Gokujou Parodius: Kako no Eikou wo Motomete/Fantastic Parodius: Seeking the Former Glory (SNES, 1994)
Graphics-8.5 Sound-8 Control-7 Challenge-8.5*/9.5** Story-?
Level Design-7 Frustration-9*/9.5** Fun-7.5 Originality-5
Overall Score-7
*Normal as the penguin
**Post end credits extra level as the penguin
+
Great visual variation, some large and detailed+well animated sprites, pretty impressive music
11 (!) different characters each with a different setup (three more than in the ARC ver., same endings only with a different character sprite, can change character and toggle auto or manual power up mode after using a continue, some characters such as Kid Dracula have an upgrade slot instead of options/gun drones (4 levels?) - number of projectiles and their strength?, some overlap between setups though) - they are also reskinned for player 2 so there are 22 costumes
Comical tone (silly, bizarre, sometimes perverted)
Good bosses overall (best ones are the robot penguin and moai head, easy final boss)
Some fun weapons (convert all weak enemies on screen into power-up pods and/or bells via the purple bells, multiple homing missiles as Kid Dracula, temporary super weapon via the white bells - shout words using a megaphone and have the typed letters hit enemies (Parodius Da!) as well as enemy projectiles, projectile walls via the red bells (sort of like laying mines which soak up fire) - Parodius Da!)
Mini-bosses (some of these have multiple destructible parts), difficulty and control options (7 levels, lives per credit - up to 9, roulette/one armed bandit feature toggle, revival toggle - respawn on the spot (generally worse though it does make four bells appear when you die), loop setting - 1/2/endless), timed invincibility+2x sized ship power up via the green bells returns (can also move through walls) - Parodius Da!, smart bombs (blue power ups trigger when touched only, blue bells are manually triggered) - Parodius Da!, temporary shield power up (penguin, vic viper, stick figure, bunny rabbit girl, etc), some interesting enemies and hazards (boss that shoots power ups mixed with projectiles at you, wall of blocks with different HP levels so you have to think quickly and pick the right one to destroy in the post end credits level)
+/-
7 levels+2 unlockable extra levels (11 regular levels in the prequel)
Hard to focus on juggling the bells (see Twinbee) for special weapons while dodging hazards and here they get destroyed if shot too many times - some bells give nice weapons it can be worth it
Automatic or manual power up system toggle (not sure why you'd use automatic besides it mapping bomb and shot to the same button)
You still respawn from the last checkpoint after using a continue
Various cameos from other Konami games (Goemon and Upa for example) and some from Darius (most of Michael the flying pig char's weapons)
Different weapons for some characters compared to the ARC ver. (check), Semi Auto setting (Button 1 is your power-up button while button 2 is your shot and bomb button) from the arcade ver. was removed here, the characters with an upgrade slot are better than the ones with gun drones? (at least the stick figure one which has both a spread weapon and a back attack in his bomb attack and kid dracula who has a homing spread)
-
Slowdown (gets pretty bad during some segments like the background transition in level 2/when the cat ship boss attacks you during that level/parts of level 5/most of the moai battleship level) - worse with certain characters like Kid Dracula (homing weapon)
Same old rigid Gradius weapon system (can't downgrade your speed manually or go backwards in the queue - fastest ship speed is way too fast in many cases, need to plan weapon usage)
Options/gun drones still automatically move towards the same position as your ship instead of being controllable like in Gradius (could've let you toggle it with a button, makes it harder to juggle bells since you'll start hitting them more than once per button press) - works like in Gradius if using Goemon
Using special attacks/colored bells makes it impossible to activate the rightmost power up (the shield) for the duration of the special used and even picking one up cancels a currently used shield
Fairly long pause in the action when a new level begins
Trial & error (suddenly spawning and erratic moving enemies in level 5, suddenly spawning enemies again in level 8, some cheap traps such as the hidden bombs in level 3 or the falling traps during level 4 speed segment or the moving walls in level 9, some boss patterns, one armed bandit/roulette power up - extremely hard to focus on picking the right power up as it's going and it's annoying if you let it be (can be turned off thankfully), some enemies attacking from the back or from the front while you're forced into a tight space or towards the edge of the screen)
No 2-player co-op (take turns only), negative power up (reduces you to being completely unupgraded) - can't be toggled, limited continues (8), a bit repetitive in that every level starts the same, uneven difficulty (the post end credits extra level (too hard to power up in the beginning and not enough power ups during it, extremely fast projectile attacks at one point, no checkpoints), easy 2nd and 3rd level bosses, need a specific weapon for some situations or they become quite tough - most ships/chars don't have a proper back attack and there's no smart bomb inventory, very hard to recover after death or a bad power up later on), some hard to see enemy projectiles (speed segment, level 8), pretty short fifth level
Notes:
-Weapon setups breakdown: http://www.shmups.com/reviews/gokujyouparodius/index.html
-"There are also two bonus levels. One is an assault against a gigantic Moai battleship, and is only reachable if your score ends with certain digits after completing each stage. The other is played after the ending credits, features a medley of music from other Konami games called “Shooting History”, and features a battle against a robotic penguin named Pentarou X." /HG101
-Got the moai battleship level so maybe it's not that hard or I was just lucky?
