Gokujō Parodius! ~Kako no Eikō o Motomete~

***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, if playing a two-player game, the second player will have a different set of characters to select. These are clones of the first player characters, except with different names and slightly altered sprites or changed color palettes.

These characters include:

* Vic Viper / Lord British
* Takosuke / Belial
* TwinBee / WinBee
* Pentarō / Hanako
* Hikaru / Akane
* Mambo / Samba
* Michael / Gabriel
* Koitsu / Aitsu

Super Famicom exclusive characters:

* Goemon / Ebisumaru
* Dracula-kun / Kid Dracula
* Upa / Rupa

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.

## Ports

*Gokujō Parodius!* was ported to the Super Famicom months after its arcade release. Two significant differences between the console and arcade version were added characters: Goemon/Ebisumaru from *Ganbare Goemon*, Dracula-kun/Kid Dracula from *Boku Dracula-kun*, and Upa/Rupa from *Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa*, as well as the alternating two player mode.

In addition, Hikaru and Akane get a Tailgun, 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 (named "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 (named "Barrier").

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

The game was also released for mobile phones and included in *Parodius Portable* on the PlayStation Portable, with some songs replaced by classical/folk songs.

## Reception

On release, *Famicom Tsūshin* scored the PlayStation version's *Deluxe Pack* a 32 out of 40, and the Sega Saturn's *Deluxe Pack* a 31 out of 40. *Maximum* gave the Saturn *Deluxe Pack* three out of five stars, saying that it is virtually identical to the arcade and PlayStation versions and has very pleasing gameplay, visuals and music, but is outdated compared to contemporary Saturn games. They summarized: "Konami's first effort [at a Saturn game] has a lot to commend it, but when there are epics such as *Panzer Dragoon* stretching the shooting genre, it's clear that *Parodius* is not in the same league."

## External links

* *Gokujō Parodius! ~Kako no Eikō o Motomete~* at the Gradius Wiki