SNES Games I Love #2: Darius Twin

On 02/02/2020 at 10:07 AM by The Last Ninja

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Developer: Taito

Publisher: Taito

Genre: Shoot 'em up

Release: 1991

Currently available on: cartridge only

About the game: Darius Twin is the third game in Taito's shoot 'em up series. What's different about the series is its aqautic theme, with fish aliens coming at you and huge aquatic bosses that have really funky names. Darius Twin has all of this, but the great thing here is that it offers simultaneous two player! This is actually quite rare for a shooter of this era. The game also has branching paths, allowing you to choose different levels, which gives some replay value. Overall it's an excellent shooter, with strong gameplay, colorful levels, epic bosses, and good music.

Why I love it: When I bought this game, I knew nothing about Darius. I just thought it might be a decend shoot 'em up. I was really surprised by the quality of this game! Honestly, I think this is one of the best shooters on the SNES (and there are some really good ones for the system). I love the aquatic theme, and playing this with a friend is really great.

Note: Taito is releasing Darius Cozmic Collection very soon (I don't think there's an exact date), which includes different versions which have different games. Darius Twin will be included on some of the versions. These collections will be avaialbe for both Switch and PS4.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

02/02/2020 at 12:02 PM

I played Life Force endlessly on the NES when I was a kid. But shmups have gotten so insane now and I don't have the eyesight or the reflexes to handle them.

The Last Ninja

02/02/2020 at 10:55 PM

True, but I think you would like Darius Twin, it's not too insane

Cary Woodham

02/02/2020 at 08:38 PM

WARNING! A HUGE BATTLESHIP: "GREAT BLOG" IS APPROACHING FAST!

Oh man, I love Darius. I think it's my favorite shooter series. I first played it in the arcade, and while it was pretty standard gameplay-wise, the fact that it was three screens long (like the X-Men and Tecmo Bowl arcade games), made it stand out. Darius also has one of my favorite video game themes of all time: the stage 1 music titled "Captain NEO." Look it up sometime if you'd like to hear it.

So when Darius Twin came out on the SNES, I was very excited, but I never owned it. I just rented it. I was just a high school kid with a limited income, so I rented a lot of games back then. Playing a game for a weekend for a buck was a lot more appealing than plunking down 40 or 50 bucks for it. I remember when I rented Darius Twin, I beat it pretty quickly, which is rare for me and shooters!

I didn't know there was a Darius collection coming out. Which suprrises me because I get Taito's press releases. One of my favorite games in the series is G-Darius on the PSOne. Have you ever played that one? I've also played the newest Darius game in the arcade. It's called DariusBurst and is four player with a long screen like the original.

02/02/2020 at 10:57 PM

Unfortunately, I have not played any of the other Darius games. The arcade game sounds awesome! I will have to pick up the collection when it comes out.

02/02/2020 at 11:13 PM

Damn those arcade versions sound awesome!

KnightDriver

02/03/2020 at 04:44 PM

Those side scrolling shmups always have such great graphics. I need to cheat hard to get through them though.

02/04/2020 at 12:16 AM

Yes, shmups tend to be brutally difficult, but they're always a good time.

daftman

02/04/2020 at 01:03 AM

I love the weirdo fish theme. I think I have some Darius games on a PS2 Taito collection, I think. I should check that. I've never spent much time with the series.

PixlBit