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D A R I U S F O R C E
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FAQ By Logan Hodge...Version 2...10/7/2001
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This guide Copyright 2001, Logan Hodge. Any copying or reproduction of
the guide is prohibited. If you want to put this on your site IN IT'S
CURRENT FORM and be notified of updates, follow the instructions at the
very bottom of the FAQ. Otherwise, don't touch it, don't tamper with
it, just read it and enjoy. :)
This FAQ is best viewed in Courier New font, size 10.
If this is lined up, then you are viewing it correctly:
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. . . . . . . . . .
Since early man first discovered the ability to use weapons
made from the bones of his hill,
he has fought for survival.
A long time has passed since the war with "Belser".
And the names of those heroic warriors have long been forgotten.
On this day, history is about to repeat itself.
It's a saga of war and man's perpetual fight for survival.
CONTENTS
01. Introduction/Version History
02. Types
03. Gameplay
04. Walkthrough
05. Credits
_____01_____
INTRODUCTION
------------
DARIUS FORCE is an apparently little-known game from Taito. It's a
side-scrolling shooter in the vein of Galaga and R-Type. I've always
thought it was a pretty fun little game, but noticed when I needed a
little assistance that NO ONE had written an FAQ for it. I figured,
"Hey, I'll go all out on this one", since a lot of the games I like
have been blown out already with numerous, unbeatably good FAQs. Note
that because writing about each zone would take WAY too long, I've
chosen a beaten path for completing the game. In the future, I plan to
make this FAQ branching just like the game. But in the meantime, for
anyone reading this, I hope you enjoy Darius Force, and I hope you
enjoy this FAQ. :)
________________
Version History:
----------------
Version 1:
What you see here. Did it all in one night.
-------------------------------------------
Version 2:
Fixed some typos, MAJORLY updated the format.
It looks so much cleaner now, right? I had
just completed version 0.1 of my Lei Tekken
4 FAQ and I felt like revisiting this one.
The walkthrough still isn't complete, and
won't be for a long time, but I just wanted
to make it prettier.
_____02_____
TYPES
------------
Here's a run-down of the types of ships
available at the outset of the game.
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TYPE-1
DEV-NO: 229X-0001
ROLL OUT:
PLN "DARIUS" EXODUS WAR
MAIN ARMS:
WAVE SHOT, MULTI BOMB, SWAY LASER
----------------------------------
TYPE-2
FFSA-0019
ROLL OUT:
SOLAR SYSTEM, DEFEND WAR
MAIN ARMS:
NAPALM SHOT, SEARCH BOMB, SWAY LASER
__________________________________
TYPE-3
FRSA-6351
ROLL OUT: N/A
MAIN ARMS:
HI PRESS LASER SHOT, BREAK BOMB, ROUND LASER
----------------------------------
The types are essentially the same besides a few differences in
attacks. I have no real preference, but you should play them all
yourself and see if you have one.
_____03_____
GAMEPLAY
------------
The gameplay is quite simple. The default controls are:
Shot.......Y
Bomb.......B
Change.....R
A shot is just that: a regular-powered shot. A bomb drops downward from
your ship. Change will change your weapon. That's about it for the
gameplay in Darius Force, but don't get cocky just yet; like most side-
scrolling shooters, this is one hard game.
______04______
WALKTHROUGH
--------------
One really can't be "walked through" Darius Force, so to speak. A
massive amount of skill and twitch ability is required. However, I'll
do my best to give pointers for each zone, boss, etc. Hope this helps
if you're stuck.
*******************
-ZONE A *
-BOSS: BIO HAZARD *
*******************
-The beginning shouldn't be hard at all. Just take the ships out with
your lasers and bombs from above, and avoid their attacks. Simple
stuff.
-As you proceed through the level, pick up all the blue and red orbs;
these are power-ups. They'll give you shields, stronger attacks, etc.
Put simply, they're your best friends.
-Continue through the level, blasting away everything in sight and
STAYING INSIDE THE CIRCLES THE ENEMIES MAKE AROUND YOU, until you reach
the big, green...thing. Or, if you prefer it, the sub-boss. He's pretty
easy. Just get above him and drop bombs on him until he explodes. When
he tries to make his way upwards to you, fly down and shoot him with
your (hopefully) powered-up double laser. He'll bite the dust in no
time.
-After blowing away a few more ships, you'll be greeted with a rather
annoying formation of four ships: two flying down, and two flying up.
