Overview
Super Nova is a shoot 'em up from Taito that is also part of the Darius series, in which the human race is fighting against an invading wave of robotic piscine aliens lead by Belzer. In Japan, the game is known as Darius Force. It is the follow up to the 1991 SNES game Darius Twin and, like that game, is loosely based on the Arcade version of Darius II (known as Segaia outside of Japan).
Super Nova is novel among Darius games for allowing the player to choose between three ships (the Silver Hawks, pride of the human fleet) with different load-outs: The green Silver Hawk of Darius; the blue Silver Hawk of Darius II; and the red Silver Hawk, which was created especially for this game.
Like other Darius games, there are branching paths that the player chooses between. There are three terminal points to this branching, which amounts to three separate endings with their own unique boss. Similarly, almost every boss in Darius Force (as is also true for the Darius series in general) is based on a type of sealife.
Critical Reception
Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the review scores of 7,7,5,6 and 6 out of ten. Mike Weigand, who gave the score of 6, wrote, "There are some excellent elements here (like great weapons, and at times, astounding graphics), but the one-hit wonder aspect that sends you back a ways in each level when hit is very aggravating".
Log in to comment