Battle of the Ports - Darius II ダライアスII (Show #56) 60fps

[@BLKBRDSR71]

The bosses on the Master System are HUGE! PC Engine is a close second.

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

Saturn Power gave this 28% and a very sarcastic comment about it being just the type of game to persuade people to buy a Saturn for and you could put the £30 asking price to much better use. Total plop was the closing statement.

[@RetroCore]

Total plop is how I would describe Sega Power. That was a turd magazine right from the begining. Wasn't that the mag which used digitising software so all screen shots looked as blocky as hell?

[@dirkb9788]

I am again amazed by the Master System version.

[@RetroCore]

That's the power of Natsume for you.

[@marioghernandez4960]

Lovin' the series. It all started with G Darius, the first game chronologically.

[@SuperHighTechGamer]

8-bit the Master System version rocks! It actually impresses me more than the MD.

[@RetroCore]

It is good, isn't it. That's the great skills of Natsume for you.

[@TheTukTuk2008]

All look crazy good for what they run on! ❤️love the old stuff, really!

[@jbmaru]

Impressive sinusoidal scrolling deformation on the SMS!

[@RetroCore]

Yes, the master system surprised me with its 4 layers of parallax scrolling.

[@SIDEKICKDUSTY]

Bravo! Really excellent video, man. Thanks for putting all that together. When you announced the Battle of the Ports series I remember thinking that this is one of the ones I wanted to see. Even though I am terrible at Sagaia, it's one of my favorite Genesis shmups. Playing an actual Darius II multi-screen arcade machine is on my "bucket list" of things I wanna experience before I die.

[@RetroCore]

Thanks Sidekickdusty. I'm glad that you are liking the show.

[@104d_3rr0r_vince]

WTF!!?!? Master System is awesome!

[@RetroCore]

Yep, it sure is. The Master System was pretty powerful compared to the NES. Just a shame Sega didn't have good 3rd parties like Konami working on it. It's a far better bit of hardware than the NES plus the japanese version has the FM sound too so it even sounds better.

[@104d_3rr0r_vince]

Retro Core I had a gamegear, I still have it though and 2 more now but yes I prefered sega than nintendo.

[@dirkb9788]

The Master System version looks and sounds better then the Mega Drive version in my opinion.

[@RetroCore]

I don't know about better but it sure is an impressive port for the Master System.

[@rorydropkick]

Awesome. Darius II is a great game and one that regrettably I have not been able to play in an arcade setting. I was very jealous when my friend went to Japan this past year and got to play it over at HEY. Say PaPa has to be one of my favorite Darius tracks, it's got such a great buildup.

[@RetroCore]

I played the 3 screen arcade once in Fukuoka Taito land. Man, it was a fantastic experience plus they had the volume wacked up high.

[@parallaxcraze958]

I am a huge Darius fan. Started with Darius Gaiden on Saturn which is my favorite game in the serie but when I discovered Darius II on Mega Drive I was instantly hooked, such a good shooter with perfect gameplay and awesome music! They also managed to reproduce the best they could the ratio of the arcade game by using the Mega Drive standard resolution of 320x224 pixels with added black bars at the top/bottom of the screen and the result looks great. The Master System port is also excellent and is even quite an achievement. The PC Engine CD "version" is not bad, some of its remixed music are great IMO and some bosses look good but on other hand everything is too zoomed in + it runs in the standard PC Engine resolution, 256x224 pixels, so you feel cramped compared to the Mega Drive port.

[@RetroCore]

I was actually playing Darius Gaiden last night. Such a fantastic shooter for the Saturn and one that isn't too expensive.

[@RetroTuna]

That's really good on the saturn.

[@RetroCore]

Retro Tuna It sure is but have you seen Darius Gaiden on the PlayStation? It's terrible. I mean, it's really poor. You should check it out if you get the chance.

