Video Game / Parodius

Are you sure you're sober when playing this?

Oh, we laugh at this game! Gradius is fine, but this is nicer!

— Parodius: Non-Sense Fantasy (European release of Parodius Da!)

Leave your common sense at the door.

Parodius is a series of Shoot 'Em Up video games by Konami. The word "Parodius" is a portmanteau of "parody" and "Gradius". It plays much like the series it parodies, but cuter and sillier, while also poking fun at other Konami games and other popular culture. Many of the characters are drawn from other Konami games, including the Vic Viper (whose Option is itself playable in Sexy Parodius), Twinbee, Goemon, Pentarou the Penguin,^note Who's the son of Penta Penguin from Antarctic Adventure-series Kid Dracula, and Upa the Baby Prince.

The weapons and powerups are largely derived from Gradius, Salamander and Twinbee, but later games have characters equipped with weapons modeled after Konami's lesser-known Shoot Em Ups, such as Thunder Cross, Axelay and XEXEX, and from other shooters such as Darius, R-Type Leo and Truxton II. The enemies are all over the place, but if there are two common themes, it's penguins and moai.

Games in the main series

Parodius: The Octopus Saves the Earth

Japanese: パロディウス ～タコは地球を救う～ (Parodiusu: Tako wa Chikyū o Sukū)

First release: 1988, MSX

Parodius! From Myth to Laughter

Japanese: パロディウスだ! －神話からお笑いへ－ (Parodiusu Da! Shinwa kara Owarai e, lit. "It's Parodius! From Myth to Laughter")

First release: 1990, arcade

Also released on the Famicom, the Super Famicom, Game Boy, PC-Engine, the PlayStation, the Sega Saturn, the Sharp X68000, and mobile devices. Released in Europe as Parodius: Non-Sense Fantasy.

Fantastic Parodius: Pursuing the Glory of the Past

Japanese: 極上パロディウス ～過去の栄光を求めて～ (Gokujō Parodiusu ～Kako no Eikō o Motomete～)

First release: 1994, arcade

Also released on the Super Famicom. Released in Europe as Fantastic Journey.

Chatting Parodius Live

Japanese: 実況おしゃべりパロディウス (Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodiusu)

First release: 1995, Super Famicom

Also released on the PlayStation, PlayStation Portable^note As part of the compilation Parodius Portable, and Sega Saturn.

Sexy Parodius

Japanese: セクシーパロディウス (Sekushī Parodiusu)

First release: 1996, arcade

Also released on the PlayStation and Sega Saturn.

Related games and other media

A Turn-Based Strategy spinoff, Paro Wars, was released in 1997 for the PlayStation. There was also a Parodius Drama CD, and various pachinko and pachi-slot games. Parodius Portable, a 2006 Compilation Re-release for the PlayStation Portable, includes all games except Paro Wars.

Characters original to the series

• Tako (Octopus), Takosuke, Takohiko & Belial: A family of octopuses. Takosuke and Takohiko's name are a portmanteau of tako (octopus in Japanese) and common endings for Japanese names.
• Hikaru & Akane: Torpedo-riding girls in Playboy Bunny outfits. Their weapon loadout is based on that of Thunder Cross.
• Mambo & Samba: Laser-shooting fish. Their weapon loadout consists of weapons based on RType and XEXEX.
• Michael & Gabriel: Angelic pigs. Their weapon loadout is based on the Silver Hawk from Darius
• Mike & Ran: Neutered cats. Ran has a weapon from R-Type Leo.
• Sue & Memim: A pair of faeries.
• Koitsu, Aitsu, Soitsu & Doitsu: Stick men riding paper airplanes.
• Ivan & Toby: More penguins with Unusual Eyebrows.

Compare Harmful Park and Boogie Wings, similarly psychedelic, insanity-fueled arcade shmups released in the 1990s after the success of Parodius.

