Mega Drive Mini Port Of Darius Is "Totally New" And Not Based On "Fan Work", Says Sega

So psyched for this!

I had a feeling there's gonna be a brand new game or port on this thing

Why is this on a Nintendo related site though? ^^

Sega are really going all out with this, they’re clearly determined to make something as polished as the NES/SNES Mini systems and it looks like they’re achieving (in Japan anyway).

Now if they’d only put this much effort into Saturn and Dreamcast mini consoles...

Hit me baby one more
...
...
...
tiiiiiiiime.

Darius Twin was great, great music and a great challenge! Sega fanboys must be on heaven after these news.

I was already sold on buying one but now I'm excited.

But is it something made now or just an old unreleased rom? Just curious, it's exciting anyway.

@Gibb Cause Sega paid NintendoLife to promote it duh. Anything that has history with Nintendo will be discussed here. You're saying this like Sega and Nintendo are still fighting which they aren't, the console war between them is already over, just move on. It's like I tell my dad, the Vietnam War is over like many decades now, stop thinking of every Vietnamese as Viet Cong criminals.

Any day I have a legit excuse to post Zuntata's Captain Neo on NL is a good day indeed.

I wouldn't want to be AtGames. Sega gave them a chance to earn their credibility back with this flagship product. Then they ripped it away after the internet revolted at the mere thought. And now M2 is making it rain like it's Christmas, the heroes forever!
Not necessarily saying that AtGames would have delivered something even half as consumer-gratifying as M2 seem to be doing. But they certainly lost their chance to do so ever again.

"Shmups" Ugh. Shoot 'em up is not that hard to type...

This is great, but i'll stick with the Arcade version on the Darius Cozmic Collection.

On a sidenote, the Cozmic Collection is supposed to get a update this Summer, maybe we'll also get this new Genesis/Mega Drive Version?

@MaaadMatt Blame Malcolm Laurie for that one.

Yep, I'll grab this. Crazy how Sony messed up with theirs.

And leave the word 'shmup' alone lol. The genre has been known as that since the 80's. Go put your toys back in the pram!

I wish they’d bring the Switch Darius Collection West!! I know we’re region free but still!

@GrailUK It’s funny I honestly don’t remember any of the games mags like Mean Machines, Super Play, CVG, etc ever using the term shmup, I always remember it being written as “shoot ‘em-ups”.

Of course, this could be a Mandela effect on my part. Everyone at my school had a NES so I was shocked when I found out that the Master System had outsold the NES in the ‘80s! I always remembered SNES Final Fight getting good review scores too!

@BulkSlash CVG defo used the term, but I think it was ZZap!64 (seminal games mag) that coined it, if memory serves.

@John_Deacon omg big fan of your work John 😆

@GrailUK That probably explains it, I had a C64 but I didn’t get the games mags back then. It was only when Mean Machines started and had a Ninja Turtle on the cover that I discovered this quaint idea of “game reviews”.

Seriously, until I read Mean Machines it hadn’t occurred to me that games could be good or bad! I just thought it was all down to taste whether one liked a game or not. 😂

@Gibb Why is this on a Nintendo related site though? ^^
Ok fella's pack it up, Gibb has caught us talking about non-Nintendo games.

@Gibb what the SNES Mega Drive console war never ended its still on.

Qick reminder: The Switch's Darius Cozmic Collection is supposed to get an update this Summer. Maybe we'll also get this version?

Knowing M2 they probably had this conversion made years ago, unsolicited

Darius 2 on Megadrive great game check it out.

@MaaadMatt
We have certainly devolved into a grammar challenged society.

@Gibb I refer you to the early 1990s.

That's why.

Something fishy there 😉

@Moroboshi876 it's a brand new conversion. Which to me, is nothing short of a love letter to Mega Drive/Genesis fans for a company to take that risk and not simply include a pre-existing cart.

The only connection I see from these two images? The game is called Darius.

I don't see the graphical similarities from a design perspective.....apart from may be the top header, but I think that's how it is on the first original Darius anyway.

@Magrane Yes, this alone would make the Mini worth it. Plus... everything else.

This article would be a lot more compelling with a comparison to the original version that both purported ports are derived from, to the point where it’s kind of pointless without it.

@Gibb Do you want to make a Sega Life site? No? Then shut it.

@Gibb
I would guess you have not seen the story on "Project Rainbow". According to the story when Nintendo was losing market share in the late 90's and early 2000's Iwata had a an idea for a new project called "Project Rainbow". Only two other people knew about it, Hiroshi Yamauchi and Shigeru Miyamoto. It was set up in the Nintendo SPD division which was normally used to host secret projects. It was a back up plan in case their next console did not sell well. Iwata went to Sega, Sony and Microsoft and all of them refused him except Sega. They were on board and agreed to an exchange of IP and ideas including first rights to new IP. While they were working with Sega they also were at work on the project called internally, "Revolution". Once the "Revolution" project was far enough along they created special teams to work on various hardware projects such as "Project Cafe" and "Wii 2.0" and the "Quality of Life". The individuals working on these teams were unaware they were actually part of Project Rainbow (which is not the Kirby Game as many people were led to believe).

In 2006 Nintendo had a runaway hit with the Wii which caused them to shelf these projects and use these teams to work on first party IP. In 2011 the successor to the Wii, the Wii U, was done and they launched in 2012. While it was initially deemed a great product Nintendo failed to market the product correctly and resources were quickly pulled from it as they assessed their next move. This indecisiveness pushed the Wii U into free fall and it was at this point Project Rainbow was reinstated. Nintendo knew that their competitors were trying to stay ahead of what they were doing so they fed false secrets from these teams to them with the exception of Sega who knew all along what was happening. The final stage of this project and the real Coup De Grâce was the movement of Nintendo executives out of the company and into the competitor ranks under the guise of job changes. Iwata did not live to see this phase but he would have been pleased as the infiltration of these rival companies is complete and they are being influenced by the Nintendo way of business. It is quite obvious when you look at the moves MS and Sony have made recently. Sega has only survived because of Nintendo's sweetheart deal and they continue to honor the terms with them by releasing content onto the Switch. Sega had to wait 18 months before they could release the mini-Genesis as part of the agreement.

Well, they both made ports of the same game to the same system. Of course they're going to look similar!

@RevrsblSedgewick Am I the only one who got that reference?

@Gibb Well, I think there are a lot of reasons it could be on here, but the few I can think of are:

• It is retro gaming news and filed under Retro
• It is a UK based website and most have more familiarity with the Mega Drive than the NES/SNES.
• The site has covered every "mini" console since the NES Classic released.
• It's their site and they can post whatever they feel like posting (and it's your browser and you can choose to either click or not click on whatever does/doesn't appeal to you).

Sega news is Nintendo news since Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on the Gamecube in 2002. Or at least since Mega Drive/Genesis on the Virtual Console in 2006. And the exclusive Darius on this mini console is a series that just got a Switch collection as well.

@Zidentia
@Darknyht
@ramu-chan
Thanks for being... not crazy like other posters here (i.e. referring to the Vietnam war or telling me to shut it). My question was a genuine one (and has been aswered in detail by @Zidentia) and not intended to trigger some obviously oversensitive madmen and / or insecure teens.