Parodius

Parodius
Parodius
Developer(s)	Konami
Publisher(s)	Konami
Platform(s)	MSX, Arcade, Game Boy, NES, PC Engine, SNES, Saturn, PlayStation
Release	1988
Genre(s)	Scrolling shooters
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Parodius is a series of horizontally-scrolling shooters developed by Konami. The games are tongue-in-cheek parodies of Gradius, hence the name (Parodius is a portmanteau on Parody and Gradius). It also parodies many other Konami franchises, including Castlevania, Goemon, Lethal Enforcers and Tokimeki Memorial.

Games

File:GokujyoParodius.jpg

Box art for "Gokujyo Parodius."

There are five games in the Parodius series (arranged by title, year of its debut and original platform):

パロディウス～タコは地球を救う～ Parodius - Tako wa Chikyuu o Sukuu English: (Parodius: The Octopus Saves the Earth) (1988, MSX2)
パロディウスだ! －神話からお笑いへ－ Parodius Da! - Shinwa kara Owarai e]] English: (It's Parodius! From Myth to Laughter) (1990, arcade)
極上パロディウス Gokujyou Parodius! - Kako no Eikou wo Motomete English: (Ultimate Parodius - Pursue the Glory of the Past) (1994, arcade)
実況おしゃべりパロディウス Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius English: (Chatting Parodius) (1995, Super Famicom)
セクシーパロディウス Sexy Parodius (1996, arcade)

Numerous ports have been created. Parodius Da! was ported to the Game Boy, Famicom (NES), Super Famicom (SNES), PC Engine, PlayStation and Sega Saturn. Gokujou Parodius was ported to the Super Famicom, PlayStation and Saturn. The Playstaion and Saturn versions were a combined release of Parodius Da! and Gokujou Parodius called Gokujou Parodius Deluxe Pack. The last two titles were also released on both the PlayStation and Saturn.

Only a few of the games were released outside Japan: Parodius Da! and Gokujou Parodius were released in Europe, but none of the games were released in the United States.

There is also an spin-off named Paro Wars. This game is a turn-based strategy game in the veins of Advance Wars.Only some of the Parodius-native characters (Octopus and the like) appear in this game.

Features

Characters

Some of the characters that appear in the various games in the series include the following:

Original characters:

Octopus, Takosuke, Takohiko and Belial, they are octopuses. Octopus appears in the MSX Parodius and Parodius Da!. He is renamed Takosuke and appears as such on Gokujyou Parodius. Another octopus, Takohiko and Belial (a yellow female octopus) appear in Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius.
Hikaru and Akane, two showgirls in rabbit costumes riding on rockets. They were bosses in Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius, most likely as revenge for not being featured as playable characters. They return as usable characters in Sexy Parodius.
Soitsu, Doitsu, Koitsu, and Aitsu, little stick men flying on paper darts. They are monsters in the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game whose full power cannot be utilized unless they're played in unison.
Michael and Gabriel, two angelic pigs, named after two Christian angels.
Mambo and Samba, two goofy looking fish. They are named after the music styles of the same names.
Mike and Ran, a pair of cats with what looks like bandages between their legs.
Memin and Sue, two fairy girls. They replace Hikari and Akane in Jikkyou.
Ivan and Toby, two tough-looking penguins. They replace Pentarou and Hanako in Sexy.
Black Viper, a space ship.

From other Konami games:

Vic Viper and Lord British, of the Gradius series.
Twinbee and Winbee, the bee-shaped robots from the Twinbee series.
Pentarou and Hanako, penguins that appeared first in Antarctic Adventure and then in Yume Penguin Monogatari.
Goemon and Ebisumaru, from the Ganbare Goemon/Legend of the Mystical Ninja series.
Upa and Rupa, two super babies from the obscure Famicom Disk System game Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa.
Kid Dracula, whose game is a parody on the Castlevania series.
Option and Multiple, the mimic drones of Vic Viper and Lord British, respectively. They have faces to denote self-conscienceness and have little Vic Vipers or Lord Britishes as their own "options"/"multiples".
Popolon, a knight form the MSX game Knightmare and its sequel Maze of Galious. He only appears in the MSX Parodius.
Shooting Star, a red ship that appears as an enemy in Twinbee Yahho!.

Music

One of the more unique features about the series is the extensive use of classical music and other well known music, in what could be termed as wacky remixes. There are also a number of rehashes of in game music from Gradius and other Konami games -- very little of the series' music was newly composed.

