Paradius Da

[brainerdrainer]

How did I not know about this until a year ago. And now I own it and it's so so much fun! I wish it was made available in USA but the Famicom cart works great. I really want to play an arcade version. Looks so damn awesome!

[IHatedSega]

Parodius? Yeah, theres a ton of games in the series all through the 90's on different systems. Its a really cool series of shoot em ups. I prefer to hear the Japanese announcer, makes it funny. :)

[MachineGex]

The SNES(S. Famicom) version is another one to look at. It plays great in a US system and was fairly cheap a few years back.

[Graham Mitchell]

Sexy parodius is my favorite. The penguin wearing a toilet as a hat which he flushes to attack is priceless.

[treismac]

Parodius rocks. As hyper Japanese/bizarre as it is, I still believe it was a poor move not to bring it on over to North America. Beyond the marketability of Japanese culture in the American market, I think that there was possibly more than a little bit of the whole "us Japanese and our ways are incomprehensible to outsiders" mindset going on in that decision, while in the back of their minds they secretly feared that if outsiders could appreciate something so distinctly Japanese it would diminish something of the uniqueness of the Japanese spirit.

[Parodius Duh!]

I friggin' hate the parodius games!!!!!!!!

[treismac]

I friggin' hate the parodius games!!!!!!!!

Heaven help us if Parodius ever does a crossover with Mega Man.

[dendawg]

I friggin' hate the parodius games!!!!!!!!

An ironic (or trollish) statement coming from someone with the game's name as his username.

I've played the arcade version in MAME, and the giant showgirl is always my favorite part.

[Bloodreign]

I own em all on the Saturn from the MSX original to Sexy, SFC Gokujyou Prodius, 3 of 5 on PS1 (minus the MSX original as I can't be bothered to buy a certain version of Konami MSX Antiques when the Saturn versions one big volume of 30 games, as well as no Sexy for it ), and looking this tax season to buy Parodius Da for SFC (next year Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius SFC to finish off that set, then maybe the Gameboy and FC Paro's which I enjoy a tad less). Also have Parodius Portable PSP, hate it for one huge reason, 6 songs got changed out as Konami didn't want to either purchase rights to use them, or was very careful not to use them for fear of being sued. Got enough Parodius here to shake a stick at.

Also good is Twinbee, Shuzilow Ha did the later games of Twinbee and I believe Parodius. Good timing with this topic as Da is the one now that I'm playing in various incarnations to get decent at, either SFC, X68K, or arcade/PS1/Saturn. Arcade Da is the hardest with difficulty if you don't die quickly, the game is absolutely ruthless with rank, no home port matches the arcade version in sheer difficulty.

Yup I love Parodius, have since I laid eyes on them at various times in EGM's import section in the magazine that they used to run. Said to myself back then I'd get the whole series, well, I have the whole series these days.

[Press_Start]

Parodius rocks. As hyper Japanese/bizarre as it is, I still believe it was a poor move not to bring it on over to North America. Beyond the marketability of Japanese culture in the American market, I think that there was possibly more than a little bit of the whole "us Japanese and our ways are incomprehensible to outsiders" mindset going on in that decision, while in the back of their minds they secretly feared that if outsiders could appreciate something so distinctly Japanese it would diminish something of the uniqueness of the Japanese spirit.

What's crazy is Konami did bring Parodius out of Japan but into Europe and other PAL territories a.k.a. converting code meant for NTSC-J 60 Hz TVs to work on 50 Hz PAL TVs, on top of translation, redesign, software testing, advertisement, budgeting, overhead costs, and all of the stuff they would have had to do if it were coming to America. And it wasn't a one time thing. I should know I have all 4 on NES, SNES, Gameboy, and the Sega Saturn.

But what's crazier is Konami did it for a number of their other franchises i.e. TwinBee, Rainbow Bell Adventures, CrackOut, Noah's Ark, and Konami GB Collection.

And what's even more crazier is the Konami GB Collection was the only place you can find English versions of Yie Ar Kung Fu, Arctic Adventure, Loco-Motion, and the Mystical Ninja game made in 1991 that was everything better than the 1998 version that you'd think it was made in.....1998! And it was region-free!

Konami, why do you hate us? :(

[brainerdrainer]

Yeah that's pretty crazy. I think it would have been a huge success in North America for sure. How can you not love Parodius?

[Jorpho]

How can you not love Parodius?If you are an overly paranoid parent concerned about what it might do to Impressionable Young Minds?

[theclaw]

PAL Saturn is a good choice. Unmodded US console has no choice but force 60hz.

