Parodius Da! ~Shinwa kara Owarai e~

This game is known in some regions simply as "Parodius". For the first game in the franchise, see Parodius.

Parodius Da!~Shinwa kara Owarai e~
Parodius Da! Arcade Flyer
Japanesetitle	パロディウスだ! 神話からお笑いへ
Developer(s)	Konami
Publisher(s)	Konami
Series	Parodius
Platform(s)	Arcade Famicom Game Boy mobile phones PC Engine PlayStation PlayStation Portable Sega Saturn Sharp X68000 Super Famicom
Release date(s)	February 1990
Genre(s)	Side scrolling shoot 'em up
Mode(s)	1 or 2 players

Parodius Da! ~Shinwa kara Owarai e~ (パロディウスだ! －神話からお笑いへ－, lit. "It's Parodius! ~From Myth to Laughter~") is a shoot 'em up arcade game and is the second title in the Parodius series produced by Konami. The gameplay is stylistically very similar to the Gradius series, but the graphics and music are intentionally absurd.

This game is often mistaken as the original game of the series. The lesser known original game, Parodius, appeared on the MSX computer (in Japan only).

Plot

The year is 1992. Not much time left in the 20th Century, and all over the world people have lost their hopes and dreams. Government officials only care about getting rich themselves. Children now love their computers more than their own mothers. Even though young people sense the imminent destruction of the human population, they bury their minds in the thrills of the game center. But the root of all the evil is too horrible to speak of, for it lies in the gopher-faced, headbanded, Great Octopus.

One day, our octopus friend gets into a fight to the death with his old rival, the Bug. Our octopus wins and people start to call him Mr. Parodius. On his paid vacation, he goes to the countryside to enjoy a little farming. Returning to our ready-made octopus pot, he reads the "Universe" newspaper and nearly falls off his chopping board on surprise.

There's a picture of the mysterious Great Octopus with the Earth in his arms. "F...father?", he stutters. It was his father, who had disappeared just two years before, never to return home. His old friends, who had seen the paper, rushed over.

"Vic Viper"... Retired after the war on Dimension Three's G-World. Runs a home for the retired. Age: 58.

"Pentarō"... His hobby is playing with air guns. The child of penta and Penko. Age: 9.

"TwinBee"... One twin from the set. Has a cute face and is a formidable foe, able to destroy enemies easily. Age: 17.

How strong can a gang of this size be? They're lots of fun, but can't be relied on. Whatever happens is not their fault. So Octopus sets out on a search for the truth and with his companions begins to travel the world!

Gameplay

As stated above, gameplay is very similar to the Gradius series, with a few differences. Parodius Da! retains the ability to select of different weapons configurations but implements via four different characters: Vic Viper (from Gradius), Octopus, Twin Bee, and Pentarō. The second main difference is the addition of bell power-ups, from the TwinBee series. These bells act as one-time power-ups, allowing you to destroy every enemy on screen, fire huge beams of energy, etc. Enemies and environments from the Gradius games and TwinBee are mixed in along, with a host of anime-style opponents, which include scantily-clad women. All of the Gradius elements are integrated in a very light-hearted fashion. For example, the Big Core, a regular boss within the Gradius series, is given a neon-look and is called "Viva Core". Moreover, there is a moai (Easter Island head statues) level, but all of the statues are given a much more animated look. The boss of that level, the Moai Head, fires other moai at the player by spitting them out of her mouth. The final boss, in typical Gradius fashion, is an unarmed enemy that once defeated, results in a destruction/escape sequence.

Characters and weapons

Vic Viper – Traditional Gradius configuration

The missile will fall to the ground, and then move along until it encounters an enemy. The Double mode will fire two blasts, one forward, and one incline forty-five degrees above. The Laser mode is a thin blue laser, identical from Gradius.

Octopus (Tako) – Salamander configuration

This configuration is identical to the weapons presented in the Salamander arcade game. The missile is '2-way' that yields two bomb-like explosives that fall both up and down. The Double is the tail gun present in the second configuration. And the laser is the ripple laser, which fires expanding concentric circles at the front of the craft/person.

TwinBee (colored as WinBee) – TwinBee configuration

This set is the weapons from the vertically-scrolling TwinBee, applied to horizontal gameplay. The missile is now the rocket punch, which has a larger impact area than the standard missile. The double is the same tail gun from the Octopus/Salamander configuration. The laser is a 3-way gun which fires shots the same size as the Double and standard weapons.