-Finished it with the penguin
Level Design-7 Frustration-9*/9.5** Fun-7.5 Originality-5
Overall Score-7
*Normal as the penguin
**Post end credits extra level as the penguin
+
Great visual variation, some large and detailed+well animated sprites, pretty impressive music
11 (!) different characters each with a different setup (three more than in the ARC ver., same endings only with a different character sprite, can change character and toggle auto or manual power up mode after using a continue, some characters such as Kid Dracula have an upgrade slot instead of options/gun drones (4 levels?) - number of projectiles and their strength?, some overlap between setups though) - they are also reskinned for player 2 so there are 22 costumes
Comical tone (silly, bizarre, sometimes perverted)
Good bosses overall (best ones are the robot penguin and moai head, easy final boss)
Some fun weapons (convert all weak enemies on screen into power-up pods and/or bells via the purple bells, multiple homing missiles as Kid Dracula, temporary super weapon via the white bells - shout words using a megaphone and have the typed letters hit enemies (Parodius Da!) as well as enemy projectiles, projectile walls via the red bells (sort of like laying mines which soak up fire) - Parodius Da!)
Mini-bosses (some of these have multiple destructible parts), difficulty and control options (7 levels, lives per credit - up to 9, roulette/one armed bandit feature toggle, revival toggle - respawn on the spot (generally worse though it does make four bells appear when you die), loop setting - 1/2/endless), timed invincibility+2x sized ship power up via the green bells returns (can also move through walls) - Parodius Da!, smart bombs (blue power ups trigger when touched only, blue bells are manually triggered) - Parodius Da!, temporary shield power up (penguin, vic viper, stick figure, bunny rabbit girl, etc), some interesting enemies and hazards (boss that shoots power ups mixed with projectiles at you, wall of blocks with different HP levels so you have to think quickly and pick the right one to destroy in the post end credits level)
+/-
7 levels+2 unlockable extra levels (11 regular levels in the prequel)
Hard to focus on juggling the bells (see Twinbee) for special weapons while dodging hazards and here they get destroyed if shot too many times - some bells give nice weapons it can be worth it
Automatic or manual power up system toggle (not sure why you'd use automatic besides it mapping bomb and shot to the same button)
You still respawn from the last checkpoint after using a continue
Various cameos from other Konami games (Goemon and Upa for example) and some from Darius (most of Michael the flying pig char's weapons)
Different weapons for some characters compared to the ARC ver. (check), Semi Auto setting (Button 1 is your power-up button while button 2 is your shot and bomb button) from the arcade ver. was removed here, the characters with an upgrade slot are better than the ones with gun drones? (at least the stick figure one which has both a spread weapon and a back attack in his bomb attack and kid dracula who has a homing spread)
-
Slowdown (gets pretty bad during some segments like the background transition in level 2/when the cat ship boss attacks you during that level/parts of level 5/most of the moai battleship level) - worse with certain characters like Kid Dracula (homing weapon)
Same old rigid Gradius weapon system (can't downgrade your speed manually or go backwards in the queue - fastest ship speed is way too fast in many cases, need to plan weapon usage)
Options/gun drones still automatically move towards the same position as your ship instead of being controllable like in Gradius (could've let you toggle it with a button, makes it harder to juggle bells since you'll start hitting them more than once per button press) - works like in Gradius if using Goemon
Using special attacks/colored bells makes it impossible to activate the rightmost power up (the shield) for the duration of the special used and even picking one up cancels a currently used shield
Fairly long pause in the action when a new level begins
Trial & error (suddenly spawning and erratic moving enemies in level 5, suddenly spawning enemies again in level 8, some cheap traps such as the hidden bombs in level 3 or the falling traps during level 4 speed segment or the moving walls in level 9, some boss patterns, one armed bandit/roulette power up - extremely hard to focus on picking the right power up as it's going and it's annoying if you let it be (can be turned off thankfully), some enemies attacking from the back or from the front while you're forced into a tight space or towards the edge of the screen)
No 2-player co-op (take turns only), negative power up (reduces you to being completely unupgraded) - can't be toggled, limited continues (8), a bit repetitive in that every level starts the same, uneven difficulty (the post end credits extra level (too hard to power up in the beginning and not enough power ups during it, extremely fast projectile attacks at one point, no checkpoints), easy 2nd and 3rd level bosses, need a specific weapon for some situations or they become quite tough - most ships/chars don't have a proper back attack and there's no smart bomb inventory, very hard to recover after death or a bad power up later on), some hard to see enemy projectiles (speed segment, level 8), pretty short fifth level
Notes:
-Weapon setups breakdown: http://www.shmups.com/reviews/gokujyouparodius/index.html
-"There are also two bonus levels. One is an assault against a gigantic Moai battleship, and is only reachable if your score ends with certain digits after completing each stage. The other is played after the ending credits, features a medley of music from other Konami games called “Shooting History”, and features a battle against a robotic penguin named Pentarou X." /HG101
-Got the moai battleship level so maybe it's not that hard or I was just lucky?
-Finished it with the penguin