Darius Gaiden 30th Anniversary! Former Strategy Writer Looks Back at Classic 90s Shooters – GAME Watch

Taito's arcade game “Darius Gaiden” will celebrate its 30th anniversary in September 2024.

This work is a side-scrolling shooter game and is the third in the series after “Darius” and “Darius II”. Operate your Proco (2P is Tiat) and defeat the enemy with bullets and black hole launchers. At the end of each area (stage), a giant warship appears with the shape of a sea creature on it.

In this article, I take a look at the greatness of this game and the state of arcade games at the time, based on my experience writing a strategy article for this game, as far as I can remember.

I was impressed by the many powerful performances that I couldn't believe were on one screen.

The first time I learned of the existence of this work was from a senior writer who told me, “Darius’ new movie is being tested on site.” The writer, who originally became a writer because he wanted to write articles about shooting games, was very happy to see a new work appear after a long time, but instead of the famous 3-screen Body Sonic structure, this work is a “normal structure” with one screen. When I heard that it was a three-screen display, I was disappointed and thought, “What is this!? Darius is only possible if he uses a three-screen structure…”

However, when I later saw the videotape brought back by the senior players who went to Taito to cover the match, I was completely shocked.

The beauty and splendor of the powered-up shot’s trajectory, as well as the detail of the enemy characters and backgrounds, was stunning. The designs of the series’ iconic giant battleships, such as the Great Thing (whale) and King Fossle (coelacanth), were incredibly impressive, and the variety of attacks was so rich that it was almost hard to believe they were all on one screen. The new “Black Hole Bomber” system, which eliminates enemies on the screen by moving them around, is incredibly impressive, and even though I had never played it before, I was immediately impressed.

After this game was released, I immediately started playing it at a local arcade and fell in love with it instantly, and I have been playing it daily ever since. Similar to previous works in the series, this work branched into two paths (up and down) after clearing each area, and the ending was reached when all seven areas were cleared, but in the end the author was able to clear all areas with a single coin. Even after conquering all areas, you will want to play this game over and over again, saying things like, “I want to defeat that enemy again!” “I want to update my high score!” “I want to shoot as many shots as possible!” “I want to see the production of that area!” It was full of evocative charm and I never got tired of it.

One of the big draws to playing this game is that you can hear the beautiful background music, which was quite different from previous works in the series, such as the incorporation of a female voice. I was also very impressed with how the start timing of the music in each of the final areas (side 7) from V to Z' was adjusted so that the BGM would start playing after one episode before moving on to the boss battle.

At first, the author was not assigned to write the article for this work. So, I played in the game center until I could clear it with one coin, and then went directly to the editorial department and said, “Please let me write an article on strategy,” and with some force, I was given the opportunity. The job.

Later, the editorial department used a board borrowed from the manufacturer and sometimes stayed up all night to play the game, but eventually realized that it was impossible to write a strategy article for a shooting game with such half-hearted practice that I hated it. Moreover, in order to achieve a high score, it is necessary to deliberately increase the difficulty level of this game, so I had to go to hell just before the manuscript deadline, which I now have fond memories of, which I will use in the future, it was very helpful for my writing career.

In addition, unlike today when the Internet is widespread, employees and managers of game manufacturers do not appear in the media much, so by doing this job, I was able to experience the job of interviewing developers for the first time, and get first-hand advice on how to play. What it taught me is still an unforgettable memory.

A presence that stood out even at the height of the “fighting game boom.”

When this game was released in 1994, arcades were at the height of the fighting game boom. No matter which store you went to, the video game corner was filled with online fighting tables for fighting games, such as “Super Street Fighter IIX,” “Virtua Fighter,” and “THE KING OF FIGHTERS '94.” At a time like this, this product was not always available, even in crowded stores in the city center.

However, when I visited stores where this game was running, I found that the number of people waiting in line to get the game was noticeably higher than other shooting games. In particular, shooting enthusiasts flocked to stores with a rapid-fire button, and I often saw players finishing the game with a single coin. Although I usually only play fighting games, I remember quite a few friends and store goers telling me that they “just tried playing this game and got hooked.”

This is also a personal opinion of the author, but in a store that does not have a quick fire button, there are very few players who completed the game with one coin, and I get the impression that everyone had a hard time in the P, R, and T areas, even in stores that did have quick fire buttons. However, at a time when the fighting game boom was at its peak and the number of new shooter releases was decreasing dramatically, this game was often seen on the waiting list in arcades, and its later porting to both the PlayStation and Sega Saturn is perhaps the best evidence that it was supported by players.

This game is included in Taito's re-released game console “Egret Two Mini” and is equipped with a continuous fire button as standard, so please take this opportunity to play it. At the beginning, it doesn't matter how many times you make a mistake, so you can repeat the follow-up, choose your favorite area, advance to the end, and enjoy the exhilarating feeling of defeating enemies with bullets and launchers, as well as many beautiful pictures and sounds Enjoy!