I tried SFC Parodius a bit ago and despised it right out the gate, but this sequel turned out to be way better. In saying that, I still have reservations about the mechanical structure of these games. I like the huge cast of characters, enormous stages filled to the brim with pop culture and Konami references, and the adjustments to lives/respawns/ranking makes this infinitely more approachable than any Gradius before it without sacrificing the brutal challenge of the series. Really, the whole package here is obscenely high-budget, can you name ANY cartridge shmup from its time that has 8 characters, fully voice-acted commentary and battery backups for high scores??
Now what I really don't like about Parodius are bosses and enemy arrangement. Bosses react to your hits with a flinch that gives them i-frames and halts their attacks, kinda like a Mega Man X game. The plus side is bosses die about as fast whether or not you have powerups. The negative side is there's zero satisfaction in shooting them. I want to load massive ammo into these huge hitboxes, and when the boss has no damage reaction to 97.5% of my shots, I feel so out of it and bored. It's lame.
Enemies are my bigger pet peeve honestly. So like, Gradius enemies tend to be divided into (A) flying waves, (B) stage hazards, and (C) surface-to-air enemies. The latter of the three are those annoying-ass walker enemies that snipe you diagonally. Parodius feels like it's almost entirely surface-to-air enemies - which is inevitable, the enemy forces are these penguin guys that fight ground-bound with spitfire or whatever kooky contraptions they muster up. There's only so many flying enemy types you can make without shooting ideas out your ass. But on playability it means you're ill-equipped and vulnerable any time you don't have drop shots, and the rest of your fire's just doing jack shit. And it's not cool! I like Gradius because I power myself up and launch a giant torrent of bullets against impossible swarms, it's not fun to expend that weaponry on ceiling small fry and whatnot. It's like playing a Mario game full of nothing but Boo or Hammer Bros - you need fodder, fat to chew!
Maybe these complaints are just a unique issue to Jikkyou. I intend to play Gokujou and Sexy soon, I'll find out myself then.
Now what I really don't like about Parodius are bosses and enemy arrangement. Bosses react to your hits with a flinch that gives them i-frames and halts their attacks, kinda like a Mega Man X game. The plus side is bosses die about as fast whether or not you have powerups. The negative side is there's zero satisfaction in shooting them. I want to load massive ammo into these huge hitboxes, and when the boss has no damage reaction to 97.5% of my shots, I feel so out of it and bored. It's lame.
Enemies are my bigger pet peeve honestly. So like, Gradius enemies tend to be divided into (A) flying waves, (B) stage hazards, and (C) surface-to-air enemies. The latter of the three are those annoying-ass walker enemies that snipe you diagonally. Parodius feels like it's almost entirely surface-to-air enemies - which is inevitable, the enemy forces are these penguin guys that fight ground-bound with spitfire or whatever kooky contraptions they muster up. There's only so many flying enemy types you can make without shooting ideas out your ass. But on playability it means you're ill-equipped and vulnerable any time you don't have drop shots, and the rest of your fire's just doing jack shit. And it's not cool! I like Gradius because I power myself up and launch a giant torrent of bullets against impossible swarms, it's not fun to expend that weaponry on ceiling small fry and whatnot. It's like playing a Mario game full of nothing but Boo or Hammer Bros - you need fodder, fat to chew!
Maybe these complaints are just a unique issue to Jikkyou. I intend to play Gokujou and Sexy soon, I'll find out myself then.