I don’t get a lot of news, but I like to share what I do get when it’s this hot off the press, especially when it’s something I really didn’t see coming for one of my all-time favourite shoot ‘em ups! Developed by the masters of the remaster at M2, and reviewed here on release last year, G-Darius HD is a beautiful port of the legendary original side-scrolling shooter from the late 90s, and from totally out of nowhere ININ Games and TAITO have announced a major update, available for free on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, and it’s out today!
In addition to the two versions that are already part of G-Darius HD (1997’s G-Darius and the fancy new high-resolution version that totally supersedes it), this big update adds more or less three new versions:
- G-Darius Ver.2 was first released in 1998 and is an updated version of the original G-Darius which was initially published one year earlier. While the story remains the same, G-Darius Ver.2 comes with a beginner mode, rapid-fire function and a lot of adjustments to the gameplay
- G-Darius Ver.2 HD comes as an HD version of G-Darius Ver.2
- G-Darius for consumer adds the 1998 Japan-released console port of G-Darius (which is I assume is the PlayStation version)
As well as these, there are several new gadgets, modes and settings that can be used in G-Darius and G-Darius Ver.2 to improve the experience… Learn more about the weaknesses of the enemy bosses with the Boss Gadget, improve from an overall Zone Map and keep track of the remaining time until YAZUKA appears with the Yazuka Timer!
You can also customise your parameters to train for the real battles in a newly added Training Mode, and check out your best fights in the Replay Gallery.
For a detailed list of all the new features and content, check out the G-Darius HD gamepage or do exactly what I’m about to do and try it all out for yourself!
Retro Arcadia 