Darius (video game)
Darius is a 1987 horizontal-scrolling shooter arcade game developed and published by Taito. Players control a starship named the Silver Hawk in its mission to destroy the Belser empire before they wipe out the planet Darius. Its gameplay involves traversing through a series of scrolling levels while destroying enemies and collecting power-up icons. It is notable for its unique three-screen panoramic display, upbeat soundtrack, and cute anime-influenced graphics.
| Darius | |
|---|---|
Japanese promotional flyer | |
| Developer(s) | Taito |
| Publisher(s) | Taito |
| Designer(s) | Junji Yarita, Akira Fujita |
| Programmer(s) | Toru Sugawara |
| Artist(s) | Junji Yarita |
| Composer(s) | Hisayoshi Ogura |
| Series | Darius |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Amiga, Atari ST, Game Boy Advance, PC Engine, PlayStation 4, ZX Spectrum, Mobile phone |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Horizontal-scrolling shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
The game was designed by a small team of others led by Junji Yarita. In contrast to other similar games, which feature mechanical or insect-like enemies, Darius uses aquatic creatures like fish and crabs for its enemies and screen-filling bosses. Its large arcade cabinet, based on Taito's earlier panoramic display game Laser Grand Prix (1983), was designed to provide a cinematic atmosphere and stand out from other games at the time. The upbeat soundtrack was created by Taito's "house band" Zuntata, the majority being composed through a combination of FM synthesis and sampling.