As I’ve mentioned before, there has been a rise in the release of classic/retro game compilations/collections over the past few years. Some of them are really good, some not so much. But even if the game isn’t your cup of tea, the fact that you are able to play it without having shell out a ton of cash for a cart or in some cases an arcade machine, is a great aspect of the collection. Speaking of which, we are taking a look at a just released collection of one of the most influential shoot em’ ups in gaming history. That collection is the Darius Cozmic Collection Arcade for the Nintendo Switch.
Arcade shmup goodness
Arcade originals and their various iterations/updates- As I mentioned many times, the great thing about arcade collections/compilations is that you are able to play and experience these games once again in the comfort of your home (or on the road in the case of the Switch). Mainly because arcades (at least in the US) are very rare. Even rarer are Darius arcade machines due to the fact that they have two to three screens built into the cabinet and cost up to $4,000 each. So the next best thing is this collection, which features seven different versions of Darius: the original Darius, Darius New Version, Darius Extra Version, Darius II Dual Screen Version, Sagaia Version I, Sagaia Version II and Darius Gaiden. If this seems a bit confusing (and it is, more on that in a bit) here’s the breakdown: Darius New Version and Extra Version are updates to the original Darius. Darius II Dual Screen Version is as its say: it’s the dual screen version of the game. As for Sagaia Version I and Version II, these are actually updated version of Darius II but made for the Western market and renamed for some strange reason. Darius Gaiden is the third entry to the series.
You may be thinking “So the updated versions are the same game right?”. Well yes and no. Yes the updated versions of Darius and Darius II are technically similar to their original games. I say technically because each of the updated versions sports different changes such as lower/higher boss difficulty, different enemy patters, higher power up drop rate and various different changes. Think of it like Street Fighter II and how it received various updates and revisions.
Spectacular sprite work- I love sprite artwork. More specifically I love arcade sprite work. There’s something about an image not just being created pixel by pixel, but also animating it and making it move smoothly. The Darius arcade games have some of the most amazing looking sprite work: from the various detail backdrops to the various enemy and boss designs. If you look closely, a majority of the enemy and boss designs are aquatic in nature which give them a more alien feel than if they were what we traditionally thing of aliens. The backdrops are my favorite. Not only are they beautiful to look at but they help give the games a sense of speed as there is always some type of movement going on, be it flames of a fire planet or the waves in the depths of an ocean planet.
Awesome soundtrack- It’s amazing what arcade composers of the 80’s and 90’s were able to create with such limited technology at the time. Actually some of my favorite musical tracks come from shmups. There’s Raiden, Strikers 1945, Samurai Aces, Area 88/UN Squadron (though that’s a console game) and now Darius. Each of the three games (Sagaia V1 and V2 are technically Darius II) have some really killer soundtracks. Even the track that plays in the main menu sounds great, giving off a chill space opera vibe. It sucks though that there is no jukebox or sound options to be able to listen to each of the tracks outside of the games.
Customizable “dip switch” options- For those who don’t know what the term “dip switch” is, a dip switch is a small bank of switches that are commonly used to affect the behavior of an electronic device for specific situations. For arcade machines, these would control how many credits are given, how many lives players start with, the point value needed for an extra life, difficulty and other settings. In console arcade compilation games those are considered “extra options” or are combined with the regular/universal game options. Most arcade compilations don’t have these “extra options’ but luckily the Darius arcade collection has these options. You can remap what the buttons do, how fast is the turbo button, toggle the turbo button on and off, how many starting lives, aspect ratios, and other typical options that are found in the arcade dip switches. Have access to these arcade options are great for creating a personalized experience. You can even pick if you’re player one or player two. One of my favorite options is the ability to customize the HUD with numbers you usually don’t seen on the screen. More on that next.
Customizable HUD- Now in the physical arcade versions of the various Darius games, all that was displayed was the score, high-score, remaining credits, power-up levels and that’s about it. In the Darius arcade collection you not only have the option show all of that, but you also have the option to show numbers that are not usually displayed. These include timers of when boss enemies transform, their HP, the scaling of the difficulty as you progress through the game, shield strength, next zone info and even an analyzer that displays weak points and their HP. Now to some this might be a bit of an information overload, but for those who are chasing after top placement on the leaderboards this information is really valuable. They can see where they need to shoot at a boss, see how much HP it has left, decide if they need to shoot down enemies to keep the difficulty down, and decide which zone to pick ahead of time. There’s even cool graphics that show artwork from the arcade machine that shows how to play the game. If have all of this on screen at once is annoying or overwhelming, you can easily toggle each item off.
Local and global leaderboards and replays- What’s an arcade game without the high-score leaderboards. Nothing gives the feeling of “Just one more time” like chasing the top spot. Each version of Darius has their own individual local leaderboard and global online leaderboard. Not only that, there are two versions of the leaderboards: one using the default arcade settings and one that takes into consideration if you adjust any of the games’ base settings such as changing the amount of lives, the point value need to earn extra lives, difficulty level etc.
Now when looking at the rankings, both local and global, do you ever wonder how the top players managed to make it to the top. Or have you ever wonder how, say a friend, got a better score than you and they’re terrible? Well wonder no more because in addition to the leaderboard, you can also check out other players’ replays. This will let you see how other players went through the game and what they did. This is a really great feature for those who like to plan out their runs to be the most efficient as they can.
Busted button
No extra content- It’s kind of disappointing that the Darius arcade collection doesn’t have any type of extra content to view. By extra content I mean galleries, soundtest/jukebox, some kind of unlockables etc. With a game with so much history, you would think the developers would want to show off some images or music from the game.
Game representation is a bit misleading- This one right here I had a hard time of trying to come up with a simple way to explain what I mean by misleading. See, the collection advertises itself as having four Darius arcade games. And that’s technically true, there are four Darius arcade games. So what’s the issue? Well the collection pulls a Street Fighter II. See Street Fighter II over the years has had many updates and revisions, ie World Warriors, Super Turbo, Hyper Fighting, etc. The same goes for the Darius arcade collection. At first look you see seven games and might think, “Oh cool seven different games”. When in reality its three games. There the first Darius and its two versions, Darius II and its two versions made for the Western market re-branded as Sagaia (thus the claim of four games), and then there’s Darius Gaiden with no extra versions. And while the games that have multiple versions look and play the same as their original versions, that does not mean the experience is the same. Enemy patterns are changed, stages shorted, boss difficulty raised and so on. Now this isn’t a slight or a knock against the collection, just more of a PSA/heads up when considering buying the game.
The Darius Cozmic Collection Arcade is a great addition to the ever growing library of arcade compilation games. The music is cool, the sprite work awesome. The ability to tailor the arcade experience to your liking makes it easy to enjoy them and being able to customize the HUD with properties that have been previously regulated to hidden is a great touch.
Do note that there are technically four games (three if you count Sagaia as apart of Darius II) two of which have two different versions of the originals. And besides the informational text when choosing a game to launch, there is no extra content. If you don’t mind those minor flaws and are looking for some great arcade shmup action, then the Darius Cozmic Collection Arcade is a great addition to any arcade and shmup lover’s collection.