Simultaneously. Just swerve your way to them and away from them as they
fall.
-Grab the triple-laser and shield! Yay!
-Next up: asteroid field. Guess those power-ups were there for a
reason. Just swerve them and shoot them when you can, making "z"
patterns across the screen. Be wary of the debris from the destroyed
asteroids. Your shield should've only taken one hit, if you're good. ;)
-Oh, no! The screen fades to black after a few more pesky ships, and
the screen reads:
WARNING
A HUGE BATTLESHIP
"BIO HAZARD"
IS APPROACHING FAST
-Uh-huh. And then...the "Bio Hazard", a big, goofy-looking repltilian
ship, comes up the screen threateningly. I think it's time to take this
mofo out. Aim for the right arm, as it's the only limb you can hit at
the moment. He'll fire from that arm three bombs at one second
intervals, so be sure to get out of it's way. Another (easier) strategy
is to have the double bomb, and sit below or above him and bomb him.
Whatever your method, his arm will eventually explode and he'll start
firing those same bombs rapidly all over the screen. He'll let out
large blue bubbles that work like the asteroids you encountered
earlier: shoot them, and they'll explode into two smaller pieces. It's
best to be right in front of him and fire at him with the triple
lasers. After the blue shield is destroyed, he actually starts getting
tough. He'll start firing combinations of the blue bubbles, even BIGGER
blue bubbles, small bombs, and new homing missiles at your ship. Be
crafty and dodge the homing missiles, but try not to run into a bubble
whilst being crafty. Also remember, you can blow those missiles away,
so when they get in front of you, do so. As it turns out, this "Bio
Hazard" character is actually a pansey in a big suit. :) Move onto Zone
B.
*******************
-ZONE B *
-BOSS:MUDY CRYSTAL*
*******************
-What a change of setting, eh? Knock out those big, annoying lines of
ships at the beginning. You know the drill from the first level. Grab
the power-up, which gives you an even cooler, much more powerful laser.
Be wary of those goofy tiny bombs that the circling ships like to throw
at you. This part can be very challenging...and frustrating. If you
have too much trouble, try taking out the ships as they appear on
screen. This will keep them from even delivering the bombs in the first
place.
-For the eight or so ships that move up and down over the screen, use
the same strategy used in Zone A. Move forward and back, avoiding them.
Don't try to blast them with your lasers; it's pretty futile.
-After a few minutes of this, you'll head down into a much more familar
setting: space. As you go down, tons of tiny, silver saucers will be
waiting to take you out, so take them out and collect the red power up,
followed by the blue.
-Now, head down into the rocks. Be sure not to collide with the walls,
as they'll kill you instantly, shield or not. Some very vicious red
spinning ships will come after you and explode next to you. Easy to
avoid, but deadly.
-When you reach the bottom of the pit, a small turret will be firing at
you, and two rockets will fire up from where you probably came in. Be
ready! This will kill you if you aren't.
-As you continue, you'll be greeted by more blue turrets, then a flash
of white light, and......a flying snail?! Yep. Time to battle. Fire at
him as you would any sub-boss or boss, taking out the blue turrets
along the way. He has some MEASLEY attacks. It's really pathetic,
actually.
-After showing this embarrassment of an enemy what he's made of, you'll
go through more small battles, including more silver saucers and more
of those aggrivating spinning red bombs. Follow the same strategy you
did earlier while avoiding the rock hill. More rockets will shoot up at
you. Blast through the weird brown gunk, and be wary of the rockets
that shoot up at you.
-Once outta there, you're almost finished. Take out the circle of
enemies and...
WARNING:
HUGE BATTLESHIP
"MUDY CRYSTAL"
IS APPROACHING FAST
-Finally, a tough customer. And one that looks the part, too! Be ready
for a challenge. First, a snake-like tentacle will pop out. Avoid it.
It will shoot out small green pods that, when destroyed, will fire
three small bombs. Hint: don't destroy them. Instead, focus on the
tentacle itself, and the green shell around it's upper half. Fire at
both, avoiding the attacks. After destroying it's green shell there at
the top, you will need to start aiming at the green shell on the back.
Around this time, Mudy Crystal will start firing out large green orbs.
These are DEADLY. Stay out of their way. After a few more attacks, he's
gone. Time for Zone D.
