Parodius (series)

The Parodius (パロディウス, Parodiusu) series is a series of horizontally scrolling shooters developed by Konami. The games are tongue-in-cheek parodies of Gradius, hence the name (Parodius is a portmanteau of Parody and Gradius). It also parodies many other Konami franchises, including Antarctic Adventure, Castlevania, Xexex, Axelay, Thunder Cross, Taisen Puzzle-Dama, Space Manbow, Ganbare Goemon, Lethal Enforcers, R-Type, Tokimeki Memorial and TwinBee.

Games

There are Six games in the Parodius series (arranged by title, year of its debut and original platform) In addition, three Pachislot games based on the characters were released in 1998 and 2010.:

• Parodius: The Octopus Saves the Earth (1988, MSX)
• Parodius! From Myth to Laughter (1990, arcade)
  • Parodius! Deluxe Edition (2004, Mobile Phone, for Konami Net DX)
• Fantastic Parodius - Pursue the Glory of the Past (1994, arcade)
• Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius (1995, Super Famicom)
• Sexy Parodius (1996, arcade)
• Paro Wars (1997, PlayStation)
• Little Pirates (1998, Pachislot)
• CR Parodius Da! EX (2000, Pachinko)
• CR Parodius Da! ZE (2000, Pachinko)
• CR Parodius Da! 2 (2000, Pachinko)
• CR Saikoro Tin Douty (2004, Pachinko)
• CR Gokujō Parodius! (2006, Pachinko)
• Gokuraku Parodius (2010, Pachislot)
• Gokuraku Parodius A (2010, Pachislot)

Numerous ports have been created. The Octopus Saves the Earth was converted to mobile phones, to Virtual Console of the Wii and Wii U and to EGG Project from Windows Store. Parodius Da! －Shinwa kara Owarai e－ was ported to the Game Boy, Famicom (NES), Super Famicom (SNES), PC Engine, PlayStation and Sega Saturn. Gokujō Parodius! was ported to the Super Famicom, PlayStation and Saturn. The PlayStation and Saturn versions were a combined release of Parodius Da! －Shinwa kara Owarai e－ and Gokujō Parodius! called Gokujō Parodius Da! Deluxe Pack. The last two titles were also released on both the PlayStation and Sega Saturn.

A compilation of all Parodius games (with the exception of Paro Wars) titled Parodius Portable have been released for the Sony PSP as a UMD release on January 2007 in Japan. A digital version for the PSP Go (a version of the PSP that lacks the UMD drive) was also made available worldwide for the PlayStation Network.

The first three episodes of the series were released in Japan for cell phones.

Only a few of the games were released outside Japan: Parodius Da! －Shinwa kara Owarai e－ and Gokujō Parodius! were released in Europe (as Parodius and Fantastic Journey respectively), but none of the games were released in the United States.

There is also a spin-off named Paro Wars. This game is a turn-based strategy game based on Cosmic Wars, which plays similar to the Nintendo Wars series. Aside from Pentarou, only some of the Parodius-native characters (Octopus and the like) appear in this game.

In July 1998, it was released a Parodius themed pachislot machine named Little Pirates (リトルパイレーツ, ritorupairētsu).

Finally, two pachislot machines, Gokuraku Parodius and Gokuraku Parodius A, were released in September 2010.

In addition, several pachinko machines based on Parodius universe were released in Japan, such as CR Parodius Da in 2000, CR Saikoro Tin Douty in 2004 and CR Gokujō Parodius in 2006.

Features

Characters

Some of the characters that appear in the various games in the series.

