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Darius Burst - Another Chronicle

Arcade Video game published 14 years ago by Taito Corp.

Not listed in MAME yet

Darius Burst - Another Chronicle screenshot

ダライアスバーストアナザークロニクル © 2010 Taito Corporation.
(Darius Burst - Another Chronicle)

In this sequel to Taito's famous series of shoot'em ups, you once again pilot a Silverhawk spacecraft in the battle against the evil Belsar Empire. This is all done to an incredible soundtrack produced by the estimable Zuntata.

The arcade version was a major upgrade to Dariusburst that was released on the Sony PSP. It improved the graphics, added more content and offered up to 4 player support. As a part of the multiplayer ability, the game uses a shared power-up system. This means that when any player touches one of the spherical power-ups, there is a small wave that pulsates for a moment that any other player can touch and gain the same upgrade. In another unusual feature, players can flip the direction of their ship at the touch of a button, so that the action is not always handled in a left-to-right fashion.

Lives are also handled differently than most shoot 'em ups. You can go for Default Lives (each credit buys you three lives) or Infinite Lives. The latter costs more, but allows 1-4 players an infinite number of lives until the end of the game is reached. The catch is that you cannot record a high score in Infinite Lives mode. For default lives, the game shares lives across players, so if you have 4 people playing, you all share in the pool.

You can choose Original Mode or Chronicle Mode. Original mode offers a similar format to other Darius games, where players first choose their difficulty on a branching tree level select. At the end of each level, players can choose between two zones, the lower zone always being more difficult. Zones A-L are available.

Chronicle Mode is far more extensive, offering 2048 levels that are built off of combining many elements from Original mode while introducing a variety of original areas, music, enemies, and bosses. This was created to foster a community of players coming back to arcades as they focused on unlocking new Chronicle areas.

A major component of the gameplay is in the Burst Laser. This elevates the game above many other shoot 'em ups on the market. It can be used in three ways: A fixed laser, a large blast and a Counter-Burst (see below for tips on how they work). Many enemy patterns in the game exist to allow users to take advantage of one or all of these methods.

There are five types of power-ups:

-Red: Upgrade your weapon. Starts with bullet type, changes to Laser, then Wave
-Blue: Upgrade your shields. Goes from Green to Silver, allowing you to take more hits
-Green: Upgrade your bombs.
-Yellow: Clears the screen of all minor enemies
-Silver: Extra points

The game also enjoys multiple endings.

TECHNICAL/MACHINE PICT.
1

Runs on the "Taito Type X²" hardware.

Arcade cabinet designs are a deluxe variation of Taito's popular Vewlix cabinets. Like the original Darius, this uses an ultra-widescreen display that is achieved by using a mirror trick. The unit comes with two 32in. LCD displays; the one on the left is installed into the back, while the right-side screen lays flay and upside-down. The image from this side is reflected on the glass to create the appearance of a large, super wide display.

The game has a powerful 2.1ch sound system, with the subwoofer built into the seat. Operators have to be careful on the subwoofer settings, as it doesn't take much to cause the surrounding structure to shake from in-game explosions!

Controls are Sanwa-made joysticks and buttons. There are three action buttons: Fire, Burst Laser and Flip.

Red LED alarm klaxons are also built into the upper monitor bezel. These activate when the iconic boss "WARNING!" alert occurs.

Players can connect their own headphones to the game using one of the two headphone jacks built into the front panel. These also have their own independent volume controls.

The European version of the game came without a canopy; other versions with the canopy included a warning to watch your head when you leave.

TRIVIA

Darius Burst Another Chronicle was released in December 17, 2010 in Japan at the price of 950.000 Yens (game + cabinet).

In the 'Dark Helios' Boss stage, You can heard a remixed version of the Darius Series' Spin-off, "Syvalion".

Zuntata records released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Darius Burst Another Chronicle) on June 22, 2011.

After a brief fan write-in campaign, Taito Corp. created an English translation for this game and tested it in both the United States and Europe. It was eventually made available to purchase, but reportedly only seven cabinets in English are known to exist.

Taito digitally released a complete Players Guide in English that taught players all of the game features.

UPDATES

For the US/EU version, Unlock A & B were included with the shipped game, unlocked through a password code provided by Taito.

VER1.00 (December 17, 2010)
* First version

Unlock A (April 14, 2011)
* New areas in Chronicle mode and new bosses were added
* Maximum level of 5 star system

Unlock B
* Addiitional areas for Chronicle Mode with new bosses
* Two new Silverhawk fighters in Chronicle Mode - Darius Gaiden with the Black Hole bomb and the fighter from Darius II
* Maximum level of 7 star systems

TIPS AND TRICKS

* Each selectable ship has its own advantage (except the first one):
1) 'LEGEND Sliver Hawk Burst': same at PSP version, well-balanced.
2) 'Next Sliver Hawk Burst': Moves quickly, Burst Laser movement is opposite other models.
3) 'FORMULA SILVER HAWK BURST': Short range shots, but are more powerful
4) 'ORIGIN SILVER HAWK BURST': No Burst Laser feature, but gives you higher bonus multipliers.

The key to victory in Dariusburst AC is through learning how to properly use the Burst Laser feature. Burst Lasers have 'fuel,' which is restocked whenever an enemy is destroyed.

The Burst Blast: The most basic function is to simply push and hold the Burst Laser button down. This fires off a large and powerful blast that peters out quickly if you do not eliminate a lot of enemies during the blast.
The Fixed Laser: By double-tapping the Burst laser button, a fixed "turret" appears that you can control. You must hold the fire button down for this to stay fixed; otherwise, the angle moves opposite of where your fighter is located (excepting the Next Silverhawk).

While it doesn't do as much damage as the Burst Blast, it does introduce a strategic angle to the game. You can use it to wipe out giant swarms of enemies by setting it in a straight angle or, you can use it as a shield to absorb enemy attacks. If you are playing with another user, you can combine Fixed Lasers into one, which can deal out a great amount of damage to bosses.

The Counterburst: This requires the most skill to use, along with good timing. Certain enemies and bosses fire their own red Burst. By timing your own Burst Blast in the right spot, this creates a powerful yellow CounterBurst. CounterBursts are the most powerful attack in the game and also earn the highest bonus multipliers. They are not without risk though - if your timing is off, you're dead!

SERIES

1. Darius (1987, Arcade)
2. Darius II (1989, Arcade)
3. Darius Twin [Model SHVC-DT] (1991, Super Famicom)
4. Darius Force [Model SHVC-DH] (1993, Super Famicom)
5. Darius Gaiden - Silver Hawk (1994, Arcade)
6. G-Darius (1997, Arcade)
7. G-Darius ver.2 (1997, Arcade)
8. Darius Burst (2009, Sony PSP)
9. Darius Burst - Another Chronicle (2010, Arcade)
10. Darius Burst - Another Chronicle EX (2011, Arcade)

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