Parodius (1990 video game)

Did You Know?

• The Great Octopus has threatened Earth, and players must search the world to find and destroy the enemy.
• The soundtrack was produced by Konami Kukeiha Club and released by King Records on July 21, 1990.
• Disc 4 of Konami Music Masterpiece Collection, released on October 1, 2004, is devoted to this game.

Gameplay

Gameplay is very similar to the Gradius series but with several differences. Instead of selecting weapon configurations, players choose from four characters: Vic Viper (from Gradius), Octopus, TwinBee, and Pentarou. Bell power-ups from the TwinBee series act as one-time items that can destroy all enemies on screen or fire huge energy beams. Enemies and environments from Gradius and TwinBee are mixed with anime-style opponents, including scantily-clad women. Gradius elements are integrated in a light-hearted fashion; for example, the Big Core boss is given a neon look and renamed Viva Core. A moai (Easter Island head statues) level features animated statues, and its boss Yoshiko spits other moai at the player. The final boss is an unarmed enemy, and defeating it triggers a destruction and escape sequence. Vic Viper uses the traditional Gradius configuration: a missile that falls to the ground and moves along, a Double mode firing one forward and one at a forty-five-degree incline, and a thin blue laser. Octopus uses the Salamander configuration: a 2-way missile that drops explosives up and down, a tail gun for Double, and a ripple laser that fires expanding concentric circles. TwinBee (colored as Winbee) uses the TwinBee configuration applied horizontally: a rocket punch missile with a larger impact area, the same tail gun for Double, and a 3-way gun laser. Due to a color bug, Winbee may have the most appearances in video games, but this TwinBee lacks the cockpit windshield design of TwinBee, Winbee, or Gwinbee. Pentarou uses the Gradius II: Gofer's Ambition configuration.

Ports

Parodius saw releases on many systems. The Super Famicom version, which came to Europe as a Super Nintendo game, and the PC Engine port were notable. The Family Computer version, released in Europe on the NES, cut some stages but added a new amusement park level and several secret bonus stages. The Game Boy version, also available in Europe, displays the ages of its playable characters and contains eight stages: arcade stages one through six and stage ten, with stage three moved to the fourth slot. It also has a hidden stage. This version later got a color re-release in Konami GB Collection Vol. 2. A Japan-only port existed for the X68000 computer. The PC Engine version is missing arcade stages five and eight, but includes a stage called SPECIAL and a new opening sequence featuring odd-looking Japanese characters, unlike the arcade intro that summarized the Gradius series up to that point. The Super Famicom and SNES version added the bath house and Omake stages; in Omake, the player respawns immediately after dying instead of at a checkpoint. The PAL SNES release was renamed Parodius: Non-Sense Fantasy, with Omake retitled Lollipop. A mobile phone version, Parodius! Deluxe Edition, came out in Japan in 2003 and omits arcade stages three, four, seven, eight, and nine. Parodius was also bundled with its sequel, Fantastic Parodius, in the compilation Gokujou Parodius Da! Deluxe Pack in Japan and simply Parodius in Europe, released for PlayStation in 1994 and Sega Saturn in 1995, and later in Parodius Portable for the PlayStation Portable in 2007.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Parodius! From Myth to Laughter as the seventh most-successful table arcade unit in their June 1, 1990 issue. It became one of the top five highest-grossing arcade games of 1990 in Japan and won the 1990 Gamest Awards for Best Production and Best Shooting Game. Super Play ranked it 93rd on their Top 100 SNES Games of All Time in 1996, describing it as Gradius on hallucinogens. Mean Machines gave the Super NES version a 93% score, while Computer and Video Games gave the SNES version 88% and the PlayStation version 85%. Power Unlimited scored the SNES version 82%, noting that Konami pokes fun at its own games without forgetting gameplay. Consoles + gave the PC Engine version a 90% score, calling it addictive and superbly made.