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PARODIUS
DELUXE PACK |
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CHARACTERS:
The original Parodius game (Da!) has
four charaters to choose from: Vic Viper,
Octopus, Twinbee, and Pentarou.
The second one (Gokujyo) has those four
(Octopus is called Takosuke), as well as
Hikaru, Mambo, Michael,
and Koitsu. Also in Gokujyo the second
player has the counter parts Lord British,
Beriaru, Winbee, Oranachon,
Akane, Samba, Gabriel,
and Aitsu. For those that have played
the Super-Fam version, Upa, Kid
Dracula, and Goemon When you die,
you loose your upgrades, however if you have at least one
powerup in reserve, you start on the first level
(speedup) after you revive. In addition to the standard
powerup system, Parodius games add bell power,
taken from the Twinbee games. Depending
on the color of the bell you pick up (if
you shoot it, it changes color), you get anything from
points, to a superbomb-type thing, to temporary
invincibility (you grow all large and pixely). The stages
and enemies themselves are, in a nutshell, wacko.. You
fight everything from penguins to maoi
heads (another Gradius fallback) with
sunglasses. There's trees that chase
you, huge Konami signs that fall on you,
and even falling huge black explanation points. The
bosses are even odder, ranging from an Eagle
complete with a US flag, a mermaid who
attacks you with musical notes, a pinball machine
(a big homage to Gradius 2/Vulcan Venture here.. Mike),
and an oriental lady (Geisha girl?) on a
flying carpet.
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Ever fancy the chance to pit a bubble-blowing penguin against a 50-foot dancing woman in a bikini, or a cute bunny-girl on a rocket against a giant panda in a pink tutu? Well you can if you play Konami's barking-mad but highly enjoyable Parodius series.. Parodius Deluxe Pack (simply
called Parodius in Europe), released in
Japan in 1994 for PSX and 1995
for Saturn, contains arcade-perfect (as far as I know)
versions of Paroidus Da! (aka Parodius
1) and Gokujyo Parodius (aka Parodius
2). Having only played the Saturn version, I
will base my review on that, but I know there are a
couple differences between it, as well as some
differences from the Snes versions of the games. HISTORY:
A bit of information on the games. Parodius was named
thus because it is a PAROdy of
GraDIUS. The very first Parodius game, I
believe, appeared on the MSX. The first game in the
normal series, Da!, appeared in the
arcades in 1990, and was soon after ported to Game Boy, Famicom, PC Engine, Super Famicom, and X68000, and of course the
Deluxe Pack later. The second one, Gokujyo,
appeared in the arcade in 1994, and was only ported to
Super Famicom before the Deluxe Pack.
OPTIONS:
You get a bit of choice besides character in |
![]() A not entirely great scan of the Parodius characters taken from the Snes version From top - Vic Viper, Octopus, Twinbee and Pentarou |
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