Sexy Parodius

Sexy Parodius

Sexy Parodius is a scrolling shooter arcade game. It is the fifth game in the Parodius Series series produced by Konami. Like the rest of the series, it is a parody of the Gradius Series and other Konami games, It is also the final Parodius game in the shoot 'em up genre, as the next Parodius-related game, Paro Wars, is a strategy game like Cosmic Wars.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Sexy Parodius is similar to the Gradius series and the Parodius games before it, but with a new catch. Instead of just playing through each level and destroying enemies while avoiding getting hit, the player must also complete a special mission for each stage as well. Some of these missions range from collecting a certain amount of coins in a stage to destroying a certain object or enemies. Depending whether or not the player completes the mission will determine whether the player what the next stage will be. Unlike the past versions, home ports of the game (exception of the PSP version) has cooperative multiplayer intact (where both players play simultaneously). It's also improved in that the game continues to play even when one player is choosing a character upon continuing.

In a 2-player game, when certain characters are near enough, a third-shot appears between them which can be purple shots that swirl all-over the screen, hearts that home in on enemies, or rockets that shoot straight ahead. This feature was first seen on Konami's arcade game Trigon (a.k.a Lightning Fighters).

Plot

Sexy Parodius has a plot, but is not well-touched upon. The story is that Takosuke has opened-up an agency of some sort that helps clients with problems and has hired Pentarou as his secretary. He has also recruited "workers" (the playable characters, who have gone their seperate ways) that will solve the problems of each client.

Playable Characters

For more information of the characters, see the Characters section of this article.

Vic Viper/Lord British (Gradius Series) - the only remaining member of the team from the original MSX Parodius.

They delivered packages via air mail.

VIC VIPER.- He has a humble life, selling Takoyaki. He cannot forget the glory of the past, and is very inquisitive. He has various ambitions, and comes to have dignity these days.

LORD BRITISH.- He seemed to get back to the leading part in Salamander 2 but was usurped by some idiot. He came to the Octopus, desperate to find a job.

Michael/Gabriel (Original) - returning as playable characters since Gokujō Parodius!. They trade their Homing Missile for a Strong Missile. Unlike most characters, they simply Power Up, which renders them immune from Option Hunters.

Hikaru/Akane (Original) - returning as playable characters after being bosses in Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius. Their Option Types can switch from Formation Option (default) to R-Option depending on the bomb currently activated. When in Formation Option, they can expand their options by holding down the Power Up button while the Option in their Power Meter is highlighted and if they have full options

Ivan/Toby (Original) - replaces Pentarou and Hanako. Their Iwatobi Shot sends a shot in an upwards arc which will explode when it comes in contact with the surface or an enemy. Bound Shot makes them shoot two additional shots (up and down) that bounce off surfaces. Unlike Pentarou and Hanako before them, their options in thier positions even if the player stops them. Ivan worked as a newspaper delivery penguin.

Mambo/Samba (Original) - also returns as a playable character. Their options are different in that for every weapon they receive, they get an option that attacks with it, rather than Mambo and Samba actually using the weapon. Some of their weapons resemble ones from the R-Type series, like how the Control Laser acts like RX Albatross' Blue Weapon from R-Type Delta and how Screw Laser looks like the R-9 Arrowhead' Red Weapon (albeit slimmer). They delivered the weather forecast for a station.

Koitsu/Aitsu (Original) - Little men flying on paper planes. Like Michael, they power up instead of gaining options. Koitsu worked with the movers, lifting furniture. Option/Multiple (Original) - Vic Viper and Lord British's options with faces (to denote emotions). They are escorted by small Vic Vipers and Lord Britishes when no power ups are activated. They can change their forms by activating various modoki abilities (which last for one stage). Activating Thunder Cross Modoki turns Option/Multiple into Blue Thunder M-45.

Shooting Star/Black Viper (Twinbee Yahho!/Original)- replaces Twinbee and Winbee. Shooting Star (with it's pilot, Ace) is a boss from Twinbee Yahoo. Black Viper has no exact origin. Once activated, hold down the shoot button to charge up and release the button to use the Wide Blast or Spark Laser. Ace was a farmer, planting rice plants in a field.

Each character gets their own announcer that announces the name of the weapon they activate.

Ports

Sexy Parodius was ported to the Sega Saturn and PlayStation in 1996 for Japan. These versions allow the Special Stage to be selected on the Title Screen after finishing the game with all conditions passed. They also come with unlimited continues (the game doesn't keep track of credits). It was also included in Parodius Portable (albeit with music from some stages replaced with other remixed classical songs) for the PSP.

Stages

-- Arcade / Sega Saturn / Playstation / PSP--

• Stage 1: Farm

Objective: Defeat Corn Chiwa

• Stage 2: Bathhouse

Objective: Collect 300 coins.

At this point the game splits up. If you fail a mission, you go to route B, success means you go to route A.

• Stage 3A: Underwater Palace

Objective: Strip 200 maidens.

• Stage 3B: Castle Dracula

Objective: Kill 100 rats.

• Stage 4A: Girl Factory

Objective: Rescue 50 showgirls from crates.

• Stage 4B: Mines

Objective: Destroy 10 targets.

• Stage 5: Sky

Objective: Collect 300 coins.

• Stage X : Boss Rush

May appear as early as after Stage 2 to as late as before Stage 6.
Objective: Accompanied with a new ally, your past enemies seek revenge on you.
Note: If you fail a stage and this comes up, and successfully defeat all the enemies, the game will consider it as a victory, and send you back on the A route.

• Stage 6: Taj Mahal

Objective: Go after Takosuke before the time runs out.
Note: Avoid dying as much as possible when playing on Manual or Semi-Auto, as the timer does not reset or pause for a while upon respawning from a checkpoint.

• Special Stage:

Unlocks when all missions are completed.
Objective: Go to space and defeat a star that has been possessed by a Hot Lips member.

Bosses

-- Arcade, Sega Saturn, Playstation --

• Stage 1 : Corn Chiwa
• Stage 2 : Toilet Penguin
• Stage 3A : Otohmia
• Stage 3B : Big Medusa
• Stage 4A : Penguin Crane
• Stage 4B : Tanuko the Tanuki
• Stage 5: Candy Core
• Boss Rush: Capsule Monster Cappuccino, Captain Penguin Nohusuki III, Eagle Sabu, Hot Lips, Yuko
• Stage 6: Gunwalls, Kaori
• Special Stage: Sexy Star

Trivia

• A bad ending can be achieved by letting the timer run out on Stage 6.
• Considering the Boss Rush as a separate stage, this game has ten stages total although only a maximum of eight stages can be played at one time.
• The Black Viper, Shooting Star's counterpart, is the only second-player character to have it's own theme song, in this case a remix of "Departure from Space" (titled "Departure for Sexy") from Gradius III.
• The intro of the music for stage 3 is "Vampire Killer" from the Akumajou Dracula / Castlevania series. The intro for Medusa's theme is "Poison of Mind", also from the same series.

Links

• FAQ from GameFAQs