G-Darius (c) 1997 Taito.
G-Darius literally added a new dimension to the highly regarded 'Darius' series, with the introduction of fully 3D rendered backgrounds and enemies. Namco had already done the same with their Xevious series for 'Xevious 3D/G', released two years' earlier, but G-Darius is generally regarded as the most accomplished of the two titles.
G-Darius' game-play was also enhanced, with the 'Capture Ball' system; this allowed the player to capture almost any enemy craft and use it against the game's other enemies. Captured enemies can either be detonated like a ''bomb'', damaging all enemies nearby; or used to fire a special 'Alpha Beam', which cuts through everything but gold-colored objects and enemy bosses. Each boss is capable of firing its own version of this beam at the player; when both beams meet, they will interrupt each other's path. Depending on how rapidly the player presses the Fire button, one beam will grow and eventually overpower the others. The Capture ball was actually introduced in 'Darius Gaiden' but was only used to a minimal extent.

>>> TECHNICAL DETAILS
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Taito FX-1B hardware
Prom Stickers : E39
Main CPU : PSX (@ 16.9344 Mhz)
Sound Chips : SPU (@ 16.9344 Mhz)
Screen orientation : Horizontal
Video resolution : 640 x 480 pixels
Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz
Palette colors : 65536
Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 6

>>> TRIVIA
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Makoto Fujita, Takeda , Ono and Katoh (see 'Staff' section) are members of G.Rev (the makers of 'Border Down' in 2003). Hiroyuki Maruyama is the G.Rev president.
The game forbids the initials 'SEX' on the high score table. If you try, it gets changed to 'AAA'.

>>> TRICKS AND TIPS
-------------------
* Zone Select :
1. Hold Service Switch button during boot count.
2. Wait until machine displays 'Service Switch Error' on screen.
3. Push buttons in the following sequence 'Start(x3), Service Switch, Start'.
4. Insert credit then go to Zone Select screen.

>>> GAME SERIES
---------------
1. Darius (1986)
2. Darius II (1989)
3. Darius Twin (1991, Nintendo Super Famicom)
4. Darius Force (1993, Nintendo Super Famicom)
3. Darius Gaiden - Silver Hawk (1994)
4. G-Darius (1997)
5. G-Darius ver.2 (1997)

>>> DESIGNERS / PROGRAMMERS / STAFF
-------------------------------------
Producer : Naomitsu Abe
Director : Naomitsu Abe, Makoto Ohsaka, Akira Ohtsuki, Makoto Fujita
Character graphics : Makoto Fujita, Tohru Kawaishi, Kenichi Morita, Hiroshi Hasegawa, Toshihiro Fukui, Ryosuke Hayase, Atsushi Horimizu, Yatta Ushiroda, Baw Baw
Program : Akira Ohtsuki, Nobuyuki Hayashi, Katsuyuki Fujita, Takafumi Fujimoto, Hirohisa Matsumura, Hiroyuki Maruyama, Hikaru Taniguchi, Yasutaka Hayashi, Shunsuke Ono, Masakazu Takeda, Harumi.K, Hirotaka Fukakawa, Koji Kato, Hitoshi Kozuka
Music : Hisayoshi Ogura (Zuntata)
Sound effects : Yukiharu Urita (Zuntata)
Hardware : Katsumi Kaneoka
Design works : Naoto Hashizume
Quality warranty : Nobuhiro Koyama, Eiji Kawabata, Makoto Obonai

>>> GAME PORTS TO OTHER SYSTEMS
-------------------------------
* Consoles :
Sony PlayStation (1998)
Sony PlayStation 2 (2005, 'Taito Memories Vol. 2')
Microsoft XBOX (2006, 'Taito Legends 2')
Sony PlayStation 2 (2006, 'Taito Legends 2')
* Computers :
PC [CD-ROM] (2006, 'Taito Legends 2')

>>> OTHER GAME RESOURCES
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Game's rom.