"Base", Kev and TheFreak (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} kevservo) wrote,@ 2002-04-19 21:26:00 |
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ROM OF THE WEEK 4/19/2002
As you probably know, at Base, when we do our Roms of the Week, we like to showcase games that are offbeat or were only released in Europe or Japan, depriving us American gamers and tragically making emulation the ONLY way we can have access to these wonderful, sometimes wierd games, games that Freak and I feel that everyone has the right to at least know about. This week's RotW is no exception. And people, it doesn't get much more offbeat than this.
PARODIUS NON-SENSE FANTASY
I was first introduced to Parodius years ago at the height of Nintendo Power's popularity. It was more or less just a blurb in the back of the magazine, and according to the article, Parodius was going to be a shooter that was a parody of shooters. Sort of like the "Airplane!" for the Gradius/R-Type crowd. It was interesting, funny and above all, original.
So naturally, it was never released in the United States.
According to Freak, the story of why none of the Parodius games (the first one was released for the Famicom) never came anywhere near our shores was that it was too wierd, after Legend of the Mystical Ninja (which we hope we'll be able to get to sometime) failed to do well. Konami may have decided that us Americans just wouldn't "get it". (which was wrong. I was about 13 or 14 when that particular issue of Nintendo Power came out and I couldn't stop laughing at seeing a kitten pirate ship.)
The plot's a bit hard to describe. Your basic shoot-em-up...with a cute red, white and blue Eagle (a cute rib on Americans), naked pigs, a giant Las Vegas showgirl, Rocky Horror-esque lips, hilarious spoofs of Gradius' own Easter Island heads. But the penguins...
A lot of penguins.
A plethora of penguins.
Parodius Non-Sense Fantasy is different from yet has a lot in common with the serious Konami shooters. It's the same side-scrolling shootfest (even if it is poking fun at itself), and like most other Konami games, Parodius is FUCKING HARD. Luckily there are a lot of power-ups, as you'd expect, to help you along. The power-ups are similar, but they depend on which character you choose to play with. You can choose good old Vic Viper from Gradius, the Twinbee from the game of the same name on the Famicom, an Octopus, and yes....a Penguin. The best power-up by far is the megaphone. Not only does it act like one continous laser, but as you can see from the screenshots below, it's fucking hilarious, even for Engrish.
As you can see, this game is fucking insane. It's clear why they never gave Parodius a US release.
The Japanese hate us.
So don't just sit there, fire up your SNES emulator and download it already. :-)
Prepare to hate penguins for the rest of your life.
Parodius Non-Sense Fantasy gets 5 Fuckin' Akumas.
Kev
Got a stinkfoot?
As you probably know, at Base, when we do our Roms of the Week, we like to showcase games that are offbeat or were only released in Europe or Japan, depriving us American gamers and tragically making emulation the ONLY way we can have access to these wonderful, sometimes wierd games, games that Freak and I feel that everyone has the right to at least know about. This week's RotW is no exception. And people, it doesn't get much more offbeat than this.
PARODIUS NON-SENSE FANTASY
I was first introduced to Parodius years ago at the height of Nintendo Power's popularity. It was more or less just a blurb in the back of the magazine, and according to the article, Parodius was going to be a shooter that was a parody of shooters. Sort of like the "Airplane!" for the Gradius/R-Type crowd. It was interesting, funny and above all, original.
So naturally, it was never released in the United States.
According to Freak, the story of why none of the Parodius games (the first one was released for the Famicom) never came anywhere near our shores was that it was too wierd, after Legend of the Mystical Ninja (which we hope we'll be able to get to sometime) failed to do well. Konami may have decided that us Americans just wouldn't "get it". (which was wrong. I was about 13 or 14 when that particular issue of Nintendo Power came out and I couldn't stop laughing at seeing a kitten pirate ship.)
The plot's a bit hard to describe. Your basic shoot-em-up...with a cute red, white and blue Eagle (a cute rib on Americans), naked pigs, a giant Las Vegas showgirl, Rocky Horror-esque lips, hilarious spoofs of Gradius' own Easter Island heads. But the penguins...
A lot of penguins.
A plethora of penguins.
Parodius Non-Sense Fantasy is different from yet has a lot in common with the serious Konami shooters. It's the same side-scrolling shootfest (even if it is poking fun at itself), and like most other Konami games, Parodius is FUCKING HARD. Luckily there are a lot of power-ups, as you'd expect, to help you along. The power-ups are similar, but they depend on which character you choose to play with. You can choose good old Vic Viper from Gradius, the Twinbee from the game of the same name on the Famicom, an Octopus, and yes....a Penguin. The best power-up by far is the megaphone. Not only does it act like one continous laser, but as you can see from the screenshots below, it's fucking hilarious, even for Engrish.
As you can see, this game is fucking insane. It's clear why they never gave Parodius a US release.
The Japanese hate us.
So don't just sit there, fire up your SNES emulator and download it already. :-)
Parodius Non-Sense Fantasy gets 5 Fuckin' Akumas.
Kev
Got a stinkfoot?