Bell Power-ups

Since the initial game on the MSX, the function of bells have changed. The new bell colors have remained somewhat constant in meaning throughout latter games in the series.

Yellow Bell: Gives points. Subsequent yellow bells increase in point value from 500 points up to 5000 points.

White Bell: Gives your character a megaphone for a short period of time. Out of the megaphone is placed a sentence in Japanese, the text of which can be collided into bullets and enemies to damage them. When this bell is collected, the effects of previous bells and defense power-ups are cancelled. In Sexy Parodius, this instead summons Alex, a Pac-Man-like helper character that eats enemies. However, Alex will not harm "female" enemies. Alex has an HP counter that can be refilled with yellow bells and increased with more white bells.

Green Bell: Enlarges your character 400%. While your character is in this enlarged state, they cannot fire any weapons, but is also invulnerable to all damage; this allows your character to collide into walls and enemies (thus killing them) without taking damage. However, no bells can be collected or defense power-ups activated until the effect expires. This also cancels stored weapons from other bells as well as any shields present on activation.

Purple Bell: Converts all weak enemies into power-up pods and/or bells. This was first available in Gokujou Parodius.

Red Bell: Provides three rounds of the Kiku Beam. A miniature version of your character flies ahead of your character and spreads a long vertical beam that can act as a barrier that damages enemies and destroys enemy bullets. It scrolls with the screen.

Blue Bell: Provides one Super Bomb. A large explosion floods the screen and destroys all enemies within. Up to three blue bells can be collected in sequence and saved for later use.

Roulette / Blizzard

When enabled, some power-up pods start a roulette on the power-up bar. The player then presses the power-up button to stop the roulette and get whatever power-up the roulette stops on. The player must be careful not to get the "Oh!" power-up ("!?" in Parodius Da!) between the last two power-ups, for this will remove all power-ups from the player and reset movement speed to minimum. This cancels any prior progress made on the bar. In European versions of the game, this feature was renamed Blizzard.

Power-ups

The Parodius series borrows the power-up bar system from the Gradius series. However, the order and types of power-ups are somewhat inconsistent between characters; some characters have more than one missile or may not have a laser-type weapon, for example. Power-ups exclusive to Parodius include:

Homing Missile: Two missiles are fired at once and track the enemy.
Double: Most Double power-ups split firepower in more than two directions.
B-Shot (Boomerang Shot): Fires a boomerang that bounces off the first wall or enemy it hits.
Spread Gun: Bullets explode on impact, similarly to the Spread Bomb from Gradius games. Enemies can be damaged in the blast.
Option: With some characters, the Options are only visible when moving and retract to the player's position when the player stops moving.
Grade Up: Some characters have this power-up in lieu of Option. It increases the firepower of all available weapons. For example, it can increase and divert firepower in more directions, increase laser width, increase missile deployment rate, etc.
Shields and Force Fields: Unlike Gradius, which labels shield and force field power=-ups as "?", Parodius games label such power-ups properly.
Oh!: This simply strips the player of all power-ups and sets movement speed to normal. The voiceover says "Oh my god!" upon collection of this annoyance. This power-down is called "!?" in Parodius Da!. It is included to add risk to the Roulette.

MSX version

Unique Aspects

At the end of stage 2 you have to play Rock Paper Scissors. If you lose, you have to play the stage again; if it is a draw you have to fight.

The Rain Doll at the end of stage 3 is a Henohenomoheji. Stage 5 is Oyaji. Stage 6 is a Tapir, which is believed to eat human dreams in Japan.

Bell Power-ups

Yellow Bell: All minor enemies on the screen die instantly. (Smart Bomb)

White Bell: Wrap around horizontally. You can fly off the left or right of the screen and appear at the other side.

Green Bell: Wrap around vertically. You can fly off the top or bottom of the screen and appear at the other end.

Cyan Bell: Time Freeze. Stops scrolling & enemies for a few seconds.

Purple Bell: Mine. Destroys all enemies on the same height.

Blue Bell: Rotary drill. You are immune to most enemies for some time.

Dark Green Bell: Up Laser. You have the Up Laser for some time.

Red Bell: Vector Laser. You have the Vector Laser for some time.

Bonus Stages

There are three known bonus stages.

The first is in stage 1. When you have defeated the moai, fly under its neck.

The second is in stage 4. At a certain point, you have to fly up out of the screen or you'll hit a dead end. Fly into the dead end instead, and go to the far upper right corner.

The third is in stage 5. Fly under all the jumping gravestones.

External links

Parodius (MSX) English Version