Parasol Stars

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Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III

Developer(s)	Taito
Publisher(s)	Taito (PC Engine) Hudson Soft (Famicom and PC Engine) Konami (Amiga) SNK (Atari ST) Ocean and Working Designs (Game Boy) Namco (Super Famicom)
Release date(s)	1991
Genre(s)	Platform
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Platform(s)	PC Engine, Famicom, Amiga, Atari ST, Game Boy, Super Famicom

Parasol Stars is a video game by Taito released in 1991. It is a (not necessarily the) sequel to Rainbow Islands (see below paragraph). It is technically the third game in the Bubble Bobble series. Unlike the other games of the series, this game was never released to arcades - it was first moved to the PC Engine, and has been ported to a number of home systems. There are rumours about prototypes for an arcade version, which appear to be false; Taito has officially stated that an arcade game was never produced. Mik West (who, in itself, is the programmer of the Amiga and Atari ST versions) stated that he released the game directly to PC Engine and said that "no coin-op of the game exists". Apparently, Taito just sent Ocean Software some artwork to work with.

The game's subtitle is The Story of Bubble Bobble III, which was also used as the subtitle for Bubble Memories, released in 1995. Bubble Memories is a prequel (given the "Memories" part of the name) to the 1994 game Bubble Symphony, which was released as Bubble Bobble 2 in some countries. Nonetheless, Rainbow Islands is indeed the sequel to the original Bubble Bobble, even if it (Rainbow Islands) doesn't retain the same gameplay as the first game (similar to how Blaster is the sequel to Robotron even though both are completely different games), and since Bubble Memories was released years after Parasol Stars, this may be a retcon in which Parasol Stars never happened, whereby after the events of Rainbow Islands, Bubby and Bobby (their human names) are once again transformed into Bubblun and Bobblun (their names as bubble dragons). It is also possible however, that Parasol Stars could be a side-story, or "gaiden" to the series occurring after Rainbow Islands, but before Bubble Memories.

Bubby and Bobby (the characters' human names) star once again as the main characters, retaining their human forms from Rainbow Islands. However, Parasol Stars is a take on Rainbow Islands than Bubble Bobble.

The game takes place on a number of different planets, each with a distinct theme. There are ten rounds on each planet, and at the end of these rounds is a boss that must be defeated to progress to the next planet. There are eight main planets, each with a different theme. However, in order to complete the game properly, the player must open a secret door on the final planet by collecting three of the Star items - allowing access to two extra planets, themed around Bubble Bobble and Chack 'n Pop that are not initially visible on the main screen. Completing these two lead to the final boss, Chaostikhan (the one responsible for stealing color from the worlds, and supposedly the mastermind behind the previous game's villains) and the true ending.

The rounds are simple arrangements of platforms. On every round, droplets fall down from the ceiling and flow through the level. These are of strategic importance to the player.

1 Parasols
2 Droplets
3 Ports
4 Trivia

[edit] Parasols

The player is armed with a parasol. While it is normally closed, the player can deploy it in two ways; either open in front of them, or open above the head.

The parasol is a multi-purpose device, capable of the following actions when open:

Blocking - A player can use their parasol as a shield to block a projectile attack from an enemy.
Capturing - A player can capture an enemy on top of their parasol. The enemy is stunned and unable to move in this state. A player can also capture droplets. While the player has something captured, they cannot lower the parasol.
Stunning - Enemies become stunned if they touch the outside of the parasol, and turn either green or blue, depending on whether Bub or Bob stuns them respectively. If the player has nothing captured on the parasol, they can hold it in front of them to stun.
Throwing - Captured enemies or droplets can be thrown horizontally across the level. If an enemy is hit by a thrown object, it becomes stunned; if an already-stunned enemy is hit, it is killed. Stunned enemies do not block thrown objects, so it is possible to kill multiple stunned enemies with a single throw. As in Rainbow Islands, the point bonus for destroying multiple enemies simultaneously is exponential, doubling with each enemy destroyed.
Parachuting - The parasol can be used in the manner of a parachute, to slow the player's descent through the air.

[edit] Droplets

Almost every level has droplets which drip from points in the level. They fall under the influence of gravity and roll along the platforms within the screen. The player can capture these on their parasol and throw them at enemies.

The parasol can hold more than one droplet at once; if five are held, they merge into a large droplet with a special power.

There are four different kinds of droplets, with a mostly elemental theme. Some of them are inherited from Bubble Bobble.

Lightning - can send a bolt of lightning horizontally across the screen, killing all enemies it touches.
Water - can create a flood of water that washes away all enemies (and players) in its path.
Fire - can produce a carpet of fire that kills all enemies that touch it. Also stuns any players that walk on it.
Star - can create a swirling burst of stars that kill enemies.

The droplets can be nudged in the opposite direction by the player, and also jumped upon, which can enable the player to reach platforms that are otherwise too high.

[edit] Ports

Amiga port by Konami	Atari ST port by SNK	Game Boy port by Ocean Software and Working Designs	Famicom port by Hudson Soft
PC Engine port by Taito and Hudson Soft	Super Famicom port by Namco

[edit] Trivia

The Amiga version of the game has an additional super secret world made entirely by the American team who worked on the port. It can be accessed from a particular level in world 3 by collecting a heart (item that usually shows up in that level), clearing it of enemies, and collecting the food items that appear inside the large box occupying most of the screen and which form the word "IN". The secret world has a Middle Ages fantasy theme to it and insanely hard difficulty; but defeating the boss, a ogre composed of an head, two hands, two feet and a heart, reward the player with tons of continues (it is said that this world and its enemies are a homage to The Addams Family game also made by Ocean). Strangely, the game's usual theme is replaced by the ending theme while playing this secret world.

The GameBoy port has a unique Bonus Game that can be played when three icons with the same element are collected within a world. The purpose is to keep a room from flooding up by throwing away falling droplets until the time is up.

This game was supposed to be in development for Commodore 64 and the Sega Mega Drive, but the partly-developed game was lost when the programmer's alcoholic-estranged wife destroyed his computer equipment.

The game was never released in North America for the NES (Famicom) or Super NES (Super Famicom), and was the only Bubble Bobble game not to get a western release due to Konami's Amiga port with Bubble Bobble music, to SNK's Atari ST port with Super Mario Bros. music and to Working Designs and Ocean's Game Boy port with Kirby's Dream Land music.