Parodius Da! -Shinwa Kara Owarai E-

Parodius Da! －Shinwa kara Owarai e－ (パロディウスだ! －神話からお笑いへ－), released in Europe as Parodius, is an arcade shooter released in 1990. It is the second title in the Parodius sub-series of, produced by Konami. The European SNES version is also known as Parodius: Non-Sense Fantasy, as it appears on the title screen. This game is often mistaken as the original game of the series. The lesser known original game, Parodius, was released for the MSX2 in Japan.

The gameplay is stylistically very similar to the Gradius series, but the graphics and music are intentionally absurd.

Story
"The Great Octopus has threatened Earth. To help Parodius save the planet, you and his friends must begin your search for the truth. As you search the whole world over you must find the enemy and you must destroy him."

- Parodius EU box cover

Gameplay
As stated above, gameplay is very similar to the Gradius series, with a few differences. Parodius retains the selectability of different weapons configurations but implements via four different characters: Vic Viper (from Gradius), Octopus, Twin Bee, and Pentarou. The second main difference is the addition of bell power-ups, from the Twinbee series. These bells act as one-time power-ups, allowing you to destroy every enemy on screen, fire huge beams of energy, etc. Enemies and environments from the Gradius games and Twinbee 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 light-hearted fashion. 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 animated look. The boss of that level, the Moai Head, fires other moai at the player by spitting 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.

Characters and weapons

 * Vic Viper – Traditional Gradius configuration

The missile will fall to the ground, and then move along until it encounters an enemy. The Double mode will fire two blasts, one forward, and one incline forty-five degrees above. The Laser mode is a thin blue laser, identical from Gradius.


 * Octopus – Salamander configuration

This configuration is identical to the weapons presented in the Salamander arcade game. The missile is '2-way' that yields two bomb-like explosives that fall both up and down. The Double is the tail gun present in the second configuration. And the laser is the ripple laser, which fires expanding concentric circles at the front of the craft/person.


 * Twinbee (Colored as Winbee) – Twinbee configuration

This set is the weapons from the vertically-scrolling Twinbee, applied to horizontal gameplay. The missile is now the rocket punch, which has a larger impact area than the standard missile. The double is the same tail gun from the Octopus/Salamander configuration. The laser is a 3-way gun which fires shots the same size as the Double and standard weapons.
 * Due to the color bug, it could be considered that Winbee, rather than Twinbee, has the most appearances in video games, however this Twinbee doesn't have the same cockpit windshield design as either Twinbee, Winbee or Gwinbee.


 * Pentarou – Gradius III configuration

This set mostly the weapons available in one of the configurations in Gradius III. The missile is the photon torpedo (spelled here Poton) that fires one missile that travels along the bottom ground and penetrates multiple enemies. The Double mode will fire two blasts, one forward, and one incline forty-five degrees above. The laser mode is a spread gun, which fires a small circle that gradually spreads concentrically outward.

Cameos

 * Pastel wears a Chichibinta Rika-like outfit in the interactive game TwinBee PARADISE in Donburi Island.
 * Pentarō and Cat Battleship make a cameo as fishing baits in the video game TwinBee RPG.
 * Chichibinta Rika, Hot Lips and Captain Penguinovski the 3rd appear in the puzzle game Pixel Puzzle Collection that commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Parodius series.