Parodius Da! ~Shinwa kara Owarai e~

## Parodius Da!

### Platform(s)

Arcade, NES, Sharp X68000, Game Boy, PC Engine, SNES, PS1, Saturn, Game Boy Color, Mobile, PSP

### Modes

Single Player

***Parodius Da!*** (パロディウスだ! －神話からお笑いへ－ *Parodiusu Da! Shinwa kara Owarai e*?, lit. "It's Parodius! From Myth to Laughter"), released outside Japan simply as ***Parodius***, is a horizontal scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game released on April 15, 1990, and is the second title in the *Parodius* series produced by Konami.

The European Super NES version is known as ***Parodius: Non-Sense Fantasy***. The gameplay is stylistically very similar to the *Gradius* series, but the graphics and music are intentionally absurd.

This game is often mistaken as the original game of the series. The lesser known original game *Parodius*, released for the MSX computer in Japan.

*Pentaro* appears in this game as one of the selectable characters.

## Gameplay

Gameplay is very similar to that present in games of the *Gradius* series, with a few differences. *Parodius Da!* retains the ability to select between different weapons configurations, but implements this via four different characters: Vic Viper, Octopus, TwinBee and Pentarō.

The second main difference is the addition of Bell Power-Ups from the *TwinBee* series. These bells act as one-time power-ups, allowing the player to perform special attacks such as destroying every enemy onscreen, fire huge beams of energy, etc.

Enemies and environments from the *Gradius* and *TwinBee* games are mixed in along, with a host of anime-style opponents, which include scantily-clad women. All of the *Gradius* elements are integrated in a very lighthearted fashion. For example, the Big Core, a regular boss within the *Gradius* series, is given a neon look and is called "Viva Core". Moreover, there is a moai (Easter Island head statues) level, but all of the statues are given a much more cartoonish look. The boss of that level, the Moai Head, fires other moai at the player by spewing them out of her mouth. The final boss, in typical *Gradius* fashion, is an unarmed enemy that once defeated, results in a destruction/escape sequence.

## Releases and ports

*Parodius Da!* has been ported to a number of platforms, most notably the Super Famicom (released on the SNES in Europe) and the PC Engine. The game was also ported to the Family Computer (released on the NES in Europe) with several stages omitted but with a new amusement park stage, as well as several hidden bonus stages. Most recently, the game, along with several other *Gradius* titles, has been ported to Java-based cell phones in Japan.

The Game Boy version (which was also released in Europe) shows the ages of the playable characters and only has 8 stages, which include stages 1–6, and 10 from the arcade game. Stage 3 was moved to Stage 4. The Game Boy version of stage 3 also has a hidden stage. This version was also re-released in color as part of the *Konami GB Collection Vol. 2*.

There was also a Japan-exclusive port for the X68000.

The PC Engine version does not have the arcade Stages 5 and 8, but features a stage titled SPECIAL and a new introduction that features several strange-looking Japanese characters. This is in contrast to the arcade intro, which chronicles the *Gradius* legacy up until the time of release.

The SFC/SNES version added the bath house and "Omake" stages over the arcade version. In the "Omake" stage, the player immediately continues after dying, instead of at a checkpoint. The PAL version of the SNES port was titled *Parodius: Non-Sense Fantasy* and "Omake" was retitled "Lollipop".

The mobile phone version titled ***Parodius! Deluxe Edition*** (パロディウスだ! 豪華版 *Parodiusu da! Gōka-ban*?) was released on February 19, 2003 in Japan. It features 3D graphics and doesn't have the arcade stages 3, 4, 7, 8 and 9. It was also released for Vodafone on February 18, 2004 and EZ! Brew on 2006 with 2D graphics.

*Parodius* was also ported along with its sequel *Fantastic Parodius - Pursue the Glory of the Past* on the compilation also simply titled *Gokujō Parodius Da! Deluxe Pack* in Japan and *Parodius* in Europe for PlayStation in 1994 and Sega Saturn in 1995, and in *Parodius Portable* for PlayStation Portable in 2007.

## External links

* *Parodius Da! ~Shinwa kara Owarai e~* at the Gradius Wiki