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The Making of Darius (1987)
- drcode 4y agoThis is my second favorite arcade game of all time (after Robotron 2084). FYI anyone in the Chicago area should stop by Galloping Ghost Arcade, they have a fully-functioning Darius cabinet (and cabinets of a couple sequels as well) So few people in the Chicago area are aware that the largest classic arcade in the world by far is in their area (they have ~1000 cabinets) The game can be completed on a single quarter if you're good (I admittedly never reached this milestone) and the game has a perfect balance of enemy waves and powerups. The musical score is definitely a masterpiece of early custom hardware fm synthesis compositions.
- eternalban 4y agohttps://www.arcade-history.com/?n=darius&page=detail&id=585 https://www.arcade-history.com/?n=darius&page=detail&id=585 I went fishing to find out why it was named Darius. (Nothing. It's the name of a planet targeted by a galactic empire in the game. lol) It piqued my interest since Japan also has a company named Mazda (both being ancient Persia themes). (Mazda's website says the name pick was a deliberate reference.)
- PhasmaFelis 4y agoYeah, Japanese creatives have always (well, for decades) loved naming things random western words they don't really understand. Be glad when you get "Darius" instead of "Bravely Default."
- kragen 4y agoTechnically "Darius" is an Asian name, not a Western name, because Persia is in Asia. Persia has been in "Asia" much longer than Japan has!
- nine_k 4y agoPractically all of Asia is west of Japan anyway. So Persia is far, far west, and a part of ancient Western history along with Greece.
- Razengan 4y agoPersia, some of which is now Iran, is a part of Western history? Oh boy.
- Gordonjcp 4y agoWould you say that Kazakhstan was part of the West? What about Volgograd? Was the Chelyabinsk Meteor part of western or eastern history?
- nine_k 4y agoVolgograd, née Stalingrad, was a site of a major battle of WWII, which makes it a part of Western history. That same logic makes the Japanese city of Hiroshima a major part of Westetn history, too. But these events are not yet a century old. Wars between ancient Greece and ancient Persia are 25 or so centuries old. An excited description of the Persian emperor Cyrus by Xenophon, a Greek, is about as old; that book was a bestseller in Europe for several centuries. Persia interacted with the European West a lot. Ancient Egypt is also a major part of Western history, for a really long list of reasons. (Arabian Egypt, not so much, of course.)
- Gordonjcp 4y ago25 centuries - 2500 years - isn't that long ago. That's well into the Iron Age, with signs of early industrial processes - moulds and jigs for making iron tools and weapons - cropping up in some sites.
- eternalban 4y agoIf you read history the answer is yes. So is Babylon, as a matter of fact. "West" is an offshoot of the Egyptian-Greek-Persian-Jewish cultural matrix, with themselves built on generous helping of Mesopotamian civilization.
- corysama 4y agoThat's a great site. Full of articles like this one. If you are interested in material like this, you might like https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMakingOfGames/ https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMakingOfGames/
- colordrops 4y agoI played Darius on an emulator recently and realized that the a particular bit of melody I've been singing in my head for decades came from this game.
- Razengan 4y agoAlso check out Parodius, Konami's self-parody "cute-em-up" (a wonderful subgenre that is a rabbit hole of its own): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parodius https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parodius https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYgYHffJ6aQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYgYHffJ6aQ
- oweiler 4y agoOn of the most punishing games I've ever played. If you've lost your upgrades it's basically game over.
- drcode 4y agoPro tip: It's best not to lose your upgrades I just give up the game as soon as I die once