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The Parodius series provides examples of:

• Angry Cheek Puff: In the Volcano Valley stage of Parodius Da!, the volcanoes' tell for when they erupt is angrily puffing up their cheeks and turning bright red.
• Announcer Chatter: Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius has Tako from the early Parodius games featured as the game's resident narrator, who won't shut up about anything you do. This is a nod to Konami's Live sports game series from that time: International Superstar Soccer and Live Powerful Pro Baseball.
• Art Shift: In Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius, the stages themed after Xexex and Lethal Enforcers use this.
  • In the Sega Saturn and PlayStation versions of Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius, the boss rush stage exclusive to those versions has bosses drawn in a different art style than the rest of the enemies.
• Ass Kicks You: Happens to Takosuke at the end of Sexy Parodius; he tries to escape past Kaori who sits on him.
• Attack Drone: Like Gradius, many player characters have Option drones that attack alongside them.
• Attack Its Weak Point: There's usually an arrow with the word "SHOOT" as an indication for where to shoot to cause damage. Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius has the announcer point it out if you can't get the hint from that.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Many bosses are giant anthropomorphic animals or giantesses. Bosses include giant mermaids, eagles, octopodes, pandas, etc.
  • There are numerous examples of giant women as stage endbosses in the series due to its raunchy humor. There's Chichibinta Rika, who appears in most of the games, the giant mermaid Eliza from Gokujō Parodius, Honey from Parodius Da!, "Enormous Hikaru and Akane" from Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius. Sexy Parodius has Medusa, Tanuko the Tanuki (whenever it transforms into its female form), Yuko, and the final boss Kaori whose only action kills the actual main villain for you.
  • Applies to the player if they snag a Green Bell powerup. It causes your character to be temporarily enlarged and invincible. Although your weapons are disabled, you can simply fly into everything to inflict heavy Collision Damage.
• Back from the Dead: Even though you clearly see him dead in a previous game, Penguinofsky III, the penguin captain, comes back in Sexy Parodius as part of a boss rush.
• Bait-and-Switch: Occurs in Fantastic Journey and the treasure box at the end.
  • The final "boss" in Sexy Parodius isn't fought in any way. She defeats the true villain of the game, Takosuke, by sitting on him.
• Battleship Raid: A giant Moai battleship is encountered in Parodius Da!, and appears again in Gokujō Parodius. On front of the Moai battleship is a giant Moai that wears Cool Shades and shoots boogers out of its nose at you, along with the typical energy ring attack of the Moai.
• Blush Sticker: Archangel pigs Michael and Gabriel have them.
• Boss Warning Siren: At one point in Fantastic Journey, the player encounters the Moai Battleship, with its placement randomly determined inbetween two of the regular stages. When the player is about to encounter it after clearing one of the stages, its own music theme plays instead of the chosen player character's theme and the message WARNING flashes on the screen.
• Bowdlerise: The NES/Famicom version of Parodius Da! censors the burlesque dancer boss, Chichibinta, into a much more modestly-dressed circus ringleader named Miss Mishitarina.
• Call-Back: The subtitle for the second Parodius game, From Myth To Laughter, is a follow-on from the subtitle of Gradius III, which was From Legend To Myth.
• The Can Kicked Him: In Sexy Parodius, the Boss of the Bathhouse stage is a giant penguin with a helmet made from a toilet; he attacks by shooting giant bubbles from it.
• Comeback Mechanic: Depending on game settings, you can revive on the spot after dying (a departure from the checkpoint restart mechanic from the older Gradius games) and spawn several bell items. One of them is always a green bell, which makes you completely invincible while dealing Collision Damage to enemies and obstacles. This makes recovery much easier for less experienced players.
• Continuity Nod: the second level of Gokujō Parodius (a.k.a. Fantastic Journey) has you going underwater at one point. There you will find the corpses of the Pirate Penguin, his crew, and the remains of the Cat Battleship MK I, who were the first boss and miniboss in Non-Sense Fantasy, respectively.
