Darius Alpha

Here we are once again, faced with the demise of a system, something that keeps Defunct Games on the internet ... when it comes to reviews, at least. This is what Defunct Games is all about, and this is the final review for SuperGrafx. The SuperGrafx only had seven games before it vanished from the gaming scene. Darius Alpha is kind of a waste when you think about the games already released. The SuperGrafx already had its Darius sequel, Darius Plus.

I actually rather enjoyed Darius Alpha, it is an extremely entertaining and challenging game. It has all the great things about all Darius games, just without any of that useless story ... Darius Alpha is straight up, non-stop boss battles.

When I first loaded up Darius Alpha, I was expecting yet another Darius game, but when I immediately was fighting a boss battle, I knew this was destined to be great. All the Darius bosses show up in full sprite force, everything from the huge squid, to the large fish, to the blue stingray are here. This really is one all-out difficult game, obviously as you progress through the onslaught of boss fights it gets more and more difficult ... only a die hard gamer could get through all this.

Luckily after each boss fight you are given a full shield, which is terribly important to even conceivably make it past the first few fights, let alone the multitude just waiting for you. Unfortunately after you die, it is all over, and you must start again. The game also includes an interesting competition mode between you and a friend, the time attack mode. In this mode, you must press buttons over and over again and get as far as you can in four minutes. Winner takes bragging rights.

As for the graphics of this game, they are very similar to its predecessors, and exactly the same as Darius Plus. The games audio is also recycled like the bosses from the entire series. These points don't make the game bad at all; it just probably isn't something a person should pick up the first time they play a Darius game.

Over all, this game is very satisfying, I found my self not too upset from losing like I usually am. The challenge was all that much more rewarding. If you find your self holding only this game, especially the original HuCard, keep it secret, keep it safe.