Characters / Darius

Protagonists and ships

Silver Hawks

Origin

Silver Hawk Model 3F-1B Space Fighter (Origin)

Length: 65.6 ft

Height: 26.2 ft

Width: 49.2 ft

Weight: 77160 lbs

Power Unit: PT-11 Tachyon Drive

Pilots: Proco and Tiat (Darius)/Unknown pilot (Dariusburst)/Planet Saviours (Dariusburst: Chronicle Saviours)

The third Silver Hawk model, used by Proco and Tiat against the Belsar Army during their attack on planet Darius. It is equipped with firepower that can penetrate enemy forces and terrain when fully powered up. Its original incarnation can also withstand a large amount of hits compared to its successors, as long as the shield remains active.

Another incarnation of the Origin was also included in Darius Force, known as Type-1.

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• Glass Cannon: Its incarnation in Dariusburts has a relatively strong firing power, but it has no defensive capabilities compared to other ships.
• Short-Range Long-Range Weapon: While the Origin's main shot is already strong enough, it can deal a massive amount of damage when firing up close against enemies and bosses thanks to its short delay between shots. However, it puts the player in a risky situation, so careful should be taken.
• You Don't Look Like You: its incarnation in Darius+ looks nothing like its original form.

Second

Pilots: Proco Jr. and Tiat Young (Darius 2)/Planet Saviours (Dariusburst: Chronicle Saviours)

The fifth Silver Hawk model, developed using Olga technology and used by Proco Jr. and Tiat Young to fend off the Belsar Army from the Solar System. Unlike the other models, the Second's main firepower gets stronger with each upgrade, but its laser shots requires separate upgrades instead. Once fully upgraded, it becomes a devastating force to be reckoned with.

Gaiden

Genesis

Legend

Next

Formula

Assault

Murakumo

Syvalion

Silver-Hawk_model_ARCF-ROTA_PLUS A.k.A Silver-Hawk Genesis:

Silver Hawk Military Designation- ARCF-ROTA PLUSAlias-Silver HawkOccupant- 1Height- 14.815 metersLength- 26.55 metersWidth- 20.713 metersPower Unit- A.N. (All Nothing) System DrivePilots: Sameluck Raida, Lutia Feen

The chronologically second oldest (so far) Silver Hawk model (the oldest is believed to be a developmental prototype), Genesis is notable for its combination of state-of-the-art Amnelian military technology (the All-Nothing power system) and reverse-engineered Thiima tech (the Beta beam weapons system).

• Attack Drone: the "Genesis" reproduction provided to the Planet Saviours by Amnelia lacks the original Capture-Ball System, instead mounting a Control System/Microfactory unit for a pair of attack drones due to inability to replicate the original CB technology.
• Glass Cannon: In Chronicle Saviours, the Genesis lacks a fixed beam projection system, rendering it completely reliant on evasive maneuvers, and re-spawns without active armour.
• Irony: The craft responsible for driving the Thiima away from Amnelian space was powered by the very technology who's use prompted their attack.
• Magitek: Some supplementary material describes All-Nothing Technology as literally being the result of "black magic".
• Retro Upgrade: Elements of its design and systems were implemented into the finalised Silver Hawk Murakumo.
• Super Prototype: Arguably has the Most raw Fire-power/Damage dealing potential of ANY SH-Series Fighter in the Series with Its A.N Powered Alpha Beam. However...
• Wave-Motion Gun: a High-level Counter Alpha Beam (having absorbed at LEAST two Beta beam volleys form a boss) was previously the Page image.

Proco

Tiat

Proco Jr.

Tiat Young

Case Ardin

Anna Steiner

Sameluck Raida

Lutia Feen

Ti2

The pilot of the Silver Hawk "Legend".

• Benevolent A.I.: She's actually an AI in the form of a young girl.
• Big Good: She represents Darius itself and also protects the people of Darius as well as those across the cosmos from the Belsar. One ending even has her personally communicating with the Embryon.
• Breaking Old Trends: In previous games, the red Silver Hawk was always assigned to male pilots. Ti 2 is the first female pilot to board a red Silver Hawk.
• Expy: Pretty much resembles Weiß from Arcana Heart 3 appearance-wise. Another possible Expy of her is Fiona Nono from Astebreed. She actually resembles Hanna-Justina Marseille.
• Narrator All Along: It's implied the ending of Chronicle Saviours is narrated by her, as the ending sequence shows the Silver Hawk Legend flying off into space.
• The Stoic: Appears to be this.
• Suddenly Voiced: While the Darius series has little to no voice acting, Arkanoid vs. Space Invaders marked her first official voiced appearance.
  • She has another voiced appearance in Alice Gear Aegis, by Ayane Sakura.

