Darius Burst Message Board

Providing further evidence of a localization for the US-trademarked DariusBurst, the ESRB has rated the PSP shmup. It was released in Japan on both UMD and as a download on Christmas Eve of last year. For those of us who have never played any shooter before (ever), the ESRB describes the gameplay: "From a side-scrolling perspective, players navigate through outer space while shooting at the numerous enemy units. Ships, objects, and enemies explode when hit, sometimes with realistic or slow-motion effects. "

We love this new world in which developers are selling shmups again. They were ridiculously popular in the 8- and 16-bit eras, but North American releases were few and far between for most of the last three generations. And now we're seeing this and RayStorm HD from Taito, DeathSmiles from Cave, and even an iPhone version of EspGaluda 2 in the the same year -- oh, and Cho Aniki.

Square Enix's original, classic-style Final Fantasy for DS appears to be heading westward. Square Enix trademarked "The 4 Heroes of Light" in the US, which matches pretty closely with the translation of Hikari no 4 Senshi: Final Fantasy Gaiden ("4 Warriors of Light"), the streamlined DS Final Fantasy released in Japan in October. To see the trademark filing, it's number 85006964, searchable in the USPTO database. It might just be the next game you pay the Square Enix tax (by which we mean the customary $40 price for Square's DS games) on!

Square Enix's subsidiary Taito also trademarked "Dariusburst," (serial number 85008406) which, unless some bizarre trick is involved, refers to last year's PSP shooter, which updates the company's classic robo-fish-shooting Darius series.
[Via Siliconera]

A classic shooter series returns on the PSP.

The PSP is home to some unexpected shooter revivals. Thexder was just released on PSN, R-Type returned -- as a strategy game! -- and there's even a new Cho Aniki. Compared to those random releases, the announcement of a new Darius isn't too shocking. But it is very welcome.The trailer for Darius Burst seems to hit the highlights of the Darius experience -- namely, spaceships and giant robot versions of aquatic creatures. And it looks hot. Hot enough to send us back through the series in anticipation of the December 24 Japanese release, and for us to send our sincerest wishes to Taito parent company Square Enix. Sell this to us!

A futuristic space shooter coming to PSP.