[@parallaxcraze958]

+Retro Core Darius Gaiden Saturn > PlayStation version. But there aren't only good stuff in the Darius universe, Darius Twin on SNES is mediocre and worst of all: Darius+ on Amiga, lol, now this is an odd one xD

[@TheKayliedGamerChannel-YouTube]

Retro Core Yeah PS1 was pretty rubbish at 2D period. G Darius on PS1 (poly shooter) is better.. but suffers from some various slowdowns :-(

[@SikSlayer]

The Super CD version looks smoother (animation wise) than the Mega Drive port, but that seems to me to be because its zoomed in further. I wonder what a Mega CD port would have been like.

[@RetroCore]

Yeah, the PCE version does look smoother but as you say I think that's because of the zoomed in view. The Mega Drive version is more zoomed out which as a result leaves everything looking smaller. I do love the soundtrack on the MD version though. Sounds very close to the arcade version.

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

@@RetroCore That PC Engine port looks like a fake game made by someone who wants to show off their pixel art. It was a surprise to learn they actually made a solid game despite making you such a big target, with little room to move.

[@darkerfalcon3747]

​@@juststatedtheobvious9633Fake Game? Uhh... I don't understand. Have you tried on MAME playing Darius II and set the screen to (4:3) left. Well, that's the same result of the PC Engine Super CD but it was optimized for the TV 4:3 standard and it works better.

[@pinmike8666]

I've heard the Game Boy port of Saigia was pretty good. BTW, considering you are in Japan, did you ever get to play the Darius Burst arcade game? I've heard it's one of the best Darius games.

[@RetroCore]

The GameBoy Darius is good but it's not darius II which is why I left it out of this video. I remember playing G-darius in the arcade back in the late 90's but don't remember ever playing Darius Burst,

[@gabrielloko30000]

Ohh and by the way, Darius II on Master System have the blessing of being also progammed by Tec Toy! A brazillian company branched of Sega

[@RetroCore]

I'm pretty sure it was programed by Natsume.

[@gabrielloko30000]

Whaaaaat? Natsume? Dang my life was a lie

[@dunnono00]

"A" Zone? _So_ over. I was surprised to see how much bigger some of those bosses looked in the Master System version. The pink fish one particularly stands out.

[@RetroCore]

The master system version actually uses the background plain for the bosses. This way they can be massive since they're not actual sprites. Quite a nice trick really.

[@CanadianPenny]

@@RetroCore Just need to make the rest of the background a black void; works quite well, for the transition to blackness helps highlight the boss fight as something special, epic even.

[@msolom9521]

I think the "unzoom" mode is the best way to play home version of Darius (take a look on darius chronicles ex) ... The master system is just impressive. Just a question, did Zuntata compose the PC ENGINE arrange soundtrack ? Thx for the video

[@RetroCore]

Thanks for watching. I'm pretty sure that Zuntata did compose the arranged music for the PC Engine version.

[@JudgmentStorm]

@@RetroCore The PC Engine soundtrack is arranged by T's Music, who also did Final Fight's Sega CD arrangements.

[@doctorx0079]

You have to adjust your MAME settings to make the subwoofer sound come out correctly. Otherwise it makes that annoying buzz noise.

[@RetroCore]

I see, I'll look in to that. thanks for the tip.

[@kungfublob5951]

how do you do that?

[@doctorx0079]

KungFuBlob There's a command line option but I forgot what it is

[@gabrielloko30000]

To be fair...the music on the MD version is( at least for me) superior for the arcade...is not exotic like the arcade, but have is own fell, i mean Olga Brezee without Tuna Sashimi is actualy pretty good!

[@celebrategout1008]

the SMS Darius port actually made me start respecting it's capabilities. It's a tie between the MD and SMS for me

[@RetroCore]

The Master System port is very impressive. Just a shame more companies never made as much effort.

[@DanielAyy]

Question: I notice that you usually call the consoles by their Japanese variants (Mega drive, PC engine, Famicom etc) but I can see that you call it the Master system (which I believe was only U.S and EU) instead of It's Japanese variant the Mark III. Why is that? Is it because Master system is more recognisable than Mark III?