Riga Pratica

Test pilot for the Silver Hawk "Next".

• Breaking Old Trends: In previous games, the blue Silver Hawk was always assigned to female pilots. Riga is the first male pilot to board a blue Silver Hawk.
• Narrator All Along: It’s implied that the ending for Kyokkuho is narrated by him, as the ending shows the Silver Hawk Next flying off into space.
• Suddenly Voiced: Has an official voiced appearance in Arkanoid vs. Space Invaders.

Villains

The Belsar

The eternal enemy of Planet Darius, the Belsar are a massive army that has attacked Darius and its allied planets many times over the centuries. Their reasons and goals are entirely unknown. They wield a fleet of aquatic-themed spaceships based on reverse-engineered Thiima technology.

• Defeat Equals Explosion: Once a boss Belsar is defeated, they explode into a million tiny pieces.
• Flying Seafood Special: A relic of their technology originally being Thiima in origin. Almost all of their battleships are shaped like marine life (though there are a few exceptions).
• Greater-Scope Villain: Assumed to be piloting the various "Huge Battleships" that appear throughout the series, though we never see them in person.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: Little is known of why they keep attacking humanity. The most common theory is that they just really like fighting.
• Inconsistent Spelling: The latest English releases use "Belsar", but it has been spelled as "Belser" in the past as well, and the English manual for Darius Force romanizes it as "Pelsar".
• Sequel Hook: Many of Dariusburst's endings note that the Belsar's homeworld has still not been found, so there is always the possibility they will attack yet again sometime down the line...

The Thiima

A race of Ambiguous Robots that attacked Planet Amnelia in G-Darius, in retribution for having used the All-Nothing superweapon. Amnelia's counterattack lead to the apparent destruction of their race, and the discovery of Planet Darius, which the Thiima's home base orbited.

• Ambiguous Robots: They appear mechanical, but they also are referred to as being alive in some texts. If they are artificial, there appears to be no sign of their creators. And then there's their leader, the Embryon, which appears more like an Energy Being or an Eldritch Abomination.
• Beam-O-War: All major bosses in G-Darius are capable of firing a massive beam of energy (known as the Beta Beam) at you, and the only way to counter it is your own Alpha Beam. Later stage bosses will often throw 2 or more beams into the mix in a bid to overwhelm you.
• Defeat Equals Explosion: Like the Belsar before them, every single boss Thiima dies this very way.
• Establishing Character Moment: Notably, most of the Boss Warning Sirens is accompanied by the major boss themselves showing off their major particular trait, including Eclipse Eye's fake eclipse, or Queen Fossil effortlessly bulldozing herself through an entire fleet like it was nothing.
• Final Solution: They are described as "guardians" that safeguard life. The reason they attacked Amnelia was because the Amnelians had created and used a planet-destroying superweapon, and the Thiima decided that a people who would do such a thing were a danger to everything else.
• Flying Seafood Special: They are all shaped like gigantic, mechanical, flying sea creatures. Why this is the case isn't clear.
• No-Sell: Boss Thiima are immune to the capture ball's primary ability, although they do take Scratch Damage from it.
• Sequel Hook: One ending to Dariusburst has the Embryon appear before the pilot of the Legend following the Belsar's latest defeat, despite seemingly having been destroyed centuries ago. The pilot speaks to it and manages to convince it not to attack, though what was said between them, and the Embryon's reason for reappearing and then deciding not to attack, are all unknown.

Notable Bosses

King Fossil

Game apperances: Darius (Zone A), Darius Gaiden' (Zone C), Darius R (Zone A)

• Recurring Boss Template: Started the trend of having a Coelacanth boss in each game, usually named "____ Fossil".
• Wake-Up Call Boss: In Darius and Darius R, his sole attack is a fast, five-bullet spread that will easily hit you if you don't react fast enough.
• Your Head Asplode: His head literally pops off his body in a mini implosion after he's defeated in Darius Gaiden.