• Cool Old Guy: According to Non-Sense Fantasy, Vic Viper is 58 years old. Vic's weapons loadout are pretty average compared with the other characters, but he is the only character that appears in every Parodius game.
• Cute 'em Up: It's Gradius re-skinned to be as cute and silly as possible.
• Defeat by Modesty: Many of the giant lady bosses are defeated this way, their clothes burned off right before they cover their chests with an arm and fall off the screen.
• Difficulty by Region: The megaphone powerup in the second game is slightly more powerful in the European Non-Sense Fantasy than the Japanese Da!, due to the English silly phrases tending to be longer.
• Downer Ending:
  • Fantastic Journey. After several stages of wackyness, you have finally defeated the Octo-Queen. You find the treasure you've been looking for...only to find that there is a sentient classic cartoon bomb that has taken the place of the treasure. Its fuse has already burned to its last moments, and as a result, the dance club base is utterly destroyed by the ensuing explosion. During the credits, enjoy watching your character float amongst the shattered remains of the club you just raided (and you can find it funny somehow, as you can see bras floating around). However, that doesn't stop you from entering the Special Stage.
• Dynamic Difficulty: Inherited from Gradius. The better you're doing, the more difficult the game becomes. Upon dying, the game decreases the amount of enemies on-screen as well as the severity of their attacks, and may toss in a few freebies to give you a chance to recover. How long you last without dying has a permanent effect on difficulty as well.
• Eagleland (Flavor 1): Eagle Sabu, a bald eagle dressed as Uncle Sam, serves as a boss in Non-Sense Fantasy. When he is defeated, he loses all his feathers while becoming covered in comical bandages and falling off the screen.
• Everything Trying to Kill You: Intentional due to its ridiculous premise. The most common enemies are penguins taking on the role of common enemies found in the Gradius games, and Moai. One of the most unusual enemies is Colonel Sanders riding a unicycle while throwing fried chicken at you in the first stage of Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius. Some versions of the latter game change Colonel Sanders into Santa Claus (who still throws fried chicken at you).
• Excuse Plot: Most of the Parodius games have no actual plot; Sexy Parodius' plot involves Takosuke organizing an agency with the characters in the previous games to handle troubles for clients, all of which involve fighting goofy mooks and bosses.
• Face–Heel Turn: Takosuke in Sexy Parodius does one of these just before the last level in an attempt to escape with all the money you earned in-game. He doesn't get far unless you let the time run out.
• Fly-at-the-Camera Ending: Parodied in Non-Sense Fantasy. After having destroyed the Bacterian base, our hero flies at the camera and smashes the screen. See for yourself!
• Funny Background Event: Many levels are full of things happening in the background, most of them related to penguins.
• Gorgeous Gorgon: One serves as the end boss of one of two possible third levels in Sexy Parodius. Of course, given that level pays homage to Castlevania, and who made both, this is a given.
• Groin Attack: The tanuki boss's secondary weakness in Sexy Parodius; fitting since being a tanuki, he has a ridiculously large nutsack. It is tempting to shoot him there while he's meditating. Not only does he react realistically by clutching his groin and effeminately squealing in pain, but he also briefly transforms into a human woman if you exploit this incredibly corny and juvenile yet hilarious joke enough times during the fight.
• Inertia Is a Cruel Mistress: Just like in Gradius, too many Speed Ups can make it even harder to maneuver in tight spaces
• Invincible Minor Minion: The 16-Bit Block, a Unique Enemy that only shows up near the end of Gokujō Parodius. It's completely impossible to destroy in the few seconds that it appears on screen; it has 65,535 HP, and any attack it takes only deals Scratch Damage. The regular enemies it's a Giant Mook of also qualify, save for the one in each set that has only 16 HP instead of 256.
