Darius Plus for the PC Engine, SuperGrafx OST Original Video Game Soundtrack скачать в хорошем качестве

Darius Plus for the PC Engine, SuperGrafx OST Original Video Game Soundtrack

Release date: September 21, 1990 Original Composer: Hisayoshi Ogura ,Kenichiro Isoda, Masahiko Takaki, Shigeharu Isoda 1. Insert Coin 2. Captain Neo (Space Cave) 3. Boss Scene 1 4. Inorganic Beat (City Area) 5. Boss Scene 2 6. Cosmic Air Way (Mountains Area) 7. Boss Scene 3 8. Insert Coin B 9. Main Theme - Chaos (Van Allen Belt) 10. Boss Scene 4 11. The Sea (Ocean Floor Base) 12. Boss Scene 5 13. Boss Scene 6 14. Warning 15. Boss Scene 7 16. Destroy The Boss 17. Boss Clear 18. Credits 19. Requiem *The Making of Darius Plus: From Arcade Depths to PC Engine Skies* In the late 1980s, Taito's arcade hit Darius (1987) swam into gaming history as a groundbreaking horizontal shoot 'em up. Its massive three-screen cabinet delivered a panoramic battlefield, branching zone paths (28 possible!), and grotesque fish-like bosses that terrorized planet Darius. Pilots Proco and Tiat in the Silver Hawk fighter unleashed lasers, rippling wave shots, ground bombs, and arm shields against the Belsar empire. But home ports lagged—crude efforts on Amiga and ST flopped. Enter NEC's PC Engine (PCE), Japan's shmup kingpin since 1987, hungry for arcade glory. NEC Avenue, PCE's powerhouse publisher, eyed Darius for its CD-ROM² add-on, launched in 1988 but still niche due to cost and rarity. Taito licensed it, tasking Bits Laboratory—a NEC Avenue staple for ports like Fantasy Zone and After Burner II*—with the first true home conversion: *Super Darius (March 16, 1990). Bits Lab's core team assembled: Executive Producer Makoto Sakio, Producer Toshio Tabeta (notorious for ambitious, delay-prone projects), Director Kohji Matsuda, programmers Masashi Shimizu (aka "Masas"), Masatoshi Kanemitsu ("Max"), and Hideki Mesuda ("Hacker"). Graphics by Junichi Ten ("Jariten"?), Takao, and "Yasunori Bear" Takahara; music drivers by the Isoda brothers. Porting Darius to CD-ROM² was ambitious. The arcade's Z80 + 68000 CPUs and triple monitors scaled down to PCE's HuC6280 and single 4:3 screen—zoomed-in, cropped playfield, but faithful parallax scrolling and enemy waves. Redbook audio ripped arcade FM/OPM tracks perfectly, a luxury HuCards couldn't match. Bits Lab expanded content: 26 unique bosses (up from arcade's 11, mixing originals like King Fossil with newcomers like Fatty Glutton, plus teases from *Darius II*), animated intro, respawn-at-death-spot (easier than arcade restarts), and four difficulty levels (hidden: hold I+II, press Select). Super Darius flew off shelves, proving PCE could rival arcades. But CD-ROM² owners were few—System Cards pricey, drives scarce. Tabeta pushed for a HuCard: cheaper ¥9,800, broader access. Bits Lab retooled Super Darius into Darius Plus (Sept 21, 1990, 6-8Mbit NAPH-1009). Storage crunch hit hard: CD's 540MB vs. HuCard's kilobits. Slash 10 bosses to 16 (e.g., no Great Thing, Fatty Glutton; shuffled like Zone A: King Fossil, Z: Cuttle Fish). Rearrange music for PCE's six OKI MSM5205 ADPCM chips—chiptune remixes lost Redbook fidelity but pumped volume. Graphics dulled slightly (less crisp sprites), flicker ramped on standard PCE's 64-sprite limit. Innovation shone: Plus added SuperGrafx (SGX) support—NEC's Dec '89 flop "true 16-bit" upgrade (dual HuC6280s, better sprite priority/rotation). Only commercial HuCard to enhance on SGX: flicker vanished, slowdown tamed, bosses popped sharper. "Playfield still zoomed," notes tech dives, "but SGX elevates it to near-CD quality." Balance tweaks sweetened it: bug-fixed wave missiles (scoring worked!), more power-up capsules (8 orbs per upgrade: red laser, green bombs, blue shield), quicker powering. Continues via code (hold Select+Run). Branching zones intact—7 paths per run from 26 total. Development iterated fast. ROM hides "DARIUS Version 1.11b 1990/5/30 / Programed by Masas (Bit's Lab.) and Max (Bit's Lab.) / Special thanks J.M.Kim Y.TOH Jariten / Presented by NEC Avenue." Matches credits: Shimizu/Masas, Kanemitsu/Max on code; "Hi-Speed Mathpack" by Mesuda. Graphics crew ("Toshio Hyper Tabeta," "Kohji Gu-Gu Matsuda") hand-drew fish horrors. Map converters Takashi Ozama/Waruiko Ishibashi optimized levels. Full staff: 20+ thanks, from "Yukihiro Free Too Kimitoshi" audio sup to "Fumiko Cuty Suzuki." Tabeta's vision: "Bring Darius to every PCE." Amid Bits Lab's port frenzy (*Strider*, 1941*), delays loomed—Tabeta famously shaved his head on camera for *Strider slips—but Plus hit on time. Promo genius: Darius Alpha (1990), boss-rush of *Plus*' 16 foes + 4-min time attack. 800 copies via mail-in proofs from *Super Darius*/*Plus*—rarest HuCard (~$1k+ today). Reception? Stellar. "Best PCE Darius," raved Video Game Den*: faithful, addictive, SGX magic. Flicker/SGX contrast highlighted PCE limits, but power fantasy ruled—wave shots carving fish balls. Sold well, boosted SGX cred (titles like *1941 followed).