[@RetroCore]

I do live in Japan 😊. Mega Drive is actually the true name for the genesis. Only in America is it called a Genesis. Europe, Asia, Australia and South America call it the Mega Drive 😉. The same goes for the PC Engine. I call the SNES a Super Famicom because thats what I owned. I've never actually owned a SNES. The Master System was released I Japan in 1987. It is called a Master System here too. The Mark III was the console that came before it. What's ironic is that the western Master System is just a Mark III in a new case while the Japanese Master System has the FM chip installed as well as rapid fire and 3D glasses support on the console without the need for any adapters.

[@SEGARetroBR]

What a nice video! I'm preparing a review for the Mega Drive version for my channel (it's in Portuguese, sorry), and I wanted to show the differences between other versions. May I use your video to show some footage of other ports? I'll credit you, of course.

[@RetroCore]

Sure, no problem but please do give credit.

[@SEGARetroBR]

Sure thing! Thanks!

[@SEGARetroBR]

Here it is! I'm sorry it's not in English... kzbin.info/www/bejne/a6q2l6amibFmhKc

[@therangersrule68]

Is that hi-res mode in the Saturn version interlaced?

[@RetroCore]

Only the character image, map screen and title screen are in high resolution. They probably are interlaced but I couldn't say for sure.

[@gurriato]

Sagaia for the Mega Drive is the only Darius game I actually like.

[@solarflare9078]

The MD port is definitely more forgiving in the fact you keep more of your power than the arcade version. The looser difficulty is quite comparable to Gradius 3 arcade vs SNES

[@RetroTuna]

I love the Darius games i was lucky enough to play in the arcade on both 3 screen and 2 cabs also played the original game as well, i really rate MegaDrive version over the other conversions as the screen size is just set perfect, the saturn game is amazing but its a nightmare to get the screen right and when you do you always feel like your missing part of the screen if you know what i mean. The arcade one looks amazing on the 3 screen cab but it was along time ago i played it, i would love to play darius burst ex that game look fantastic in the arcade you ever seen that where you are?.

[@RetroCore]

I've played Darius II on the 3 screen cab in Taito world, Fukuoka Japan but have never actually seen the 2 screen on in real life. I know just what you mean about the Saturn port. Even though it looks great when you get the screen set right you always feel that you want to see more :)

[@RetroTuna]

We need a good port of darius burst ex on the ps4 or xbone come on taito make it happen you know you want to.

[@RetroCore]

Retro Tuna If only they would. I'd love that as a hard copy.

[@RobertHoellering1977]

What are your thoughts on Darius twin?

[@RetroCore]

Pretty boring to be honest. I don't think either of the Super Famicom Darius games are that good. They're average at best in my opinion.

[@RobertHoellering1977]

I only thought there was only one game

[@RetroCore]

In the US the second game was called Super Nova for some reason.

[@CanadianPenny]

Hope Japan has a wide range of beers on offer and not just Sapporo type beers. I know I'd start to miss a good, crisp IPA after a while.

[@RetroCore]

There's a local IPA bar so no worries ther.

[@YukkuRim]

There is not Play Station2's version.(TAITO memories2 上巻 Eternal Hits) I have this. however, the ver.PS2 have very serious lag of control. Maybe...It's about 5～6 flames. It's no playable. I'm so sad.('A`) BTW, DARIUS's ship's name is "Silver Hawk". Proco and Tiat are pilot's name. You may have already known it

[@RetroCore]

+YukkuRim I have all the Taito Memories now too but when I made this video I did not own them. Here are my Taito Memories games - i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p791/mes1975jp/DSC_0141_zpsjid8dgrk.jpg Yes, that's right. Proco and Tiat are the pilots names.-

[@Bloodreign1]

+YukkuRim ゆっくりゲームチャンネル I have all 4 Taito releases from Japan, they may not be perfect, but they are a godsend. The US/Europe Taito releases have many problems with them, the Japanese releases came out better. Of course Darius 2 did not come to the west on any of the compilations, but in Japan, it did, and one reason why I got the superior Japanese Taito compilations.

