Konami's Parodius is, for many people, the quintessential 'cute 'em up' series; a colourful parody of shmup tropes that's a complete and utter joy to play.
The series made its debut in 1988 on the MSX via Parodius: The Octopus Saves the Earth, but it would be the 1990 arcade sequel Parodius! From Myth to Laughter that really established it as one of Konami's leading franchises of the decade.
This was famously ported to the SNES, and also saw conversions to the NES, Game Boy, PC Engine, X68000, Saturn and PS1. However, one platform that didn't get a port was the Genesis / Mega Drive – and that's something legendary homebrew developer Gabriel Pyron would like to see rectified.
"I'm tired of hearing that it's impossible to bring this game to the MD," he says on social media. "It's a really difficult task because it's one of the most colorful and impactful games in the arcade. But with love, anything is possible."
Pyron says that, over the years, people have claimed that Sega's 16-bit console wouldn't be capable of producing a decent Parodius conversion because it can display fewer colours simultaneously than its rivals. "Almost every SNES fan and some PCE lovers, who post on video game forums over the internet...
The argument is always the same: 'MD does not have enough colors available to run this game.'"
However, he feels he has disproven this theory with his own mock-up of the first stage, which is shown above.
Pyron adds that this is "just a study; please don't get your hopes up," but it would seem that this is one injustice he's especially keen to fix, so who knows if it will evolve into a full port?
Several other titles which didn't get ports back in the day are in development for Sega's 16-bit console, including RoboCop and R-Type.
Would you like to see Parodius come to the Genesis / Mega Drive? Let us know with a comment.