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Darius Plus

TurboGrafx-16

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Darius Plus was released in Japan on September 21, 1990 for the PC Engine, and was developed by Bits Laboratory and published by NEC Avenue. The Darius series went up against the big guns of R-Type and Gradius as another side-scrolling shoot 'em up with a player-directed power-up system. Dariu...

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Developer
Bits Laboratory

Released on
1990

Size
1 Player

Version
TurboGrafx-16

Requirements
NEC TurboGrafx-16

Downloads
Shooter

Publisher
NEC Avenue

ESRB Rating
Not Rated

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Description

Darius Plus was released in Japan on September 21, 1990 for the PC Engine, and was developed by Bits Laboratory and published by NEC Avenue. The Darius series went up against the big guns of R-Type and Gradius as another side-scrolling shoot ’em up with a player-directed power-up system.

Darius Plus is essentially Super Darius, the TurboGrafx-CD version which is the closest to Arcade perfect, but with fewer bosses. The same version could also be played on the SuperGrafx and had special features that would enhance the experience when played on that system in particular – similar to how certain Game Boy games would be enhanced when used with the Super Game Boy peripheral. Darius Plus shares this bonus aspect with its much rarer sister product Darius Alpha.

Darius Plus

Overview & History

Originally released in 1990 by Taito, Darius Plus is a masterful PC Engine conversion of the legendary arcade shoot-'em-up. Because the TurboGrafx-16 HuCard format struggled to handle the massive sprite scaling and expansive multi-screen horizontal scrolling of the original arcade cabinet, Hudson Soft engineered a specialized solution. They released Darius Plus specifically for the SuperGrafx hardware, but also packed it with clever memory optimization to make it playable on standard TurboGrafx-16 systems. The storyline plunges pilots Proco and Tiat into a desperate war against the Belsar empire, an alien robotic civilization threatening their home planet of Darius. Players pilot the iconic Silver Hawk spaceship across diverse, biomechanical planets swarming with aquatic-themed robotic bosses, ranging from giant coelacanths to colossal prehistoric turtles, setting a gold standard for atmospheric retro sci-fi shoot-'em-ups.

Gameplay Features & Mechanics

Darius Plus retains the beloved branch-level progression system of its predecessor, allowing players to choose their own path across 28 distinct zones labeled alphabetically from Zone A through Z'. The gameplay centers on collecting color-coded power-up crystals dropped by specific enemy formations: red orbs upgrade your standard missiles into devastating wave beams and dual-shot lasers, green orbs enhance your anti-air bombs, and blue orbs reinforce your protective energy shields. If your Silver Hawk takes a hit while fully shielded, the shield absorbs the impact before the ship is destroyed. The game also introduces a unique multi-tiered power progression where accumulating enough power-ups transforms your weapons into hyper-advanced variants. However, death strips you of all upgrades, dropping you back to a baseline ship and demanding precise bullet-hell dodging, positioning, and memorization of enemy spawn patterns to survive the grueling boss encounters at the end of every zone.