A Parodius Story

I have been playing one of my favourite Super Nintendo games today.

And there's a reason why.

Do you remember back on Boxing Day 2022 when I wrote about it being thirty years to the day since my friends and I went on a pilgrimage - of sorts - to an out of town Comet store to each buy a copy of Super Mario Kart for Nintendo's famous games system?

Well, I have a sequel to that post. Kind of.

You see, a year after that, the same group of us went back into Cardiff city centre to once again spend our Christmas money on Nintendo games.

Unlike the previous year, our visit took place on a day when every shop was open. I don't know the exact date. But, it would have been sometime between December 27th and New Year's Eve.

I don't even recall which shop it was out of WH Smith's or John Menzies. I'd bet on it being the latter, but I don't know for sure. 

Anyway, my friends and I looked over all the titles on the shelves and I found the one I wanted.

It was Parodius. A game which was a parody of the famous Gradius shoot 'em up. It belongs in a genre named 'cute 'em up' because it is - I guess - more cuter than a regular shoot em up.

You can see below just why the game is regarded as 'cute'. Even the baddies look harmless (but they aren't!).

I first came across the game inside Mean Machine magazine a little over a year before I decided to buy on that December '93 day.

It received a good review in the magazine picking up an overall score of 93%.

When I bought a Miyoo Mini earlier this year, one of the first things I did when browsing the Super NES titles was to check whether Parodies was on there.

I'm happy to report it is on the handheld device.

And that is what I had been playing the game on as this morning turned into the early afternoon.

It has been fun to be reacquainted with this brilliant game. But, before I finish off this post, I must return to 1993 to tell you WHY I fondly remember the moment I purchased Parodius.

I took the game box up to the counter to buy it. The label said it was either £39.99 or £44.99 (I cannot remember which!). Whichever one it was, I was willing to spend my Christmas money on it.

The lady behind the counter scanned the box and it popped £19.99 on the till. 

After a 'Hmmm', to work out why there was a contrast between the till and the label on the box, she called over her manager.

The manager re-scanned the box. £19.99 again. He then turned to his colleague and told her:

If it says it's £19.99, charge him £19.99

BARGAIN!