Darius (ARC)

Darius

Platform: Arcade Year: 1986 Developer: Taito Corporation

Darius (ダライアス) is a horizontal shoot-'em-up released in 1986 by Taito. It is well known for being quite revolutionary to shoot-'em-ups and arcade games in general for its time, being the first of three games (before Darius II and The Ninja Warriors) to use a complex setup of monitors and mirrors to create a three-screen widescreen display. The gameplay itself offers nothing special, but the game is different in its level select system, where players can decide on numerous different paths to play along, along with different endings for every final level choice.

Screenshots

The title screen.

This page needs more screenshots.

Music

Darius' soundtrack is composed by the founder of Taito's in-house band Zuntata, Hisayoshi Ogura. Ogura has stated he "composed with the idea of "a large existence" (that of both the giant bosses and the expansiveness of the universe) in mind." In fact, the main theme of the game, Chaos ~Main Theme~, is notable for being extremely avant-garde for the time period, and was called "Big Bang" during the composition process.

Hisayoshi Ogura is credited with being the sole composer for the game in the Darius Premium Box -Rebirth- album, and it is unknown what role the other people listed in the game's credits had with the game. The first stage theme, Captain Neo, is actually a remix of the attract music for another Taito game, Metal Soldier Isaac II.

Recording

#	Title	Composer	Length	Listen	Download
01	Insert Coin A	Hisayoshi Ogura	0:01		Download
02	Captain Neo	Hisayoshi Ogura, Tadashi Kimijima	1:45		Download
03	Warning!	Hisayoshi Ogura	0:16		Download
04	Boss 1	Hisayoshi Ogura	1:18		Download
05	Round Clear	Hisayoshi Ogura	0:52		Download
06	Inorganic Beat	Hisayoshi Ogura	2:46		Download
07	Boss 2	Hisayoshi Ogura	1:13		Download
08	Cosmic Air Way	Hisayoshi Ogura	2:48		Download
09	Boss 3	Hisayoshi Ogura	1:26		Download
10	Chaos ~Main Theme~	Hisayoshi Ogura	3:33		Download
11	Boss 4	Hisayoshi Ogura	0:52		Download
12	The Sea	Hisayoshi Ogura	3:23		Download
13	Boss 5	Hisayoshi Ogura	1:06		Download
14	Insert Coin B	Hisayoshi Ogura	0:02		Download
15	Boss 6	Hisayoshi Ogura	1:02		Download
16	Boss 7	Hisayoshi Ogura	2:41		Download
17	Ending	Hisayoshi Ogura	1:41		Download
18	Name	Hisayoshi Ogura	0:55		Download
19	Over	Hisayoshi Ogura	0:03		Download

Credits

• Ripper: N/A
• Recorder: banshiryuu
• Game Credits:
  • Music Composed And Arranged By: Yasuhiko Tanaka
  • Music Composed And Arranged By: Hisayoshi Ogura
  • Music Composed And Arranged By: Naoto Yagishita
  • Music Composed And Arranged By: Tsukasa Nakamura
  • Music Composed And Arranged By: Eikichi Takahashi
  • Music Composed And Arranged By: Masahiko Takagi

Source verification is needed.

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Game Rip

This rip is missing songs.

Format	Download
	N/A

This recording was made via wav output through Hoot.

A VGM rip of this does exist, however it does not emulate the MSM5205 chip and as such none of the songs play properly. (Just listen to the VGM of Inorganic Beat...)

Audio Devices

The game uses two YM2203 chips (clocked at 4 MHz) and one MSM5205 chip (clocked at 384 KHz) for sound. The MSM5205 chip is featured prominently in the songs Inorganic Beat and Chaos ~Main Theme~.

Releases

Japan Title: ダライアス (Darius) Platform: Arcade Released: 1986-??-?? Publisher: Taito Corporation

Links

• gamefaqs.com/arcade/584102-darius - GameFAQs.
• w.atwiki.jp/gamemusicbest100/pages/58.html - Atwiki.jp (Japanese).