| Graphics: |   4 |
| SFX: | 4 |
| Music: | 4 |
| Gameplay: | 4 |
| Challenge: | 5 |
| Replay: | 4 |
| Overall: | 4 |
| Genre: | Shmup |
| Reading ability: | Not required |
| Company: | Konami |
Background:
Konami is well known for it's shmupss such as Gradius and Salamander. And then there's Parodius. Like its name implies, these games are a parody on other Konami shmups. Not only can you fly the Vic Viper and Lord British of Konami fame, but you can fly as a penguin armed to the teeth, paper airplane, an octopus, a sexy faerie girl, a little pussycat, and even Twinbee! Many levels and bosses are spoofs of those from Konami's more serious games. But instead of fighting mother brains and planet-eating monsters, you're fighting singing pandas, giant Japanese schoolgirls, samurai penguins, lingerie-clad spaceships, and penguins, penguins, penguins. Weird, fun stuff!!!!
The Game:
Choose a fighter from a zany cast of characters to fly, and get ready for a bizarre trip! This game gets the name of Oshaberi ("Chatting") Parodius because it features a running commentary not found in other Parodius games. ("Oshaberi" is what you would call somebody in English a "chatterbox.") Sometimes the voice will cry "Abunai!" to warn you of oncoming danger, while most of the time it makes comments on the bizarre scenery.
If you've played any Konami shooter, you already know the gameplay. As you fly along and shoot down the bizarre enemies (did I mention about the penguins?), you gain powerups. You can accumulate powerup points and spend them on more powerful weapons, options fly along your character that multiply your firepower, and shields. Enemies also drop bell powerups. The standard yellow bell gives points, but other colored bells give you various superpowers, such as growing large, a screen-clearing superbomb, and a megaphone that lets you dish out verbal abuse (one of my favorites, but it's only funny if you can read a bit of Japanese). When choosing a character, it's tempting to go with the familiar Vic Viper at first when playing the game, but you'll find that the wackier characters are much more fun to play. I find that the easiest character to play is the kittycat Ran. His paw-shaped reflect shot that bounces off of the walls (reminiscent slightly of R-Type) and his search laser that seeks out enemies are very helpful. And his options are two bells that home in on enemies. Notice his shield in the picture below: he hides in a paper bag! Kawaii!
The Good:
With any Konami shooter I can think of, the thing I don't like is that when you die, you are sent back a little bit to the checkpoint with your firepower reduced to nothing and many times you're stuck fighting the boss without any decent firepower. (You'll find that horizontally scrolling shooters often do this, while verticle shooters just keep sending you in right where you last died.) When this happens when I play Gradius III for the SNES, I might as well restart the game and try to play it again without dying. However, the Parodius games are a bit more generous with the powerups, overcoming this problem. On top of that, aquiring certain bell powerups will enable you to pick up right where you left off and not have to back up.
The humor factor plays a large part of the fun in this game. And I couldn't review this game without mentioning how fabulous the graphics and sound are. The typical shooter sounds aren't that spectacular, but you'll notice on the game's box that the cartridge uses a "Response Sound System" technology. As a result, you are treated to a whole lot more speech than is common among 16-bit cartridge games. And the music adds to the fun as well, ranging from the 70's disco song "That's the Way I Like It" to the classical Minuet to music taken from other Konami games. Playing the first level with the disco music and record-tossing DJ penguins and the big disco ball at the end, I couldn't help thinking about Konami's more recent Dance Dance Revolution games.
The Bad:
I guess the only thing that people would find fault with this game is it's one unique point: it's wacky running voice commentary. If you don't understand Japanese past the words "konnichiwa" and "arigatou," I can imagine that the voice might become irritating to you. I have studied Japanese for many years, so I can understand a bit of the Japanese spoken in this game. So for me, I enjoy the voice commentator and often laugh. I guess it all depends on the individual.
Overall:
Shooters are fun games. And with the sillyness of this game, it gets even more fun. This is the third game in the Parodius series. Before this, there are Parodius Da! and Gokujou Parodius, also available for the Super Famicom. If you have a Saturn or Playstation, try to pick up the Gokujo Parodius Da! collection of the first two games and the fourth and slightly risque game, Sexy Parodius. Between the Super Famicom and Saturn, I have all of the Parodius games, and I have to say that Oshaberi Parodius is probably the most challenging and difficult of these games. If you've never played a Parodius game, I highly recommend buying one.
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