I'm going to say it right now before I say anything. Parodius is a good game. I want to say this before I probably get punted for my opinion I'm going to give. I think it's a good game but I also don't enjoy the game.
Parodius feels like a celebration while also being a parody of the Gradius series and Salamander. You get control of 4 different ships which uses powerups from Gradius 1 if you pick Vic Viper, Salamander if you pick Octopus, Twinbee if you pick Twinbee, and Gradius 2 is you pick Pentarou. You go through 10 stages going through a wide variety of stages.
One big part about Parodius is just how wild and out there the themes are while also parodying certain iconic moments of the previous games like the weird spider mech thing from 2 is now a giant sexy mardi gras lady, The volcanos from Gradius 1 now have faces and erupt eggplants out of them, and even some of the moais have funny looks to them. This is easily the best part of the game is to see what's around the corner.
Powerups are done like how they have been done in Gradius 1 and 2, just get a capsule and pick which one you want depending on how many you collected at the moment. The bells from Twinbee are also here and provide items like a megaphone to shout out stuff I can't read or even an ability to grow big and be invincible. I honestly like them more then how actual Twinbee handles it.
Ok so you might be wondering, why do I not like it then? Well it's more of a me problem I guess you could say a skill issue as the cool people say it. I just for some reason don't have fun. They just shoot so much at you, like I at least felt like I had a chance at most places in Gradius 1 and 2 to survive but here it just feels like everything is out to kill you immediately. There's some moments that are just frustrating and combined that with being put back at a checkpoint after death makes it even worse.
But that's not even the worst part. The shield item for the ships is worthless. I swear they were not this bad in actual Gradius but here it just never helps, it's baffling how bad it actually is. Then there's the !? item. What does it do? It resets you back to how you started the game, NOTHING! Why would they do this? It's such awful design. What's worse is some capsules you collect make the bar a roulette and you have to time what you want but when you're fully decked out, odds are you will get this and then you just cry. If this is in later Parodius games I will actually be upset.
The bosses are actually inconsistent in difficulty for me. Some of them aren't too bad but others can be annoying but overall they are some of the cooler parts of this game. Shoutouts to the naked lady as one of the bosses. Also what's with these games and having the final bosses being so easy? Is it a joke? I don't get this, I'm not complaining I just really am wondering why.
The game is pretty gorgeous and again I could just gush on how much I like the work that was done on here. All the colors and varied locations are some of the highlights here. Sadly the game does have a lot of bad slowdown which does hamper the experience. The music is good and a lot of it is music I recognize, it's like old classical music. It gives it a nice charm that's for sure but it was weird hearing music like that and not just new original songs but again not complaining, it's still good to the ears.
I want to enjoy Parodius but I just don't which is weird considering I enjoy Gradius. There are still other versions for me to play before the sequel comes around so maybe by then I'll grow to like but idk how likely that is. I respect you Parodius but man I wish I could also love you but I'm just not that person.
Parodius feels like a celebration while also being a parody of the Gradius series and Salamander. You get control of 4 different ships which uses powerups from Gradius 1 if you pick Vic Viper, Salamander if you pick Octopus, Twinbee if you pick Twinbee, and Gradius 2 is you pick Pentarou. You go through 10 stages going through a wide variety of stages.
One big part about Parodius is just how wild and out there the themes are while also parodying certain iconic moments of the previous games like the weird spider mech thing from 2 is now a giant sexy mardi gras lady, The volcanos from Gradius 1 now have faces and erupt eggplants out of them, and even some of the moais have funny looks to them. This is easily the best part of the game is to see what's around the corner.
Powerups are done like how they have been done in Gradius 1 and 2, just get a capsule and pick which one you want depending on how many you collected at the moment. The bells from Twinbee are also here and provide items like a megaphone to shout out stuff I can't read or even an ability to grow big and be invincible. I honestly like them more then how actual Twinbee handles it.
Ok so you might be wondering, why do I not like it then? Well it's more of a me problem I guess you could say a skill issue as the cool people say it. I just for some reason don't have fun. They just shoot so much at you, like I at least felt like I had a chance at most places in Gradius 1 and 2 to survive but here it just feels like everything is out to kill you immediately. There's some moments that are just frustrating and combined that with being put back at a checkpoint after death makes it even worse.
But that's not even the worst part. The shield item for the ships is worthless. I swear they were not this bad in actual Gradius but here it just never helps, it's baffling how bad it actually is. Then there's the !? item. What does it do? It resets you back to how you started the game, NOTHING! Why would they do this? It's such awful design. What's worse is some capsules you collect make the bar a roulette and you have to time what you want but when you're fully decked out, odds are you will get this and then you just cry. If this is in later Parodius games I will actually be upset.
The bosses are actually inconsistent in difficulty for me. Some of them aren't too bad but others can be annoying but overall they are some of the cooler parts of this game. Shoutouts to the naked lady as one of the bosses. Also what's with these games and having the final bosses being so easy? Is it a joke? I don't get this, I'm not complaining I just really am wondering why.
The game is pretty gorgeous and again I could just gush on how much I like the work that was done on here. All the colors and varied locations are some of the highlights here. Sadly the game does have a lot of bad slowdown which does hamper the experience. The music is good and a lot of it is music I recognize, it's like old classical music. It gives it a nice charm that's for sure but it was weird hearing music like that and not just new original songs but again not complaining, it's still good to the ears.
I want to enjoy Parodius but I just don't which is weird considering I enjoy Gradius. There are still other versions for me to play before the sequel comes around so maybe by then I'll grow to like but idk how likely that is. I respect you Parodius but man I wish I could also love you but I'm just not that person.