Original characters

• Octopus, Takosuke (also as Tako A), Takohiko, Belial and Takosuke Jr.; they are octopuses. Octopus (A.K.A. Mr.Parodius) appears in the MSX Parodius and Parodius Da! －Shinwa kara Owarai e－ He appears again in Jikkyo Oshaberi Parodius as a narrator (Oshaberi), his wife "Noriko" respectively narrating the second player at SS & PS1 Ports. Two of his offspring he used as options in the previous games took his place in next games: the first one, named as Takosuke, appears on Gokujyou Parodius along with Belial (a yellow female octopus). Another octopus, Takohiko takes Takosuke's place in Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius. The names Takosuke and Takohiko are both portmanteaus of "tako", the Japanese word for octopus, and common endings of Japanese male names, "-suke" and "-hiko". It also makes cameos: The boss battle in The Legend of the Mystical Ninja, his arms trapped in a giant plastic by Marine World in Ganbare Goemon: Uchū Kaizoku Akogingu, he disguised himself as a pirate in Ganbare Goemon: Kurofune Tou no Nazo, Several characters from Konami on Print Station in Mitsumete Knight R, The enemy that spits out the snowball in Ganbare Goemon: Tōkai Dōchū Ōedo Tengu ri Kaeshi no Maki, the title appears in New International Track & Field, the enemy like points in Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero and Nou Kaihatsu Kenkyujo Kuru Kuru Lab.
• Hikaru and Akane (ひかる＆あかね, Hikaru to Akane), two showgirls in rabbit costumes riding on rockets. Their weapons are borrowed from Thunder Cross. They were bosses in Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius, most likely as revenge for not being featured as playable characters. They return as usable characters in Sexy Parodius. The girls have appeared as a cameo in many Konami game, such as Konami Wai Wai World, Quiz Gakumon No Susume, Ganbare Goemon 3, Snatcher, TwinBee RPG, Bishi Bashi Champ, Bishi Bashi Special, Bishi Bashi Champ Online, Shout! Shaberin Champ Mobile, or Eternal Knights TRUST and changes the name of Ruby and Cobalt in Otomedius Excellent.
• Soitsu, Doitsu, Koitsu, and Aitsu, little stick men flying on paper darts. They are also monsters in the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game whose full power cannot be utilized unless they're played in pairs. Their names are commonly used in Japanese slang terms to refer to people one does not know (Doitsu = who, Koitsu = this guy, Soitsu = that guy — far from the speaker, but near to the listener -, and Aitsu = that guy — far from both chatters). It also makes a cameos: A book, as the game Tokimeki Memorial: Forever With You, as an unlockable character in Speed King NEO KOBE 2045, in the game Super Bishi Bashi Champ and in the two castlevania games: Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin and Castlevania: Harmony of Despair.
• Michael and Gabriel, two angelic pigs, named after two Christian archangels. They're loosely based on angel pig enemies appearing in Parodius Da! －Shinwa kara Owarai e－. Their weapon sets are constructed mostly from those weapons used in Taito's Darius series. Michael makes a cameo in TwinBee Yahho! appearing as a power-up.
• Mambo and Samba, two goofy looking Ocean sunfish: their character is inspired from obscure MSX2 shooter Space Manbow. They are named after the music styles of the same names, as to pun the design of the "Space Manbow" ship (Since it looks like a mambo fish). Their weapon sets parody those used in the R-Type series, but the weapons are also implemented with functions from Xexex (such as search laser). Mambo can also use four different lasers at time by using formation options (took also from Space Manbow) to create different combinations of laser arsenal.
• Mike and Ran, a pair of cats with what looks like bandages between their legs, a comical way of suggesting they've been neutered.Mike's weapon set is heavily based on first Darius, while Ran takes her weapons from the R-Type Leo.
• Sue and Memim, two fairy girls. They replace Hikaru and Akane in Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius.
• Ivan and Toby, two tough-looking penguins. Their names together form a pun of Iwatobi, the Japanese name for the Southern rockhopper penguin which they are intended to be. The long yellow eyebrows of this duo are the most striking feature of this particular penguin species. They replace Pentarou and Hanako in Sexy Parodius. It also in the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game, is replaced by Flying Penguin.
• Black Viper, a new space ship only playable in Sexy Parodius. It has similar weapons to Shooting Star. It's most likely based from Gradius III Vic Viper, as the theme song of Black Viper is named "Departure for Sexy", which is a reference to Gradius III theme song "Departure for Space". The pilot is also female, as seen in the intro of Sexy Parodius.
• General Poti, a Dog Commander only playable in Paro Wars.

