Manual Stimulation (Parodius Da!, PC Engine)

Before we begin to prattle on about this PC Engine game's instruction manual, let's take a second to bow our heads in honor of the fact that the world's unlikely to get another game in Konami's wacky Parodius series.

That's a shame because all of the Parodius games Konami made and released between 1988's Parodius: Tako wa Chikyū o Sukū for MSX and 1996's Sexy Parodius for the original PlayStation (and arcades)--we'll just ignore all of those pachinko games the company put out over the last decade--were more than worth the price of admission.



This 1992 release may be my favorite of them all. Granted, the PC Engine port of Parodius Da! is missing a few of the arcade original's stages, but its chaotic omake bonus level makes up for it.

Its fabulous manual eases some of the disappointment associated with this semi-downgraded port, too.



Don't take that to mean it's all that and a bag of chips. It doesn't sport nearly as many adorable illustrations as the Famicom version's booklet. And it doesn't kick off with a multi-page comic strip like the Super Famicom release's manual. Still, it's cute and colorful enough that most folks should enjoy flipping through it now and then.





The "story" spread above helps prove that point, I think. Hell, so does the regrettably tiny depiction of Takosuke (the series' iconic octopus character) hoisting and shooting a machine gun.





The illustrations on the following pages, which show off and explain the game's power-up items and abilities, are interesting in that they're in a style that's quite different from the rest of the art that appears in the Parodius Da! instruction manual.



That's not a bad thing, mind you. Still, I can't help but wish they were sillier or livelier--like the ones included in the Famicom booklet I linked to earlier.



Somewhat strangely, the designers who created the Parodius Da! manual devoted two whole pages to explanations of the game's bell power-ups. I suggest that's strange because these explanations presumably took the place of artistic representations of its enemies and bosses.



Oh, well you can't have everything, right? And at least we're treated to one last top-notch illustration before the booklet wraps up with some pithy stage descriptions.



Want to see how the Parodius Da! PC Engine case and HuCard stack up to its manual? Check out my latest "Nice Package!" post, which features photos of of both--as well as some additional commentary on the game itself.

See also: previous 'Manual Stimulation' posts about Rainbow Islands, Pop'n Magic and PC Genjin

Nice Package! (Parodius Da!, PC Engine)

Before I became aware of games like Konami's Parodius Da!, I wasn't all that interested in the shoot 'em up (or shmup) genre.

Sure, early examples like Galaga and Gradius and even R-Type were well crafted and provided a certain thrill, but their deep-space, sci-fi settings left me kind of cold.



The second I laid eyes on titles like Parodius Da! and Detana!! TwinBee, though, I knew those chills--the bad sort, at least--were a thing of the past.

Although TwinBee and other, similar, games like Cotton, Hana Taaka Daka!?, PC Denjin and Twinkle Star Sprites, give me the warm fuzzies, none of them do so as strongly as the game that basically defines the entire cute 'em up genre.

Naturally I'm talking about Parodius Da!

What's so great about it? For starters, there are the visuals. Calling them "candy coated" or "kaleidoscopic" or anything of the sort doesn't quite do them justice, in my opinion.



So what does do them justice? How about "so crazy and colorful they'd make the Ringling Bros. proud."

OK, that's maybe a bit over the top, but if it conjures up thoughts of flying penguins, bathing octopuses, sunglasses-wearing moai statues and other circus-esque entities, well, it's done its job.

There's a lot more to Parodius Da! than its graphics, though. Nearly as important to its stature as a top-shelf cute 'em up is its wacky soundtrack, the bulk of which consists of remixes of classical music.

The cherry on top: this entry, like pretty much all of the Parodius series' entries, hits the gameplay sweet spot in that it's equal parts fun and challenging.



And then, of course, there's this title's packaging. I wouldn't say the cover art produced for the PC Engine port is as stellar as the imagery created for the Super Famicom one, but it's still far better than OK.

Its HuCard label and manual innards are similarly sensational--as evidenced by the snapshots above--while the back of its case is just so-so. Oh, well, you can't always have it all, right?

See also: 'Nice Package!' posts about Pac-Land, KiKi KaiKai and Hana Taaka Daka!?

Manual Stimulation: Yume Penguin Monogatari (Famicom)

If you geek out over instruction manuals like I do, you may want to start collecting Famicom games.

Yes, some of the earliest examples of manuals made for this system's titles are more than a bit barebones in nature (see: Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros.), but later ones can be quite fabulous.

Case in point: the manual produced for Konami's Yume Penguin Monogatari, which I previously discussed in this post.



All you need to do is check out the back page of Yume Penguin Monogatari's instruction manual to know it's top-shelf stuff. (By the way, I'd highly recommend clicking on each of the scans that can be found throughout this post, as that'll allow you to take a much better, and closer, look at their brilliance.)



The next few pages are pretty great, too--with the ones below providing readers with their first look at this game's main characters as well as their first taste of its rather head-scratching story.





Don't quote me on this, but I believe the illustration above is supposed to show Yume Penguin Monogatari's protagonist, Penta, struggling to balance his love of food with the love he feels for his ex-girlfriend.



The illustrations on the left-hand page above, on the other hand, show what happens to Penta if he's hit by one of the game's enemies or ingests any of the food said baddies toss at him. (Conversely, "diet drinks" found within each stage enable him to lose weight.)





Penta's moves actually differ depending on how big or small he is at any given time, by the way--with the projectile "po" attack (all the way to the left) being the most desirable, of course.

