Fifth in the Parodius series. Eight playable characters. Seven playable main stages in a game with six of them now having their own side objective that can get you a complete or incomplete mission, different ending picture, and can lead to an alternate stage 3 and 4 giving nine different stage options as well as a minor boss rush in between them with some old enemies. Stages are more active and colorful with a lot going on in the backgrounds. The bell powerups now helpfully tell you what each color will get you, which is useful since they can help with objectives. Good though I thought that two of the stages were terrible gameplay wise and one of those was fairly dull from a visual or gag perspective as well.

Screenshots: https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/1664902105583190020