Darius+

## Description

_Darius_ was Taito’s effort to compete in the arcades against the likes of
R-Type and Gradius. Technically impressive, it featured three screens
depicting the largest playfield seen in a game so far (the same system was
employed for Ninja Warriors), with the player sitting atop a big set of
loudspeakers. Visually and audibly, it was a league above Irem’s and Konami’s
offerings.

When Taito (and others) ported the game to home machines, they were forced to
shrink the playfield to fit in one single screen, and re-dubbed it _Darius
Plus_.

The plot of _Darius_ involves the two heroes Proco Jr. and Tiat Young fighting
the menaces posed by galactic fish and other sea animals again their
homeworld.

What sets _Darius_ apart from other shoot’em-ups of the time is its way of
letting the player choose his path with a certain amount of freedom. At the
end of each area (level), you are able to choose between one of two worlds
which the area branches into. This renders a higher replay value, since there
are many paths to reach the end of the game by. Apart from this, the gameplay
is on the simplistic side, both due to unimaginative attack waves and little
interaction with the surroundings, but mainly due to the very basic powerup
system, which is nowhere near the complexity of the aforementioned _R-Type’s_
and _Gradius’_.

Darius+