I LOVE Parodius a LOT. It's one of the first games I ever imported for my SNES after seeing Let's Plays of it like 9 years ago. When I went to Japan back in 2013 I was so excited to have found the Parodius Portable collection on PSP so I'd have all of them in one place (mind you the Arcade versions and not the SFC/Saturn versions I'm more familiar with)! But it took me until now (in traditional me-fashion XD ) to finally get around to messing around with that version. I took an hour and played through Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius this morning, which apparently has a subtitle for ports not the SFC version :P .
It's still same old Parodius (parody of Gradius) in all its glory and then some. It's a damn solid shooting game that's like Gradius but with a more fun theme and a more fair difficulty/design. I still think this is an awesome game just like I used to, so this review will focus mostly around differences I noticed between this "original" of sorts and the SFC port I'm more familiar with. First of all, something I also noticed in the arcade version of Gokujou Parodius on this collection, that the song in the first stage is totally different. Past that you obviously have better music quality, but also some just brand new/changed content. There's a decent portion of just general visual improvements/flair added compared to the SFC version, as to be expected, as well as some minor graphical changes to certain bosses. Some bosses also have attacks they didn't have previously (like the giant girl at the end of stage 2 having a large bullet after-effect to her hair-flip attack). As well as the boss-rush in stage-7 no longer being an assortment of random bosses, but it's a series of bosses with almost identical attack patterns based off of the game Shinme! Taisen Pazurudama (some Konami puzzle game I'd never heard of), where previously there was just one boss in the SFC version based on it (who is in this version, but he's a totally different boss fight) as the boss of level 6. The last big change is that the boss actually at the end of stage 6 is the third in the kitty-cat vehicle bosses from the previous two games (pirate ship and then submarine) as Kitty Cat Subway Train! He's a tough cookie too! Xp Edit: I nearly forgot the mention! The Lethal Enforcers level that proceeds the Kitty Cat Subway Train actually has the two Lethal Enforcers' guns shooting at you while you fly though it! It makes a hard level WAY harder, I'll tell ya that much for free XD It's pretty nice emulation, but some weird slowdown is still present when the screen gets really crazy. It's really accelerated slowdown as well. You'll be doing fine and then BOOM super slow and then BOOM back up to normal speed. It makes the game harder if anything though XP Verdict: Highly Recommended. If you love Parodius and don't mind using a PSP, this is a great way to have the original 5 game's original versions all in one portable package~. It's not the PSN store in any region, though, so a physical UMD is unfortunately the only way to go. It's be really awesome if Paro Wars was in here too to round out the whole series, but you can't have everything I suppose :P
0 Comments
I bought this game entirely because Elkin's review of the Barack Fu DLC for it had me in stitches. I was very disappointed to find that apparently the Barack Fu DLC isn't actually on the American PSN store yet, apparently? Regardless, I played through Shaq Fu and had a pretty good time. I played through on normal difficulty and it took me like 2 or 2.5 hours (this game ain't long).
The game is a 2.5D brawler, and it's an okay to not-so-great one. The hit detection can be a bit funky, as you can walk around in a 3D space but can only attack left and right, not up and down, but that wonky detection tends to be in your advantage and not the enemy's, so it's not a problem. The combos are pretty simple but satifsying, and the game is short enough that they never get tedious or anything. The greatest sin I can say against the mechanics is that they just really aren't good enough to allow the hard mode to be playable. Enemies hit like twice as hard in the hard mode, and some enemy types like ninjas are just an absolute nightmare to fight with how agile they are compared to you. The hard mode is a total waste of time. The game also has absolutely no multiplayer of any kind, which is insanely stupid for a beat 'em up released in 2018, quite frankly. I'd go as far as to call it downright inexcusable considering the $30 price tag the game goes for physically (or $40 if you're getting it on Switch). Given that it's a 2 hour game with very little replayability and not even multiplayer, I'd say the asking price on this thing is even a bit much for the default $20 digital price tag. Where the game really shines is the writing though. It's very unabashadly silly and tongue-in-cheek writing. It has some low-points in the comedy that'll really make you cringe, but the highs far outweighed the lows for me. The music is also really fun 90's rap in a catchy but bad way and the theme song is just such stupid fun in that same vein XD . I gotta agree that I'm pretty damn tempted to pick up some of the soundtrack because it's just that damn catchy. The graphics are colorful, but nothing amazing. Very serviceable. Verdict: Recommended. The writing is silly enough and the gameplay is just-okay enough that this is a game that I enjoyed my time with. Lack of multiplayer aside, the biggest downside to it as it is is the price tag. If you can get this for $10 or $15, this is definitely one to pick up to have a laugh with over an afternoon. |
Categories
All
AuthorI'm an avid gamer who likes to detail their thoughts about what they play in the hopes it might aid someone else's search for a game to play. Archives
April 2024
|