Strictly Limited Bringing Dariusburst CS Core + Taito/Sega Pack To The West

Update [Fri 21st Oct, 2022 15:19 BST]: Strictly Limited Games and Taito are teaming up to bring Dariusburst CS Core + Taito/Sega Pack to the west.

As part of this, Dariusburst CS Core + Taito/Sega Pack will receive a limited edition, a collector’s edition, and a digital release for Nintendo Switch via the eShop. Preorders for the digital release have already begun, while the physical versions will be available to preorder on Sunday, October 23th, at 12 AM CEST (midnight).

The limited edition will cost €29.99/$29.99 and is limited to 3,000 copies for Nintendo Switch. It comes with a game manual and a serialized title sheet. The collector's edition, meanwhile, only has 2000 copies, costs €59.99/$59.99, and features a number of additional items:

• CE Box w/ Magnetic Latch
• Manual
• Enamel Logo Pin
• Cool Metal Dog Tag
• Official CD Soundtrack
• Acrylic Starship Standee
• Reversible Poster
• Acrylic Artcar
• Sew-on Patch

You can order the physical editions on the Strictly Limited Games store.

Original Story [Fri 7th Oct, 2022 17:00 BST]: Taito's Darius series has seen a lot of activity lately on account of the 36th anniversary of the original game happening today (it launched in arcades on October 7th, 1986).

Yesterday saw the 1986 arcade find its way onto Nintendo Switch as part of Hamster's Arcade Archives collection. And now it seems that wasn't the only thing its publisher Taito had planned for celebrating, with the website Gematsu reporting on a new game called Dariusburst CS Core + Taito/Sega Pack that is coming to Nintendo Switch (well, for Japanese customers, at least).

This is a Dariusburst game that features the "Chronicle Saviors mode" and "DLC mode" from Dariusburst: Chronicle Saviors, but which appears to lack the "Another Chronicle Mode" that is available on other versions. To make up for this, according to its official website, the Nintendo Switch version of Dariusburst CS Core + Taito/Sega Pack will add six new areas, so players will be able to experience 225 levels starting from Darius year 1906.

These new levels (as outlined by Gematsu) will include:

• Darius (1904/06) – Open War: A new scenario themed after the original DARIUSBURST featuring Riga Pratica and Ti2.
• Wafuo (1911/10) – Assault on the Cosmic Graveyard: A new scenario based on the additional event from DARIUSBURST: Another Chronicle EX+.
• Darius (1914/12) – 6th Interplanetary Conquest: A new scenario based on the additional event from DARIUSBURST: Another Chronicle EX+.
• Taimi (1910/10) – Cosmic Fissure Belt: A new scenario based on the additional event from DARIUSBURST: Another Chronicle EX+.
• Irukehota (1910/08) – A new high-speed stage without a scenario.
• Sunamau (1906/06) – A burst counter tutorial stage.

Elsewhere, other features are a replay mode that allows you to download the replays of other top players, a ghost score that lets you display another player's high score onscreen to check how far off you are from it, and enhanced controller vibration to mimic the feeling of playing in the arcade. There's also additional DLC that will let you play as the aircraft listed below from past tie-ins with other Taito and Sega games:

• TAITO Pack
• Inter Gray (Night Striker)
• Black Fly (Metal Black)
• X-Lay (Rayforce)
• SEGA Pack
  • Harrier (Space Harrier)
  • TRY-Z (Galaxy Force II)
  • OPA-OPA (Fantasy Zone)

It's currently unconfirmed for the west but will be landing on Japanese Switches via the eShop later this month, on October 27th. We'll keep you posted on whether there's an announcement for a physical release to import or if a localized version becomes available.

Does this sound like something you'd want to check out? Let us know in the comments!