[@Bloodreign1]

YukkuRim ゆっくりゲームチャンネル No I haven't, and I don't own a PS4, but those 2 games are good. Odd how Ninja Warriors and Pop N Pop did not make the Taito Memories collections. Pop N Pop did make the PC and X-Box Taito Legends 2.

[@doctorx0079]

Yay!

[@doctorx0079]

Too bad it's so bad. Glad I didn't buy it. Oh well, back to MAME for me! If you hook up your PC to a 40-inch HDTV you can play it the same size as the original arcade machine. If you use a larger TV it will be even bigger than the arcade! I did the math. If the original used three 13-inch TV's at 4:3, the same size image will fit into a 40-inch TV at 13:9.

[@MaoRatto]

Retro Core..... You should have mentioned how good the sega master system version's graphics are! There is 2 players of parralax scrolling, extremely good use of color and big sprites! It looks almost like a 16-bit game! If it was on game gear... I would bet it would look like the genesis version!

[@RetroCore]

I thought I did? I can't be sure without watching the video again. But, yes the Master System version is pretty impressive.

[@MaoRatto]

Retro Core It could pass of as an Early Genesis game though. :)

[@RetroCore]

Well, maybe it's not that good :) it is mighty impressive no less. Did you know that Natsume developed the Mega Drive and Master System Ports.

[@MaoRatto]

Retro Core No wonder the port is great.

[@dersandy]

+Quinn The Quartz The first time i played Sagaia was on a Game Gear Multicart (which was obviously the MS version) and YES the Graphics look absolutely stunning on the old old, blurry LCD screen! Also i think Sagaia adds one of the best Soundtracks to the MS Library!

[@averageradiantreplays7702]

The name Sagaia is surely amazingly weird, because the name went in the GameBoy game of Darius... It's still not as confusing as trying to name "RayForce", which has to be Taito's most renamed game, is ridiculous, but yes, Taito went under that name because of that god and wanted to avoid Religious crap. Also, I strongly consider an oddity the SMS port is just European only I mean... Is developed by Japanese devs, based on a Japanese game, to be realesed and distributed by Japanese devs and outside of Japan... SMS is seriously some really weird console if we think some facts, it's not a bad thing, just surely a perfect thing to even laugh a bit to consider how popular it was on BR/EU to the point Japanese devs realese games to those countrys. Btw, how expensive it's the port nowadays on the SAT version? I can perfectly play MAME on my 21:9 monitor I'm using and the game fits 100% there, but I at least want to make my Taito collection as big as I can, and is a good port on it's own too, not exactly perfect due to the resolution things, but is seriously playable, one of the few games playing on new televisions (With Upscalers obviously) get's benefited by stretching the screen, I will see how good I can play it on a 4:3 CRT. Also, the sound errors this game gets (Alongside so many Taito tittles like Ninja Warriors) on MAME, is due to the BodySoniq thing Taito uses as an amplifier, it was never really emulated and that's why the "Vibration" those amplifiers do, creates fart sounds, if you check the "Slider Options" on mame for each game, you will see 2 "YMxxx" sliders, turn them all the way down, and Bodysoniq gets disabled, the sounds effects will still be there, but they will not attempt to vibrate anymore. Thanks for the comparison bro, PCE CD is surely a travesty to me at least, OST is really good sure, but I'm not one of those that considers it a "Better OST" in my opinion, is worse, Zuntata was never a rock or such music band, it was all about of atmospheric and abstract music, it's funny considering only American people considers it to be better but... oh well.

[@31leoceara]

Thank you for the BodySoniq disabling tip. Works great!

[@marioghernandez4960]

What's up with your text auto correct?

