Editor's note: G-Darius HD and Dariusburst Another Chronicle EX + are currently available individually on the Japanese Switch eShop, but are also part of the Darius Cozmic Revelation physical package. For a guide on how to download games from the Japanese eShop, click here. For a guide on where to purchase Japanese eShop credit, click here.
It would have been quite something to witness G-Darius's directors explaining their ideas to the programming and graphics staff. For a series that had already gone well beyond the standard content for a shoot-em-up, and the most recent entry, Darius Gaiden, featuring 28 elaborate stages, they were probably fearing the worst. And rightly so.
G-Darius, the first fully 3D title in the series, is immensely ambitious. It reduces the total number of stages to fifteen but splits each of them down the middle, allowing you to pursue two totally different routes after a few minutes play. This is handled by a visual countdown bar that requires you to be flying either in the upper or lower quadrant of the screen to choose the direction you wish to head. Demonstrated flawlessly in the opener as you race across the sea, you can either climb skyward to witness a warship destroyed by an off-screen laser, or descend beneath the surface of the ocean, where underwater trains travel through glass tunnels embedded in the coral.
Darius Gaiden, its eminent predecessor, introduced the ability to capture weakened mid-bosses and have them briefly join you in battle. For G-Darius, this feature is greatly expanded upon, fitting your craft with a limited stock of Capture Balls that can command and control almost every standard enemy in the game. Each captured enemy comes with varying properties, bolstering your shot power and range, and can be positioned as shields to protect you from bullets and missiles. You’re encouraged to experiment with different enemy captures to see what they offer, and strategise around them. Mid-boss captures – achieved by first destroying sections of gold armour – are by far the most powerful allies in the game, making it imperative you learn how to snag them.
Additionally, capturing now has several extended functions. Captured enemies can be detonated as smart bombs at any time, the range and strength of the explosion dependent on their size. It can be useful in a pinch, but generally speaking, if you’re going to repurpose your captures you want to do it with the new laser cannon. Triggered with the A button, holding a capture allows you to charge and then release a powerful laser stream for a prolonged period. This laser can easily cut through larger popcorn enemies and save your skin, but its key function is in beam duelling, a feature that first appeared in Taito’s own 1991 Metal Black.
Laser Duels are initiated during boss battles when you see your adversary start to charge up, at which point you manoeuvre right in front and fire your laser at the same time. With the lasers locked, you tap the fire button to overwhelm and cut through. This is the fastest method for ending a boss fight prematurely, and as adrenaline tense and thrilling as it is, it’s a skill that takes practice to pull off in the heat of the moment. These features make Capture Balls indispensable, and thankfully replenishments are regularly dropped by purple enemies.
Although its structure is both daring and complex – and has no right to work as fluidly as it does – G-Darius is also dressed to impress, and it’s never impressed more than it does in this Switch port. Dubbed G-Darius HD, you’re presented with two modes: the original resolution arcade game and a shiny high definition makeover. The original is really only useful for either directly comparing to the HD remake (and the difference is huge) or running on a standard resolution CRT with native scanlines to create an authentic old-school arcade experience. Beyond this, its presence is totally obsolete.
Assuming you can appreciate the arcade polygons of 1997, HD mode looks absolutely beautiful and runs smooth as silk everywhere except during moments of slowdown – which is accurately reproduced and totally required. Its new sheen is spectacular when played on a large display, and Taito has added a range of screen adjustment options that allow you to play it in its original aspect ratio with a range of wallpapers and info panels, or stretched full-screen (which actually adapts the image fairly well).
G-Darius is a perfect candidate for this treatment, too, since the game itself was probably considered, at the time, to be a series send-off of sorts, with no formal follow up until Dariusburst arrived twelve years later in 2009. As such the team have gone in all lasers-blazing, creating one of the most impressive-looking space operas of them all. Graphically superb and cinematically epic, each stage – and each alternate route through that stage – serves up a dynamic range of otherworldly landscapes crammed with set-pieces. Sometimes there’s so much going on in the background, from giant, soaring pterodactyls to the heated chambers of star-destroying vessels – that you shouldn’t feel guilty for being distracted. G-Darius is probably the series cinematic pique, exceeding even the more recent Dariusburst in terms of visual creativity.
