Parodius: The Octopus Saves the Earth

Parodius: The Octopus Saves the Earth (パロディウス ～タコは地球を救う～, Parodiusu: Tako wa Chikyū o Sukū), or referred to as just Parodius, is a scrolling shooter video game developed by Konami for the MSX computer and was released in Japan. The game is notable for being the first title in the Parodius series, although it is often confused with its sequel Parodius! From Myth to Laughter. The name itself is a portmanteau of "Gradius" and "Parody" and, eponymously, the game is a parody of the Gradius series of space-based horizontally scrolling shooters. Many of the characters and enemies are derived from that famous shooter series, while other elements are extracted from other Konami titles, such as Antarctic Adventure and TwinBee. This game is of particular note in the series as being heavily infused with Japanese culture and folklore.

Parodius: The Octopus Saves the Earth
Developer(s)Konami (MSX)
D4 Enterprise (PC)
Publisher(s)Konami
Composer(s)Kinuyo Yamashita
SeriesParodius
Platform(s)MSX, Mobile Phones, Virtual Console
ReleaseMSX
  • JP: April 28, 1988
Mobile Phones
i-mode
  • JP: December 1, 2006
S Appli!
  • JP: May 1, 2007
Virtual Console
Wii
  • JP: January 12, 2010
Wii U
  • JP: December 25, 2013
PC
Genre(s)Horizontal scrolling shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer (alternating)

Gameplay

The gameplay is very similar to the Gradius games, with other aspects from games such as TwinBee. However, the characters are replaced with silly characters taken from either these or other Konami games as well as Japanese culture. The music is mostly taken from classical music pieces.

The player can play as either Takosuke, an octopus, the Penguin (father of Pentarou) from Antarctic Adventure and the exclusive MSX game Penguin Adventure, Goemon from the Ganbare Goemon series, the Popolon knight from the MSX game Knightmare or the Vic Viper spaceship from Gradius. The game is composed of six stages consisting of various obstacles and enemies such as penguins and bees, as well as more traditional Gradius enemies such as moai. As with Gradius, the game utilizes a similar selection-bar based power-up system.

Reception

Parodius was awarded Best Game that Never Came out in the U.S. of 1992 by Electronic Gaming Monthly.[2]

Ports

Parodius was later included in Konami Antiques MSX Collection Vol.3 for PlayStation, Konami Antiques MSX Collection Ultra Pack for Sega Saturn and Parodius Portable for PlayStation Portable with enhanced graphics.

In addition, it was released for mobile phones in December 2006 and for Wii Virtual Console on January 12, 2010 and Wii U on December 25, 2013 in Japan. Also, the MSX version was re-released for Windows PC on Online Store Project EGG on April 11, 2014 in Japan.

Music
Main article: Parodius music

In addition, disc 8 of Legend of Game Music ~Premium Box~, which was released on March 24, 2005, is devoted to MSX Parodius.

References
  1. "パロディウス (PC)". Konami. Archived from the original on 2015-05-07. Retrieved 2015-01-26.
  2. "Electronic Gaming Monthly's Buyer's Guide". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. . 1993.
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