Parodius Da! PC-Engine

  PC-Engine Parodius Da! color hack v 1.0.

   This hack improves the colors and detail by modifying the unused colors in the palette data.  Not tile data was altered, just palette entries. The game contained lots of duplicate color entries that was hiding existing pixel detail. This patch simply uses existing color cues to expand those duplicate entries into real colors/detail. This is quite a rare situation for a game to have detail that you couldn't see because they duplicated colors to hide it. I've never seen anything like this to this extent. So, this hack restores that detail.

   The hack also increases the vertical size of the game, removing the vertical auto-scroll, and showing the full vertical height of the level. This expands the viewable area from 224p to 240p. You'll need to adjust your CRT TV or scaler to view the full frame. Most emulators need to be adjusted as well - they don't typically show all 240 lines of PCE games.

   Per version 1.0, I have added some choices for some middle ground options for frame height. There are "208" and "216" options that show more of the vertical frame, with a slight bit of vertical scrolling (like the original). If you're running on a CRT TV and can't adjust for the full frame height, then this will be the next best options. The score and lives might get cut-off, depending on your setup, but the HUD is the most important visible part.

   I've included stock frame height as well, but it is not recommended as you can't fully appreciate the new color updates in some levels.. like the graveyard level or the first level with the animated water line at the bottom of the screen. The issue with the stock frame height, is that it requires you to move your ship all the way to the bottom of the screen to see that extra detail - which isn't likely in this game.. and impossible with the land collision on the first level.

  Note:

     The color choices I made for this hack are based on "composite" or "VCE" colors. This does not tailor the added colors for "RGB". The original game didn't seem to target RGB, so I did not as well. This means if you play it with "RGB" colors, they'll look over saturated (and slightly different).

I created some tools that I will release so you can do your own color edits. I'll post a github link to that soon.