*******************
-ZONE D *
-BOSS:SPIRAL SNAIL*
*******************
-This is where the game stops playing around with you and gets tough.
When you enter, some green turrets will say "hi." Dispose. This area's
pretty complex with a lot of enemies, so good luck! And oh yeah...GET
THAT SHIELD AND POWER UP! You'll definitely need it, and the green beam
is very useful.
-Traverse through this extremely difficult section. Avoid the rockets
from the bottom, as usual. Next you'll be met with some "smashing
tubes", for the lack of a better phrase. These things aren't too tough,
until you reach the part with the turrets and you're trapped inside the
tubes with nowhere to go. Just time your movements and hope for the
best. ;)
-In by far the most difficult section you've faced yet, a barrage of
bombs from missile turrets all around the screen will fire at you. I
hope you have some lives left. There's no real strategy for this
section except to jump around. One thing to avoid is to head into the
upper or lower tunnels. They're dead ends and VERY cheap deaths. I
learned the hard way. Head through the middle, and you're home free!
Congratulations.
-Don't slack off just yet, though. You're moving into a moderately
difficult area with some new ships you haven't seen yet, as well as
some old foes like the turrets. Keep it moving and, as always, avoid
the rockets. Move into the next section, avoide the circles, and it's
sub-boss time!
-For such a small guy, he's pretty tough. I recommend moving
constantly, and using your bomb when you move up to avoid his bombs,
and laser when you move down. Be aware of the ships that will join in
once in a while. If you're not ready they can kill you. Take advantage
of his leaps across the screen and blast the crap out of him when he
does. You can easily get six or seven hits in doing this.
-After that little encounter, a big formation of ships will come toward
you. Seems pretty hard at first, but it's actually very easy: stay in
the very center of them, continually firing. Their bombs will fly right
around you, and you'll barely scrape by. Next, a large fleet of ships
will fly around randomly. Fly to the far right of the screen and avoid
the fire. They'll disappear after a few seconds. Move on; this section
ain't very tough.
-You'll encounter a big blue gem after flying for a minute or so. Avoid
it. It'll just kill you. Some laser turrets and "smashing tubes" wait
ahead. It's tough, but nothing you can't handle at this point.
-More turrets. Take these out for a few seconds of peace. Two pods will
wait for you, opposite of each other, and release a few ships. Destroy
them both quickly, and then...the screen fades to black. Guess what?
WARNING:
A HUGE BATTLESHIP
"SPIRAL SNAIL"
IS APPROACHING FAST
-Geez, another snail? What's Taito's obsession with snails? Whatever.
Anyways, this is one cool lookin' snail. When he opens up, be sure to
avoid the turret's fires while taking shots at it when possible. The
small bombs the Spiral Snail shoots can be avoided by hanging around in
the bottom-left corner of the screen. After some damage is dealt, the
big shell will fly away and then come back. Destroy the turret then. It
will transform into a blue orb and the shell will reattach and then
disattach once again. Time for some new attacks. The blue orbs the
shell shoots are pretty dangerous, so destroy them as they come at you.
Also, the orb-turret has a deadly "homing laser" attack that must be
avoided. When the shell flies away again, take the orb out. It's over;
time to move on.
*******************
-ZONE G *
-BOSS:DEVIL FISH *
*******************
-Ooooh, what a cool looking level, eh? Start out with some pretty basic
formations. Easy stuff.
-Jeez, another asteroid field. If this brings back memories of the
first level, good. Use the same strategy. More basic stuff awaits you.
I really don't feel any need to instruct you on how to destroy these
very simple formations.
-Wow, another reminder of the first level awaits with the
brown...whatever. I still can't tell what it is. Maybe a stingray? I
guess I'll call it that. Anyways, take him out, he has the same attacks
as the other stingray.
-Some new enemies show up next, but they're all very easy. Just hang at
the left of the screen and fire away. They won't get in your territory.
-You'll next meet a group of silver orbs that fire four ways. Dodge
them by staying in the upper left, then move down to take them out
before they can attack again. After this, a rather hard section ensues
with a lot of aggrivating pods flying all around you. Try to stay in
the center left of the screen and bomb/fire at them when possible. Once
through, you'll realize how amazingly short this level is as...
