So far it has been a Japanese only update.
In Summer 2011, Taito also released Darius Burst Another Chronicle EX, a major update which added new bosses, ships, weapons, levels, etc. Taito has said that they’ve heard a lot of feedback from the players and in January 2011, the first news of an English version of DBAC surfaced, thus showing the real possibility of the game being released internationally in 2011. All of these releases were low key affairs but they show that Taito still has interest in supporting arcades outside of Japan.Īs such, we at Arcade Heroes found out who to contact and we ran a story to get players to convince Taito to give DBAC a chance outside of Japan. There was Chase HQ2 in 2007, Panic Museum in 2009/10, Hopping Road in 2010/11 and even Elevator Action: Death Parade. Taito does not have a business network established in the United States after their US arcade division closed in the 90’s but they have been bringing a few games out in the US and Europe recently.
Many websites picked up on the news of the game and many players wondered if the game would see a release outside of Japan, beyond a few places who don’t mind importing games from Japan. Interest in DBAC outside of Japan has been high as well. Location tests for the game saw long lines (pictured) and initially the game opened in over 300 venues across Japan. The waiting line for Darius Burst’s 1st loctest (by AM-Net)
Taito has stated publicly that one reason why they have brought the Darius series back to arcades was to attract the demographic of 30-40 year old male players back into arcade Other elements from previous Darius games, such as bosses based upon marine life, the warning system, the level select and the burst laser (which was from the Darius Burst) have been kept intact. The game also uses a “sonic body seat” which puts a rumble feature into the seat and it has headphone jacks that the players can use. DBAC also introduces various new elements to the series including: 4 player co-operative play, a new power-up system that lets more than one player grab the same power-up, Chronicle mode which allows for deeper gameplay and story to be told and online support including leaderboards. Just like Darius and Darius Twin, DBAC takes advantage of the opportunity to try something different that arcade cabinets provide best, by using two 32″ LCD screens and angled mirrors to create a seamless, double wide screen. HISTORY: Darius Burst: Another Chronicle is the latest iteration of Taito’s classic shooting series, Darius, which first came to arcades in 1986.
17th, 2010 (Japan) December 2011 (International)ĪRCADE EXCLUSIVE?: The software for this has been modified for use on iPhone/iPad, it lacks some of the features of the arcade and is not exactly the same game. US version looks like the Japanese version with the canopy but is in English) (Top picture is of the Japanese version, bottom is the European version.