G-Darius was originally released by Taito in 1997, as the first entry of the Darius series to feature 3D polygonal graphics. Now, developer M2 has released a remastered version of that game for the Nintendo Switch and PS4, in G-Darius HD.
In G-Darius HD, you take control of a ship known as the Silver Hawk, in a mission to defeat an evil empire or alien invaders or something. It’s a space shooter game, so the story doesn’t really matter, all that matters is the action, and this shooter certainly brings a lot of it.
It’s a pretty epic horizontal shooter, featuring vast waves of enemies to battle against, including huge bosses, across lots of different locales and planets. Not to mention, most levels have branching paths, so there is a heavy amount of replayability, and you can go through the levels in different orders to reach the end, something that not a lot of arcade games from that time offered. It’s great that the game had that feature, as it gives a lot more bang for your buck in terms of a home port. The different routes throughout a level are actually significantly different too, either flying through the air or cruising underwater, there’s a lot to see.
Every space shooter ever made has some sort of unique mechanic, and for G-Darius HD, that mechanic is the capture ball. This lets you capture most enemies, and use them as a weapon in someway. This could be a shield, additional firepower, some sort of trailing blast, you name it. Each enemy actually does offer something different when captured, and because the game keeps hurling lots of different enemy designs at you, there is a good level of variety. It’s honestly one of the best features of the game, and it really keeps the gameplay fresh, and lets the player experiment with different playstyles throughout the adventure.
Additionally, it’s a 90’s space shooter, so naturally the music is epic. It’s that perfect mix of synth style rock that just fits this genre of game so well. So that’s really about it in terms of the game itself, it’s a really epic space shooter, featuring tons of enemies and non-stop action.
Let’s talk about the port. G-Darius HD does not appear to be a remaster or a remake, but more of an upscaled emulation. The package features both the HD and original versions, and putting them side by side you can clearly see that the HD version is much sharper, with every 3D object being rendered at a much higher resolution, with better texture filtering. However, it doesn’t appear any objects have been rebuilt, nor new assets made from scratch. This isn’t a remaster at that sense, more an enhanced port. If you want to see some side by side footage, check out the video below.
This also brings with it other downsides. The original arcade machine featured slowdown, because of all the non-stop action. As this appears to be an enhanced emulation rather than something built to run natively on the Switch, that slowdown is still present, which is dissapointing. I suppose you could say its more accurate to the original having it, but this isn’t exactly a budget title. They are asking for £24.99 for this package, which is quite a lot for a port of a 28 year old game. It’s not to say I don’t like the approach they took in the graphics, I do think it looks quite nice and preserves the style of the original very well, I’m just not sure the price is justified.
Ultimately, none of that takes away from what is a very fun game. If you love these kind of retro re-releases, then this one will serve you well. It comes with all the standard features, being able to pick between scaling and stretching the screen, different control options, changing the vibration setting and more. At it’s core G-Darius HD is a really great space shooter with some excellent mechanics and worlds to explore, and whether or not what’s on offer is worth the price of entry, will be up to you.
You can purchase the game on the eshop here. For a different kind of remake, why not try out Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade.