It's like the sexy, wacky Out Run spin-off I've always wanted but never got to play

What do you think of when you look at the digital collage below?

When I first saw it, I thought of an only-in-my-dreams Out Run spin-off that features a wacky splash of Parodius. I'm not sure how such an idea would work as an actual game, mind you, but I'm sure it would be amazing if handed to the right developers.

Anyway, enough about me and my odd ideas. Instead, let's delve deeper into the aforementioned collage, which was produced by Atlanta-based artist Ashley Anderson.

It's one of three pieces that were commissioned by the owner of a local pizza joint, by the way. Although the commission fell through, Anderson completed the series anyway.



The one above is the series' first and is titled, "Memory Beach, Part 1." According to Anderson, it's about "an octopus who drives to the beach to forget about his ex-girlfriend, who has cheated on and/or left him."

Anderson doesn't say on his blog where he found each of the sprites that appear in this piece, but he does say that the "Japanese pornographic mahjongg video game industry" is responsible for the girl and the lipstick. (He also says he learned to operate a Famicom emulator while working on the "Memory Beach" series, so I'm guessing a number of the sprites were pulled from Famicom titles.)

For more behind-the-scenes info on how Anderson produced "Memory Beach, Part 1," check out this blog post. To order 7-3/4-inch-by-7-3/4-inch prints of it, check out Anderson's etsy shop.

See also: Other posts about Ashley Anderson and his art

Cool custom consoles

You know, I've always thought my bog-standard Dreamcast, GameBoy Advance SP and PlayStation systems were pretty slick ... and then I came across the custom-painted consoles seen below.

This Parodius-branded PlayStation may be my favorite of the bunch:

That said, this Samba de Amigo-inspired Dreamcast is awesome, too:

And then there's this slick, Scott Pilgrim-themed GameBoy Advance SP:

All of these were created by French artist Oskunk, by the way. To see more (many more!) of his creations, check out his blog, custom-art.blogspot.com, and/or his Flickr photostream.

(Via doyoulovepuppiesido.blogspot.com and tinycartridge.com)

Let's Play: 'Which Box Art is Better?' (Otomedius Excellent edition)

I've long been a fan of Konami's Gradius and Parodius series, so of course I've long been intrigued by the company's Otomedius games, which share a number of attributes with their similarly side-scrolling and space-based predecessors, too.

Given Konami's reluctance to release its Parodius games in countries that aren't named Japan, however, hoping for a stateside release of its Otomedius titles seemed like a waste of both time and energy. As such, I was shocked when the company announced that it would be bringing the second Otomedius game to the US.

Anyway, here's the art that will grace the cover of the US version of the game, which will hit store shelves on July 19 (pre-order the regular edition here and the collector's edition here):

And here's the box art of the Japanese version, which was released earlier this year:

As for which one I prefer: If I were straight, I'd likely choose the US art as my favorite thanks to the close-up of the game's busty protagonist, but since I'm not I'm going to go with the Japanese cover thanks to its better use of color, its less-cluttered design and its superior (and sparkly!) logo.

That said, both pieces of art deserve props for featuring GwinBee, TwinBee and WinBee.

Anyway, that's my rather pointless opinion on the matter. Which piece of Otomedius box art do you prefer?

Tee hee

While searching for a Parodius screenshot last night (for my PC Engine blog), I came across the following TV commercial (for the 1992 Famicom port of Parodius Da!).



It made me giggle, so I thought I'd share it here.

By the way, according to the always reliable commenters on YouTube, the gist of the commercial is that Octopus, Pentarou, Twinbee and Vic Viper race into their local game shop looking for a copy of Parodius Da! only to be told by the sales clerk that it's already sold out.

Well, I'll be ...

I've been a fan of the Konami cute 'em up Parodius Da! for many years, but until a few minutes ago I didn't know that the game's omake (bonus) stage features a trio of secret bosses--all of which can be seen in the following video:



Of course, my lack of knowledge in this area likely stems from the fact that I absolutely suck at said omake stage.

See also: '10 video games that made my life gayer (#4): Parodius'

10 video games that made my life gayer (#4): Parodius

I know what you're thinking: Wait, I thought he wasn't writing about games that literally made him gayer?

Although I can understand why you might feel that way, the truth of the matter is that I'm still writing about games that, at one point or another, made my life happier and merrier. (Yes, merrier.)

In the case of Parodius (aka Parodius Da!), well, it made my young life gayer (happier) in a few ways. For starters, it was the first game I imported from Japan (back when you had to do it the hard way--by calling someone on the phone and then giving the person on the other end of the line your dad's credit card number). Second, and more importantly, it was the first shoot 'em up I really savored.

Sure, I'd played--and rather enjoyed--Gradius and R-Type and other well-regarded representatives of the genre, but they always felt a bit too serious and sterile. Parodius, on the other hand, slathered itself in silliness and absurdity.

Anyway, the game had me hook, line and sinker from the second I hit the power button on my trusty TurboGrafx-16 thanks to its silliness as well as its strange intro (see screenshot at right), insane(ly sweet) graphics and incredible tunes. Oh, and it didn't hurt that it was addictive and enjoyable and offered just the right amount challenge, too.

All that said, I wouldn't suggest picking this one up if you're a Parodius virgin, as each of its successors--especially Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius (available for the Super Famicom, Saturn, PlayStation and PSP) and Sexy Parodius (available for the Saturn, PlayStation and PSP)--best it in practically every area.

See also: all of the previous '10 video games that made my life gayer' posts