| paleface [sys=PCCD; cat=Shooter_Vert; reg=JPN] |
| | | Download added: amusement.jpg (35691 bytes)
"Buzzed by red balls over bubble castles."
Hudson does to its own "Soldier" shooter series what Konami did to its "Gradius" (see entry 103, entry 104, entry 105) series with its cutified "Parodius" series (see entry 101, entry 134, entry 248): take serious shooters and make them completely silly and much more fun than the originals!
And Star Parodia shows every sign of one-upping the Soldier games in just that way--Parodia is faster, smoother, bigger and brighter than the Soldier games I've seen thus far (which is not too far). The bosses are massive and creative, you can play as a ship, Bomberman, or a flying PC Engine, bullets and enemies fly fast and thick, levels seem to have a neverending wonderland variety, and the sound is delightful.
I'm thinking that more companies need to get in to this parody thing. |
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| paleface 04:39:01 04/15/04 [title updated] |
| | | I'm going to call this "Star Parodier"--that seems to be the intent of the katakana, and makes more sense (Parodier:Soldier::Parodius:Gradius).
I've seen all the Hudson "Soldier" PCE games now, and Parodier is indeed bigger and brighter, but possibly not faster. It gets plenty hard though, especially if you croak it right before a boss. Plus, in later levels, if you die at the boss you have to restart the whole level--ow! And there are mid-bosses to deal with as well. Bosses tend to fire out very fast, large tracking projectiles. On the plus side, some are highly creative and unique, and all are big, fat and jolly.
Like the games in the Soldier series, Parodier also has 2 and 5-minute scoring modes. In addition, Perodier features a slew of user-friendly interface choices, like being able to change your character when you continue (of course, real men don't continue, right?) or being able to toggle auto-fire, or something like that. |
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