Darius’s lore in the battle against the aquatic Belsar army is a thing of wonderful aesthetic invention. G-Darius magnifies its robotic nemeses into larger-than-life figures. Boss encounters are far more drawn out than in previous games, and altogether more colossal, requiring you to grit your teeth as dwarfing space crustaceans spit curtains of glowing laser fire at you and drill through an assortment of murderous patterns. Dimension Diver opens up twin portals, peering his head out of one while his tail writhes at the opposite side of the screen; while the mammoth Fire Fossil, a lava red mecha Coelacanth, is so enormous the screen can’t hope to contain her. And the music, though not quite as good as Darius Gaiden’s soundtrack, is still an excellent experimental piece of work by Taito’s in-house Zuntata band, evoking the enigmatic beauty of the game’s marine universe with strange machine-like samples, off-kilter beats, and haunting industrial echoes.
A spectacle of visual ingenuity coupled with ambitious design work, G-Darius hasn’t held back in any area; not least the difficulty. If you were expecting to sit in for the ride, think again. The map, unlike previous games where route difficulty was more scattered, tends to go up for easier stages and down for harder, and the general rule is making sure you grab all power-ups to increase your shield, bomb and laser into a force to be reckoned with. The other rule is don’t die, preferably ever, because doing so drops your firepower by one sub-level which can be catastrophic in the latter half of the game. While it’s possible to recover from a death, it’s not easy, with enemies and bosses being far more resilient to a weaker arsenal. It’s only five stages for a clear regardless of the route you choose, but with G-Darius’s faster bullets and busier screens, it’s imperative that you learn to wield the capture ball and its accompanying bomb and laser utilities.
With this in mind, one omission from the package that’s sorely lacking is a practice mode. M2’s Darius Cozmic Collection had a very robust set of options that allowed you to set up any stage or boss encounter with shields and weaponry of your choosing, and was incredibly useful for learning the game. Because optimal weapon power is a requirement, it doesn’t help to just hit continue, as you’re thrown back into the fray at a disadvantage even with the minor care package it gifts you.
This oversight notwithstanding, this is still the absolute definitive version of G-Darius to-date. Although it’s appeared on several consoles and collections prior, none of them have the polish or feel of this HD upgrade. Skipping from the original version to the high definition is an eye-opener: the equivalent of being underwater and then breaking the surface to see again. The original artist’s work is paid incredible tribute, and their universe – an ocean tank of soaring cliff faces, futuristic technologies, and in one instance, dinosaurs – is a sight to behold. It’s also interesting to see the influence it had on games like Dariusburst and Border Down, and those it drew from Metal Black.
Conclusion
Brush off that arcade-grade resolve and get ready for an old adventure realised in all-new clarity. This is a shoot-em-up experience like few others, and while it has all the genre hallmarks of intensity and adrenaline-inducing action, it binds it with superlative artistry, epic set-pieces, and an alien world as strange as it is wonderful. The sense of incrementally increasing in power and being able to turn the tide against the Belsar is what makes G-Darius so much fun to play. It’s initially threatening, but once you learn the lay of your first route, get powered up, and figure out how to make practical use of your captures and duelling laser, it’s safe to say G-Darius really hits the spot.
Comments 37
I searched the article for the price, but I must have missed it. How much is this game? Is it coming to the west?
NINJA APPROVED
Perhaps a daft question, but are the menus in English or at least simple to navigate?
I used to love this game on PSOne, although it was a struggle on anything higher than the lowest difficulty. Loved beam dueling--so epic when you get it right, but more often than not, I found myself lacking the power. The music, especially for the final bosses like the Embryon, is incredible.
Just waiting for my physical copy from Strictly Limited.
https://store.strictlylimitedgames.com/products/darius-cozmic-revelations-nsw-preorder
@Magician yep, same. A bit pricey compared to some other Strictly Limited titles, but the other Darius collections were worth it.
Also 'patiently' waiting for my physical copy from Strictly Limited!
I hope more classic shoot'em ups are coming to the Switch in the near future. Parodius, Aleste, Axelay, R-Type...
I ordered this like a reflex reaction. G-Darius is superb.
Menus are fairly easy to navigate. Incredible game. Well worth the effort of popping over to Japan!!
@TheLightSpirit Oh joy! Thank you!
