Darius Twin

"Fly around fighting fish from space"

Darius Twin is a strange game, but it's also a pretty good game. It was released to the US when the Super Nes was in its infancy, and to everybody's joy, it was pretty fun. Even now, 8 years later, this game can be played if you want a fun side scrolling shooter.

As I mentioned, this game is a shooter, much like R-Type or Gradius. This game doesn't have the sheer number of powerups as those games though. In this game, you have to defeat waves of a certain enemy, and when you do, you either power up your weapon, your shield, or your peripheral weapon. This has a progressive feel to it, and you'll never have the best weapons in the first level. When you beat a level, you'll often have a choice of routes to go to Darius, which is the target planet. If you go one way, you can't go back, so you have to choose your route carefully.

One thing that you'll notice about this game is that most of the enemies, and all of the bosses resemble a sea creature of some sort. This isn't necessarily good or bad, but it's just strange to have to fight giant, robotic sea creatures in outer space.

As the name suggests, this game can be played with two players, and when it is, it's a blast, until you start getting powerups. With one player, you always got the power up that you wanted. But in two player it's not that simple. There's only one power up and two of you, so what are you to do? First come first serve I guess.

The graphics of this game are pretty good, and they reflect pretty accuratly what it would be like to fight giant robotic fish in outer space. The bosses look gorgeous and they have lots of detail, but some of the smaller ships (including yourself) are pretty simple. The music of this game is surprisingly good, and you might end up humming along with the beat.

The game is challenging, as one hit will instantly kill your ship and there aren't any continues. Luckily you can get shield power ups that will absorb some of the weaker shots the enemies throw at you. However, collisions and powerful shots will still destroy your ship, no matter how shielded.

Overall, this is a good game, but not outstanding, and not the best of the genre. If you have a friend, take him along for the ride, but be careful of the power ups, you may just lose a friend...

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 08/07/01