| “ | I shall gather up my might again...and show you the Power of God. | „ |
| ~ Dark Force |
Dark Force (ダークフォース Daku Fosu) is the main antagonist in Otomedius Excellent.
She is voiced by Kanemoto Hisako.
History[]
Dark Force is a Bacterian super weapon created by the Gofer Sisters –presumably after the events of Gradius Galaxies by collecting and using the remnants of that incarnation of Bacterian– as part of their campaign against the G organization. Her design is intended to crush Earth's defenses and obliterate the organization itself. Even though she is just a weapon, the Sisters treat her with great respect and equality, as they recognize she might turn against the Bacterians if she feels unhappy.
After chanting and talking during Stage 5, Dark Force first appears in the beginning of Stage 6, where she destroys the Gradian fleet and Dr. Venom along with them. Realizing that the Angel Squadron is no match for Dark Force's immense and even godly power, Operetta sends the Angels back in time to destroy Dark Force at her larval stage (this action is a clear parallel to the journey of David Burton in Nemesis 3).
Dark Force pilots the Black Viper in her first battle inside the Bacterian mothership. Her ship is armed with Laser, Ripple, Flying Torpedo, and Vulcan, but has no Options. After she's defeated, she escapes and transforms into the Death Bringer, the true final boss.
Death Bringer Attacks[]
*Note: All attack names are purely conjectural
- "Missile Volley": Dark Force will deploy a volley of destructible missiles that rains down.
- "Pierce": Dark Force will try to attack the player with her extendable right arm.
- "Homing Shots": Dark Force will summon homing shots that aimed at the player's last known location. Often paired with either Auto-Aiming or Tail Laser.
- "Auto-Aiming": Dark Force will mobilize a pair of spine-like guns that shoot bullets at the angle towards the player's known position.
- "Cyclone Lasers": Dark Force will use both of her arms to shoot Cyclone Lasers while maintaining a line of fire to the player.
- "Tail Laser": Dark Force will fire a laser from her tail while sweeping it to cover a huge area.
- "Thrust Spread": When she turns around, Dark Force will fire a spread of thrust shots at her back.
- "Bomb Rain": Dark Force will deploy a line of destructible bombs that detonate at different heights.
When playing Story Mode on Expert, she also appears as the boss of Stage 8, the hidden final stage. Encountering her in Earth's atmosphere, all she does is send out Fans and fire three bullets every few seconds until the player finishes her.
Gallery[]
(Castlevania reference)
Dark Force's final form.
Trivia[]
- This is the first Otomedius game to have a character named after a Gradius boss music theme, in this case "Dark Force".
- Dark Force is also known as the founder of Bacterian's super weapon in a Gradius era.
- Dark Force is the first younger antagonist in the Otomedius series.
- After Dark Force in her Death Bringer form is defeated, she says: "It was human desire that spawned me... As long as you exist, so shall I", which is clearly echoing the final words of Bacterian in Gradius III: "I was born... Out of the greediness of mankind. While men exist, so will I." This implies that Dark Force is a regenerated version of Bacterian and that their words were true.
- This is the first Otomedius boss character that has her own Riding Viper.
- At the beginning of Dark Force's introduction, she should be the first Otomedius character to have a full nudity although it is obscured by the lighting.
- Dark Force somehow has similarities with Dracula's begin phase until the final form during the boss battles in the Castlevania series, according to Koji Igarashi. Fittingly, if the player plays as Kokoro and enters the castle-like part of Dark Force's lair, she says that her family has a history with places like this. Additionally, when the player reaches Dark Force before the fight in the castle, she is sitting on a throne, similarly to Dracula; the color schemes are also pretty much in the same vein.
- In a similar vein, she draws parallel to Khaos from the Thunder Force series, especially Thunder Force V. The boss intro for Dark Force during her first phase is facing in the similar direction to Guardian Animus, while her second phase uses the sound of the destroyed barrier for the transformation akin to Khaos Ascendant, the final boss of the game. The latter of the aformentioned shares the motif for Dark Force: Angel of Death.
- While Dark Force is also similar to Black Viper from the Contra series in terms of designs and nature, her role is more similar to the Triumvirate, being the hidden antagonists behind the respective games.
- Due to her being created from pieces of Eleos Brain, she is possibly the reincarnation of Bacterian herself since Bacterian is already described as the God of Destruction according to the Gradius III and IV game manual and her dialogue suggests that "Power of God".
- After Dark Force is defeated in her first phase and escapes, portraits of the final bosses of Gradius, Gradius II, Gradius III and Salamander 1 and 2 can be seen in the background.
- Either she's the current leader of the Bacterians, or the Gofer Sisters created her as a weapon of mass destruction. No matter which one it is, even when she's in her larval stage, she's very powerful.