NINJA APPROVED
It's 4,180 yen @BloodNinja so about $39.00 US.
@CurryPowderKeg79 Oh! That's not bad, thanks for the tip!
NINJA APPROVED
@StuartGipp - yes, there’s an English language option in the menus. Everything’s in English, from the options menus to the manual and in-game achievements. I have the Japanese physical version but I assume the eShop version is the same. The physical version just seems to install G-Darius and Dariusburst as two separate games, like you’d downloaded them from the eShop.
Still makes me wish the Darius collections were a little more..."complete" than they are for their ridiculous asking prices.
I love Darius to bits but i'm perfectly honest, for these prices, you better offer something emulation doesn't...
Looking forward to receive my SLG copy.
Looking forward to this one. Still siting fir the last collection to go on sale. I’ve seen it drip on the Japanese eshop which gives me some hope
Already bought it and while I totally agree about the practise mode (and the gadgets- could really use boss health bar and zone display) the game is brilliant.
I couldnt resist getting the digital even though i pre-ordered the physical set.
The simplified bezel compared to Capcom’s offer is actually a positive in my eyes as the overly fancy 3D arcade machine outlines is considered a possible cause of the game lags.
Old Darius game from Taito, you say? I have not looked at the price but I will take a stab in the dark. Seven Million US dollars?
Stop this!! Ghosts n Goblins Revelations, R-type Final 2 and now this!
(Never mind the Cosmic Collection!)
My wallet has a horrified look in its eyes...
I’m surprised these games aren’t yet available in the North American eshop but I did order the The Darius Cozmic Revelation games from SL. So at their pace I should receive my games oh sometime in 2022 lol 😂🙄
Sounds great, but just a few weeks ago I took advantage of a brief Steam sale to get the Darius Burst game on there with all the DLC for just above the normal asking price.
(as well as importing the Aleste and Cotton Japanese physical releases)
That's a bit too much money spent on shooters lately.
Didn't pick this up from Japan eShop, I bought Dariusburst EX+AC instead. Might pick this up at a later date as I am not too fond of the low polygon graphics.
@Wavey84 not sure about Darius-G except for ordering through SL like I did. But I’m pretty sure ININ the publisher of some Taito games like Bubble Bobble, Ninja Warriors & Space Invaders could possibly be putting out Cotton Reboot, which I also ordered through SL. I thought I read that on this site.
Btw you’re calling it “Cotton Returns” but it’s Cotton Reboot UNLESS we’re not talking about the same game?? 🤷♂️
@StuartGipp Not in English but they are indeed fairly simple to navigate.
I have Darius Gaiden on the 2nd ps2 Taito collection. It's probably one of my favourite shumps ever. Bio-mechanical sea creatures need to be enemies in more games.
I strongly recommend to go with Strictly Limited Games' physical version of Darius Cozmic Revelation, as it will exclusively contain the Gameboy Sagaia game on top of G Darius and Dariusburst Another Chronicle EX.
I'd like to see a standalone G-Darius HD in the west.
@BloodNinja this is definitely a must buy, since I adore both G-Darius and Darius Gaiden being my favorites in the series.
@Themagusx1 Darius Gaiden is easily one of the top shoot ‘em ups of all time.
@BloodNinja Agreed, and that soundtrack. Wow, is that not an amazing soundtrack?
@Themagusx1 Easily one of the best, they really knocked it out of the park with that OST.
@BloodNinja yep. I love how that music uses jungian vibes for it.
The Version 2 update is great. Article should update it. G Darius Ver. 2, plus Console version, plus more gadgets ( enemy capture HP and boss HP) , practice mode like cozmic collection PLUS Autosave feature in various key points of stage boss fights or branching path points , start of level etc.
@Ishmokin Appreciate the update! This game is discounted on the eShop for another 14 hours, and all those listed fixes sound great. Think I'll buy it.
@madmatt213 go for it . You will not be disappointed
@madmatt213 The Japan version has the update. The western version is coming later but will happen for sure. (If it has not yet)
@madmatt213 Yeah the update is really great. There's quite a lot been added. My favourite being 'Reduce Slowdown', which has made such a difference. I don't mind slowdown in shmups when it's intentional but with G-Darius, it seemed to be hardware related. Now it's super smooth. Fantastic game.
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