pretty much play it by ear.
Almost there...
Things get mildly nasty once we reach Peace Destroyer's tail. This is his hardest segment. Youhave a 'core', and a battery of four cannons. The cannons fire some eminently dodgeable shots, while the shielded (and undamageable) core fires two light balls, which move as out-of-phase sine waves. At points a beam of lightning suddenly joins them; this is the dangerous attack. You should dart in-between the balls as soon as the lightning stops, and concentrate on blowing up the cannons. Once they're gone, the core can be damaged, whether it's sheathed or not. Two bullets are fired in the same sine pattern as the lightning balls, but pieces of the ceiling can fall on you. The real cramping attack, though, is the big beams fired by the core. You can tell when this is coming because the core exposes itself and you can see it charge up. Move down (up means the falling ceiling can get you more easily), and you should be able to handle it.
Rating:
Colour Scheme:
77%
Design:
80%
Attacks:
63%
Name:
78%
Real-Life Inspiration:Another oarfish. Better than Moderato for sure. Oarfishes, apart from being the chief influence for 'sea snake' myths, also have a high amount of water in their tissues, which can make them kind of translucent when brought to the surface, which probably explains Peace Destroyer's skeletal get-up.
