Let's talk about shoot-em-ups.

glennmagusharvey · 2012-05-16 14:07:50

* Something "OMG HAHAHAHAHA" inducing, as vague as that sounds.

Parodius

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.:

パロディウス～タコは地球を救う～ Parodius - Tako wa Chikyū o Sukū English: (Parodius: The Octopus Saves the Earth) (1988, MSX)

パロディウスだ! －神話からお笑いへ－ Parodius Da! －Shinwa kara Owarai e－ English: (It's Parodius! －From Myth to Laughter－) (1990, arcade)

極上パロディウス Gokujō Parodius! ～Kako no Eikō o Motomete～ English: (Ultimate Parodius ～Pursue the Glory of the Past～) (1994, arcade)

実況おしゃべりパロディウス Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius English: (Chatting Parodius) (1995, Super Famicom)

セクシーパロディウス Sexy Parodius (1996, arcade)

パロウォーズ Paro Wars (1997, PlayStation)

リトルパイレーツ Little Pirates (1998, Pachislot)

CR パロディウスだ! EX CR Parodius Da! EX (2000, Pachinko)

CR パロディウスだ! ZE CR Parodius Da! ZE (2000, Pachinko)

CR パロディウスだ! 2 CR Parodius Da! 2 (2000, Pachinko)

CR 極上パロディウス CR Gokujō Parodius! (2006, Pachinko)

極楽パロディウス Gokuraku Parodius (2010, Pachislot)

極楽パロディウス A Gokuraku Parodius A (2010, Pachislot)

Numerous ports have been created. Parodius - Tako wa Chikyū o Sukū was converted to Mobile Phones and to Virtual Console of the Nintendo Wii. 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) 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 for the PlayStation Network.^{[citation needed]}

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 2010.

In addition, several pachinkomachines based on Parodius universe were released in Japan, such as CR Parodius Da in 2000 and CR Gokujō Parodius in 2006.

Schitzo · 2012-05-16 19:15:12

What parodius games are 2 players, and what versions?

glennmagusharvey · 2012-05-16 20:09:02

I would assume the arcade versions were two-player simultaneous, but I am not sure.

This page at HG101 confirms that Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius's PS1/Saturn version and Gokujou Parodius's arcade version have 2-player simultaneous. Lemme check for others.

glennmagusharvey · 2012-05-16 20:24:23

This post suggests that Sexy Parodius has 2p simul in its arcade version at least. Dunno about the PS1 version.

Bee · 2012-05-19 17:49:39

Steam currently has a great deal on Jamestown.

nohaynicklibre · 2012-05-19 18:49:40

Besides if you play Sexy Parodius you can listen to this

For the love of God don't read the comments

Raydere · 2012-05-20 04:28:18

Sonic Wings 3. Best boss theme ever.

Bee · 2012-05-21 23:39:34

Finished Jamestown. It's pretty tame as far as shoot-em-ups go, but still pretty fun and definitely worth the $5. The second ship you buy is ridiculously broken though; when the game revolves around strategically clearing the screen because you move relatively slowly and don't have viable defensive options, a fully-directional shot is a little overpowered.

Also Martian Super Saiyan conquistadors.

Raydere · 2012-05-22 23:14:58

The game in general seems designed for Gunner. A lot of bonuses are near-impossible otherwise.

Bee · 2012-05-23 02:54:55

I don't even want to think about doing some of those turret mazes without having a directional shot. You'd have to get up close and personal with one of the pair due to obstructions, then just brute force your way through the other one getting angry for about 15+ seconds until it scrolls away. And it trivializes the final boss because you can just angle a shot right through the beams instead of waiting for the thingies to come to you.

I was a little amused when I did the bonus challenge that makes you fight the double boss before I did the main level where you fight one of them as the regular boss. I was like HAH I'm used to fighting two of you at the same time >

Bee · 2012-05-25 01:59:28

Breezed through Divine difficulty.

Unlocked Judgment.

OW.

Saigyouji · 2012-05-25 07:50:30

Yeah, Judgement kicks up the difficulty to obscene levels.

