My Darius grail (?) hath landed...

Pyongyang

I'm in the process of uploading a video and some more snaps and a quick sample recording along with a write up on this for my blog. However, here's a few snaps of the Darius 'GET!' that arrived today, safe and sound via the joys of SAL.

It is a Darius Gaiden movie/superplay/clipshow/Zuntata music video promo (apparently). Rarer than a super rare thing being rare (apparently) and my first ever grail. Had to be Darius really didn't it?

It was super expensive, but I saved up incredibly hard for this and bartered firm too. I got it for the price I was willing to pay for it and not a cent more. The package itself is immaculate. The disc looks like it's never been played and the sleeve even smells new (yes I sniffed it). Reg card and obi strip are undamaged, not yellowed and totally mint. It also has it's original clear protector sleeve for the whole package. Minty fresh!

So, here it is, the photos I took of Darius Gaiden: The Movie/Superplay/Clip Show/Misc Laserdisc.

Darius forever!

Myrddin

So what is it?

Pyongyang

EnterNow wrote: »

So what is it?

o1s1n

Nice one man! That looks minty fresh

Is it just one long film? Or are there snippets or wha?

And did you ever find out how many of them actually exist?

Pyongyang

Cheers o1s1n! I have no idea what the print run was like, but I'd hazard a guess at 'not very many' based on a couple of factoids.

1) The Darius 12" vinyl soundtracks are super rare and had a very limited print run. These were released around the same time.

2) I've seen rips of Taito History 1 and Darius Perfection but not Darius Gaiden.

3) The only info I can find on it is the Pony Canyon serial on Laserdisc databases. I've been looking for info since before I bought the item in early December and search brings up absolutely zilch on this particular disc.

I'm going to contact Taito and Pony Canyon and see if I can find out more. As for the disc, I'm going to watch it shortly. It's around 80-90mins long and is a mix of a movie, a superplay and, I think, music videos. No subtitles of course, but it's Darius, you don't need subtitles, just expect lots of weird stuff to happen!

Steve X2

Pyongyang wrote: »

Cheers o1s1n! I have no idea what the print run was like, but I'd hazard a guess at 'not very many' based on a couple of factoids.

1) The Darius 12" vinyl soundtracks are super rare and had a very limited print run. These were released around the same time.

2) I've seen rips of Taito History 1 and Darius Perfection but not Darius Gaiden.

3) The only info I can find on it is the Pony Canyon serial on Laserdisc databases. I've been looking for info since before I bought the item in early December and search brings up absolutely zilch on this particular disc.

I'm going to contact Taito and Pony Canyon and see if I can find out more. As for the disc, I'm going to watch it shortly. It's around 80-90mins long and is a mix of a movie, a superplay and, I think, music videos. No subtitles of course, but it's Darius, you don't need subtitles, just expect lots of weird stuff to happen!

You gonna rip it to a vid file?

.

o1s1n

Pyongyang wrote: »

I'm going to contact Taito and Pony Canyon and see if I can find out more.

Oooh! Please do! You seem to have a strange ability to contact the uncontactable!

Be great if you got another interview out of it.

Steve SI wrote: »

You gonna rip it to a vid file?

.

I would imagine it'll be backed up but not distributed....how about a screening at Casa de Pyong? :pac:

DinoRex

Steve SI wrote: »

You gonna rip it to a vid file?

.

NO! Only he may know the back story of the little girl and the dead man with the hairy chest...

Steve X2

o1s1n wrote: »

I would imagine it'll be backed up but not distributed....how about a screening at Casa de Pyong? :pac:

Ahh, something like that should be shared with the world.


.

Steve X2

DinoRex wrote: »

NO! Only he may know the back story of the little girl and the dead man with the hairy chest...

Hairy chest?

I thought she took a dump on him, it is Japan after all.

.

DinoRex

Her hair might also be greying... maybe she's an old lady dressed a little girl.

The plot possibilities are endless!

Pyongyang

Steve SI wrote: »

You gonna rip it to a vid file?

Alas with this one, I'm going to be a very miserable sod and keep it under lock and key. I can confirm though that, Darius infatuation aside, it's actually a bloody good film. There's not a great deal of speech in it, you get the jist of what's going on enough to more or less get the 'plot'.

