Darius II

Darius II (Persian: داريوش دوم‎‎) (Dārayavahuš), was king of the Persian Empire from 423 BC to 405 BC.

Artaxerxes I, who died on December 25, 424 BC, was followed by his son Xerxes II. After a month and a half Xerxes II was murdered by his brother Secydianus or Sogdianus (the form of the name is uncertain). His illegitimate brother, Ochus, satrap of Hyrcania, rebelled against Sogdianus, and after a short fight killed him, and suppressed by treachery the attempt of his own brother Arsites to imitate his example. Ochus adopted the name Darius (Greek sources often call him Darius Nothos, "Bastard"). Neither the names Xerxes II nor Sogdianus occur in the dates of the numerous Babylonian tablets from Nippur; here effectively the reign of Darius II follows immediately after that of Artaxerxes I.

Historians know little about Darius II's reign. A rebellion by the Medes in 409 BC is mentioned by Xenophon. It does seem that Darius II was quite dependent on his wife Parysatis. In excerpts from Ctesias some harem intrigues are recorded, in which he played a disreputable part.

Darius II (video game)

Darius II (ダライアスII, Daraiasu Tsū) is a 1989 arcade video game by Taito. It is the direct sequel to the 1987 Darius. It was later released as Sagaia (サーガイア, Sāgaia) in Japan in 1991 for the Game Boy as well as non-Japanese ports. A remake was released for the PC Engine's Super CD-ROM² as Super Darius II (スーパーダライアスII, Sūpā Daraiasu Tsū) in 1993.

Gameplay

The game is set in the inner half of the solar system, and has the same branching level structure as Darius. Similar to the first Darius game, Darius II was programmed for multiple screens; while a three-screen version like the original exists, II is more common and generally represented as a two-screen game.

The red/green/blue powerups from the first game return, and have the same function: respectively, upgrades to the "missile" main weapon and "bomb" subweapon, and a shield to absorb some damage. Two new power-ups were added: a yellow powerup that adds a new "laser" main weapon that functions somewhat similarly to the bombs, and a rainbow powerup that grants one upgrade to all the players weapons. Actually acquiring these power-ups and the upgrade path is completely different from Darius: a formation of a specific enemy must be completely destroyed (and a given formation may not have a powerup), and every single powerup now grants some kind of upgrade. Further, the various weapons upgrade differently, though the shield upgrade the same as before.