A second version of G-Darius was released in the arcades in 1999, with the following changes: - Increased difficulty. - Default play cost is increased to 2 coins per credit from 1 coin per credit. - Added Beginner Mode; in this mode, the game ends after completing only 3 zones. - Standard auto-fire button. - When using a Capture Ball, the player is no longer invulnerable. - With the super shield, the player is vulnerable to obstacles; with the hyper shield, the player can take a single hit from obstacles. - All stages include mid-bosses; moreover, they all fire the spiral laser from First Captain at the player. - Boss battles include a timer - three minutes for normal bosses, seven minutes for the final boss - with 10000 bonus points added to the player's score for each remaining second upon destroying the boss. - The high score table records high scores for each zone. - After continuing, the player is given one of each Missile, Bomb, Arm and Capture Ball power-ups, instead of a single item that provides the first three.
Screenshots & Artwork
Storyline
G-Darius is a prequel story that revolves around a conflict between the humanoids of Amnelia and cyborg/chimera biovessels known as the "Thiima" (meant to mean simply "deliverer of death"). The Thiima had been aroused by the Amnelian army's use of the weapon A.N. (All-Nothing) to annihilate the world Blazar, whom Amnelia had been at war with over jurisdiction over the moon Mahsah. Determined to protect their existence, and long ago programmed to protect the universe from just such threats as A.N., the Thiima swarmed on Amnelia. Although the armed forces were badly ravaged, Amnelian scientists and engineers were able to make use of both A.N. and reverse engineered Thiiman technology/life systems to create the Silver Hawk fighters. Ultimately, two pilots—Sameluck Raida and Lutia Feen—are chosen to perform a decisive attack on the main Thiima base: Kazumn, a satellite of the planet Darius.
