SEXY PARODIUS!
Kurt Kalata (of Castlevania
Dungeon fame) reviews the mad PlayStation version
For cornball screwiness,
there's no place better to go than Konami's Parodius series. This
one here is my personal favorite, Sexy Parodius for the Playstation
and Saturn. Originally an arcade game, Sexy Parodius features branching
levels, multiple endings (depending on how well you play the game),
a ton of goofy playable characters and plenty of risque humor, as
the title suggests.
The
character roster this time incluces the good old Vic Viper and
Lord British (with VERY off sounding voices), the two penguins,
Ivan and Toby (a pun off the Iwatobi penguin), sexy bunny sisters
Hikaru and Akane, tropical fish Mambo and Samba, heavenly
pigs Michael and Gabriel (who both have one of the coolest
voices I've heard in a video game [yeah, they sound like Ryu or
Ken off SFA3 - Felix the Cat] ), stick figure guys Koitsu and
Aitsu, the little blob things Option and Multiple [a
pun off Gradius, playing as the Options with little Vic Vipers following
you! - Felix the Cat], and from Twinbee Yahho, Ace and his ship,
the Shooting Star (plus its mysterious counterpart, the Black
Viper.) My personal fave is Michael - when powered up all the
way, his wave attack is incredible.
In many levels, you have to collect a certain number of objects (coins)
or kill a certain number of enemies. If you meet that goal, you head
to one level. If you lose, you go to another. While the game is technically
pretty short (you only play six levels), there's a lot of replayability
to be had.
Graphics: 85%
This is advanced as Parodius gets - lots of nice, bring colorful artwork.
It's no Gradius Gaiden, but it serves it purposes.
Sound/Music: 85%
Same silliness as other Paro games - lot's of classic tunes done in
a very, VERY silly fashion. Character themes are excellent too - so
good, that I got the soundtrack.
Gameplay: 95%
Short, but tons of fun, and more replay value that most shooties.
Overall: 95%
One of my favorite shooters of all time. Worth hunting down if you're
even mildly interested in Parodius - this one will only hook you further.
