Parodius Da!
パロディウスだ!1992Parodius Da!
パロディウスだ!A colorful shooter that pokes fun at Konami's own Gradius series.
Parodius Da is a horizontal shooter that makes fun of Konami's own Gradius series. Konami made the arcade original in 1990. The PC Engine version followed in February 1992, with a cast of parody characters and a light, absurd tone.
| RELEASED IN JAPAN | 21 February 1992 |
|---|---|
| LAUNCH PRICE | 9,800 yen |
| ARCADE ORIGINAL | 1990, by Konami |
| DEVELOPER AND PUBLISHER | Konami |
| CARTRIDGE SIZE | 8 Mbit |
You pick one of four ships, and each one comes with its own weapons. Vic Viper uses the classic Gradius weapons, and Octopus uses the Salamander set.
TwinBee fires its own set from the vertical TwinBee series, and Pentarou uses a set taken from Gradius II. Bell power-ups from TwinBee can clear the screen or fire large beams.
The PC Engine version leaves out two arcade stages and adds a new one called SPECIAL.
The Great Octopus threatens the Earth, so the player and a band of parody heroes set out to stop him.
Enemies include anime-style characters and moai statues that spit other moai at the player.
Konami's music team wrote the soundtrack, which uses remixes of classical pieces. The first Parodius game, The Octopus Saves the Earth, came out on the MSX in Japan.
The arcade game was one of the top five arcade games of 1990 in Japan. It won the Gamest awards for best production and best shooter that year.
Later versions followed on the Super Famicom and SNES, a mobile release in 2003, and compilations on PlayStation and PlayStation Portable.
The port shows the console running a busy, colorful shooter. Reviewers noted that it runs at a lower resolution and flickers more than the SNES version.
- The name plays on the word parody and on the Gradius series.
- The Octopus character brings the Salamander weapon set into the game.
- The arcade boss Viva Core is the Big Core from Gradius, drawn in neon.
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