Parodius Da! is a crazy parody of Konami's own work and one of the most entertaining shoot-'em-ups ever made; its conversion to the Sharp X68000 was one of the titles that gave the computer a privileged status among genre fans. Instead of the Vic Viper fighter, you can choose a flying penguin, an octopus, a butterfly fairy or a miniature version of the ship from Gradius, and use it to fight your way through a world where the bosses are dancing choirs, giant cats, or Japanese cultural icons transformed into hostile machines. Yet the game system remains surprisingly serious: the upgrade gauge works exactly as in Gradius, only the set of bonuses differs depending on the chosen character, and the difficulty, despite the comedic facade, is fully legitimate.
Humor is the game's main asset and shows up in everything, from the music to the enemy designs. The soundtrack takes classic pieces of classical music and folk melodies and reworks them into an exuberant chiptune form, which the X68000's FM synthesis delivers with infectious energy. Visually it's an explosion of color, alternating between a carnival setting, sweet candy backdrops and an underwater world, and the computer handles the large number of moving objects without noticeable trouble. It's precisely this combination of high color count and smoothness that makes this version such a convincing home rendition of the arcade original.
At the time, Parodius Da! was something Japanese players bought as a counterbalance to series taken deadly seriously, and the series went on to spawn several sequels across platforms. Its influence on the genre lies in showing that you can preserve the mechanical depth of a classic shooter while laughing at yourself; without it, many of the comedic shooters of the nineties likely wouldn't exist. Today the game still works wonderfully, because its humor hasn't aged and its gameplay is as solid as its serious counterparts. Anyone looking for proof that Japanese shooters can be both cute and tough at the same time will find it here.
Game 8 of 25 for Sharp X68000
