1986 · Data East · Arcade · Shoot 'em up

Darwin 4078

Nintendo console exclusive

Darwin 4078 is an arcade game released by Data East in 1986. The game is a vertical scrolling shoot 'em up like Xevious, but as the title indicates, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is incorporated into the gameplay.

Released: 1986
Platforms: Arcade MSX Nintendo Switch
Genres: Arcade Shoot 'em up Shooter
Developers: Data East
Publishers: Data East
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Science fiction
Country: Japan

About

Darwin 4078 is a 1986 vertically scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Data East for arcades. It was released only in Japan in March 1986. As the title indicates, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is incorporated into the gameplay. The game's designer, Tomo Furukawa, would go on to become the vocalist of the band Guniw Tools.

›Story

The game takes place within a gigantic spaceship which has virtually infinite capacity because of its ability to manipulate time and space. The player must deal with enigmatic creatures called EVOL, which consist only of pure energy and need to keep themselves in capsules in order to maintain their existence in the world.

All of the characters in the game are designed to resemble microscopic organisms, both in their appearance and their quick, tricky movements. The player's ship undergoes over 10 types of transformations throughout the game, each with offensive and defensive maneuvers specific to their design. The sound effects used are minimal, but different types of sounds are used according to the type of shots or their speed. A sound resembling a long scream results when the player's ship is hit and returns to its weakest evolutionary state. The game's designer, graphic designer, and music composer, Tomo Furukawa, would go on to become the vocalist of the band Guniw Tools.

Keywords

shoot 'em up
shmup

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The player controls a spaceship who navigates dimensions and defeats microorganisms. The player is armed with standard ammunition for airborne attacks and a bomb attack for ground enemies. The player can kill microorganisms to earn capsules, which causes the ship to temporarily "evolve" when collected. There are 19 different evolutionary forms which differ in abilities and attack patterns.

The player's airborne attacks can be improved indefinitely while their grown attacks receive relatively less enhancement. Failing to collect capsules on time causes the evolutions to wear off, causing the ship to "devolve" level by level over time. Certain evolutions may mutate while being hit by certain enemy projectiles, resulting in powerful forms unavailable through conventional means. A "reverse evolution" form is also available, granting the game's most powerful abilities, such as invincibility and shooting mini versions of itself, with the cost of a tighter time limit.