Gokujou Parodius

Gokujou Parodius

Title screen

Developer:	Konami
Music:	Seiichi Fukami Satoko Miyawaki Kazuhiro Senoo
Program:	Tokuda Tsukasa Yasuyuki Moritome
Art:	Shūjirō Hamakawa Chiyoko Hanano Taro Matsuishi Rika Ishimaru Natsumi Bouike
Release date:	Arcade: April 1994 Super Famicom: November 25, 1994 PlayStation: December 3, 1994 Sega Saturn: May 19, 1995 PlayStation Portable: January 25, 2007
Previous game:	Pop’n TwinBee
Next game:	TwinBee Yahhoo!

Gokujō Parodius ～Kako no Eikō o Motomete～ (Japanese: 極上パロディウス ～過去の栄光を求めて～ "Gokujou Parodius – Pursuing the Past Glory") is a shmup developed and published by Konami in 1994. It is the third installment in the Parodius series succeeding Parodius Da! (Konami 1990). It is the second of the three arcade games from the series followed by Sexy Parodius (Konami 1996).

Gokujou Parodius received ports on the Super Nintendo, PlayStation, Sega Saturn and PlayStation Portable. It was localized overseas under the title Fantastic Journey.

Gameplay Overview

Controls

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The game offers three different control styles which can be selected at the start of the game: Auto Power-Up (uses one button), Semi-Auto Power-Up (uses two buttons), and Manual Power-Up (uses three buttons).

	Auto Power-Up	Semi-Auto Power-Up	Manual Power-Up
A button		Select Power-Up	Select Power-Up
B button	Primary weapon (shot/double/laser) Secondary weapon (missile) Bell power	Primary weapon (shot/double/laser) Secondary weapon (missile) Bell power	Primary weapon (shot/double/laser)
C button			Secondary weapon (missile) Bell power

When Auto Power-Up is selected, the ship will automatically power up when enough capsules are collected. Roulette Capsules will count as regular capsules.

Characters

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Gokujou Parodius has 8 characters, 4 of them return from Parodius Da! while the others are completely new. Each character has a counterpart when using 2P side, but this is a purely cosmetic difference.

1P side	2P side
Vic Viper	Lord British

1P side	2P side
Takosuke	Belial

1P side	2P side
TwinBee	WinBee

1P side	2P side
Pentarou	Hanako

1P side	2P side
Hikaru	Akane

1P side	2P side
Mambo	Samba

1P side	2P side
Michael	Gabriel

1P side	2P side
Koitsu	Aitsu

Power Meter

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Instead of words, the Power Meter system in Gokujou Parodius uses icons for each upgrade. When the player picks up a red capsule, the next box in the Power Meter sequence will be highlighted; when a red capsule is picked up at position 7, it will jump back to position 1.

Although the Power Meter has certain general properties (Speed Up, Missile, and Shield), all eight characters have an individual set of upgrades.

Items

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An item will pop up either if the player destroys certain waves of enemies fully or when a red enemy is destroyed.

	Red Capsule Advances the Power Meter by 1.
	Roulette Capsule Starts roulette mode in the Power Meter. Visually indistinguishable from regular Red Capsules. Found in fixed locations.
	Blue Capsule Clears the screen from all enemies (no points are awarded for these).
	Yellow Bell Score item. Value increases with subsequent collection: 500 > 1000 > 2,500 > 5,000 > 10,000. Value resets when a Yellow Bell goes off screen or upon death.
	Blue Bell Adds a screen clearing bomb to the player's bell stock. Additional bombs can be picked up for a maximum of three.
	White Bell When picked up, all regular weapons are disabled for a certain amount of time and a megaphone shouts out text that has great coverage and also cancels all bullets.
	Green Bell When picked up, all regular weapons are disabled for a certain amount of time and the player sprite increases in size granting invincibility and extra speed.
	Red Bell Adds 3 laser barriers to the player's bell stock. These barriers cover almost the whole screen vertically and destroy all enemies and bullets touching them.
	Purple Bell When picked up, all enemies are turned into regular items.

All regular items except Roulette Capsules appear in the following item cycle. Roulette Capsules are always found in the same enemies and have no effect on the cycle.

Item Cycle

The bell cycle starts at yellow. Hitting a Yellow Bell five times will make it advance to the next color. Every other color takes a single hit to make the bell cycle go to the next yellow again. This is not affected by missing bells or picking them up.

Bell Cycle

Extra Lives

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On default settings, the player is awarded with two extra lives, one at 200,000 and the second at 500,000.

Loops

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By default, Gokujou Parodius does not loop, but an option to enable a second loop and even infinite loops can be set in the dipswitches (or going to the options menu in the ports). The loop has no requirements when enabled, so the player will always enter 2-1 upon beating stage 1-7.

The player loses all Power Ups and starts in the default state again. If the Power Meter was highlighted at any position at the end of loop 1, it will be highlighted on the first position beginning with loop 2.

Strategy

WIP

Video References

Video index for Gokujou Parodius