• Due to the color bug, it could be considered that WinBee, rather than TwinBee, has the most appearances in video games, however this TwinBee doesn't have the same cockpit windshield design as either TwinBee, WinBee or GwinBee. Moreover, the cockpit's design is took from WinBee in the way it was portrayed from original TwinBee for arcades.

Pentarō – Gradius III configuration

This set mostly the weapons available in one of the configurations in Gradius III. The missile is the photon torpedo (spelled here Poton) that fires one missile that travels along the bottom ground and penetrates multiple enemies. The Double mode will fire two blasts, one forward, and one incline forty-five degrees above. The laser mode is a spread gun, which fires a small circle that gradually spreads concentrically outward.

Ports

Parodius Da! has been ported to a number of platforms, most notably the Super Famicom (one of the two console ports of the game released in Europe) and the PC Engine. The game was also ported on the Famicom (the other console port released in Europe, released by "Palcom Games") with several stages omitted but with a new amusement park stage as well as several hidden bonus stages. Most recently the game, along with several other Gradius titles, has been ported to Java-based cell phones in Japan.

The Game Boy version (which was also released in Europe) shows the ages of the playable characters, and only has 8 stages, which include stages 1–6, and 10 from the arcade game. Stage 3 was replaced with a different one. Game Boy version of stage 3 also has a hidden stage. This version was also re-released in color as part of the Konami GB Collection Vol. 2.

The PC Engine version does not have the arcade Stages 5 and 8, but features a stage titled SPECIAL and a new introduction that features several strange-looking Japanese characters. This is in contrast to the arcade intro, which chronicles the Gradius legacy up until the time of release.

The SNES version added the bath house and OMAKE stages over the arcade version. In the OMAKE stage, the player immediately continues after dying, instead of at a checkpoint. The European version of the SNES port was titled Parodius Non-Sense Fantasy.

Parodius Da! was also ported along with Gokujō Parodius! ~Kako no Eikō o Motomete~ on Gokujō Parodius Da! Deluxe Pack for PlayStation and Sega Saturn in 1997. The PSX version also features a hidden train stage that can be accessed after the space sequence before Stage 2. In order to access it, the first row of enemies that appear should be destroyed completely (they appear at the bottom), then in the next row (appearing at the top), only the first enemy of the row need be destroyed. The rest of the row and enemies that appear shouldn't be killed at all and just avoided, until the music fade out.

Stages

Stage	Name	Boss	Music	Remix of
1	Pirate Island	Cat Battleship Captain Penguinovski the 3rd	Island of Pirates Crisis 4th Movement It's Boss BGM	Thunder and Lightning Polka by Johann Strauss Jr. Ode to Joy by Ludwig van Beethoven Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov
2	Las Vegas	Chichibinta Rika (AC) Miss Mishitarina (FC) Eagle Eagle Sabnosuke	Even the Patience of Pierrot Has limits The Final Enemy Take Care!	Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Dance of the Reed Flutes by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky The Final Enemy from Gradius II Take Care from Gradius II
PSX	Omake Stage	Penguin Conductor	Thunderforce Stage	Great Battleship from Thunder Cross
3	Labyrinth	Hot Lips	Labyrinth Theme of Hot Lips	Trepak by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky William Tell Overture by Gioacchino Rossini Can Can by Jacques Offenbach
FC	Amusement Park	Madam of Yotsuya Q Viking Moai Woon Botton	Supersonic Roller Coaster! It's Boss BGM	Annen Polka, Op. 117 by Johann Strauss Jr. Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov
GB	Crystal Cave	Crystal Golem	Frozen Symphony Ice Golem	In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg Fantaisie-Impromptu Op. 66 by Frédéric Chopin ???
4	Japan	Pig Tide	Ah! Traveling Japan! Theme of Butashio	The Sabre Dance by Aram Khachaturian (replaced by The Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Johannes Brahms in PSP version) Yagibushi
5	Moai Battleship	Yoshiko	The Space Battleship Moai It's Boss BGM	L'Arlesienne Suite No 2 from Farandole by Georges Bizet The Old Stone Age from Gradius II Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov
6	Pachinko	Viva Core	Let's Get Fever with the Gunkan March Aircraft Carrier	Warship March by Tokichi Setoguchi Aircraft Carrier from Gradius II
7	Clouds and Bubbles	Honey Miyako	Beautiful Gals It's Boss BGM	Waltz of the Flowers by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov
8	Ice Cave	Pooyan	From the Far North Country of '90 It's Boss BGM	Violin Concerto in E Minor Op. 64 by Felix Mendelssohn Under the Double Eagle by Josef Franz Wagner Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov
9	Cemetery	Iron Maiden MK III Yoshiwara Dayuu	Night of the Living Dead Crisis 4th Movement Theme of Yoshiwara Dayuu	In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg Scene from Swan Lake by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Ode to Joy by Ludwig van Beethoven William Tell Overture by Gioacchino Rossini
PCE	Special Stage	Marvelous Green Mantle Great Gourmet King Manjiri Kun Super DX Emperor Penguin	?	Meditation from Thais by Jules Massenet The Aquarium by Camille Saint-Saens
SNES	Public Bath	Tako Hyuuma	Hit the Showers! Bad Hair Day	The Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Johannes Brahms Promenade from Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky
10	Zeo's Fortress	Showering Beauty Golgotha Takobee	Theme of the Octopus Fortress	Final Attack from Gradius
SNES	Omake/Lollipop Stage	Penguin Bomb	But Wait! There's More! It's Boss BGM	Mayim Mayim (Israeli Folksong) Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov

Enemies

• Flying Moai
• Chu Chu
• Piyoko-chan and Kokekko
• Oikani-Maru
• Penguin Ducker
• Black Dolphin
• Hatch
• Bee
• Chewing Moai
• Penkichi
• Parent and Child "Zigzag"
• Pierrot
• Condom
• Bacon Bacon
• King Kanhatch
• Spin
• Carpeppe
• Pumpkin Head
• Angel Pig
• Butanishiki
• Sakura Tamakichi
• Hunger Gomeinko
• Nasga-Mama
• Orphanage Hatch
• Bata Bata
• Yoshida-kun
• Samoai
• Moai
• Captain Moai
• Crystal Bomb
• Illuminated Zub
• Chulip
• Naughty Flipper
• Gomabou
• Soap
• Bunny-Chan
• Bunny Pig
• Bunny Spawn
• Pensaemon
• Anemone Chuck
• Pon
• Wink's
• Spelman
• Julian
• Hatabo
• Gachapin
• Rinrin
• Takoman
• Windmill
• Tobikichi
• Coco/Biku/Ring/Momoko
• Taiho and Takechiyo

Port exclusive

• Ferris Seat
• Moguricap
• Lively Seaweed
• Let's Go! Furinkazan Special
• Flaming Penguin
• Bathing Pig
• Skipper
• Option Hunter

Related products

• Parodius Da! ~Shinwa kara Owarai e~ (soundtrack) - The soundtrack for this game.

Gallery

Arcade

X68000

Famicom

NES

Game Boy (JP)

Game Boy (EU)

PC Engine

Super Famicom

SNES

Key art

Videos

Japanese TV Commercials 1732 Parodius Da! - Shinwa Kara Owarai He パロディウスだ！ −神話からお笑いへ−

Parodius Da!
(Super Famicom commercial)

Parodius Da! NES Famicom Commercial

Parodius Da!
(Famicom commercial)

Trivia

• The flying umbrella creatures towards the end of Stage 9 are known as Karakasa. They are a spirit in Japanese folklore.
• The title 'From Myth To Laughter (Shinwa kara Owarai e)' is a follow-on parody of the subtitle of Gradius III, which was 'From Legend To Myth (Densetsu Kara Shinwa e)'. This joke reference to the other game is made worse by the fact that Pentarō uses one of that game's configurations, rather than a personal weapons set.
• The destructible candies that permeate the third level may be a tribute to the "Mechanical Cells" of the fourth level of the original R-Type.
• The boss of the second level is a Bald Eagle which wears an American-themed top hat and bow tie. This boss is often cited as the reason the Parodius games were never released in America.
• The game's final boss, a giant octopus, bears an intended resemblance to the final boss of the first Gradius game, a disembodied Brain suspended in a similar manner to the octopus, but with beams of energy rather than tentacles.
• In stage 7 of Parodius Da! Arcade/Standard version, the boss Golem appears as a decoration in the Arcade version, trapped in frozen ice. But in the Game Boy version, it's a boss.
• If you wait in the final boss room for 30 seconds or more, he automatically kills himself. This is a reference to Gradius II's Final Boss.
• In the episode 20 "The Game Center Monster" of Mysterious Nile Girl Thutmose, a boy can be seen playing the arcade version of Parodius Da! in an amusement arcade.