The second arcade sequel to 1990's "Parodius Da!", this parody of Konami's "Gradius" series picks up where the first game left off. This time, it isn't only their own games that the Konami shoot-em-up mocks; other classics of the genre such as Irem's legendary "R-Type" - specifically the infamous mothership that forms R-Type's entire third level - are lovingly parodied.

It's Parodius, the side scrolling space shooter parody!
Instead of battling the usual spaceships and aliens, your enemies include chicks, crabs, fish, penguins, and all manner of cute and silly things.

This is mostly the parody of Gradius (Nemesis on some systems), with some flavor from other shoot-em-ups, like Twinbee. The series is available on numerous platforms.

The game is a right-to-left scrolling shoot-em-up. You can choose from 4 different flying creatures, with different weapons. You must finish 7 stages, each having a boss at the end. You may start at either one, but must complete every level to advance to the final stage.

Parodius is an Action game, developed and published by Konami, which was released in Japan in 1991.

Parodius is an Action game, developed and published by Konami, which was released in Japan in 1991.

Parodius Non-Sense Fantasy, released in Japan as Parodius Da! －Shinwa kara Owarai e, is a shoot'em up arcade game and is the second title in the Parodius series produced by Konami.

As stated above, gameplay is very similar to the Gradius series, with a few differences. Parodius retains the selectability of different weapons configurations but implements via four different characters: Vic Viper (from Gradius), Octopus, Twin Bee, and Pentarou. The second main difference is the addition of bell power-ups, from the Twinbee series. These bells act as one-time power-ups, allowing you to destroy every enemy on screen, fire huge beams of energy, etc. Enemies and environments from the Gradius games and Twinbee are mixed in along, with a host of anime-style opponents, which include scantily-clad women. All of the Gradius elements are integrated in a very light-hearted fashion. The Big Core, a regular boss within the Gradius series, is given a neon-look and is called "Viva Core".

The fifth and (to date) final entry in the goofy-but-challenging shooter series.

Takosuke is now taking on clients and hires workers (the playable characters) to solve the clients' problems and make him rich.

Each stage has an objective and whether or not that objective gets completed can change the outcome of the game.