Parodius - SNES - DE

Konami's Gradius and space shooter parody series continues with this second instalment. The gameplay resembles the Gradius series, as the player controls a ship that can move anywhere on the screen while the screen itself scrolls from left to right. Enemies appear in waves, and once all fighters in a wave are destroyed, power-ups are unlocked, allowing the player to choose the ship's upgrade. The upgrade bar is also borrowed from Gradius, but each character has different names and functions for their upgrades. In Gokujō Parodius!, the player can now choose from eleven different characters, many of which appear in other Konami games. These include Vic Viper, a ship from Gradius; Takosuke, the "octopus" from the previous Parodius game, who also appears in at least one Goemon; Twinbee from the Twinbee side-scrolling games; Pentaro, the original "funny character" who appeared as a flying penguin in an earlier Gradius title and also starred in his own game, Konami's Penguin Adventure; Dracula, the star of Konami's Kid Dracula, and others. In addition to these protagonists, the levels themselves are full of Konami references, vibrant colours, and humorous design elements. For example, it's not unusual to fly a ship under a woman's legs, be chased by a giant walrus, have enemies who shoot sweet pink hearts at the protagonist, and so on.