Sagaia
System: Genesis
Release Date: April 1991
Developer: Taito
Publisher: Taito
Genre: Shoot ‘em Up
Find the other descendant of Darius in Sagaia! This is my third and final Taito game in a row and it’s a return to the side scrolling shoot ‘em up. Despite the similar name, this has nothing to do with Gaiares. This is a sequel to Darius, which didn’t see a US release until 2019. You’re a pair of descendants from the planet Darius and you’ve picked up a signal from someone who seems to also be the progeny of old Dariusians. So you hop in your spaceship and try to find them before someone else does.
Enemies come at you in waves and you must destroy them. Killing enemy groupings nets you extra points and the occasional powerup. You’ll see an increase in power to your forward missiles, which are activated with the A or C Buttons. You’ll improve your bombs, which you drop with the B Button. You’ll find and strengthen lasers which shoot vertically from your ship. There’s even a shield that will keep you alive after taking a few hits.
There are no real obstacles in levels outside of enemies. Midbosses will sometimes leave the screen before you can kill them, robbing you of those sweet, sweet points. You’re given a nice warning about the huge battleship that approaches and acts as the boss of the zone. Getting to the right of the screen when a boss is behind you flips your laser to the rear, which is nice. After completing a zone, you can pick one of two paths to take. They continue to branch until the end, when the zone you’re on dictates the ending you receive. In order to see them all, I used the level select code from the title screen.
Graphics: 3.0
The graphics are nice. I don’t remember complaining about hard to see bullets, but I’m sure there were a couple.
Sound: 3.0
I like the music, though it seems a bit subdued, and the sounds aren’t terribly annoying.
Gameplay: 2.5
There’s not much in the way of powerup choices, just collect everything you see.
Difficulty: 3.0
You’re not completely screwed if you die, I feel there were enough powerups to make me feel not totally weak.
Fun Factor: 2.5
I enjoyed myself enough, but not enough to go through the game a half dozen or more times to see each ending legit.
Overall Rating: 2.8
Sagaia earns a B. It’s another run of the mill horizontally scrolling shoot ‘em up, but it’s balanced well, which makes all the difference.