From other Konami games

• Vic Viper and Lord British, of the Gradius series.
• TwinBee and Winbee, the bee-shaped robots from the TwinBee series. They borrow their weapons from few bell powers used in their series.

Notably, It is Winbee, as well as her pilot Pastel, rather than TwinBee, who is the major TwinBee character in Parodius.

• Pentarou and Hanako, a pair of penguins, Pentarou is the son of the "Penguin" who originally appeared in many games, such as Antarctic Adventure,^[1] Penguin Adventure, Imo Hori Penta,^[2] Yume Penguin Monogatari, Tsurikko Penta,^[3] Super Fisherman Penta,^[4] Balloon Penta,^[5] Hie Hie Penta: Ice Cream Catcher,^[6] Penta no Tsuri Bōken DX,^[7] Kekkyoku Nankyoku Daibōken Taisen-ban^[8] and Kekkyoku Nankyoku Choiboken. His weapon set is modified from those used in Gradius III: From Legend to Myth, such as Spread Gun. He's usually seen sporting a machine gun, as to reference to Penguin's infamous gun weapon in Penguin Adventure.
• Goemon and Ebisumaru, from the Ganbare Goemon/Legend of the Mystical Ninja series. The former one was playable in MSX Parodius.
• Upa and Rupa, two super babies, the former debuting in the Famicom Disk System game Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa. Upa translates his weapons from Seibu Kaihatsu's Raiden using the milk bottles from his game or pacifiers. Rupa's weapons again are based on Toaplan's Truxton II.
• Dracula-kun and Kid Dracula, who are actually the same character. Both names reflect the games he starred in (Akumajou Special: Boku Dracula-kun and Kid Dracula) which are parodies on the Castlevania series. Dracula-Kun's weapon set mimics the one used in Axelay, while Kid Dracula would use Thunder Cross-based weapon set. Both weapon sets are parodied with a Castlevania twist, like having bats or candles. Occasionally umbrellas would be used as weapons or even as a shield- as to refer on the Kid Dracula's Bat Umbrella-spell from Kid Dracula.
• Option and Multiple, the mimic drones of Vic Viper and Lord British, respectively. They have faces to denote self-consciousness and can change their forms by activating various modoki abilities, which lets them borrow few weapon sets from other characters. Funnily, they have little Vic Vipers or Lord Britishes as their own "options"/"multiples". They appear as playable characters only in Sexy Parodius.
• Popolon, a knight from the MSX game Knightmare and its sequel Maze of Galious. He only appears in the MSX Parodius.
• Shooting Star, a red ship that appears as an enemy in TwinBee Yahho!. Piloted by Ace.
• Momo-chan, a dog player who appears in the game Susume! Taisen Puzzle Dama, He only appears in the PlayStation Paro Wars.
• Alice Wish-Heart, a witch girl from the pachislot Magical Halloween. She only appears in the pachislot Gokuraku Parodius.

Enemies

Gradius's mechanical and alien enemies have been almost completely removed from Parodius. There are several enemies that make it into every title. Some bosses in the Parodius games are parodies of Gradius bosses; the attacks and patterns remain the same, however the graphical look is usually changed to something more organic or cartoony.

Japanese Mythology and Culture: In almost all of the Parodius games, opponents and bosses based on Japanese mythology and the country's culture make appearances, such as the Tanuki, Geishas and various Yokai.

Penguins: The most common enemy faced in any Parodius game. Usually there is one level that is within a penguin building, with viewports showing penguins at work. The penguins are anthropomorphic; wielding weapons, operating machinery, and even listening to music. There are several penguin bosses as well.