[@RetroCore]

It's a Japanese phone so it's has strange predictions at times. Plus I type really fast on it which doesn't help.

[@marioghernandez4960]

That explains the horrible grammar...

[@BakkerSamuel]

What about the ps4 version?

[@RetroCore]

Either it wasn't released when this video was made or its just an emulation of the Arcade ROM. I can't remember which.

[@Tempora158]

You wrote ダライアス in the title, but still pronounce it Da-REE-us in the video. Oversight?

[@RetroCore]

Well spotted. The correct pronunciation would be DaRaiUs so the katakana is correct. However I've always called it Daree-us :)

[@Tempora158]

"Da-REE-us" is an Anglophone thing, like how Carry-O-Kee is the Anglophone's karaoke. Taito chose the the truer pronunciation of Darius in this case. They should make a compilation of these games and have an announcer pronounce "Darius" so its pronunciation is settled once and for all, like how a certain movie taught kids how to pronounce "Ninja Gaiden."

[@RetroCore]

GAIDEN is another that many people get wrong as you say. I actually can speak Japanese so I know the correct pronunciations but for some words like Darius I choose to say them the wrong way. Not good I know :( still, I say Karate, karaoke and Gaiden the correct Japanese way :) or at least I do when speaking to a Japanese person apart from Gaiden which I always pronounce correctly :) Actually, a Darius collection would be amazing. I'd sure buy it. 

[@wrena79]

I can understand, to a degree, changing the ost on the super cd version as one can assume that the developers were looking to take advantage of the cd hardware ( probably still should of left it anyway as you have to love the Zuntata original ) but why change-up some of the bosses?? Just seems bizarre.

[@RetroCore]

I guess the boss change was to make it more "Super" darius :) Can't say I really like all of the new bosses. Some of them are nice but some are just meh.

[@wrena79]

Yeah I guess that makes sense. Makes me wonder if it's worth picking up the 'super' version as I have darius 2 for the saturn and for that reason held off?

[@RetroCore]

I don't see any reason at all unless you want the new music. As a game it's not as good as the Saturn version.

[@Bloodreign1]

+wrena79 The funny thing is, Super Darius 1 kept the original arcade tunes in without remixes, to me that sold me on that game. The remixes on SD 2 totally turned me off to the game.

[@GlenLehane]

I wonder why there were no home computer ports? Not even in Japan?

[@RetroCore]

I guess none of the systems of the time could handle it?

[@GlenLehane]

@@RetroCore it did look pretty flashy. Although, I am surprised that there isn't an X68000 or FM Towns version. I think with the right development team, the Amiga and ST could have gotten something decent from this, even 8 bit versions minus the trappings could have worked. Also an MS DOS version. Maybe the Darius franchise wasn't well known enough in the West, though that still doesn't explain why there's no X68000 or FM Towns ports. Oh well.

[@TheKayliedGamerChannel-YouTube]

"I always wanted a thing called tuna sasimi" :D Got the JP Sega MegaDrive and JP Saturn releases :-) Such an awesome game - one of Taito's best imo :-) Real shame they never released Ninja Warriors on the MD / Saturn :(

[@RetroCore]

The released Ninja Warriors on the Mega CD.

[@TheKayliedGamerChannel-YouTube]

Retro Core Yeah, would have been better on PC Engine CDRom as more [Japanese] people would have bought it - and it would have been more colourful :D

[@wrena79]

Ninjawarriors was released on the pc engine

[@TheKayliedGamerChannel-YouTube]

wrena79 Yeah - thanks I meant PCE CDRom - I got it on HuCard its a good conversion - tho' it would have been brilliant with the CD soundtrack. The pce chip-tune soundtrack is pretty good tho' tbh.

[@wrena79]

The SNES 'sequel' is one of my favourite SNES scrolling fighters. Great game!

[@erectro3593]

I have MD version. It looks poor but very nice pley feeding.

[@RetroCore]

It looks poor now but back in the day it was the best home port available.

