Parodius, also known as Parodius: The Octopus Saves the Earth, is the first title in the Parodius series.

The name itself is a portmanteau of "Gradius" and "Parody" and, eponymously, the game is a parody of the Gradius series of space-based horizontally scrolling shooters. The gameplay is very similar to the Gradius games, with other aspects from games such as TwinBee. However, the characters are replaced with silly characters taken from either these or other Konami games, as well as Japanese culture.

The player can play as either Tako (father of Takosuke), an octopus, the Penguin (father of Pentarou) from Antarctic Adventure and the exclusive MSX game Penguin Adventure, Goemon from the Ganbare Goemon series, the Popolon knight from the MSX game Knightmare or the Vic Viper spaceship from Gradius.

The game is composed of six stages consisting of various obstacles and enemies such as penguins and bees, as well as more traditional Gradius enemies such as Moai. As with Gradius, the game utilizes a similar selection-bar based power-up system.