Parodius - let's discuss.

[soop]

After spending a little more time with Parodius on the weekend, I found it slightly complicated and quite interesting.

Firstly, my friend chose the Vic Viper, which I thought was a tad plain.  Obviously there doesn't seem to be too much variation, but I went for the Twinbee and liked the second stage power-up, the rocket punch, which adds the initial oomph needed to build upgrades.

Then the downside is the penalty inflicted when you die - you lose all your power-ups.  I've never been a fan of this.

I also take a slight issue with the sheer unpredictability of some of the levels. While in cases it's refreshing, it's nice to be shown a brief example of what's about to happen - for instance, penguins (or moles, w/e) sneaking up from the left side of the screen, or the clown platform on level 2 that rises up, then unexpectedly lowers down.

And lastly I'm a big fan of the risk/reward of the bell power-up system.  Often the temptation of a super-weapon from a bell has caused me more deaths than the enemies directly.

[esteban]

I am glad you have spent some more time with this game.

For me, the Parodius games offer some of the best things that Konami ever gave us: the designers/developers were able to transcend the "rules" of the more serious games and provide an interesting variety of options/creativity. It was truly a "mash-up" before it became trendy and commonplace.

--> --> -->THE REPLAY VALUE OF PARODIUS DA! (and its brethren) is the best part, in my opinion. A key to this, however, is that both Gradius and Twin Bee were ESTABLISHED SERIES. A mash-up like this works best in this situation, IMHO.

Sure, I replay the Gradius (Salamander) and Twin Bee games... but the sheer fun of replaying Parodius with different ships is enough to hug the damn HuCARD.

BROADENING MY OUTLOOK: I happen to really enjoy the Gradius series more than Twin Bee, so Parodius has only helped me gain more appreciation for Twin Bee*. I suspect that many folks who are unmoved by Gradius/Twin Bee still enjoy Parodius, thereby making Parodius the MAINSTREAM CROSSOVER HIT for folks that aren't hardcore shoot-em-up fans.

That's what I reckon, anyway.

*I played the hell out of Stinger (NES), but lost interest in Twin Bee during 16-bit generation because the THUNDERFORCES and SOLDIERS were ripe for playing.


DEEP THOUGHTS with Jack Esteban: I don't know how folks feel about it, but I always wondered what it would be like if you were allowed to switch ships on-the-fly (and offensive preferences): I don't like the fact that a HUGE part of the strategy (and fun) is from committing to a particular ship/attack preference, experimenting with stages, and determining the pros/cons of your choices. Now that I think about it, perhaps this is the LAST THING I would want in a Parodius game...

[soop]

BROADENING MY OUTLOOK: I happen to really enjoy the Gradius series more than Twin Bee, so Parodius has only helped me gain more appreciation for Twin Bee*. I suspect that many folks who are unmoved by Gradius/Twin Bee still enjoy Parodius, thereby making Parodius the MAINSTREAM CROSSOVER HIT for folks that aren't hardcore shoot-em-up fans.

Good point.  I like Twinbee more than Gradius and Salamander - I suspect mainly because it's more forgiving.  But yes, it does offer an insight into Gradius and Salamander.

[Opethian]

chain yellow bells for points

dont pick up every power up. the more powered up you are the harder the game gets.

make sure you have 2 speedups in the speed level ^_^

[soop]

chain yellow bells for points

dont pick up every power up. the more powered up you are the harder the game gets.

So get yellow bells over coloured ones?  The white bell is both powerful AND amusing.

And it gets harder with power ups?  I had NO idea.

[PunkicCyborg]

Bonus mode like a pro to get skillz

[soop]

Bonus mode like a pro to get skillz

What is Bonus Mode?  Didn't even check it out.
Also, is it 2-player?  I don't think it is, but I remember seeing it on one of the games we were playing unexpectedly.

[sunteam_paul]

My preference is the octopus. He's cute.

[majors]

Buy this man a beer! Parodius is a top 5 for me.

Glad you have fallen for it's charms, soop. I love the special mode when I just want to get a quick game in. Put that bitch on hard and go for score (def go for yellow bells for score!)

[BigusSchmuck]

I still want this game at a decent price. I'm really not ready to drop $40+ for this yet.

[Tatsujin]

Pce paro is great and really show'd off the power of the pce.
i only so wish that they didn't cut out those two levels

[nectarsis]

Top tierPCE shooter, one of my faves (along with Star Parodia, and HANA TĀKA DAKA!?) for the cute em up trifecta
 

[NinjaCrackerX]

My preference is the octopus. He's cute.

^ My favorite character next to Koitsu (the little guy riding the paper airplane later in the series). Love seeing the little back-up Octopi help him as well!

[Duke.Togo]

I have the Famicom version, but haven't checked the PCE one. It sounds like I need to give this one a look!

[roflmao]

I still want this game at a decent price. I'm really not ready to drop $40+ for this yet.

You might want to keep an eye on hit-japan's ebay acct.  I picked it up loose from him for about $20 shipped not too long ago.  

As far as the game goes, I've owned the Super Famicom version for a lot longer and I'm still adjusting to the little differences in the PCE version.  For some reason I find the PCE version harder than the Super Famicom version.  I still enjoy the PCE version, but it hasn't lived up to the hype, imo.  At some point, though, it may click with me and I'll go bananas over it. That's happened with other games.

The octopus is my favorite character to play.