Darius Cozmic Collection Arcade

Supports 4:3 since Steam Deck update. Ignore top rated review. It's M2, so these are the definitive ports of all three games, just with a price to match. At current sale price ($17.99), worth it for Gaiden alone. Not to knock on the first two, because they also hold up quite well for their age.

Another excellent retro shoot em up collection by the legends at M2! Darius Cozmic Collection is fantastic from its presentation to its content, every version of the games are here with descriptions on what makes them different, as well as achievements linked to different ones too for the achievement hunters out there like myself! as well as this it has the usual affair, custom controls, CRT filters but also multi-monitor support so you can literally build your own DARIUS cab if you so wish, and the game will spread the screen across your 2-3 monitors! fantastic! These were LEGENDARY games in their day, state of the art, built to absolutely blow the competition out of the water, MASSIVE screens, tons of enemies on screen, detailed sprites, MASSIVE bosses all while running buttery smooth without any lag or slowdown (Looking at you Gradius III!) and man does it show, these were a BLAST to play through even if they are brutally difficult in stages! This collection much like Gradius Origins was put together with love and care by people who actually wanted to make a good product instead of a quick cash grab, it's a fantastic way to play some of these genre-defining games from the legendary TAITO Corporation! and there is plenty to do here, and plenty of achievements to be had, and some rage inducing bosses too! because...why not? Definitely pick this up if you're a fan of space shoot em ups! this is a SOLID package all round!

I have a soft spot for Darius 1, but Darius Gaiden is a truly masterful work and worth the price of admission alone. M2 remains the platinum standard as always, a wonderful and careful release.