Collection essentials #301 & 302: Gokujou Parodius Da! Deluxe Pack (Saturn) and Parodius (Saturn)

This is two different releases of the same game, one obviously being the original Japanese release, and the other being the European release. This deluxe pack never came out in America, despite rumors back in the day that it would. The European version oddly doesn’t make it very clear that this is a multi-game compilation, which is especially puzzling since one of the games in the collection had already come out in Europe on other consoles with the same simple title of “Parodius”, and you’d think they’d want gamers to know that this release contains an additional game that makes this new package well worth their money.

I want to take a second to talk about this PAL (European/Australian) Sega Saturn packaging. You might see in the photo that it looks kind of like a DVD case, but it’s not quite the same. It’s taller and not as wide. Now, there were a few different varieties of packaging that PAL games came in that were slightly different from what you see in the photo, but from my experience this was the most common form. And it gets my vote for “worst video game packaging of all-time”. These cases are basically two rectangles of plastic held together in the middle by a flimsy, cheap sheet of cardboard (attached with glue) upon which the game’s box art is painted. It feels so fragile and lousy. And on top of that, the inside of the case doesn’t have any kind of a clip to hold the instruction manual down, and the CD holder doesn’t securely hold the CD in place, so you have to be careful that the booklet and the CD don’t just fall out when the package is opened. What the heck were they thinking? Being almost 30 years old now, too, the glue for this particular case has failed, so the cardboard box art has detached. That’s not too big a deal though, since I have a protective plastic case to keep it all in so it stays together.

I had previously talked a bit about a couple Parodius titles on SNES, but Saturn is where I’ve spent most of my time with the series, so this post (as well as a couple in the future) is going to be more in-depth. 

This compilation contains two games, the second and third games in the Parodius series. Many mistakenly believe that these are the first two, because the original game released for MSX computers often gets overlooked. The second game, Parodius Da! (or just “Parodius” in Europe), is just okay at best in my opinion. But the third game, Gokujou Parodius (called “Fantastic Journey” in Europe) is one of my all-time favorite video games, period.

Parodius is a spinoff of Konami’s popular shoot ‘em up series, Gradius, with the name being a combination of that series’ name and the word “parody”. It features the same basic gameplay, with a unique power-up system that gives the player more choice than you’d usually get when upgrading your character during gameplay. But Parodius also creatively implements the “bell” power-up system from TwinBee, in which a bunch of bells scatter, and you can shoot them repeatedly until they change color to the type of power-up you want. Unlike in TwinBee, you don’t get permanent power-ups this way, but distinct temporary ones instead. This actually works out brilliantly, because part of the problem with Gradius is that dying and losing all your upgrades can make the game feel impossible, but with the temporary power-ups provided by the bells in Parodius, it’s easier to recover.

Many shoot ‘em ups happen in space or some other place where you might expect to see some kind of aircraft. But Parodius, being silly and cartoony, features flying characters that aren’t necessarily ships, and you never know what kind of environment they’re gonna be flying into next. The first level of Gokujou sees you in a giant arcade “crane game”, and the boss is a giant panda ballerina with a quacking duck’s head sticking out of the top of it. Other levels include the ocean, the moon with a horde of rabbits (Japanese tradition states that the face of the moon resembles a rabbit) and a nightclub. The game’s soundtrack is a whimsical arrangement of popular public domain music and tunes from other Konami games that are delightfully remixed. For example, the nightclub stage’s theme takes Symphony No. 9 by Antonín Dvořák and gives it a thumping beat to suit the environment, and it’s just glorious. One tune from the game is a medley that includes bits of music from “Yankee Doodle”, “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and “London Bridges”, which is so delightfully random.

As I said, I don’t think Parodius Da! is all that great. Some parts of the game are a little too frustrating and not especially well-designed in my opinion. And some parts of the game are clearly lifted almost straight from Gradius, which isn’t necessarily bad, but Gokujou is much more of its own thing and feels more fresh because of it.

With Gokujou Parodius they made it such an amusing and silly adventure and they maybe could have tried to sell the game that way without trying real hard, but they really made it an incredibly fun game to play. And there are eight different playable characters all with their own unique power-ups, which adds a great deal of variety and makes the game much more replayable. And this home port adds a variety of difficulty options to add even more incentive to replay the game and challenge yourself by making it harder. This version is for the most part very faithful to the arcade original, though there is a bit of slowdown in one area of a certain level in particular, which doesn’t bother me too much.

Why do I have two different releases of the same game? Because they’re different! The biggest gameplay difference is that you get unlimited continues in the Japanese version. And one thing that’s kind of awkward for the PAL release is that not only are your continues limited, but you get fewer of them the higher you turn up the difficulty, so the game will be harder AND you won’t be able to continue as much. A bit of an odd choice. The Japanese version features bald eagle enemies wearing a hat with an American stars-and-stripes pattern, but for Europe they made the eagles green and changed the pattern so they’re not so American. On the other hand, the European version has English text which is sometimes welcome. For example, one temporary power-up gives your character a microphone with which they shout out giant words that are deadly to the touch for enemies and nullifies their bullets. These words are Japanese for the original Japanese version, but in Europe they were replaced with fun English phrases such as “SHAVING IS BORING!” and “NOTED, THANKS”. 

This deluxe pack was one of my early Saturn purchases. An internet friend of mine told me about the series in early 2005 and recommended this release, so I got the Japanese version in March of that year. Later on I found out about the European version, so I wound up buying that one and selling my original Japanese copy. And then many years later I decided I ought to have both of them, so I bought the Japanese version in adulthood. So what you see above is the PAL version I’ve had since my teen years, and a Japanese copy I bought as an adult.

I could probably play Gokujou Parodius every week for the rest of my life and enjoy it every time. It’s incredibly fun, whimsical, and as challenging as you want it to be. Parodius Da! may not be quite up to the same heights, but I just think of it as a bonus on this disc. This is a true quintessential essential, one of my absolute favorites, a must-play for fans of old-school shoot ‘em ups. There’s sadly no modern re-release of these games I can refer you to, but find a way to play Gokujou anyway, it’s one of the best arcade gaming experiences there is.