Great Thing

Game Appearances: Darius (Zone Z), Darius Twin (Zone K, as Hyper Great Thing), Darius Gaiden (Zone Z), G-Darius (Zone Ο, as G.T), Dariusburst (Zone K), Dariusburst: Another Chronicle (Zone L)

Darius/Darius Twin incarnation

A sperm whale, often seen commanding the Belsar Army. It is often reserved as the Final Boss of the lowest (and frequently most difficult path) of games it appears in. It should be noted that the boss "Great Force", which appears in Darius Force, should not be considered an iteration of Great Thing, despite the similar name and design, as it is based on a humpback whale, unlike Great Thing's sperm whale design.

• Boss Subtitles: While every boss in Darius Twin has a four digit serial code alongside its name, (Hyper) Great Thing is notable in that instead of being a jumble of letters and numbers, Great Thing's serial code spells out GG0D.
• Dynamic Entry: Makes its presence known in Darius Gaiden by bursting through the ground, though thankfully it can't hurt you while doing so. Getting to that point without getting a Game Over mid-stage will even result in the burst being somewhat-timed with the music!
• Final Boss: In all of its appearances (Darius Twin being the sole exception), it will be the boss of a final zone.
• Leitmotif:
  • In Dariusburst, "Hello 31337". Unlike most boss themes that get shared by various bosses, it is used exclusively for Great Thing and its harder variant G.T.V. While other theme songs also get used for Great Thing in Chronicle Saviours where the returning ships use their own sets of background music, "Hello 31337" always plays if the player is fighting Great Thing or G.T.V in Dariusburst, Second Prologue, Another Chronicle, or Chronicle Saviours in a mission designed for one of the five Dariusburst debut ships^note Legend, Next, Formula, Assault, Murakumo.
  • G.T.B. uses a different theme, "Finale", in missions where a Dariusburst ship is the default ship.
• I Have Many Names: Darius Twin adds a "Hyper" prefix, while G-Darius abbreviates it to "G.T".
• Palette Swap: Dariusburst Another Chronicle has G.T.B., which is a black Great Thing but with some new patterns. Another Chronicle EX introduces G.T-V., a purple Great Thing that's even more difficult.
• Purple Is Powerful: Great Thing's appearance in Darius Gaiden is a rather lovely shade of purple, and it will kick your ass hard. Additionally, choosing the lower route in Zone Ο of G-Darius will make G.T a violet color, which fires its weapons even faster. There's also G.T-V, fought in Zone Z in Another Chronicle EX, is Great Thing except purple/violet-colored and more dangerous.
• Recurring Boss Template: Started the series trend of having Great Thing as a boss.
• Space Whale: One that's a mechanical battleship, no less.
• True Final Boss: In a sense. It is usually only reached by taking mostly lower paths. It is also the ultimate Final Boss of the bonus stages in Chronicle Saviors, putting it above the Gigantic Bite in the enemy hierarchy.

Emperor Fossil and Queen Fossil

Other appearances: Darius Twin (Zone B and C), G-Darius (Zone Gamma; Queen Fossil only)

Two Fossil bosses teaming up together in Darius Twin.

In G-Darius, Queen Fossil Took a Level in Badass, becoming so big that the stage split takes place at the start of her boss battle, allowing you to decide which side to attack it from.

• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Notably, Queen Fossil, and her counterpart in *G-Darius*, Fire Fossil, are the only two major bosses in that game to be so big, when you reach them, you're given a choice on which side to attack first.
• Battleship Raid: Queen Fossil in G-Darius is so huge that she becomes this trope.
• Boss Warning Siren: The only bosses to break the standard "A HUGE BATTLESHIP..." message pattern, if slightly:
  WARNING! HUGE BATTLESHIPS CODE NO. EP30 "EMPEROR FOSSIL" CODE NO. QU10 QUEEN FOSSIL IS APPROACHING FAST
  • Queen Fossil, alongside Fire Fossil, are the only two bosses to lack their standard 'huge battleship' warning during the Vs. Boss mode in the PS1 version, as they simply emerge from the clouds below.
• Dual Boss: In Darius Twin.
• Establishing Character Moment: Queen Fossil in G-Darius is introduced by effortlessly ramming into an entire fleet with ease without a single scratch on herself.
• Kill One, Others Get Stronger: When one of the two bosses is defeated in Darius Twin, the other will go crazy with their attacks.
  • Beam Spam: Queen Fossil, if Emperor Fossil is defeated first.
  • Wave-Motion Gun: Emperor Fossil, if Queen Fossil is defeated first.

Prickly Angler

Appearances: Darius Gaiden' (Zone G, Zone I)

An angler fish that grows in size and power as it takes damage.

