The GBA has some bangers on it, but it probably has my least favorite aesthetic of any console. It somehow has a library that ages worse than anything else due to how many ports are on it that ruin the graphics with sprites that look like they got thrown in the washer, and music that's high on helium and trying to talk to you through a bathroom door.

I came into Darius R expecting something similar to those crappy ports, and I was half-right. It turns out the "R" in the title stands for Remix and not Rubbish, and I guess only the first stage from the arcade game was put in here. Not that it matters, because these stages were about as "that's nice I guess" as they come. I actually wouldn't be offended by it if it weren't for the odd bout of screen crunch and the camera being zoomed in like Sonic 2 GG. Which is just dandy because I love feeling like I have constant blind spots with enemies plotting to fire at me from off-screen. Like they had the effort to rearrange things, but not enough to actually redraw the sprites or anything. Fantastic. This would be like if you walked up to one of the three-screen cabinets and squished your face into the monitor like a blind molerat.

Some of the remixes are okay, and some of them sound like crap. Pretty standard considering my stance on GBA music normally. Hi Fantasy Zone music, what are you doing here? WEE WOO WEE WOO we comin' for you Darius R composer.

Actually disappointed that it wasn't worse like that trash version of R-Type III that sounded like an Atari game. Maybe if the ship was constantly yelling "WOOHOO! JUST WHAT I NEEDED!" every time I grabbed a power up I'd detest it more.

Could've been worse.

Reviewed on Nov 22, 2022


4 Comments


1 year ago

Emulators have options to replicate the original GBA's screen. You ever thought to use them? Games like Metroid Zero Mission and the Mega Man Zero series look phenomenal with it on.

1 year ago

I'm sure they look okay since they're actually designed for the GBA, it's the ports that look like poop. Even on the GBA phat most of the games were just washed out looking.

1 year ago

Agreed. The GBA's faded graphics and soundchip that makes everything sound like it was produced by a midi pipe organ never sat right with me. SNES ports really emphasized how lousy the system was. Oh great, I can play Donkey Kong Country on the go, except it's washed out and sounds like shit. Cool.

1 year ago

Yeah, and that's like the worst part since it felt like every company was porting shit rather than making something brand new. Like not all of them were as dreadful as Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis, but like....why would I bother with the Mario Advance games anymore sans the E-Reader levels or hearing Birdo talk for some reason? Every toaster oven can run a SNES emulator now, lol.