• Invincibility Power-Up: Collecting green bell will make the playable character grow larger and become invulnerable for a short period with the tradeoff of not being able to use the weapons.
• Jiggle Physics: Eliza, the giant mermaid; her breasts bounce a lot during boss battles involving her.
• Kaizo Trap: There are several in the series.
  • In Sexy Parodius, after defeating the boss of the girl factory (one of the possible 4th stages), its penguin operator will exit and shoot a machine gun. The machine gun bullets are extremely short-ranged, but if you are either too close or tempt fate, the bullets will kill you, forcing you to restart the boss fight.
  • In Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius, the Decoration Core boss from Stage 3 of Gokujō Parodius makes a return in Stage 5 as Decoration Core MK II. After you defeat it, its halves will move towards you and try to crush you in between. In higher difficulties, this sequence happens extremely quickly.
  • The final boss of Sexy Parodius, Kaori, may help you win the game by defeating the true villain, but she raises her legs while doing so. Colliding with her legs kills you, forcing you to restart the stage with even less time on the timer.
• Leitmotif: Most of the ships have their own themes. Additionally, some bosses have theirs too (Hot Lips is always fought to the Can Can).
• Level Ate: most games have a cake- or candy-themed level.
• Marshmallow Hell: An actual attack of Boinbee, a boss in Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius that is a giant parody of Twinbee's main character wearing a a giant bra.
• Meaningful Name: This game series is a parody of Gradius.
• Misplaced Wildlife: Most certainly intentional. One of the later levels in Non-Sense Fantasy is an icy underwater stage... swarming with tropical-looking fish.
• Ms. Fanservice: There's Eliza, the bikini-top wearing giant mermaid, there's Chichibinta Rika the giant showgirl, Yuko, a giant woman wearing only a blue sheet, a boss in the Sexy Parodius Boss Rush, and Kaori, a Final Boss who's similar to Yuko. Plus the girls in the cutscenes (one of them shows Hikaru and Akane shampooing each other).
• Mood Whiplash: The ending of Fantastic Journey. See Downer Ending above to see why.
• Moon Rabbit: In Gokujō Parodius, a stage takes place on the moon, complete with rabbits as enemies pounding mochi with mallets. The stage ends with a boss fight against Princess Kaguya.
• Multiple Endings: Should you fail to beat the last level in Sexy Parodius before the timer runs out, you'll get a bad ending.
• Noblewoman's Laugh: In Fantastic Journey's second stage, the mermaid boss, Eliza, attacks you with it.
• Oddball in the Series: Paro Wars, the last game in the series, is a turn-based military strategy game.
• Orgasmic Combat: The giant medusa Boss in Sexy Parodius is obviously enjoying the battle a little too much.
• Our Giants Are Bigger: A recurring boss in the series is Chichibinta Rika, a giant woman in a Vegas showgirl uniform which parodies the Shadow Dancer.
• Our Mermaids Are Different: A boss is a large mermaid who has attacks like a siren song (which appears as lyrics you can shoot) and making a giant wave with her tail.
• Playboy Bunny: Hikaru and Akane are bunnysuit-wearing girls who ride missiles into battle.
• Poison Mushroom: The "!?"/"OH!" on the power bar, which takes away all your powerups. It exists to add risk to using the powerup roulette.
• Public Domain Soundtrack: Most of the background music is based on classical and folk music.
• Recurring Boss: Several bosses in the series reappear in multiple games. The Cat Battleship has seen the most appearances, having appeared from Non-Sense Fantasy all the way to Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius!.
• Refuge in Audacity: Being a wacky parody of the serious Gradius games, enemy spacecraft, aliens, and biological horrors are replaced with cute penguins, chickens, and cats. The Vic Viper and Lord British are rendered in a chibi style, while other player characters include neutered cats, bunny girls flying on torpedoes, and stickmen flying on paper airplanes with a condom as a shield. Sexy Parodius increases the wackiness by including, as boss enemies, giant women and a shapeshifting tanuki with a set of large testicles. There are also flashing Moais from Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius, complete with pixelated genitalia...
