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Gokujō Parodius! ~Kako no Eikō o Motomete~ (極上パロディウス ~過去の栄光を求めて~?, lit. "Fantastic Parodius! ~Pursue the Glory of the Past~"), released in Europe as Fantastic Journey, is a side-scrolling shooter arcade game and the third title in the Parodius series produced by Konami. Like the rest of the series, it is a parody of the Gradius series and other Konami games.

Gameplay

Overall, the gameplay is identical to that of its predecessor, Parodius Da!, with several new characters to choose from. Also new is that if you play a two-player game, the second player will have a different set of characters to select. They are clones of the first player characters, except with different names and slightly altered sprites or changed color palettes.

The characters are:

In the Parodius series, starting with Gokujō Parodius!, the Power Meter was changed from a bar with the weapon names as text to a bar with pictures indicating the power-ups. The borders of each icon determine the gameplay type chosen, red for auto, yellow for semi-auto, and blue for manual. As this kind of power meter is shorter, two separate power meters appear onscreen on a two player game.

When playing a two player game, shooting the other character enough times will cause it to get angry and fire shots in all directions for a short time. In the updated ports of Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius, this can be turned on or off in the options screen. Also, when a player has pressed continue, the game stops as the player chooses his/her character and the game type.

Stages

Stage Name Boss Music Remix of
1 Circo Porto Harborland Anna Pavlova and Melora In The Crane Game In the Mood by Joe Garland
Turkey in the Straw (American folksong)
2 Cat Battleship Forever Cat Submarine
Eliza and Neil
Cat Battleship Forever Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa
3 Candy Land Decoration Core Athletics Cry for the Candies Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka by Johann Strauss Jr.
4 Traffic Signs Crazy Core Run! Run! Run! William Tell Overture by Gioacchino Rossini
5 Core Ship Parade Capsule Monster Cappuccino Space Hit Parade Yankee Doodle
Ej Lucka, Lucka (Czech folksong)
Mary Had a Little Lamb
Der Flohwalzer
London Bridge is Falling Down
Picnic
X Moai Battleship Yoshiko The Brothers' Ships Move Again Ride of the Valkyries by Wilhelm Richard Wagner
The Old Stone Age from Gradius II: GOFER no Yabō
6 The Moon Princess Kaguya What Do You See When You Are Jumping? Jyuugoya Otsuki-san by Nagayo Motoori
Kagome-kagome
Sakura Sakura
O-Edo Nihonbashi
Toryanse
Hanayome-Ningyou by Haseo Sugiyama
7 Disco Chichibinta Rika
Tako's Cutie
Paro-Paro Dancing! New World Symphony, 4th Movement by Antonín Dvořák
EX Shooting Memories Pentaro X Shooting Memories Challenger 1985 from Gradius
Bell Power Up BGM from TwinBee
Power of Anger from Salamander
Command 770 from A-Jax
Aqua Illusion from Gradius III
Sky Walker from Thunder Cross
Burning Heat from Gradius II: GOFER no Yabō

Enemies

Ports

Gokujō Parodius! was ported to the Super Famicom in 1994. The only significant difference between the console and the arcade version was added characters: Goemon/Ebisumaru from Ganbare Goemon, Dracula-kun/Kid-D from Kid Dracula, and Upa and Rupa from Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa.

Weapon differences in the SNES release

Hikaru and Akane get the Tailgun, the Boomerang Shot from Thunder Cross, another shooter game by Konami, and a Shield instead of the Spread Bomb, the Carrot Shot and a force field called Star that they get in the arcade version, as well as on the Deluxe Pack released for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. Similarly, Mambo and Samba are given Homing Missiles, the Reflect Shot (which gives them two options when chosen), Grade Up and a Shield instead of the Bubble Missile, the Control Laser, Search Laser and a force field known as Barrier.

Other releases

Gokujō Parodius! was also ported along with Parodius Da! in the Gokujō Parodius Da! Deluxe Pack for PlayStation in 1994 and Sega Saturn in 1995. This compilation was released in Japan and Europe as Ultimate Parodius, with Parodius Da! simply titled Parodius and Gokujō Parodius as Fantastic Journey. The European release had English texts when the Megaphone is used and re-colored the mini Eagle Sabu enemies to green (as opposed to brown in the Japanese version).

It was also released on mobile phones and included in Parodius Portable (although in the latter release some of the songs were removed due to copyright issues).

Gallery

Trivia

  • Inside the arcade ROM, there are two additional pieces of music that went unused. Both a stage and boss theme are listed, and are repeated multiple times within the ROM, suggesting they were possibly placeholder pieces. The two music tracks are Je Te Veux and "Habanera" from Carmen.
Gokujō Parodius! ~Kako no Eikō o Motomete~
Characters Takosuke and BelialVic Viper and Lord BritishPentaro and HanakoTwinBee and WinBeeHikaru and AkaneMambo and SambaMichael and GabrielKoitsu and AitsuGoemon and EbisumaruDracula-kun and Kid DraculaUpa and RupaMr. Past Glory
Stages Circo Porto HarborlandCat Battleship ForeverCandy LandTraffic SignsCore Ship ParadeMoai BattleshipThe MoonDiscoShooting Memories
Bosses Anna PavlovaCat SubmarineElizaDecoration CoreCrazy CoreCapsule Monster CappuccinoYoshikoPrincess KaguyaChichibinta RikaTako's CutiePentaro X
Gradius video games
Gradius series GradiusGradius IIGradius IIIGradius GaidenGradius IV: FukkatsuGradius GalaxiesGradius VGradius ReBirthGradius: The Interstellar AssaultGradius NEOGradius NEO Imperial
Spin-offs Salamander (Life Force) (MSX ver.)• Salamander 2Nemesis 2 (Nemesis '90 Kai) • Nemesis 3Nemesis (Game Boy)Cosmic WarsSolar Assault
Parody games ParodiusParodius Da!Gokujō Parodius!Jikkyō Oshaberi ParodiusSexy ParodiusParo WarsOtomedius (Otomedius Gorgeous) • Otomedius Excellent
Other games ScrambleThunder CrossThunder Cross IISpace ManbowForce Gear
Pachislot Gradius: The SlotCR Parodius Da! EXGokuraku Parodius!
Cancelled Vic ViperGradius ArcSalamander HD Remaster
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