A Legendary Shmup Series Hits Switch Soon!
Taito’s renowned Darius series is making its way to the Nintendo Switch through a fresh compilation that is set to be released in the early part of next year.
This compilation is arriving as the Darius Cozmic Collection, which is available in two varieties. The standard edition combines the arcade versions of Darius, Darius 2, Sagaia, and Darius Gaiden. Meanwhile, the Special Edition not only includes all of those but also a selection of console Darius games, such as Darius Force and Darius Twin for the Super Famicom, the Master System version of Sagaia, Darius 2 for the Mega Drive, and Darius Alpha for the PC Engine.
The original Darius arcade games are famous for their multi-screen setup, and it will be fascinating to observe how this aspect is handled in the Switch port.
However, there is a slight drawback. The standard edition is priced at 5,200 yen, which approximately converts to £35. But what about the Special Edition? It is being sold for a hefty 16,800 yen, which is roughly around £115. This is a staggering amount, even considering the included artbook and soundtrack CD. It is worth noting that one of these games, Darius Alpha, is extremely rare. Available only through mail order with only 800 copies in circulation, the PC Engine boss rush game frequently fetches well over £1000 when copies do surface.
The Darius Cozmic Collection is set to be released on February 28th for the Nintendo Switch. If you are interested in learning about what makes the series distinctive, you can check out this retrospective from 2014. Or perhaps consider investing in the excellent Dariusburst, which was released on PS4, PC, and Vita in 2015.