Bee · 2012-05-25 18:06:35

"Hey, why are these bullets green-"

BOOM

Raydere · 2012-06-01 06:12:02

Otomedius Excellent is garbage. I wouldn't mind the lolmoeshit if the game itself didn't feel like some sort of third-rate doujin game.

I'm gonna play Life Force (ARC-JP) as brain bleach.

glennmagusharvey · 2012-06-01 09:29:16

Otomedius seems stupid relative to Parodius.

Bee · 2012-06-01 14:44:17

I just watched a video of it, and good lord. I've seen more imaginative attack patterns in flash games.

glennmagusharvey · 2012-06-01 14:46:17

Oh, I was talking about the premise. Fanservice girls, versus complete and utter insanity in wackiness.

DYRE · 2012-06-01 15:06:28

Moeblobs are the best subject matter for shmups. Trufax.

Though, of course, if the game's no fun, then it's no fun.

glennmagusharvey · 2012-06-01 15:34:50

No. Penguins, moai, and octopodes are the best subject matter for shmups.

Including penguins wearing toilets on their heads.

Oh, also, falling deer, Uncle Sam Eagles, corn on the cob, and flying lips.

Bee · 2012-06-01 17:41:37

So I'm pretty sure the Jamestown Judgment Gauntlet no-miss achievement was put in as a joke, seeing how I can't even find no-miss videos of some of the bosses on their own, and (going by the global stats) I somehow doubt everyone who completed Divine was able to pull it off. I'm thinking there was a lot of hax or something.

Raydere · 2012-06-02 06:45:33

Perhaps one of THE best Gradius players in North America.

Bee · 2012-06-02 14:39:46

Good God he makes that look so EASY, but you can tell it's only because he has a perfect handle on a really fussy shot type.

glennmagusharvey · 2012-06-02 17:39:30

What's the story behind the parallel universe Vic Viper?

Raydere · 2012-06-04 04:02:07

^

Spoiler:

At the end of stage 7, the player character discovers that he needs to enlist the aid of another ship to take down both cores of the battleship simultaneously. So he creates a time-space distortion and teams up with his past self.

In other news, time to jellyfy all the CAVE fans in this thread. Guess what I got to play at today's shmupmeet?

Raydere · 2012-06-09 00:05:34

Awesome music aside, who needs a Gradius slot machine? Just get Gradius III or IV. Same amount of money-sucking.

Schitzo · 2012-06-29 18:10:38

I recently purchased Gradius II: Gofer No Yabou off of the Wii Virtual Console.

I like that you can continue via the pre-stages and not exactly where you left off. Gives you a fighting chance (as much as Gradius can give you :P)

It bugs me that I can hear some sound effects from Ys I and II. The PC-Engine must have had really limited sound effects.

I'm on the earth-ish stage and it's kicking my ass. The ice astroid stage was hard as is, I feel kinda shitty about having to use the Konami Code to get past it.

Raydere · 2012-07-05 04:48:55

The ice stage in general is pretty annoying. You NEED full firepower to power through. Otherwise, on a non-cheat run, you may as well soft-reset the game.

Speaking of Gradius, I got Otomedius Excellent limited edition last month at Fanime.

I hate it.

Not because of the cutesy moe visuals (see: Parodius series). I hate it because the game as a whole is terrible and feels like some sort of third-rate doujin game. I'll probably give it another shot this evening but my hopes are pretty low.

edit: whoops already said this on the same page

glennmagusharvey · 2012-07-05 05:16:02

I hear that it's Parodius minus silliness plus fanservice. Which basically means it sucks compared to Parodius.

Dunno anything about the gameplay though.

Raydere · 2012-07-05 08:34:31

It's pretty bad compared to the mainline games. Bullets are nearly hard to see, boss weakpoints are hard to hit if you're underpowered often resulting in time outs, stages in general just feel very sparse and slow-paced.

Schitzo · 2012-07-05 09:19:48

I ALMOST made it through on 3 speed ups. But the boss is just infuriating.

I have a rule of thumb where if I can't get past a certain stage, I either restart from scratch or use the Konami Code on my last life.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

Let's talk about shoot-em-ups.

Comments