Silver-Hawk Gaiden

The Silver-Hawk Gaiden is the main protagonist of the 1994 shoot 'em up arcade game Darius Gaiden. It is the newest Silver-Hawk fighter craft created by the people of Vadis to help protect them during major war to recolonize the planet Darius against the Belsar forces. Unlike previous models, this version of the Silver-Hawk was equipped with a new weapon: the black hole bomb, which could eliminate a large number of enemies at once.
==History==
Following the major battle to retake Darius in the original game, the planet began to gradually wither in quality; as such the citizens of the planet were force to flee and seek refuge on the planet Vadis.
Over time, Darius's conditions began to improve, and the people felt that it was time to return to their home planet again. Once the return voyage was about to commence however, the Belsar, the former enemy to the people of Darius returned and began attacking the convey of transport ships. The people of Vadis sent out an army of Silver-Hawks to stop this invasion, but one-by-one the Belsar destroys all the crafts until there are two left: one flown by Case Ardin, and another flown by Anna Steiner.
The remaining Silver-Hawks trackdown on the giant battleships of Belsar, destroying each one until the forces have been depleted. Once the Belsar forces were destroyed, the Silver-Hawks safely escort the conveys to Darius, were the citizens recolonize on their homeworld.
==Weapons==
The Silver-Hawk Gaiden uses a similar weapon system used by its predecessor and sucessor models becoming a primary forward-firing weapon with a ballistic bomb sub-weapon. However, unlike these models, a third limited use weapons added to its arsenal: a smart bomb-like weapon called the Black Hole Bomb:
*Missiles - a standard, rapid-fire weapon that can take out smaller Belsar forces easily; by upgrading the weapon with red power-ups, the number of shots fired will increase.
**Lasers - after obtaining three power-ups, the missiles will transform into a pair of lasers, which deal more damage and can penetrate multiple Belsar's at once; upgrading the weapon further will increase the number of lasers fired.
**Wave - after obtaining six power-ups, the lasers will transform into a wave-shaped projectile, which in addition to doing more damage and penetrating enemies, it can also cover a larger spread, allowing it to hit multiple enemies at once; upgrading the weapon further will increase the width of the main shot, and later add an additional two smaller waves for support.
**Super Wave - after obtaining nine power-ups, the wave will turn red and the Silver-Hawk will deploy two small Hawk drones, which will fire a pair of homing wave shots at the nearest enemies, the main shot meanwhile will will deal more damage; upgrading the weapon further will add two smaller wave shots to support the main wave for added support.
*Napalm Bomb - a standard ballistic-type bomb when fired, will travel at a 90 degree arc downward in front of the Silver-Hawk, which upon making contact with any surface will create a small explosion that deals minor splash damage; upgrading the weapon with green power-ups will increase the size of the explosion radius of the bomb, and the splash damage.
**Twin Napalm Bomb - after obtaining nine upgrades, the Silver-Hawk will begin to fire an additional bomb at a 90 degree arc upward; upgrading the weapon will increase the size of the explosion radius of the bombs, and the splash damage.
**Multi Napalm Bomb - after obtaining eighteen power-ups, the Silver-Hawk will begin to fire an additional two bombs at 90 degrees arcs upward and downward behind the craft; upgrading the weapon will increase the size of the explosion radius of the bombs, and the splash damage.
**Multi Heading Napalm Bomb - after obtaining twenty-seven power-ups, the bombs will begin to home onto the nearest enemies, allowing them to increasing the overall accuracy of the weapon; upgrading the weapon further will increase the size of the explosion radius of the bombs, and the splash damage.
*Black Hole Bomb - a unique weapon to the Silver-Hawk Gaiden, when the Black Hole Bomb is deployed, all Belsar forces and enemy projectiles will be pulled in by the force of the bomb, after a short while, the bomb will explode into a massive discharge of lightning, destroying all smaller Belsars and projectiles as well as severely damaging larger ones and bosses. The weapon can only be used a limited number of times and must be obtained from enemies to recharge.
*Arm - upon obtaining a blue power-up, the Silver-Hawk will activate a green shield, which will absorb up to three hits from both enemy projectiles, and collisions with Belsar's and terrain. Collecting multiple power-ups will replenish the shield.
**Super Arm - upon reaching tier 2, the shield will turn silver and absorb up to four hits.
**Hyper Arm - upon reaching tier 3, the shield will turn gold and absorb up to five hits.
==Gallery==
Gaiden_Silver_Hawk_DG.png|Silver Hawk Gaiden is about to enter the battle.
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