Parodius Da!

Konami's comic answer to Gradius, born in 1990, reached the Game Boy as Parodius Da! A penguin and an octopus can pilot, and the power-ups are jokes that still rewrite the shot. Side-scrolling dodges and a weapon meter survive from the serious shooter, then every option gets dressed as a gag.

Bells push the arsenal forward the way a military game would, except the things flying in formation beside you may honk or flap. Enemy waves still punish a lazy line. The comedy lives in the sprites and the noises, not in a rule that deletes the bullets.

This official handheld edition, published by Konami, is the parody itself rather than a sober Gradius campaign in a costume. Stages scroll through punchlines built from the parent series' imagery. Dying strips the ridiculous weapons away, and that loss still hurts.

Anyone hunting a straight-faced space fighter will not find its tone here. The penguin, the octopus, and the absurd upgrades are both the cast and the kit. Konami asks for the familiar weave through fire, only everyone on screen seems to know the war is a joke.