Shooter fans, rejoice - Taito is bringing its classic Darius series to the Switch in the form of Darius Cozmic Collection.
It's expected to launch in Japan on February 28th 2019 and will cost 5,200 Yen. The collection includes four of the arcade entries, but a limited edition - costing 16,800 Yen - will add five console entries, and will also include an 'Arrange' music CD, 'official materials' book and miniature acrylic marquee. Sadly, the amazing G-Darius is nowhere to be seen, but we should probably be grateful we're getting this at all.
Here is the list of included titles across both versions:
- Darius (Arcade)
- Darius II (Arcade)
- Sagaia (Arcade)
- Darius Gaiden (Arcade)
- Darius Twin (Super Famicom) [Special edition-only]
- Darius Force (Super Famicom) [Special edition-only]
- Sagaia (Sega Master System) [Special edition-only]
- Darius II (Mega Drive) [Special edition-only]
- Darius Alpha (PC Engine) [Special edition-only]
You can visit the official website here. The moment we hear about any kind of western release, we'll let you know. Can we have a Switch release of Dariusburst next please, Taito?
Please note that some external links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.
[source gematsu.com]
Comments 37
...hurry up, 2019!!! Who knows, maybe this is indeed a prelude to get Darius Burst Chronicles Saviour onto the system. crossing fingers intensifies
Darius II (Arcade) and Sagaia (Arcade) are the same game.
G-Darius is omitted.
So basically 5600 yen for three arcade ports...
Cash grab if I ever saw one.
I played some Darius games in the past. Even had one for Mega Drive. They were nice shooters, hard as usual shooters.
Just don't know why such a big difference in content for both editions. Considering they're all old games, why is that?
Great news! That's quite a difference in content between the standard and limited editions though . I don't normally bother with limited editions but I will this time. Why does it have to be so far away!
Wait those prices convert to $47 and $150. $47 for 4 arcade games with 2 of them being the same game seems a bit steep?
Very cool. Shmups are a genre of games that usually don't require a knowledge of the Japanese language to play and enjoy. I'll definitely be picking this collection up.
I was happy until I read "2019" (in Japan), but knowing some games will only be available in the special edition is a great deal-breaker.
I don't remember this having happened ever. A special edition is for physical items, or even extra content, but games? Come on, Taito...
Hummm, no G-Darius? No deal.
Best news to wake up to in a long time.
Special Edition will be mine!
Huh? Taito revived since when?
Why is everything I want February?
This is like the 5th big hitter for me coming in damn February 😖
That sounds pretty bad. Basically if you are unlucky not to get hold of the limited edition version, you won't get all the games. That's 5 games you are missing out on.
1st Response: Oh Yes!
2nd Response: Crap! Can I afford it?
3rd Response: Just Japan? Aww!
4th Response: L.E. Exclusives! WTF!!!
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu best news this year, Goooooooooooooooo Switch
Why no g darius . Those beam battles were ace.
Shmups were awesome in the 80's and 90's when hardware was limited; now, not so much. I wouldn't mind a new Jungle Hunt or Double Dragon from Taito.
No G-Darius sucks, but to my knowledge, there hasn't been proper arcade ports of the first two arcade games that retains all three screens to any console before now, so that's something.
I’ll get it just for Darius Gaiden.
Yeah, this actually doesn't sound like a good collection. Half of the games are on the expensive collector's edition, Segaia is just another version of Darius II (so the standard edition may as well have come with 3 games unless you're that hardcore of a Darius fan), and it's missing a couple games from the previous Darius collection (most noteably G-Darius, a glaring omission, IMO) that was already released on the PS4 a few years ago. I like the Darius series, but I doubt this'd release in the west, and it definitely doesn't sound like it'd be worth importing, IMO...
@MongolRaider I find the classic shmups as much fun to play today as they were back then and with modern perks like online leaderboarda, perhaps even more so. With the great ones, the gameplay is timeless. Tengai, Gunbird 2 and Ikaruga are among the best games in the Switch in my opinion.
At last, one of my prayer has been answered. Now when is my Gradius series?
Bought for sure.
YES!!!! PLEASE COME WEST ESPECIALLY THE STATES!! ILL GOBBLE UP THE SPECIAL ADDITION!!!! Let’s hope this is just the beginning for Taito and its back catalogue!!!
I'm with some of the other commenters. Darius 2 and Sagaia but no G-Darius? Not worth the price by any stretch. Especially because the paywall for the console editions. Bummer.
@youkoaoshi I agree with you on G- Darius the collection would then be perfect but that’s still a lot of Darius love!! Imo
@joey302 I just take issue with charging that price for so little roms. If all those games were included in the regular edition I wouldn't complain.
@CanisWolfred
There is no Darius collection for PS4. There was only a "Collector's Edition" retail release of the Arcade Archives version of Darius 1.
Maybe it confused you because it came with soundtracks for all or most games in the series on separate CDs. (I had that problem, too)
@OorWullie Just don't think those are for me anymore, online leaderboards or not. I might go ahead and buy Ikaruga to dip my feet back in the waters. If that don't hold me, nothing will. I did play this game called MagMax back in the day and loved it, but can't remember if it was a shmup or not?
@MongolRaider It was. And it was both an arcade and nes game.
@youkoaoshi Ok, thought so... Thanks. My memory was drawing fog on that one since it was probably one of the first I played at the time. Must not be one of the popular ones, I never here it talked about like the others.
@big_bad_bob Taito was always around, they were just legally re-organized as Square Enix's arcade brand. Because of that, they stopped publishing video games. So this is a wonderful surprise.
People, please support this if you want Taito to publish more home console video games. Square Enix owns the company, and if you invest in this collection, Taito's parent company will do so much more with their Taito back catalogue.
@big_bad_bob Taito has always been around in Japan. They closed their western operation in 1995 and Square-Enix bought them in 2005.
Triple the price for the special edition is quite steep. I'd go maybe as high as a $20 premium, for the game alone. They should offer that.
@KingMike
While i personally will import that big special edition from Japan, i think neither of those packages is a good fit for the western market.
So IF this gets localized, i think you might get your wish (a version with all the games but without the CD/book/whatever at a regular retail price).
Price is too high, but Darius is PERHAPS my favourite shmup series ever. Taito's 80s-90s output is underrated.
I wanna R-type, Gradius, Rayforce.
not Darius.
I was going to joke they should add the Game Boy version of Sagaia and be complete at least.
But then I dug in my box after suspecting I already have a copy, and I do. Not sure how common the standalone cart but it is the fourth game I was forgetting was on the Taito Variety Pack official multicart.
It seems it is actually a different game, and it looks they managed to pull off parallax scrolling with even a bit of zoom giving it a nice look at least for a GB game. Now I wouldn't joke about putting it on.
Id rather be able to buy them separately for $10.
Now if Konami would release a Gradius collection like this Id happily throw $50 to $150 at it.
@EmirParkreiner You're right, I did make that mistake. Still disappointed it doesn't have G-Darius, though. I already have a lot of the Darius games, and with Darius Burst having released at full retail price, they'd probably overcharge and lock a lot of the better games to a collector's edition just like in Japan. No thank you.
Tap here to load 37 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...