WARNING:
A HUGE BATTLESHIP
"DEVIL FISH"
IS APPROACHING FAST
-Once you get over how fearsome he looks, you'll realize he's actually
only of moderate difficulty. He's quite similar to Mudy Crystal in that
he has a large tentacle that fires at you. The only actual attack to
worry about is the semi-head's five-way laser. It's a pretty annoying
attack, and he does it often, so focus on destroying him as quickly as
possible. Don't worry much about the tentacle. You might die a couple
of times because of that deadly five-way laser, but keep it up and the
semi-head will explode. Now the tentacle will start lunging out at you.
Destroy it quickly and easily; it almost always misses if you're fast.
Now for the final stage of the boss, and the most difficult. The main
head will open up every few seconds and fire five lasers in your
general direction. Swerve and dodge, is all I can say. And when you get
the chance, fire as much as possible. As long as you're moving, his
lasers can't hit you. Soon he'll fade to grey, and you're moving on!
*******************
-ZONE J *
-BOSS:STEALTHER *
*******************
-You'll notice immediately that large grey blocks will be all around
you. This is dangerous, as you now have a very narrow passage for
moving around. It's harder to avoid incoming fire. Take out the turrets
and other enemies and make your way through the level.
-The next section's pretty tough; it gets harder and harder to move
around and dodge fire, and you may find yourself dying a lot. Keep at
it, though. There's no real strategy for this place. It's truly luck.
-Ooooh. Rotating sprites! How impressive. Anyway, you'll need to use
all your skills to stay alive on this section. You're scrolling down,
and it's often hard to tell what obstacle is next. Watch out for those
darned disappearing/reappearing blue orbs that fire four bullets each
time they appear.
-It's pretty difficult, but try to destroy the two silver saucers on
the way down to get a shield and weapon power-up. It'll help for the
rest of the level, not to mention the boss!
-More amazing rotating sprites, and you're side-scrolling again. More
rotation, and you're going up! Blasphemy!
-This section is HARD, as those disappearing/reappearing little pods
are all over the place. Try to take them out if you can, but mainly
focus on staying away from their fire and moving a lot. If you can make
it through this, more rotating sprites await you, and you're back to
normal side-scrolling. This part's easy. Just ride along and take out
the turrets on your way. Destroy the silver saucers to get yet more
nice weapon and shield power ups, if you missed out earlier. Continue
strolling along and...
WARNING:
A HUGE BATTLESHIP
"STEALTHER"
IS APPROACHING FAST
-Stealther? What kind of name is that? Well, while the boss isn't really
very stealthy, he's pretty tough in his own right. Begin by firing at
him with your powered up green beams. Avoid his orange fireballs, and
the moving ceiling (?!) that tries to kill you. His tongue attack puts
a little blue circle around you and disables your weapon. It's deadly
and wastes valuable time. Try to stay above his mouth so this doesn't
get you. Anyhoo, keep blasting Stealther and in no time he'll be dead.
*******************
-ZONE M *
*
*******************
-As you enter, take out the small turrets and large red turrets that
you should be absolutely used to by now. Right? Right. So I shouldn't
even need to explain to you how to get through the first section.
Right? Right. The only new item of concern is the numerous falling
rocks as you traverse through the beginning of the level. Oh yeah, and
be sure to get the shield and weapon powerup.
-Next, you'll be heading downward again. Take out the agressive turrets
that will hinder your progress on the way down, especially as you're
first entering. After that, just glide down and BE SURE TO TAKE THE
RIGHT PATH WHEN IT SLIPS. The other results in an instant cheap death.
Now it gets more difficult as the passage becomes narrower and it's
harder to avoid the small bombs from the turrets.
______05______
CREDITS
--------------
_______________________________________________________________________
Logan Hodge is a 14-year-old gamer/film buff/Beatles maniac that is
found on a regular basis at the Central Mall in Texarkana, Texas. He's
a freshman at Texas High School and also plays DDR. You can find him in
Silverball arcade every Wednsday, when a new time-release character
comes out. He can be identified with brown hair and glasses, and is
usually telling mashers to "stop moving the sticks around so hard" in a
harsh tone. But...feel free to. :)
Contact me with any corrections, information, strategies,
or...anything...and I will surely add it as soon as possible! E-mail
Mitsishima@aol.com to get a hold of him, and put "DARIUS FAQ" as the
subject. Or you can IM me if I'm on.
I'd like to thank:
-GameFAQs. You own.
-Taito. You made a fun little shooter worthy of my time.
-Anyone who reads this. Because I doubt anyone will.
_______________________________________________________________________
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