• Bait-and-Switch Boss: It initially appears as one of the fish that appears in the level before transforming into the boss.
• Make My Monster Grow: As the battle goes on, it becomes bigger and stronger and even more weird-looking.
• Power-Upgrading Deformation: It turns into an even more freaky-looking anglerfish as it grows.
• Turns Red: It grows into a stronger form as it takes enough damage.

Titanic Lance

Appearances: Darius Gaiden (Zone M), G-Darius (cameo)

A massive, five-screen-long nautiloid.

• Attack Its Weak Point: The final segment, the head, will only take damage if the globules under its plate of armor are hit.
• Battleship Raid: Perhaps not quite on the level of Queen Fossil's appearance in G-Darius, but considering the Silver Hawk is no bigger than its eye, it still has merit.
• Boss-Only Level: Downplayed. Zone M throws some meteors at you, but it takes all of 30 seconds before it throws the "huge battleship" warning at you.
• The Cameo: The broken down head of one shows up◊ in G-Darius as a background element. It's still as large as ever.
• Combat Tentacles: Pieces of the tentacles on the head can detach and fire bullets at you before flying off in an attempt to crash into your ship.
• Detachment Combat: It has no problems detaching certain segments from its body in order to crash into you. Particularly notable with the midsection that floats from left to right before clamping down in an attempt to pinch you in-between.
• Marathon Boss: With five screens worth of battleship, it's quite possibly one of the longest bosses in the game.
• Mook Maker: The section right before the head can create small nautilus baddies.
• Nothing Is Scarier: The very short stage preceding it has no BGM whatsoever.
• Suspicious Video-Game Generosity: Zone M before this fight pretends to be a cakewalk with very easy to kill enemies. Cue the Boss Warning Siren 30 seconds in.
• There Is Another: While you only ever fight one, the preview for Zone M implies that there's multiple of them, which is seemingly confirmed by one showing up in G-Darius.

Eclipse Eye

Appearances: G-Darius (Zone α)

A large Thiima based on the Gibberfish.

• Green and Mean: Its standard/top form primarily sports green all over its body. Taking the lower path will result in you facing the more powerful gold variant.
• That's No Moon: True to its name, when it first appears, a supposed eclipse appears in the sky, until it's revealed that the boss was the cause of this out of nowhere eclipse.
• Warm-Up Boss: As the first boss, his attack patterns are easy to avoid.

Tripod Sardine

Appearances: G-Darius (Zone β)

A Tripod fish Thiima.

• Green and Mean: The colouration of the lower path variant.
• Losing Your Head: Once it takes enough damage, its head gets blown off. It still survives, and uses a Desperation Attack.
• Purple Is Powerful: Its top path variant is primarily purple in colour, and can pack quite a punch.

Dimension Diver

Appearances: G-Darius (Zone ε)

A Chimera fish Thiima with the ability to create portals.

• Meaningful Name: It creates portals to dive between dimensions. In fact, it's first seen with its fin sticking out of a portal, traveling through the level.
• Space Master: Is able to create portals in order to stick its head through and attack the player.
• Thinking Up Portals: Creates portals on its own, to attack the player from the background.

Absolute Defender

Appearances: G-Darius (Zone ζ)

A pinecone fish Thiima with extremely strong Deflector Shields.

• Attack Its Weak Point: An arrow will designate the shield generator, which is where you need to hit and destroy.
• Broken Armor Boss Battle: To damage it, you need to destroy the shield generator on its chin to remove its Deflector Shields. You can then wail on it, but it will regenerate the shield generator in a short period of time.
• Deflector Shields: Its main gimmick is to use these to block your attacks until you destroy the generator.
• Establishing Character Moment: Its introduction during the Boss Warning Siren sequence has it easily block a massive laser of another battleship with its shield before blasting back with a series of its own.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: In this case, its Deflector Shields.
• Meaningful Name: Its name refers to it's ability to deflect all sorts of damage with it's Deflector Shields.
• No-Sell: Is completely invulnerable to damage, even your Alpha Beam, as long as its shield generator is active.

Fire Fossil

Appearances: G-Darius (Zone η)

A huge Coelacanth Thiima with fire-based attacks.

• Battleship Raid: Just as big as Queen Fossil, and the player has to face off against its different segments.
• Playing with Fire: Essentially the fire equivalent of Queen Fossil, almost all its attacks involve incendiary weaponry.
• Underground Monkey: Of Queen Fossil, basically a fire based version of her.