[@LeShark75]

I much prefer the Original Darius Arcade game, Darius II isn't bad but it isn't the original.

[@RetroCore]

For me it's the other way around.

[@Bloodreign1]

Versions of Darius II/Sagaia releases I own: PS2 Saturn Genesis Master System Yes I love Darius II, but hated the damned rename given to the Genesis, SMS, and Gameboy releases. The GB version seems to be a unique bugger, it isn't Darius II at all. Other Darius games I have: Darius Gaiden on Saturn, PC, and PS2 (twice) G Darius on PS1 and PS2(twice) Darius Twin SNES Super Nova aka Darius Force SNES, a game accidentally sent to me when I bought it online from a buddy (purchased Gunstar Heroes, Sparkster SNES, and Battletoads Double Dragon SNES, Super Nova was a huge accidental surprise). Best mistake ever!

[@RetroCore]

+Bloodreign1 You can never have too much Darius. Personal games I own are G.Darius on the PSX, Darius Gaiden on the Saturn, Darius II on the saturn and Mega Drive and Darius Twin and Force for the Super Famicom. I used to have one of the PC Engine CD games too but sold that long ago.

[@Bloodreign1]

Retro Core I still want Darius Gaiden on PS1, which people consider terrible, and is expensive to boot, and the GB Sagaia, which is alright.

[@RetroCore]

Bloodreign1 DariusGarden on the PlayStation is bloody awful. It's got awful slow down, Jerky screen transitions and lacks many effects seen in the Arcade and Saturn versions. It's to be expected though since Interbec or just bec as they became were the ones behind the port. Everything with their name on is rubbish.

[@Bloodreign1]

Retro Core Perhaps Taito or Ving should have handled the port, things would've turned out better.

[@RetroCore]

Possibly but it still wouldn't have been as good as the Saturn version due to technical reasons. Similar to how Rock man X4 on the Saturn has far more effects. There's a Chinese guy that covers this in one of his videos -kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJCylJuFi8SKesk Darius Gaiden is actually featured in this video. I suggest you watch with the subtitles on as even though this is the English version it can be a little difficult to understand. It is a very good and well put together video.Bloodreign1

[@Maru96]

Agh the PCE port, it looks pretty but the screen is way too cluttered, and it's not really a port but a remix.

[@cryofwill1416]

There's was a game like this that has different "ships" that you can choose one blue, one pink, another one green and another one. I don't remember the name of the game :( and I want to play it. You could have an "option" to have additional tiny shooter with you that looks like a piece of garbage ahaha. If someone can help me find it out pls 😢

[@RetroCore]

Sounds like Darius Force on the SFC / SNES.

[@cryofwill1416]

@@RetroCore it was hellfire for the genesis

[@chenmaxi1220]

Actually this game was in the taito memorial collection for ps2 and is arcade perfect.

[@RetroCore]

That's because it is emulated.

[@RussiaGoodFantastic]

wrong the PS2 version on Taito collection is the best version, i played the Saturn version losing 60% of resolution not good.

[@datamanmachine]

Russia Good shutup🖕

[@RussiaGoodFantastic]

nope its the truth

[@doctorx0079]

An emulation, not a port. You need a Japanese PS2 or region-free PS2 to play it.

[@RussiaGoodFantastic]

Yet it performs better than the port and is on the disc

[@doctorx0079]

Okay but this is only about ports.

[@jessragan6714]

I didn't like the Saturn version of Sagaia. I felt like it flew too close to the sun and got burned. Instead of making the necessary compromises to make it work on a single screen, it tried to have it both ways, giving you the detail of the arcade game, OR the amount of space necessary to anticipate and dodge attacks. It's too frustrating to play it zoomed in, and too scrunched and ugly to play it zoomed out.

[@RetroCore]

Play it zoomed out on a wide screen then use the TV settings to zoom the image in. Looks nice if using RGB video.

[@kotjr9074]

Darius 2 на smd в разы лучший чем оригинал с neo geo.