As a teenager, I dreamed of nothing than visiting the inside of a cheerleaders legs. Parodius is the game that gave that opportunity. While between those legs, one wrong move and you’re dead. I enjoyed primarily the SNES version as a kid and more recently the excellent FPGA core that was developed by Jotego and his team.
Enter the Genesis/Mega Drive
A new homebrew project to bring Konami’s Parodius to the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive is underway, with developer Shannon Birt providing a glimpse into the initial stages of development. The project, which has been in progress for one week, is built on a solid foundation, leveraging existing code and techniques from prior projects.
Development Progress and Technical Approach
Initial testing has focused on core gameplay mechanics, specifically the “Option” power-up system. The video showcases early tests with the standard shot, allowing three shots per ship and its “Option” pods, a feature implemented for testing purposes. The developer notes that the Option movement is nearly finalized, having been simplified to a delayed “follow the player” routine.
The project is utilizing a hybrid code base. DMA routines (data transfer) and object movement handling are written in assembly from the developer’s previous project, Lufthoheit (scheduld for 2026 release), while other components are managed using SOTA’s modified SGDK framework for C code. This 80/20 rule approach, prioritizing assembly for performance-critical sections, is intended to prevent slowdown. The spatial grid collision system from Lufthoheit is also being integrated for efficient collision checks.
Sprite Handling and Challenges
A key challenge for this port is handling the game’s graphics, particularly the large number of sprites. The developer observed that the SNES and PC Engine versions of the game are more sprite-intensive in certain scenarios. However, the Mega Drive version will not require a sprite multiplexer initially. The developer acknowledged Konami’s clever use of VRAM conservation in the original games.
The Vic Viper’s laser presents a specific challenge, especially when the ship is fully powered up. While the SNES may have used a windowing technique for this, the Mega Drive port will rely on sprites. The developer has some creative “tricks” in mind to handle this without causing performance issues.
The project has already received significant support from collaborators. Gabriel Pyron has supplied additional graphics, and VTRCHIPMUSIC has completed the first version of the Stage 1 musical track.
We at Metal Game Solid are hoping that this project becomes a reality and in turn becomes another awesome Shmup a system that already has lots (can never have too many)