Gokujou Parodius

Overview

Gokujou Parodius ("Fantastic Parodius") is a game based of the foundations of the Gradius franchise. In Gradius the enemies are mostly aliens or alien spaceships. In Gokujou Parodius the enemies are Maoi heads, bald eagles, bunnies, bunny-girls, giant strippers, and octopuses. The power-up system is also present in Gokujou Parodius but is character specific. Characters also have their own weapons like missiles, lasers, shields, or options. Each stage opens with the player character flying through space before they enter the stage.

Gokujou Parodius was originally released in the Arcade in both Japan and Europe (where it is known as Fantastic Journey). It was ported to the Super Famicom later the same year. It would also appear on mobile devices and in the Parodius compilations Gokujou Parodius Da! Deluxe Pack for the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation released in 1995 and Parodius Portable for the PSP released in 2007.

Characters

The player can select from the following characters. The second player takes the "partner" character, who are usually palette swaps:

• Vic Viper: The classic Gradius ship. Partner is Lord British.
• Takosuke: An octopus wearing a beaded headband who makes lots of cameos in other Konami games. Partner is Belial, a female octopus.
• Twinbee: A ship with two fists. It has also appeared in the TwinBee franchise. Partner is Winbee.
• Pentarou: A penguin. Son of the penguin (Penta) that starred in a lot of early Konami games like Antarctic Adventure. Partner is Hanako, a girl penguin.
• Hikaru: A brunette bunnygirl riding a missile. Later appear as a boss in Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius. Partner is Akane, a blonde bunnygirl.
• Mambo: A flying sunfish. He shoots bubbles. Inspired by the fish-like ships of MSX2 game Space Mambow. Partner is Samba.
• Michael: A flying pig with angel wings. Originally an enemy in Parodius. Partner is Gabriel.
• Koitsu: A stickman on a paper airplane. He shoots bullets. An original character, his name essentially means "this guy". Partner is Aitsu, another stickman (name means "that guy over there").
• Goemon: Goemon from the Mystical Ninja/Ganbare Goemon games. He shoots coins. Partner is Ebisumaru.
• Dracula-kun: A chibi Dracula. Originally from Akumajou Special: Boku Dracula-kun. Partner is Kid Dracula, who is the same character as he appeared in Kid Dracula.
• Prince Upa: A flying baby that shoots rattles. Originally from Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa. Partner is Rupa.

The last three pairs are exclusive to the Super Famicom version of the game. They are all from games previously released on Nintendo platforms.