I've finally reached what I assume is the final boss.  I found the secret platform/staircase thanks to the safety net of save states and being a bit miffed at the measly drumstick hidden in a nearby candlestick (which only restored my character to 3/4 health).  Will finish tomorrow.  The candles lighting as you approach the boss was a nice touch.

Nope.  Was playing it on the train on the way home earlier.  We've both got four or five bars of health left.  Tense stuff (if you ignore my full health save state climbing the stairs outside).

Looking back at my Bloodlines review, I gave it 93%, but I was planning on giving CIV 90%.  There's really not much in it imo, but Castlvania IV does edge it, so it shows how nonsensical my scores are.  It's a great game with a few minor flaws, and if I'd played it before Bloodlines/Rondo of Blood, or more specifically back in the 90s, I probably would have marked it higher.  As much as I'm sure I'd prefer the straightforward platforming of the 16-bit titles, I can also see, having played Dust: An Elysian Tale, how the gameplay would be suited to the map-based backtracking/unlocking areas format Super Metroid, so Symphony of the Night is a maybe for me at some point.  I like the way the Megadrive and SNES games had different abilities (diagonal whipping in the Nintendo one, for example), and there's good times to be had with both, much like Ghouls n Ghosts vs Super Ghouls n Ghosts, which lacked the earlier game's multi directional weapon throwing, but included a double jump.   

I feel like I've caught up with the franchise now, and would even consider playing the current gen effort if it wasn't so long.

Perfect

Thirty five (fortnight): Free Choice Parodius
(Taken directly from Wikipedia, as it's too hot to put any effort in today):

The Parodius series is a series of horizontally scrolling shooters developed by Konami.  The games are tongue in cheek parodies of Gradius (Parodius is a portmanteau of Parody and Gradius).  It also parodies other Konami franchises, including Castlevania, Axelay, Lethal Enforcers and TwinBee.  One of the most distinctive features of the franchise is the extensive use of classical music and other well-known music, in what could be termed as wacky ramixes.  The are also a number of rehashes of in-game music from Gradius and other Konami games - very little of the series' music was newly composed. 

Motifs of the series include penguins, large women as boss characters, octopodes and excessive amounts of moai. 




Play and discuss, or simply reminisce.

Schedule:

(22/07, week): Scrolling Beat 'em up free choice
(29/07, fortnight): El Viento (Megadrive)
(12/08, week): Atari 2600 High-Score Challenge Returns
(19/08, fortnight): Yoshi's Story (N64)
(02/09, week): Rollergames (NES)
(09/09, fortnight): Actraiser (SNES, VC)
(23/09, fortnight): Grand Theft Auto (PS, PC)
(07/10, week): New Zealand story (various)
(14/10, week): Bitmap Bros free choice
(21/10, fortnight): Vectorman (MD, compilations)
(04/11, fortnight): PC Kid 2/Bonk 2 (PC Engine, VC)
(18/11, week): Wonderboy week
(25/11, week): Kirby week
(02/12, fortnight): Solstice II/Equinox (SNES)
(16/12, week): Fantasy Zone (MS)
(23/12, fortnight inc. Christmas break): Pinball free choice
(06/01, fortnight): Blackthorne (various)
(20/01, week): Pilotwings Week

Ah, Parodius. Superbly mad art design, daft power ups, and brilliant use of music. Quite often genuinely funny. But easy to forget that after a few levels there's a viciously hard game in there. Not to be taken lightly.

Definitely give the original a go on SNES or arcade and then seek out Gokujou Parodius on SNES. A larger selection of characters and even more ambitious graphically.

But it's definitely one for save states IMO, since dying and losing all your power ups on a later level is pretty much impossible to recover from.

I've never finished one, maybe now's the time.

There's an arcade game called Sexy Parodius. I've never played it though.

Nice. I always wanted to collect Saturn shmups and beat em ups (vs fighters), two of my favourite genres. Already have a few, I might start collecting soon.

Yeah, I think Gradius was always like that - certainly always had the space section between each themed background.

The flying lips 'boss' is made by the inclusion of can-can music. A stroke of genius.

I'm right in thinking these are super expensive for SNES right? They're on my to get list but I'm sure there's a good reason why I've yet to get it(them).

retroking1981 wrote:

I'm right in thinking these are super expensive for SNES right? They're on my to get list but I'm sure there's a good reason why I've yet to get it(them).

Shouldn't be. Pretty sure I paid peanuts for Super. The third one might be rare and pricey, though. Not checked prices for them.

So Parodius is very much a Japanese thing...

I have a US SNES (with the plactic tabs cut) so the following are available to me:
Parodius Da! (Also on NES)
Fantastic Parodius
Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius

The latter 2 are also on PSone but I'm limited to PAL with that.

£33 is pricey?

JonB wrote:

Starts to get really tough after that boss....think you get a parody of the 1st Gradius level next complete with bean firing volcanoes...

Aubergines?

I stand corrected!!

Super Parodius came out quite early on the SNES but I can remember a Parodius game getting a really late PAL release alongside Yoshi's Island - that must have been Oshaberi - probably worth a few bob now as it probably got a limited run and given it was the same price as the mighty YI it probably didn't sell much.

Even though I have a full Saturn set I would still be interested in picking up the SNES versions. The first one is a really good job - looks excellent and the only real difference between it and the Saturn game is the odd bout of slowdown on the SNES.

Interestingly enough the Moai heads on the 1st Parodius intro screens have their cigarettes removed on the PAL SNES version....

@davy: I thought Super got a PAL release, but not the other 2? I may be wrong. I think the third one (Sexy?) may be a bit pricey now.