Looks like Taito spent a few quid on it too as that 'hairy turd' you lot are pointing out is not a hairy turd at all but something much more grotesque! The special effects are great and there is LOADS of game centre footage and also shots of PCB's and other 'misc stuff'. Quite the nerdy smutfest for both gaming and Darius fans alike!

Steve X2

Pyongyang wrote: »

Alas with this one, I'm going to be a very miserable sod and keep it under lock and key. I can confirm though that, Darius infatuation aside, it's actually a bloody good film. There's not a great deal of speech in it, you get the jist of what's going on enough to more or less get the 'plot'.

Looks like Taito spent a few quid on it too as that 'hairy turd' you lot are pointing out is not a hairy turd at all but something much more grotesque! The special effects are great and there is LOADS of game centre footage and also shots of PCB's and other 'misc stuff'. Quite the nerdy smutfest for both gaming and Darius fans alike!

Where's the thumbs down button on this site
Only joking, each to their own.

If it was me I'd spend some time ripping it in the best possible detail and release it to the world for free. Same as I would do if I had a proto cart that was not available.
When I get my Retrode 2 I can do it, just need some actual proto carts

Come on Pyongy, rip it, it goes for about 150 dollars so its not that bad dude

.

Pyongyang

Gift me one of your copies of Darius Alpha and I'll think about it! :P

o1s1n

As nice as it is to share stuff with the world...it's not as nice as that smug feeling you get from being a black hole collector :pac:

Just try not to end up like Gollum!

safetyboy

Is it filmed underwater? I'm just waiting on my stepdown transformer so I can play my Darius Gaiden Saturn game!

TheIrishGrover

I'm in Tokyo on holidays at the moment and stumbled upon Darius Burst EX. Fantastic game. The sound is amazing (Complete with rumble box under the seat) The only problem is that the friend I went with isn't a gamer and I don't think I'd be quite up to speed with the locals so I was stuck playing it single player. Would love to give it a bash with two others. Epic game though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkwAoE-UCBk

Steve X2

Pyongyang wrote: »

Gift me one of your copies of Darius Alpha and I'll think about it! :P

I'll sort you out with a rom dump no problem

o1s1n wrote: »

As nice as it is to share stuff with the world...it's not as nice as that smug feeling you get from being a black hole collector :pac:

Just try not to end up like Gollum!

I couldn't disagree with you more o1s1n. I think our life philosophies are very different

.

Myrddin

Steve SI wrote: »

I'll sort you out with a rom dump no problem



I couldn't disagree with you more o1s1n. I think our life philosophies are very different

.

Pyong will have to dump it eventually for fear of disc oxidation

Pyongyang

EnterNow wrote: »

Pyong will have to dump it eventually for fear of disc oxidation

Already planning for that. Making one copy only though, then it's going in to my floor safe. Or for extra paranoia I'll send the Laserdisc and the backup to my safe deposit box in the Cayman Islands.

Pyongyang

Steve SI wrote: »

I'll sort you out with a rom dump no problem

No chance! I'll settle for a quick sniff of both copies though.

johnny_ultimate

TheIrishGrover wrote: »

I'm in Tokyo on holidays at the moment and stumbled upon Darius Burst EX. Fantastic game. The sound is amazing (Complete with rumble box under the seat) The only problem is that the friend I went with isn't a gamer and I don't think I'd be quite up to speed with the locals so I was stuck playing it single player. Would love to give it a bash with two others. Epic game though

Ended up having a game with some randomer in London recently. The rare shmup that actually benefits from two players. That screen is too big for just one

Steve X2

Pyongyang wrote: »

No chance! I'll settle for a quick sniff of both copies though.

I might be selling one later this year along with a few much rarer double items I have to fund my new car/speed boat/hot air balloon habit.

You can get a sniff at the auction

.

Myrddin

Pyongyang wrote: »

Already planning for that. Making one copy only though, then it's going in to my floor safe. Or for extra paranoia I'll send the Laserdisc and the backup to my safe deposit box in the Cayman Islands.

So anyone at a beers hosted by Pyong, rip the hdd out of his pc on the way home. Copy the copy, & post the hdd back to him

Pyongyang

Steve SI wrote: »

I might be selling one later this year along with a few much rarer double items I have to fund my new car/speed boat/hot air balloon habit.

I was planning on a S2000 or a 350Z last year. Nearly got a 350Z, glad I didn't now. Pre-2011 budget the annual road tax for a 350Z was €1500. It's now €1638 per year with the tax hike.

