Parodius Super Nintendo

Parodius Da!, or simply Parodius, is a side-scrolling shoot 'em up from Konami that plays similarly to their Gradius series. Its full Japanese title is Parodius Da! Shinwa kara Owarai e, or "It's Parodius! From Myth to Laughter".

Following the popularity of their own Gradius franchise, Konami took the basic concepts from those games, but added a healthy dose of weird to the characters, environments, and enemies. Parodius is a side-scrolling shoot 'em up at its heart. Players use their ships to blast wave after wave of enemies, collecting powerups that range from shields to missiles to, in the case of Parodius, heat-seaking octopuses.

A lot of characters in the game come from various Konami franchises, as well as popular characters in Japanese culture and history. It is a very deliberate send-up of Gradius - with menu options including "One Player", "Two Player", and "Lollipop". But despite its zany tone, it is very much a fully-fledged game in its own right.

This game is actually the second Parodius in the series: the first was exclusive to the Japanese home computer MSX and was named Parodius: Tako wa Chikyuu o Sukuu ("Parodius: The Octopus Saves the Earth").