Death Wings

Apperances: G-Darius (Zone θ)

A Manta Ray Thiima.

• Sinister Stingrays: A gigantic manta ray mecha of a boss.
• Weaponized Exhaust: Uses its own exhaust as an attack, forcing the player to move between exhaust jets.
• Weapons That Suck: Its base area has a suction ability that attempts to draw the player in.

Eight Feet Umbrella

Apperances: G-Darius (Zone ι)

An umbrella octopus Thiima.

• Playing with Fire: The tips of its 'tentacles' can serve as flamethrowers during its fight.
  • Shock and Awe: The purple variant shoots electricity out of its tentacles instead.
• Purple Is Powerful: Going on the lower route of its stage will force you to fight a purple variant that can shoot giant missles at you, similar to Queen Fossil.
• Spectacular Spinning: Spins around a lot while firing lasers/flamethrowers as one of its attacks.
• Tentacled Terror: One of the robotic variety, which can fire off flamethrowers, lasers and bombs.

Eternal Triangle

Appearances: G-Darius (Zone κ)

A goblin shark Thiima with the ability to split into three.

• Detachment Combat: Its main gimmick, it can split itself into head, body and tail, each of which are individual parts that can attack separately.
• You Will Not Evade Me: Can use its detachable parts to create a triangular electrical field around the player's ships, forcing them to stay within or suffer damage.

The Embryon

Appearances: G-Darius (Zone ν), Dariusburst (Zone J Ending)

A Sea Angel Thiima with a mechanical head and a core.

• Attack Its Weak Point: The aforementioned head and core.
• Big Bad: The leader of the Thiima in G-Darius.
• The Cameo: In one of Dariustburst's endings. After the heroes defeated the final boss of that route, its shadow appears menacingly in the background. Ti2, who can somehow communicate with it, decides to negotiate with The Embryon to prevent another war from happening.
• Energy Being: Most of its body is made of energy, only its head and its core are physical and vulnerable.
• Losing Your Head: Like Tripod Sardine before it, it can also lose its head during the battle. Unlike Tripod Sardine, it can, and will, regenerate it.
• Spell My Name with a "The": The only boss in the series to have a "The" prefix.
• Taking You with Me: Its epilogue cutscene shows the defeated Thiima exploding and swallowing the two pilots in the process, which gradually dissolves them.
• True Final Boss: According to this tweet (promoting the Cozmic Revelation Updated Re-release), they're 'the true last boss' of G-Darius.
• Your Head Asplode: It's head explodes once it takes enough damage. Not that it seems to care, as it can regenerate it during battle anyways.

Azure Nightmare

Appearances: Dariusburst

• Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: It appears to be this, as it isn't affiliated with the Belsar. It turns out, however, to be helping you reach Gigantic Bite.
• Good All Along: Despite being fought as a boss, it's actually guiding you to fight Gigantic Bite as revealed in the ending.
• Leitmotif: It and its harder variant Crimson Nightmare share an exclusive battle theme, "Splendid Form".
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Both it's normal and Crimson form have 'Nightmare' in their names, which is especially ironic, since it's on your side.

Gigantic Bite

Appearances: Dariusburst

• Bad Boss: Its very entrance has it grab one of the Belser Forces' Giant Mook Segmented Serpents before effortlessly crushing it in its mouth, living up to its name.
• Big Bad: Of the CS mode.
• The Cracker: It hacks into the network to keep the Planet Saviours at bay.
• Expy: Seems to be one of Great Thing V. Both are Final Bosses with awesome theme music, are covered in loads of turrets, and having a dark grey/white/red color scheme.
• Final Boss: Of CS Mode, fought at the very end of the final non-bonus sector. It is also the final boss in the franchise.
• Grand Finale: Serves as the ultimate Final Boss of the series.
• Leitmotif: Uses "Shining Eyes" as its battle theme when it's not fought as the Final Boss.
• Prehistoric Monster: It's modeled after Dunkleosteus, one of the largest prehistoric fish to have ever lived. It's also one of the largest bosses, comparable to Great Thing.
• Sean Connery Is About to Shoot You: The cover art depicts Gigantic Bite about to take a bite out of the Silver Hawk.
• The Worf Effect: Pulls this off on a tough-to-kill Giant Mook in its introduction, effortlessly biting and crushing it in its mouth, and hence living up to its name "Gigantic Bite".