At the same time I looked at importing an S2000 from the UK using a loophole of insuring the car for 6 months and leaving it parked up at my Mum's in the UK. If you do that and then import it, it's VRT exempt (or something along those lines anyway). Still works out cheaper than buying one within Eire. Tax and hassle killed that plan off though.

Now I think of it this way. Your two copies of Darius Alpha wouldn't even buy me two years road tax on a 350Z. :eek:

Good old Darius, always putting things in to perspective.

DinoRex

Pyongyang is planning on being entombed with it just like the pharohs of old!

Pyongyang

As Martin Prince famously said in Three Men And A Comic Book:

"The last one alive will have the honour of being buried with it!".

o1s1n

Pyongyang wrote: »

As Martin Prince famously said in Three Men And A Comic Book:

"The last one alive will have the honour of being buried with it!".

Too right!

I plan on making a coffin out of my cheaper games. The closer your get to my corpse, the more expensive games will get.

My underpants shall be lined with undumped prototypes.

Doge

TheIrishGrover wrote: »

I'm in Tokyo on holidays at the moment and stumbled upon Darius Burst EX. Fantastic game. The only problem is that the friend I went with isn't a gamer and I don't think I'd be quite up to speed with the locals so I was stuck playing it single player.

You never know, you might just find the girl of your dreams...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng2R8dlLe0o

Retr0gamer

Darius Laserdisc, meh. Overrated compared to the R-type laserdisc.

johnny_ultimate

Gradius Betamaxes FTW.

Pyongyang

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Darius Laserdisc, meh. Overrated compared to the R-type laserdisc.

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Gradius Betamaxes FTW.

There are Gradius and R-Type laserdiscs available. But they are only compilations of gameplay, nowhere near as well made or presented as the Darius Gaiden one. So nerr!!!!

Still rare though and something I'd like to add to my Laserdisc collection one day.

o1s1n

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Gradius Betamaxes FTW.

Megadrive Vinyl for the real win

Pyongyang

Darius vinyl soundtracks for the ultimate in 'win'.

Plus, mandatory photo of 'happy man playing an awesome game':

CiDeRmAn

Sorry to hijack the tread, but what sort of CF cards are needed for the Taito G-Net modified bios setup?
I need to get a few as I am getting one for my birthday!
So, how big, what brand and where the frak am I going to get some?

Pyongyang

I think mine is a Sandisk one. Just a normal one will do so long as it has at least 15 mb/s read rating. It's a bit iffy about brands of card so stick with Sandisk as I can assure you that brand definitely works.

Don't go buying 758 billion GB ones either. Most you'll need is 2gb tops.

CiDeRmAn

I have a card reader with a CF Slot, will that do for dumping game images?
How long does each one take?
I'm getting a card with the system, 64mb or something.

Pyongyang

I use a €5 card reader I bought in Tesco and it works just fine. You need to make sure you use the right flashing software, usually supplied by the seller.

Don't forget, it's one game per card. You can't put multiple games on one card.

Flashing takes anywhere between 30 seconds to a couple of minutes, depending on the game.

Enjoy!

CiDeRmAn

Any idea of a local place to get cheap CF Cards then?
I could go the eBay route but there is no guarantee of the cards not actually being made of spit and baling twine.

Pyongyang

Dunno. I never buy anything non-perishable in Ireland. Mymemory or Amazon or 7dayshop are tops for flash card prices.

CiDeRmAn

Here's a thing.
I see an SD to CF adaptor out there.
I wonder if I could use one of those, SD cards are as cheap as they come, just pop the file on there, slap it into the adaptor and on into the G-Net.

Pyongyang

I'd stick to CF. It works. Why run the microscopic risk of trashing the PCB?

I still have just one CF, but I plan on buying a handful so as to not have to reflash all the time.

Myrddin

Pyongyang wrote: »

I'd stick to CF. It works. Why run the microscopic risk of trashing the PCB?

Could that actually happen if he used an adaptor?

CiDeRmAn

Trust me, we'll never know!

Pyongyang

EnterNow wrote: »

Pyongyang wrote: »

I'd stick to CF. It works. Why run the microscopic risk of trashing the PCB?

Could that actually happen if he used an adaptor?

All signs point to no. Realistically it just won't work and you'll have wasted money on the adapter.

G-Net is very fussy though and I'm not going to try and find out if it works!

Enjoy your board, they're stuffed with Darius goodness!