The Bubble Bobble series wasn’t always just dragons blowing bubbles. Before Bubble Symphony and Bubble Memories came along, Rainbow Islands and Parasol Stars were the official Bubble Bobble sequels, and they starred Bub and Bob as humans instead of dragons. Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III was originally released on Turbografx-16/PC Engine rather than to arcades, but it’s every bit as well-made as its forebears. More than 30 years later, Parasol Stars has finally returned to consoles thanks to ININ Games. While the new release is low on frills, it’s great that modern audiences have a chance to play it.
In Parasol Stars, a monster called Chaostikan has secretly escaped from Bubble Bobble’s cave of monsters prior to the sealing of the cave by the heroes of that game, Bub and Bob. Following the events of Rainbow Islands, Bub and Bob were gifted magical parasols (umbrellas) from the grateful residents of the islands. Chaostikan eventually unleashes a new army of monsters on several neighboring planets, and Bub and Bob must use their Magic Parasols to save the day. This premise is not communicated in the game itself, which sadly lacks an intro, but rather in the game’s instruction manual. That’s a problem because ININ’s release of Parasol Stars does not include a manual or reference materials. Thankfully, Parasol Stars was included on the Turbografx-16 Mini a few years back, and Konami still offers the instruction manual for download (at the time of this writing).
Parasol Stars is a platformer in the style of Bubble Bobble. The game is divided up into a series of themed worlds, each with six regular levels followed by a boss level. Some levels are single-screen and others can be scrolled left and right as players navigate them. In each level, our heroes must clear the screen of enemies while collecting power-ups and score-bestowing items. Once the screen is cleared, the team moves on to the next level. Take too long to clear a level and an invincible enemy will start to chase the players down, just as in Bubble Bobble.
The key difference from Bubble Bobble is that Bub and Bob fight enemies with parasols rather than bubbles. The parasol can be aimed and swung forward or upward, stunning any enemies it touches. Holding the attack button will allow the player to pick up a stunned enemy. The foe can then be thrown forward, damaging any enemies it strikes along the way. Holding the parasol out allows it to act as a shield since only large enemies and bosses can pass through it. Players can also jump and hold the parasol upward in order to float through the air, though the technique is seldom needed other than to unlock an Achievement.
Many levels have drops that fall continuously from the ceiling. These drops come in four elemental varieties: fire, water, lightning, and star. By collecting a droplet with their parasol, the player can fire a weak version of the droplet’s element. Rather than just collecting droplets, a few levels require the heroes to jump on the droplets as they fall in order to escape from pits, much as players sometimes have to jump upward on bubbles in Bubble Bobble. Jumping on the drops is tough, but charging a mega drop makes it much easier. Mega drops are formed by collecting five small drops. This allows Bub and Bob to throw a powerful elemental attack. During boss battles, our heroes can drink a bottle that allows them to form mega drops by holding their parasols upward. These mega drops are required to damage bosses. The first few bosses are easy, but later bosses can be quite tricky to defeat.