Yeah, MB was great. The sequels lacked the linearity that made the first so good. 60 fps and it really needed to be. An outstanding game.

Where where?

Did you get Portal davyk? If not the entire Valve pack has 90% off just now, so you get their entire catalogue for £9.27.

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/232/Valve_Complete_Pack/

Downloaded the free trial from XBL arcade for my 360. It's as good as I thought it would be. I love it. I may just buy the original game though for now.  I seem to be able to handle the twin stick control (once I inverted the aiming mechanism).

davyK wrote:

Downloaded the free trial from XBL arcade for my 360. It's as good as I thought it would be. I love it. I may just buy the original game though for now.  I seem to be able to handle the twin stick control (once I inverted the aiming mechanism).

Yeah, Portal is perfect for twin stick noobs because there's no pressure to kill anything.

Delux party is ok but the well and tetrominoes look visibly so small on screen

I haven't tried VR yet, Tetris on the big screen just doesn't have the same appeal as handheld for me.

@MK, if the gameplay is better than the 3DS Ubisoft game than that's still a win.

mk64 wrote:

On the page before - lovely write up. I think you’re the only person I know who might appreciate and love Tetris as much as I do. Only game which I think you left out which deserved credit imo is Tetris DS which was actually pretty decent and had some nice game modes.

I actually have a copy of that....never played it!!!!

Big fan of Tetris dx on Wii.. it even has a daft balance board mode and the tetris race modr has an even dafter steering wheel control option.

Parodius series -- various

Parodius, to the uninitiated, is a spin off from the venerable horizontal shooter series called Gradius (or Nemesis in the West). It shares exactly the same gameplay rules and features, but replaces the typical late 80s-early 90s hum drum shooter graphics and sonics with outlandish, cartoon, fever inspired visuals and comical remixes of a blend of famous pieces of classical music and the original Gradius series soundtrack. The game series is said to be a parody of Gradius; hence the name.

This is no mere reskin however; the narrow range of craft to choose from in Gradius is expanded in Parodius to a cast of Konami back catalogue game themed characters that are accompanied by their own range of weapons. This has been implemented such that they make a dramatic difference to the approach the player can make to different levels which themselves are original - although it has to be said that they share certain characteristics with the original layouts.

It can be argued that it doesn't add much to the formula but it really appeals to my sensibilities which are influenced by love of all things Japanese and weird. While the sights and sounds are weird , and in of themselves goad me on to see what the next level is like, they hang together with a certain level of consistency. They are also of a rather high level of quality and can cause distractions. Simply, they add to the level of enjoyment I feel while playing.

The Gradius level of difficulty remains too - sharing the series mechanic that cranks up the difficulty level to match the level of power ups you are armed with - so it has that conflicting look of a cute game with deadly difficulty - another mix that really floats my boat.

The series is a collector's dream as it possesses a pretty complex heritage - with its first appearance being on the little known MSX range of computers in Japan. It has in the main been an arcade game but each entry in the series has been ported to a range of home consoles. The main attraction for collectors is the fact that cross platform versions of each port differ - the developers have added exclusive levels to each version - perhaps playing to the host platform's strengths.  I am led to believe that the Parodius team eventually left Konami and became fanboys' dream developer Treasure - who have a track record of squeezing the best out of platforms.

I first encountered this series on the SNES when I got its version of the first arcade game in the series (called Paradius Da! in the arcade but just called Parodius on the SNES). It blew me away at the time - indeed it can still be considered a pretty solid port. Graphically it is damn close to the original though it can be affected by slowdown in the busier parts of the game. The SNES version has more levels than the original and can actually be a bit of a slog because of its length for a shmup - but it never fails to be entertaining.

Another feature of the console ports is a 2nd score attack mode (called Lollipop or Omake mode depending on the version) which offers up a single special score attack level designed to throw lots of powerups at the player which ups the rank very quickly , while also featuring plenty of opportunities to milk for score. Again - these Omake modes differ across ports on different platforms.

