Game of the Week: Parodius Da!

vangoz

When it came down to it there was only one real choice – Parodius Da! (Arcade version) This was chosen because of sheer nostalgia it gives me with each play.
In my local snooker hall there was small smoky arcade room with about 10 cabs were I would spend my 2 pound pocket money every weekend. After changing that into a fistful of 20p’s, an obscure, colourful, and quite simply wacky Japanese shooter would get the loins share of those 20’s.

None of my other friends or anyone else for that matter played it apart from me, actually I was teased and called weird a bit for having such an interest (Kids!!) but I was fascinated by it. If I could get past the level I dubbed “the face” on a single coin that would satisfy my fix… until next time.

The game itself is side scrolling shmup that is essentially a piss take of the Gradius series and other select games. It takes the gameplay, levels, enemies and bosses of gradius and makes absurd versions of them. If the vic viper took a hit of acid before setting off, parodius would be the result.
There are four characters to choose from:

Vic Viper
Twin Bee
Octopus
Pentarou

Each has its own set of weapons, but unlike the later Gradius games there is no weapons edit mode. You have a choice of manually selecting your powerups or letting the computer decide (auto). Manual is not recommended as the power select bar can go into roulette mode forcing you to almost randomly select your next powerup – not what you want in the middle of a firefight.

All in all this a very solid shump with good gameplay, moderate difficulty, great graphics and an AWESOME soundtrack!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_dut6U0fgw

Dr Bob

nice one , have to try this out tonight!

johnny_ultimate

I have the Parodius Collection for PSP, but all the games just tend to blur into each other :P

A great series though. Basically just more Gradius games with an absolutely bat**** artstyle!

And those bells! Oh the bells! So many headaches trying to get the colour you want

vangoz

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I have the Parodius Collection for PSP, but all the games just tend to blur into each other :P

A great series though. Basically just more Gradius games with an absolutely bat**** artstyle!

And those bells! Oh the bells! So many headaches trying to get the colour you want

Dont get me started about the bells!!! If you're trying for a high score the gold bells are a must, miss one and the next bells worth is a meger 500.... Shall I risk death and go for glory by snatching that bell from the bottom bullet hell part of the screen...... challenge accepted, moments later - Please insert coin to continue

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy

I've played the snes one, they're the same are they?

Retr0gamer

Parodius Da is absolutely fantastic, really love that game. Only really got to play it when I got my saturn well after the saturn was dead but all the UK magazines were always on about how amazing it was. It was always on a system that I didn't have. I think I prefer forever with me due to the crazy commentary but Parodius Da is still one of the best shmups ever made.

Retr0gamer

Sera wrote: »

I've played the snes one, they're the same are they?

yep.

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy

I'm not really into shmups but I actually it.
Always picked or Twinbee, never picked Vic Viper at all and usually G/O at the start of the 4th stage but I just like playing those kinda games for awhile and turn it off.
(unless it's Cotton100%)
The music used to really stick in my head after playing it. The bells never bothered me, maybe because I played Twinbee games? I dunno.

batari

Love the Snes version, the absurdity of the characters always made it stand out for me. Also the GB version is very well done, plays just like the Snes and they pack a lot of great looking bosses into it, but it's a bit short. Just kinda ends. Have never played the Arcade one though. Will have a good go of the Snes one later if I get a chance.

da gamer

only played this game once in my life, it was on my cousins snes, they had got a lend of it from a class mate. only played it for a few hours but from what i can remember it was a good game.

DickyC

Had a play of this last night, haven't played it for ages. Great choice:pac:

CiDeRmAn

Yeah, I have Super Parodius and the two that were on the Saturn, all great.
I must get Pop'n Twinbee sometime for the Snes as well.

Another great one is the Space Invaders update Space Invaders '95: Attack of the Loonies, similar in its parody of the original game.


I wonder if there is room in the world for a Parodius update on par with Gradius V?

OwaynOTT

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Yeah, I have Super Parodius and the two that were on the Saturn, all great.
I must get Pop'n Twinbee sometime for the Snes as well.

Another great one is the Space Invaders update Space Invaders '95: Attack of the Loonies, similar in its parody of the original game.


I wonder if there is room in the world for a Parodius update on par with Gradius V?

yeah Pop'n Twinbee is a great game. there's one particular color bell that I hate and I think its the green one.

Pyongyang

Sera wrote: »

I'm not really into shmups

I find this information distressing.

vangoz

I've actually not played any of the console versions, just the arcade one. I'll have to check them this week.

Found a very fitting review done by screwattack. http://www.gametrailers.com/video/video-game-screwattack/708820

Retr0gamer

Screwattack showing again they know nothing about games. I scratch my head that someone working in games and meant to be knowledgable about them hasn't heard of parodius.

There's no point playing the console versions since other than the first MSX game they are all arcade games. PS1 and saturn versions are the best.

vangoz

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Screwattack showing again they know nothing about games. I scratch my head that someone working in games and meant to be knowledgable about them hasn't heard of parodius.

There's no point playing the console versions since other than the first MSX game they are all arcade games. PS1 and saturn versions are the best.

Yeah its pretty shocking that a website of that magnitude hasn’t heard of them.

I found the review amusing as its the same kinda reaction my GF or mates had when they first seen me playing it.
Is the Saturn version Japanese only, as I don’t have a modded console.:(

o1s1n

vangoz wrote: »

Is the Saturn version Japanese only, as I don’t have a modded console.:(

Just get an action replay 4-in-1 cart. Plays games from any region. Also acts as a RAM expansion and has save slots.

Retr0gamer

Yep, action replay 4 in 1 is pretty much essential and allows you to play imports. If it's a PAL saturn you have you'll have to play it 50 Hz until you mod it which is a bit **** for shmups but you can look into that for now :P

As for screwattack, just found that outside the games everyone knows these guys really haven't a breeze, although parodius is very surprising since all the american and UK mags were raving about it every chance during the PS1 and 16-bit era. Screwattack really are just poor.

Dr Bob

I had a crack at it last night . Its good but deceptively hard.I made it to that dancer (the one in the video) and just couldnt get the timing right .Few ccs later and I was still stuck there.Worst thing is I'd recorded the video for my youtube channel .But for some reason I cant import it into my editor..dont know why it just happens from time to time.Think its a fraps issue.I'll have a go at the snes version tommorrow just to see if how that goes...

vangoz

luas_dublin wrote: »

I had a crack at it last night . Its good but deceptively hard.I made it to that dancer (the one in the video) and just couldnt get the timing right .Few ccs later and I was still stuck there....

Yeah the game is quite difficult, the arcade version anyway.
The key to getting by the dancer is once you get past her the first time (from the right side of the screen to the left) stay in line with her boobs as she makes her way back, she will stop just short of you.
When she makes her way back the second time wait till the pengiuns at the bottom are dispatched then you can safely duck under and get past her.
I made a decent run and got a score of 450 the other week, I'll throw it up on youtube later.

@o1s1n and Retr0gamer - Thanks for the heads up with the action card, I'm a bit green with everything Saturn related and I just recently picked one up.