Konami
has sure proven that they can make a whiz-bang, thumb-buster, drool
over shooter. Just look at Axelay and the Gradius series, for 
example.
But what happens when the gang at Konami decide to let their hair
down and get a little bit silly? You get the Parodius (parody of
Gradius) series, a very laughable, very playable shump in the exact
format of Gradius, and none the easier. Parodius is chocked full
of humorous characters and events, most of all which have been in
previous Konami games (so I've heard).
The gameplay is exactly like Gradius, with the power-up bar at the
bottom except with these cute enemies substituted in for monsterous
spaceships. You can even select from four different characters this
time around: the Vic Viper, Octopus, Twin Bee, or Pentarou the penguin.
Konami has added a new feature called bell power: when some enemies
die, they leave yellow bells behind. Grabbing a yellow bell increases
score (ugh...) but shooting the bell changes its color. Different
bells have different powers; one puts a megaphone on your ship,
which helps destroy enemies, one is a megacrush bomb, and the best
is INVINCIBILITY! (in a Gradius game??) where your ship grows to
twice normal size (all pixelly too...) and can even go through walls.
This comes in very handy.
I had to laugh out loud a couple of times while playing this game.
The music fits the style perfectly also, keeping some familiar Gradius
tunes but changing them just enough to be funny. Parodius is available
for just about every system there is. I think even the Atari 2600
has a version of Parodius... I based this review mainly on the 
PC
Engine version, which I think is the best, including a few Gameboy
and SNES shots, as some of the levels have been modified or new
levels added. I have to admit that when I first played Parodius,
I didn't want to play it, because it was too far off the norm-I
was so used to space themes that this was just too weird.
But I am extremely glad to have tried the series all the way through,
and if you have played the Gradius series, DEFINITELY play Parodius,
it will be like a huge inside joke.
Thanks a bunch Roger, sorry it took so long to get this done, guys:)
Now, if you want to have a look at some of the versions of the original
Parodius, click on those links below.
