Descpription:
Darius is a horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up arcade
game released by Taito in 1986. It is the first game in the Darius series
and it is played using a unique three-screen arcade cabinet setup.
Uniquely among shoot 'em ups, the game screen is three times wider than conventional
size, and the arcade version uses an arrangement of three screens to accommodate it.
The player flies an ornate fighter craft called a Silver Hawk. The craft
is equipped with two attack weapons: Missile, which refers to the forward
gun, and Bomb, which refers to ballistic bombs dropped from the craft.
A third capability of the craft is referred to as Arm - a green energy
shield that can absorb damaging impacts without harm to the ship.
During the course of the levels the player must navigate the terrain, and
battle a variety of fighter craft, ground vehicles, turrets, and other obstacles.
In Darius, there are three power-up bars; one each for Missile,
Bomb, and Arm (Armour). Each bar has seven divisions.
Power-ups can be obtained by shooting enemies of a certain colour. The power-ups are in the
form of coloured bubbles, and the colour corresponds to one of the three weapons, as follows:
Red - Missile Green - Bomb Blue - Arm
Collecting a bubble powers up the corresponding weapon, and highlights a new
division on the corresponding power-up bar. The Arm, if it is diminished or absent
at the time of collecting the Blue power-up, is regenerated and powered up.
If the player powers up a weapon more than seven times, the weapon changes to a new, more
powerful type. This then becomes the player's default, and can be powered up further.
There are two other colours of power-up bubble - white, and orange - which
can be obtained by shooting at certain points of the terrain; there are,
however, no visual clues as to where these may be in the level.
White - gives a score bonus Orange - a smart bomb; kills all enemies on screen