Once I went to the 32bit era, I opted to collect the series on Saturn which has the horsepower to deliver these games while not being compromised by slowdown or any other technical constraints.  The PS1 also got the full series but they seem to be more difficult to find (or at least seemed to be at the time I was looking around). Despite the rumours of PS1 being a slouch at 2D the games perform just as well as their Saturn counterparts - at least in the main. But there is the attraction of the exclusive levels for each port.

Four games were released on the 32bit consoles. The 1st disc is a 2 game compilation an "arcade perfect" version of Parodius Da and the sequel called Parodius Fantastic Journey or Fantastic Parodius.  The first game shows how good the SNES port is at it doesn't look that different though it is a more solid game due it the absence of slowdown. The Omake mode is different from the SNES one. The first game does start to show its age now but it's still enjoyable to play. The 2nd game however ups the ante to ridiculous levels and it delivered one of the most jarring gaming experience I ever had.

There's a speed auto scroll level in Fantastic Journey (think it's level 4) that kicks off with a remix of the William Tell Overture as the soundtrack - the first few seconds of that knocked me sideways - I really knew I had moved up a notch from 16bit gaming when I experienced this and it will always stick with me.

The next 2 games are released on separate discs. There's Oshaberi (or Chatting) Parodius which has even more insanity - the roster of characters is enormous. It's also a console exclusive game and was originally a SNES release. The menus look quite 16bit but the game itself has been retouched and looks glorious and generally ups the pace and looks from the 2nd game. Its console origins show in the amount of features it has with arrange modes, sub quests (there's a fairy hunt similar to the dog hunt in Radiant Silvergun) which unlocks more characters when completed. Separate stats are kept for each character and its also the only shmup  I know that lets you pause and save your status in one of 3 slots. It isn't quite a save state but it saves your level location and powerups so you can restart and continue on from that point at any time. It also has a commentary track that apparently reacts to actions in real time (it being in Japanese I can't comment on that). In 2 player mode a female commentator joins in - I believe this is why it's called Chatting Parodius).  This game has 2 Omake modes - a score attack mode and a second mode that is laid out like a race track which tracks high scores AND best times.

Konami ransacked games in its library for level design inspiration too. There's a Lethal Enforcers themed level that features 2 gunsights bearing down on your craft for example. There also a Goemon themed level - so it adds to the enjoyment spotting all the videogame references.

The final game in the series is called Sexy Parodius which introduces a small change to the game style. From level 2 on, there is a mission - pick up X number of a certain object or shoot Y of a certain enemy. There is a branching level system and you go to a different level depending on mission success or failure - so this in itself offers some replay value. There are less features in this one (only a single Omake mode and no subquests) which betrays the fact it was an arcade game, but the graphical and sonic polish are a bit of an improvement. The game looks and sound gorgeous and is best in a series that generally has an excellent high quality reputation for graphics and sounds.  

There is also a weird story attached to the game which has imagery and inter-level stills that give the game its name. And one of the bosses that looks like a giant racoon running on its hind legs gets somewhat understandably antagonised if you shoot its rather obvious testicles - I leave it to the reader to determine wether that is sexy or not.

It's a real shame that this series hasn't been picked up since. When Treasure did Gradius V for PS2 I held my breath in expectation of a Parodius followup but so far I'm still waiting.  This is one of the few games that would prompt me to buy the host console.


You see a lot of penguins in the series.......I got this image from a folder on the Oshaberi Parodius disc for Saturn.

Aye.     One's called Gabriel - had to google to get the name of the other which is Daniel.

There's a pair of stick men who ride on paper planes that sport a condom with the shield power up.

Loved the Portal write up.
Had I any skill Id write about OG Tomb Raider, Monkey Island 2 or The Last of Us.Or Tenchu.

That's the first time a paragraph break has made me think of a torn frenulum.

Think I might do another one.

I’ll do a Mass Effect 2 one at some point.

SpaceGazelle wrote:

Portal Love

The cake is a lie. This is a cool thread, i will come back to it. I just wanted to share in the Portal love. The puzzles, the story, the humour! Utter genius.