AUTHOR: Taito RELEASE: 1992 TYP: Action SPIELER: 1 LEVEL: 7 SPRACHE: Englisch Partnumber: 7078 EAN: 4974365634780 WERT: 40 Euro

Darius, ein friedlicher Planet ähnlich der Erde, wurde durch einen unbekannten Feind fast zerstört. Zwei junge Piloten, die entkommen konnten, hören plötzlich einen Notruf, der von den Überresten ihres Planeten stammen muß. Und so brechen sie auf, zurück in die Schlacht!

Darius, a peaceful planet much like Earth, was all but destroyed some time ago by an unknown enemy. Two young pilots managed to escape…Following a distress signal from what remains of their home planet, they're headed back into the fire!

-

-

Pro Action Replay Codes
00C8 2609 Infinite Lives
00C8 2509 Invincibility
00C0 A1XX Level Select (replace XX with 01-0B)
00C8 2007 Standard shot
00C8 2205 Bombs
00C8 2106 Laser

Sagaia is actually the second installment of the Darius series, possibly because of Darius' lack of impact in Europe Taito marketed this game as Sagaia - it appeared in arcades with a three screen wrap-around system which was mighty fancy for the time but ultimately it proved a gimmick, since Darius 2 is a pretty standard side-scrolling shmup. Like the original Darius, you face off against an array of robotic aquatic forms to restore freedom to our solar system, like you do. What you've got in Sagaia is a pretty straightforward side-scrolling shmup, it's got the usual power-ups of main cannons, bombs and shields - plus a laser weapon that's next to useless until you get it to level two. Like the original Darius, you have multiple paths you can take as the game progresses - each leads to a different final boss battle and a unique ending, with some paths being much more challenging than others. Since we're on 8-bit here, the power of arcade platforms in the late 80s shines through because of the original 28 levels less than half remain for this home version. It's not massively unexpected but it does reduce the replay value of the game somewhat. Additionally, and again not entirely unexpectedly, the two player mode from the arcade game is scrapped - instead you can choose your pilot. In the arcade both are identical, but here selecting Tiat Young gives a slightly easier game - you start with more power to all of your weapons. Once more, there is no way the home console can replicate the three screen view of the arcade game so the game cuts things down a little - but it's not really noticeable and still plays rather well. Except that it's rather unbalanced. When you die, you lose all your power-ups - not exactly a new concept but unfortunately in Sagaia the difficulty skyrockets as the game goes on. The end result? If you die in the last couple of stages you may as well give up. The flipside? If you're fully powered up you'll toast your way through the tougher stages even if you're hardly paying attention. It's a shame but it's the sort of thing which separates a decent side-scroller from a great one. […] The fact that it took Sega and Taito until 1996 to come up with an arcade perfect version of Darius 2/Sagaia speaks volumes and also excuses some of the shortfalls of this 8-bit version - but while the graphics and sound are seriously close to the arcade it does fall over with flicker and slowdown when it moves - which is a seriously flaw that does somewhat restrict it to shmup and Darius fans only. Given few Mega Drive side-scrollers feature two player modes it's not surprising that this feature from the arcade game is ditched for the Master System port, and one cannot help but feel likewise about the reduced number of levels. Commonly SMS shmups feature 5 or 6 levels so to expect the full 28 would be wishful thinking - so while the number is reduced, the spirit of branching paths remain. Overall, shmup fans will want to grab this because they can get around the flaws in the game - the loss of all weapons on death is common to the genre, while the slowdown and flicker will seriously put off the casual but the experienced shmup player will easily be able to work around it. Ultimately, this is a monumental achievement despite its flaws. If only it was left until programmers could fully exploit the machine's capabilities - as it stands it's essential for shmup fans but so-so for the casual player. - SMStributes.co.uk