[Lady Jaye]

I like the Portable Parodius collection on PSP and I really don't understand why it didn't come out here. Good thing that the PSP is region-free! :)

[Parodius Duh!]

Yeah that's pretty crazy. I think it would have been a huge success in North America for sure. How can you not love Parodius?

I dont think it would have. With most of the characters, Generic Americans would be like WTF is that? and Gradius was never popular enough to constitute releasing the parody form of it. How a few of the games made it to Europe is beyond me.

For the record, Sexy Parodius is the best in the series. ;)

[Parodius Duh!]

But what's crazier is Konami did it for a number of their other franchises i.e. TwinBee, Rainbow Bell Adventures, CrackOut, Noah's Ark, and Konami GB Collection.

Konami, why do you hate us? :(


Noahs Ark was made by Konami's European division specifically with no Japanese influence or release in Japan/USA (although a region 1 ntsc proto exists), Also, Konami's European division was made up of mainly Japanese Ex-pats, hence more Japanese exclusives making it over there, where as Konami America were all typical American Businessmen at the time who thought kids "Wouldnt get it" or it "Wouldnt be worth it" for this game or that...

[brainerdrainer]

I saw footage of Sexy Parodius Looks so damn awesome!

[FoxNtd]

Forget about the FC version. The FC just can't handle what that game is trying to do. I got sick and tired of getting killed by bullets I can't even see. Go with the PCE version; though I don't have or ever have played that one I'm sure it runs much better and doesn't have rendering issues.

As for the rest of the series yes totally awesome and fun. :)

[SparTonberry]

Noahs Ark was made by Konami's European division specifically with no Japanese influence or release in Japan/USA (although a region 1 ntsc proto exists), Also, Konami's European division was made up of mainly Japanese Ex-pats, hence more Japanese exclusives making it over there, where as Konami America were all typical American Businessmen at the time who thought kids "Wouldnt get it" or it "Wouldnt be worth it" for this game or that...

I was pretty sure Noah's Ark was made by some developer called Source (who also made a GB puzzle game Scarabeus or Pyramids of Ra that got a partially-complete NES port). The US version was supposed to be published by a different company (Matchbox, the toy car company) but only the PAL version got out, published by Konami.

[jammajup]

I love the Parodius games and like most people have played Da! the most on Snes or PS,the Snes has 3 versions of Parodius on it and they never cease to be whacky,in the third game i like playing as Ran the cat lol
You Tube
Parodius non-sense-fantasy (Parodius Da! Shinwa kara owaraie) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Flf3lQSuB5E)
Parodius Fantastic Journey (Gokujo Parodius!-Kako no eiko o motomete) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8sHpgm-R9M)
Jikkyo Oshaberi Parodius (Chatting Parodius Live!) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDEl1-tuzc4)

[recorderdude]

Funfact: There WAS one localized release of Parodius Da! called "Parodius: Non Sense Fantasy" in europe. Since it's a shmup there's not too much to change into english, but they DID translate the gibberish you shout from your megaphone powerup into gems such as "GOT A STINKFOOT" and "SHAVING IS BORING!"

But yeah, I friggin love parodius as a whole. My favorite is probably a tie between Gokyjou and Sexy, though I love both for different reasons. The SNES version of Gokyjou with it's cameo characters from kid dracula and goemon adds tons more to it, but it IS a snes shmup so expect bucketloads of slowdown. The PS1 version adds the "ACCIDENT" mode where you fly through bizarre 3D sections shooting at enemies that pass weird and enter parodius levels of freaky. I can't say which I like more. As for sexy, either the PSP rerelease or the PS1 version will do ya fine. EDIT: Jikkyou Oshaberi's PS1 port has ACCIDENT mode, NOT Gokyjou. Derp.

If you like parodius, you should also try "Harmful Park". It's like parodius but focused more on an amusement park theme. Watch out though, it's super rare and super pricey.

[theclaw]

The second game had even less releases. Fantastic Journey in English for home consoles was found only in the European PS1 and Saturn versions.

[Parodius Duh!]

If you like parodius, you should also try "Harmful Park". It's like parodius but focused more on an amusement park theme. Watch out though, it's super rare and super pricey.

Its not rare, just desirable, theres 2 copies on ebay and 18 on YJA, its just desirable and majority of us westerners are stupid and will pay ungodly Ebay prices without searching elsewhere first. YJA price? 4,000-6500 Yen, or $45-75 as opposed to $150-200 via US sellers. Also be careful cause the cover to this game fades super easily for some reason.