Video games - Parodius Da!

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	Video games - Parodius Da!

Parodius Da! - Shinwa kara Owarai e (パロディウスだ! －神話からお笑いへ－ En: It's Parodius! From Myth to Laughter) is a shoot'em up arcade game and is the second title in the Parodius series produced by Konami. The gameplay is stylistically very similar to the Gradius
series, but the graphics and music are intentionally absurd. This game is one of the few Parodius titles to be released in Europe, but like all other games in the series, it was not released in North America. This is due to the amount of inherent Japanese humor and culture references, much of which does not effectively translate with different audiences.

This game is often mistaken as the original game of the series. The lesser known original game, Parodius
, appeared on the MSX computer.

Gameplay

As stated above, gameplay is very similar to the Gradius
series, with a few differences. Parodius Da! 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 famous boss, big core is given a neon-look and is called "Viva Core." Moreover, there is a moai 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 falls 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, Winbee, rather than Twinbee, has the most attendances in video games. Humorously, The Parodius ship doesn't have the custom cockpits that the Twinbee ones have.

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.

Levels and bosses

Stage 1: Ocean - Pirate Penguin
Stage 2: Cityscape - Uncle Sam Eagle
Stage 3: Dessert Castle - Flying Lips
Stage 4: Japanese Countyside - Sumo Pig
Stage 5: Moai Warship - Female Moai Head
Stage 6: Pinball Machine - Pinball Core
Stage 7: Bubble Stage - Half-naked Woman
Stage 8: Ice Cavern - Puffer Fish
Stage 9: Graveyard - Ghost Woman
Stage 10: Bath House - Bathing Octopus
Stage 11: Penguin Space Station - Giant Octopus

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Parodius Da! ]

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