• Re-Release Soundtrack: The song that was used originally in the first stage of Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius ("That's the Way (I Like It)", by KC & The Sunshine Band) was changed in the PSP version to the song "Brilliant2U" by Naoki Maeda. This happened to other tracks in the collection as well. Prior to it, the PlayStation and Sega Saturn release of Sexy Parodius replaced a arrangement of "El Bimbo" with "Symphony No. 40". The same thing was also done for "In the Mood" and "Mambo No. 5" in Gokujō Parodius, along with Sexy Parodius during the Otohime boss battle, "Mayim Mayim" is replaced with "Korobeiniki".
• Sapient Ship: In the Parodius games, Vic Viper and Lord British are depicted as sapient beings rather than space fighters with pilots in them. This is played up for comedy, given the parodic nature of the series.
• School Setting Simulation: One of the stages in Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius is set in a parody of Tokimeki Memorial. This is the only stage which, on most versions, has an optional theme with sung lyrics.
• Shout-Out: In addition to the exported characters and Shoot 'Em Up homages, many of the stages, starting in Gokujō Parodius, are on other Konami properties, including but not limited to Tokimeki Memorial, Ganbare Goemon, Lethal Enforcers 1, Taisen Puzzle Dama, Castlevania, Yie Ar Kung-Fu, and Jikkyō Powerful Pro Yakyuu.
  • The Moai Battleship in Gokujō Parodius is a parody of Space Battleship Yamato.
  • The intro to Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius shows the antagonists doing a Colony Drop. Undoubtedly an homage to Mobile Suit Gundam.
• Sultry Belly Dancer: Chichibinta Rika (this series's version of the endgame Shadow Dancer robots) is a giant showgirl that can't be shot dead. You have to fly either between her arms or legs to survive.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Sue and Memim are these for Hikaru and Akane who are for once not on your side in Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius.
• Talking Poo: You can see a living poo come out of a toilet if you destroy an specific Moai head in the second stage of Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius. It's dressed in a way reminiscent of a certain magical girl show.
• True Final Boss: The Mecha Penguin, fought at the end of the Special Stage in Fantastic Journey.
• Updated Re-release: A compilation of most of the games (except the Spin-Off Paro Wars) was released for the PSP in 2006. It contained a remake of the MSX original, the PSX version of Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius and the arcade versions of rest. Due to copyrights involving some of the songs, Konami replaced a few of the tracks with replacement music. There is also a Japan-only compilation of the second and third games, released as Gokujō Parodius DA!!
• Weapons-Grade Vocabulary: The White Bell temporary powerup equips you with a megaphone, temporarily replacing your weapons. It spits out various nonsense phrases such as "SHAVING IS BORING" that do heavy damage and absorb standard bullets.
  • The mermaid boss in the second stage of Fantastic Journey attacks with laughter.
• We Help the Helpless: The plot in Sexy Parodius revolves around Takosuke opening an agency to help people in whatever problem they have. In the end, however, Takosuke isn't exactly intent on staying faithful to that.
• Welcome Back, Traitor: After fighting them in Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius, Hikaru and Akane return to being playable characters in Sexy Parodius.
• What the Hell, Player?: Normally, bosses have a pop-up telling you where to shoot. In Sexy Parodius, if you try shooting the tanuki boss in the groin, it tells you NOT to shoot there.
• Yōkai: Being a Japanese-made video game series, there are several enemies and bosses based on yōkai:
  • The Final Boss of The Octopus Saves the Earth is a Baku named Bug, who puts up a brutal fight, unlike the typical Gradius final bosses.
  • Parodius! From Myth to Laughter has a Mini-Boss that consists of a group of Karakasa looping around the screen (parodying Iron Maiden from Gradius III) after it starts to rain in a haunted level.
• Zero-Effort Boss: Like Gradius, the final bosses are complete pushovers. The final boss from Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius downplays this, as the boss can kill you, but still is intentionally weak. Bug from The Octopus Saves the Earth is the exception.

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