“Parasol Stars” is both the 3rd game of the “Bubble Bobble” series and the sequel to a game entitled “Rainbow Islands”. There’s a whole web-like clusterfuck describing where Parasol Stars stands in the Bobble series, but I’m not going to go into that because it’s boring. And it’s part of the BUBBLE BOBBLE series… meaning two things:
- It’s fun to play
- Plot is not relevant
Time to get into the gameplay. What separates Parasol Stars from the other Bobble titles is not being able to conjure up bubbles. Rather, you use a Parasol to both incapacitate enemies and grab bubbles… which you throw at enemies. The interesting aspect of this game is how you can rack up the points by chaining your throws. Throw your enemies and bubbles and you will be rewarded with vegetables, desserts, bags of money and other super cool random shit to help you cash in on pts. and continues.
The bosses are kinda silly, but this game is kinda silly so it works. The first boss you have to fight is a big, Bert-like bass drum contraption and you have to kill him with lightning. OH! Forgot to mention the elemental bubbles. There are bubbles that contain either fire, lightning, water or stars. When you hold five elemental bubbles, they merge into one big bubble. With this bubble you can manifest a mini-river (water), a flame blanket (fire), a giant lightning bolt that travels horizontally (lightning) and a swirling burst of stars (…stars). These are really handy when you’re about to be gang-raped by a swarm of poker chips, robots and cartoony bat creatures. It’s a two player game, but since there’s only one controller slot for the TurboGrafx you’d have to venture out and find an extra attachment on Krypton to be able to play with a friend. Parasol Stars is a fun and tricky game that requires agility and a degree in Bubblography. If you don’t have either, stay the fuck away like the little bitch you is. I’ll be back soon with another relic from the days of… the late 80s to mid-90s.
Peace, Dreams and Wizard Sleeves,
- [Skizz]