Octopodes: Another common enemy faced in the Parodius series. In almost every Parodius game, an octopus serves as the final boss.

Large women as boss creatures: Every Parodius game features one or more bosses that consist of Giant, scantily clad women (or penguins, or octopuses). Sexy Parodius, as its name would imply, is composed of several such women as its bosses.

Excessive amounts of moai: Making light of the famous Easter Island statues that appear in almost every Gradius game, the Parodius games often have a comical moai boss, which may be presented wearing lipstick or given other anthropomorphic features. Parodius Da! －Shinwa kara Owarai e－ and Gokujō Parodius! ～Kako no Eikō o Motomete～ have an entire stage featuring moai; including a large moai ship, a moai boss that shoots moai out of her mouth, little moai cannons, and moai obstacles. Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius also features a moai stage parodying Tokimeki Memorial.

Music

One of the more distinctive features about the series is the extensive use of classical music and other well known music, in what could be termed as wacky remixes. There are also a number of rehashes of in game music from Gradius and other Konami games—very little of the series' music was newly composed.

Bell Power-ups

Originally from the TwinBee games, these typically give temporary power-ups that have varied throughout the series. True to their origin, the bells' colors can be cycled by shooting them. The new bell colors have remained somewhat constant in meaning throughout latter games in the series.

Yellow Bell 

Gives points. Subsequent yellow bells increase in point value from 500 points up to 10,000 points. Missing a bell will cause the bonus to revert to 500 points, which will then increase with each yellow bell again.

White Bell 

Gives your character a megaphone for a short period of time. Out of the megaphone is placed a sentence in Japanese (or English in the European version), the text of which can be collided into bullets and enemies to damage them. When this bell is collected, the effects of previous bells and defense power-ups are cancelled. In Sexy Parodius, this instead summons Alex, a Pac-Man-like helper character that eats enemies. However, Alex will not harm "female" enemies. Alex has an HP counter that can be refilled with yellow bells and increased with more white bells.

Green Bell 

Enlarges your character 400%. While your character is in this enlarged state, they cannot fire any weapons, but is also invulnerable to all damage; this allows your character to collide into walls and enemies (thus killing them) without taking damage. However, no bells can be collected or defense power-ups activated until the effect expires. This also cancels stored weapons from other bells as well as any shields present on activation.

Purple Bell 

Converts all weak enemies into power-up pods and/or bells. This was first available in Gokujō Parodius!.

Red Bell 

Provides three rounds of the Kiku Beam. A miniature version of your character flies ahead of your character and spreads a long vertical beam that can act as a barrier that damages enemies and destroys enemy bullets. It scrolls with the screen.

Blue Bell 

Provides one Super Bomb. A large explosion floods the screen and destroys all enemies within. Up to three blue bells can be collected in sequence and saved for later use.

Roulette / Blizzard

When enabled, some power-up pods start a roulette on the power-up bar. The player then presses the power-up button to stop the roulette and get whatever power-up the roulette stops on. The player must be careful not to get the "Oh!" power-up ("!?" in Parodius Da! －Shinwa kara Owarai e－) between the last two power-ups, for this will remove all power-ups from the player and reset movement speed to minimum. This cancels any prior progress made on the bar. In European versions of the game, this feature was renamed Blizzard.

Power-ups

The Parodius series borrows the power-up bar system from the Gradius series. However, the order and types of power-ups are somewhat inconsistent between characters; some characters have more than one missile or may not have a laser-type weapon, for example. True to the game series' theme, many of the weapon sets are actually either direct weapons or borrowed parodies of the weapons used in other Konami's shoot-em ups- even expanding to poke fun at the other game industries' famous shooters, such as Taito's Darius and Irem's R-Type. Some power-ups exclusive to Parodius include:

• Homing Missile: Two missiles are fired at once and track the enemy. Later on included in Otomedius.
• Double: Most Double power-ups split firepower in more than two directions.
• B-Shot (Boomerang Shot): Fires a boomerang that bounces off the first wall or enemy it hits. Used by Hikaru in the SNES port of Gokujo Parodius, Kid Dracula in Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius: Forever With Me, and by Option in Sexy Parodius. This is taken directly from Thunder Cross.
• Spread Gun: Bullets explode on impact, similarly to the Spread Bomb from Gradius games, or more closely, the Gravity Bullet from Gradius Gaiden. Enemies can be damaged in the blast. The bullets will slant upward or downward if the character was moving up or down when they were fired. Hikaru's Carrot Shot is similar but does not leave explosions.
• Option: TwinBee's Options are retained from its original game; the Options are only visible when moving and retract to the player's position when the player stops moving. Known as Funshin in his game series.
• Grade Up: Some characters have this power-up in lieu of Option. It increases the firepower of all available weapons. For example, it can increase and divert firepower in more directions, increase laser width, increase missile deployment rate, etc.
• Shields and Force Fields: Unlike Gradius, which labels shield and force field power-ups as "?", Parodius games label such power-ups properly.
• Oh!: Originally in MSX Parodius, this simply strips the player of all power-ups and sets movement speed to normal. The voiceover says "Oh my god!" upon collection of this power-down. This is also called "!?" in Parodius Da! -Shinwa kara Owarai e-. It is included to add risk to the roulette. In the ports of Jikkyo Oshaberi Parodius, it can be replaced with a roulette game instead.

Parodius in other media

• In Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, Koitsu, Aitsu, Soitsu, Doitsu appear as monster cards. English version of the cards are also available.

Manga

• In Gamest Comics Collection, Those Parodius Characters in Gokujyou Parodius appear as Manga and Comics Japanese, Created by Namie Iwao and Released in 1995.

• A Snatcher Parody comic titled Snatcher Da!.^[9]

• Following en 2010 in Japan, Chibi Chin Tarika from Parodius Da! makes cameo in two boys was playing in the Arcade, the Videogame Boss Character was basing on the manga titled High Score Girl.

• In 2012, in the Manga titled Toriaezu supīdoappu demo shite oku no Kokoro! (とりあえずスピードアップでもしておくのココロ！), in the Third Page, hikaru and akane how flying that bullet missile.^[10]

Drama CD

a CD drama named Kyukyoku Parodius was released on May 3, 1997.

Anime

• In episode 4 from the Anime Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, this cards, A-Team: Trap Disposal (along with Koitsu, Doitsu, Aitsu and Soitsu), appeared in Vellian Crowler's trenchcoat when he reveals to Chazz Princeton and his friends that he has many rare cards to give to him.

References

1. ↑ "New International Track and Field | Press Release". MCV. Retrieved January 25, 2011. 
2. ↑ いもほりペン太 - UCO
3. ↑ "Arcade Game Flyers: Tsurikko-Penta, Konami". The Arcade Flyer Archive. Retrieved January 25, 2011.  External link in |work= (help)
4. ↑ "Super Fisherman Penta (redemption game), Konami (1995)". Arcade-History. Retrieved February 8, 2011.  External link in |work= (help)
5. ↑ "Balloon Penta (redemption game), Konami (1996)". Arcade-History. Retrieved February 8, 2011.  External link in |work= (help)
6. ↑ "Hie Hie Penta: Ice Cream Catcher (prize game)". GOYO Corporation. Retrieved April 13, 2012. 
7. ↑ "Penta no Tsuri Bōken DX Page". Konami Japan Official Web Site (in Japanese). Konami. Retrieved January 25, 2011.  External link in |work= (help)
8. ↑ コナミ、iアプリ対応の通信型対戦ゲーム配信サイトオープン
9. ↑ Snatcher Da! - A Parody Comic in Hardcore Gaming 101 Blog
10. ↑

External links

• (French) 1UP, illustrated comparison between Parodius and Gradius on Nintendo consoles.
• Hardcore Gaming 101 - Parodius
• Konami homepage for PSP Compilation