Darius Gaiden - Silver Hawk (c) 1994 Taito.
In the game, the third in the 'Darius' series; the player flies an ornate fighter craft called a Silver Hawk. The craft is equipped with two attack weapons : Missile (forward-firing standard gun) and Bomb (drops from the bottom of the ship). The Silver Hawk is also equipped with the 'Arm' (armor); a green energy shield that can absorb enemy attacks without harm to the ship. Some enemies leave panels behind that can be collected to power-up your shots, missiles or shield.
The graphics and sound are superior to those of the previous Darius games, and the game employs a lot of impressive visual effects; for example, the Silver Hawk warps into a stage dramatically in the fourth-tier stages, and begins to burn on re-entry at the start of the sixth-tier stages.
The bosses are huge and far more complex than those of the previous games, each employing several attack patterns and explode with powerful warping and twisting effects upon their defeat.

>>> TECHNICAL DETAILS
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Taito F3 System hardware
Prom Stickers : D87
Main CPU : 68EC020 (@ 16 Mhz)
Sound CPU : 68000 (@ 16 Mhz)
Sound Chips : ES5505 (@ 15.23805 Mhz)
Screen orientation : Horizontal
Video resolution : 320 x 232 pixels
Screen refresh : 58.97 Hz
Palette colors : 8192
Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 2

>>> TRIVIA
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Released in September 1994.
The title of this game translates from Japanese as 'Darius Side Story'.
The game forbids the initials 'SEX' on the high score table. If you try, it gets changed to 'AAA'.
Pony Canyon / Scitron released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Darius Gaiden - PCCB-00166) on 18/11/1994.

>>> GAME UPDATES
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The US version is slightly different, it has the 'Recycle It, Don't Trash It!' screen.
There was an EXTRA version in this game and it was their official hack with increased rapid fire, and swapped bosses.

>>> GAME SERIES
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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
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Producer : Hidehiro Fujihara
Game designers : Hisakazu Kato, Akira Kurabayashi, Masami Kikuchi, Yutaka Nagayama, Naoto Omura, Hidetaka Harada, Rintaro Doi, Katsumi Kaneoka, Hisayoshi Ogura, Katsuhisa Ishikawa, Thanks : Kentaro Matsumura
Art directors : Kat, Masami Kikuchi, Baw-Baw
Programmers : Kurabar, Yutaka Nagayama, Naoto Dmura, Hidetaka Harada
Hardware engineer : Katsumi Kaneoka
Decorator : Rintard Doi
Sound (Zuntata) : Hisayoshi Ogura (OGR.), Katsuhisa Ishikawa
Bit pattern : Makoto Fujita, Ucky Maeda, Tohru Kawaishi, Yuko Kajihara, Miwa Kamiya, Vap, A-Wave

>>> GAME PORTS TO OTHER SYSTEMS
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* Consoles :
Sega Saturn (1995)
Sony PlayStation (1996)
Sony PlayStation 2 (2005, 'Taito Memories Vol. 1')
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.