Daioh

Overview

Daioh (loosely translated to "Great King") is a sci-fi vertical-scrolling shoot-'em-up developed by Athena and released by both Athena (in Japan) and American Sammy Corporation (in North America) for arcades in 1993.

The game is known for its unique six-button control layout in the North American version. While the Japanese version uses a traditional two-button configuration (weapon shot and bomb), with each of the three different shots/bombs determined by Weapon Change pick-ups, the North American version gives the player access to all weapons at once, with the top three buttons used for different weapon shots (Ion, Laser, and Missile) and the bottom three buttons used for different bombs (Fire, Mega Beam, and Atomic).

Some of the game's assets were later used in the Dezaemon series, including their main sample games. This includes "Daioh Gale" in the Super Famicom release, "Daioh Gale rev. 2" in the PlayStation release, and "Daioh P!" in the Saturn release.

While the game has received no home ports at the time, it was later digitally released for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch as part of Hamster's Arcade Archives series on November 2, 2023.