The Darius series began in 1986 with Taito's arcade shoot 'em
up of the same name. Apart from being first played on the arcade on
a monster three-screen game field and having branching stage (and
hence multiple endings), this one and all the games that followed
involved a ship called the Silver Hawk piloted by either
Proco or Tiat to fend off swarms of enemy spacecraft,
typically from the bad guys from Belser (though in the last
Darius game, G-Darius, the enemy is apparently called Thiima (?) ). What made them stand apart from bosses which were often militaristic, futuristic, or Gigeresque, was that they often resembled marine life, both living and extinct, with quaint but often appropriate names.
For example, a giant manta ray was baptised Death Wings, and a
family of seahorse bosses were all called (something) Coronatus -
it so happens that most of them resemble Hippocampus coronatus,
the crowned seahorse. Some were just silly, like Mudy Crystal or Absolute Defender. These bosses grew in every way (from attack pattern
and size to their entrance) as the series developed and are unique enough
to warrant some documentation or so.
Here is a more or less complete list of the games in the Darius series and some of the consoles they were ported to. Strictly speaking, there are only six original games, but the arcade ports have added stuff to them or, in the case of Darius Alpha, provide a different (but much-appreciated)experience from the games. Their playability varies quite a bit, which is why I have put up this somewhat incoherent disclaimer in case you want to hunt them all down.
Each of the following pages contains some information on the game, and some details on the story (OK, what there is of it), stage layout and gameplay. They are of varying length and quality based on my knowledge of them and my preferences. [UPDATE]:Now, thanks to my benefactor Brian/Undamned , you also have a lot of pictures of game box art, soundtracks, arcade boards etc. for your delectation! I really cannot be grateful enough for his contribution!!
| Year |
Game |
Platform |
| 1986 |
Darius |
Arcade |
| 1989 |
Darius II/Sagaia |
Arcade, Saturn (1996) |
| 1989 |
Darius+ (described as the 'poor man's R-Type' once) |
Various home PCs |
| 1990 |
Darius Plus |
PC-Engine |
| 1990 |
Super Darius |
PC-Engine CD |
| 1990 |
Darius Alpha |
PC-Engine |
| 1991 |
Sagaia |
Sega MegaDrive/Genesis |
| 1991 |
Sagaia |
Nintendo Game Boy |
| 1991 |
Darius Twin |
Super NES |
| 1992 |
Sagaia |
Sega Master System |
| 1993 |
Super Darius II |
PC-Engine CD |
| 1993 |
Darius Force/Super Nova |
Super NES |
| 1994 |
Darius Gaiden |
Arcade, PC(1998), Sony PlayStation(1996), Sega Saturn(1996) |
| 1995 |
Space Invaders 1995 - Attack of the Lunar Loonies/Akkanvader |
Arcade |
| 1997 |
G-Darius |
Arcade, Sony PlayStation(1998), PC(2001) |
| 2002 |
Darius R |
Game Boy Advance |
| 2003 |
Dariusgate |
Cell-phones |