Darius II / Sagaia (GEN/SMS, 1990-92)

PLAYERS: 1

PUBLISHER/DEVELOPER: Taito

GENRE: Shoot-em-up

RELEASE DATE: 12/20/90 – (JP), 04/91 – (EU)

Darius II, or Sagaia as it’s known in the West for some reason, is yet another horizontal shoot-em-up that takes place in space – as if the Genesis needs more of this genre in its life. I remain in awe at how many shoot-em-ups Sega’s 16-bit console received, particularly in its early years. Good news, though. Darius II stands out from the exhausting deluge with solid mechanics and never-before-seen replay value.

In the original Darius, main characters Proco and Tiat (“Taito Corp” spelled backwards) escaped from their home planet Darius before it was destroyed by the Belsar empire. In Darius II, their descendants – Proco Jr. and Tiat Young, now living on the planet Orga – receive a mysterious distress signal from Darius. They travel through the Milky Way, battling the Belsar empire as they attempt to save the remaining Darians from imminent destruction.

Your ship, the Silver Hawk, starts off in the ‘A’ Zone, a sun with a lava floor and solar flares that careen around you. You’re equipped with a single laser and bombs that drop by two underneath your ship. Enemies are almost always grouped together, and you’re given a point bonus if you can destroy the entire group. Little metallic UFO groups bestow different items, like laser upgrades, stronger bombs, a shield that allows you to be hit three additional times, and green lasers that spew vertically from your ship. Two large crustaceans appear at the end and engage you in a boss battle. Defeat them, and you’re whisked away to the screen below.

Just look at that image, friends. Twenty-eight stages! Multiple pathways! Seven different endings! Sure, the original Darius had this branching path feature too – even more astounding, given its 1986 release date – but this is the first we’ve seen of it on a Sega console. You might think that this would give Taito an excuse to slack off and make the stages shorter, but this isn’t the case. You could play through Darius II a variety of ways and it will feel like a complete game each time.

The power of choice is all well and good, but how does she play? Like a dream, for the most part. The Silver Hawk is a quick, easy-to-maneuver ship, and if you hold down ‘A’ and ‘B,’ your weapon and bombs stream out automatically. You’re never overpowered, though, even with several weapon upgrades on your person. Even the smaller enemies can take a couple hits to kill, to say nothing of the occasional large fishes or octopi that function as minibosses.

Like most shoot-em-ups, Darius II will make your cheeks clench. The garden variety enemies are strong and bosses grow increasingly tougher with each stage (screw you, brain helmet that took ten minutes to kill). The Silver Hawk is fast, but she’s also large. Avoiding enemy fire is a real concern, particularly when groups of enemies bum rush the screen, spray a mist of projectiles at you, then fly away. Because of your size, at times it feels impossible to avoid the onslaughts, which lends the game a slight unfairness. You’re given shields fairly often, which eliminates some of the pressure to avoid every stray projectile, but you shouldn’t have to rely on a shield to constantly succeed.

I blame the porting process. The arcade version was presented in two-screen and three-screen versions, which gave not only a wider field of view, but also more space for the Silver Hawk to move around. When the game was ported to the Genesis (and the Master System), the action had to be condensed into one screen – understandable, as few would have been willing to rubberband two TVs together for that authentic look. The Silver Hawk’s sprite wasn’t shrunk enough to account for the change, making it difficult to avoid everything the game throws at you.

Concessions aside, the Genesis port looks and plays fantastic, given the circumstances. The soundtrack is phenomenal and alternates between rock jams and moody atmosphere. The gunplay can be cheap at times, but it’s rewarding and addicting enough that you’ll want to power through it to see the end (or ends). Likewise, the lack of a two-player mode is disappointing, but if you enjoy the game, there’s plenty of it to keep you occupied. Darius II doesn’t break the space shoot-em-up mold, but its consistently higher quality elevates it above the more common, mediocre Genesis shmups. Your move, Technosoft.

B+

PLAYERS: 1

PUBLISHER/DEVELOPER: Taito (port by Natsume)

RELEASE DATE: 06/92 – (EU)

There are many misguided ports on the Master System, but Darius II isn’t one of them. It looks and sounds great, and plays more aggressively. From the first stage on, enemies bombard you with fire. In the options menu, the default difficulty is Easy, and you should stick with that. I chose Normal and got my cheeks handed to me.

Of course, Natsume had to rearrange some features to make sure the game could function. The Silver Hawk now fires vertically without the need for upgrades. There are twelve stages instead of twenty-eight, due to space limitations. Boss fights are also fought on a black screen, separated from the level itself.

You should absolutely not choose this port over the Genesis version (or the Saturn version, probably), but the quality of Darius II on the retirement-age Master System can not be denied. A bronze medal for Natsume.

B-