The course of Sagaia took our heroes across the solar system; it was only a matter of time before they reached Planet Earth. Every other stage or so set on Earth took place in this nice, blasted urban setting, with burnt-out and broken-down skyscrapers and smashed highway sections. the sky was a suitable depressing tint as well. And so, one would expect a fairly fancy or mean boss at the end of this stage. And what do we get? Check this out:
Seriously. We are in the middle of a Belser-blasted Earth and they present us with an antique WWII battleship, albeit the largest one ever. Beached. Even though it was supposed to have been broken apart when it sank (see below for details). Poetic license, what?
From left to right:Cannon turrets and...?
Tips: When you've got an antient battleship, expect to be shot at by its turrets. They typically fire at two or three inclinations, one horizontal and two upward ones. Stay roughly on the level of the first turrent to take out the first two (move upwards if necessary) and then take out the third a little higher. Then come a bunch of anti-aircraft batteries, which need to be taken out from above in Sagaia at least. These blighters shoot madly and diagonally in both directions, so try to use your bombs to good effect. The next set of turrets part them and the control tower are easier to handle as they can be taken from behind. At least to an extent. So...that's all? Not apparently. The midsection JUMPS out at you with an annoying blighter hiding under it.
The Zeros are cheesy but easy.
And so what held the Yamato together surfaces. A bleeding hermit crab. His first attacks aren't much-the control tower on his backs sends out Zeros in packs of three, while he shoots bullets and two homing missiles at you. Not breakfast in bed, but pretty dodgable and easy to handle. When his carapace blows off Yamato Crab starts to fire seven or eight orbs at you at a time. But they're not too difficult to dodge. Stay in a straight line with the crab until the orbs start to fire, and then weave up and down as the occasion presents itself. Whereas in Super Darius II, the guy changes colour to give you and idea of how hurt he is, he doesn't in Sagaia, so keep at it until he goes up in smoke.
Rating:
Colour Scheme:
73%
Design:
80%
Attacks:
76%
Name:
n/a
Real-Life Inspiration:The Yamato and her sister-vessel, the Mushashi,were the largest ever battleships built, surpassing everything that then existed and also since then in terms of weight, cannon diameter and armour. She was the flagship of the Commander of the Combined Fleet of the Japanese Navy during 1942 or so (remember Midway?). She eventually was destroyed in 1945, and the number of torpedoes and bombs used to sink her both were in excess of double figures. In the Seventies, one Leiji Matsumoto 'resurrected' her for the anime Star Blazers (not its real name), where she was re-armed for interstellar battle. On a side-note, the space cruiser-as-battleship motif persisted in one of his other best-known series, those involving that Harlock fellow.
In 1991, Taito released a side-scrolling shoot'em up called Metal Black, later to be ported to the Saturn. The game was quite ahead of its time and had more than a little Darius flavour to it, including an early Alpha/Beta-beam weapon system. Its first stage involved you flying over the desolation of Earth, and who do you meet in the first five minutes but:
