ININ Games has brought us a digital release of the third game in TAITO's Bubble Bobble series — Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III. The game launched on the Switch eShop yesterday, 11th July 2024, and marks the first time the game has been ported to modern consoles.
This modern port of the 1991 classic has many things going for it — it's an important piece of game history preserved for modern audiences, and it has save states, rewind, and visual enhancements. But, most importantly, it'll only cost you USD $9.99 / GBP £8.99.
While being a sequel to Rainbow Island, Parasol Stars actually goes back to the gameplay of the original Bubble Bobble more. And, instead of bubbles, Bubby and Bobby use Parasols, which can block attacks, stun foes, catch droplets in the stages, and be used to float down. Plus, Parasol Stars can be played either 1- or 2-player like the previous two games.
Parasol Stars is out now on Nintendo Switch. Will you be hopping over the rainbow for this one? Float down to the comments and let us know.
Comments 38
Still waiting for that physical Version i bought Ages ago at Strictly Limited Games...
@Nagi Me too. I ordered it July 30 of last year.
I love the Puzzle Bobble and Bubble Bobble series and despite that I couldn't get into Rainbow Islands at all due to its boring gameplay. I don't think I would be able to get into this either.
I just much prefer them as lil dinosaurs.
@Ogbert Took the words right out of my mouth.
Love this series - Rainbow Islands my absolute favourite. Will definitely be picking this up.
Will eventually get it for sure as I'm looking forward to finally playing these sequels of Bubble Bobble when I can!
Umbrella Bobble! Yay
God only knows when Strictly Limited plan to ship this (if ever!), so I downloaded it. Absolutely brilliant game. Looks simply gorgeous, and plays like a dream. Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, and this constitute a simply staggering trilogy, the best ever, in my opinion. Now if only there was an easy way to access Symphony and Memories...
I love Parasol Stars! But, when I saw, "bargain price" I thought like, USD$4.99.
10 bucks is a joke, I'm sticking with emulation.
Now, maybe if they put a bunch of the games together, like, Rainbow Islands, Bubble Bobble, Bubble Bobble II, and Parasol Stars, then I'd shell out $10. I'm guessing they are going to dribble them all out, one at a time, for 10 bucks a piece, smh.
I didn't realize the original was not only never an arcade game but also most ports were only released in Europe.
It looks like only the TurboGrafx-16 version got released on vintage consoles in Japan and the US.
And eventually, Taito's other umbrella game, Spica Adventure, is coming out, too.
@Ooyah There's always the Egret II Mini...
@Lone_Beagle A bit of a cheapskate, no? You seriously expected all those games for only $10?
@AllieKitsune True! I just think that I would prefer a slightly cheaper option, to be honest. As a Taito nut, though, it has always been a constant temptation!
Ah, I waited for that C64 version at the time which never arrived. Downloaded and first time playing the game, first impressions are, it's great.
@Nagi yeah, hopefully with the eshop release we’re a good step closer for the physical print.
I've always been a huge Bubble Bobble fan but have never played this. Looks like the 2 player is proper co-op unlike Rainbow Islands turn-based approach. If it's more like Bubble Bobble then sign me up now!!
Ten dollars?! I'd pay three cents, at the most. So greedy.
Huge fan of Puzzle Bobble. Not so much Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Island, though I've had good times with their games. Think the last time I played the latter two seriously was in the Wiiware days? Puzzle Bobble games I will fire up now and again. This game looks interesting.
@BillyB Yep, it's much closer to Bubble Bobble than Rainbow Islands. It's in the same "elimination" genre. The "throwing" mechanic reminds me a bit of Rodland. That is also fantastic, and would be in my all time top ten (along with Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands!). I love this kind of game. Snow Bros. too!
@LEGEND_MARIOID It's really good... shame that C64 version never appeared. It's more Bubble Bobble than Islands, a game I'd always meant to get to and thanks to the Switch version I finally have. Shame there was no Saturn version... maybe a new release of Bubble Symphony next.
I Missed it on the T-16 console so I’m in!
@Ooyah I still have an order with SL from late 2022!! It’s ridiculous! I sometimes forget I ordered it! lol
An itch in the back of my head says something is up here.
“Push Run Button”? Not “Press Start”? Seems a bit unnecessarily specific…
Is this just the PC Engine version in an emulator?
@-wc- : Some people have more dollars than cents.
@Ooyah
have you played Joe and Mac Returns?
@Coffeemonstah I should hope so... the PC Engine version is the definitive version, which others are conversions of (it was never released in the arcades).
@-wc- It's funny that you should mention this, as I just became aware of it last week! Evercade have another Data East cart coming in November, and it is on there. I was only familiar with the other Joe & Mac games up to that point. Is it good? Would be lovely to hear what you think about it, if you have a moment. I was certainly intrigued to learn of it!
@joey302 Crikey. Well, we can always keep an eye on their excellent status updates, which always seem to be "ROM is currently in testing"... because, of course, it takes well over a year to test a ROM! Yep!!! 😆 It is particularly baffling in this specific case, as they have just released it digitally! I think it's because they still have (at the time of writing) "54% left" of their 2,500 allocation. They're probably waiting to sell more, although that seems unlikely now! Whatever is going on, it's pretty shoddy!
@Ristar24 Believe it or not, I can still remember reading about this in Zzap!64. The headline was "Parasol Stars Scuppered". I was so gutted, particularly as the C64 ports of Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands were both sensational.
@Ooyah Yep me too... and Bubble Bobble was a game I returned to a lot on the C64. I was hoping Parasol Stars would come to the PC Engine VC on Wii, but it's better on the Switch as also portable, also looks great on the OLED.
@Ooyah
I got it on eshop sale as a standalone (pretty sure) title, thinking it was simply another Joe and Mac game that I'd somehow missed.
to my surprise, it's a single screen action platformer in the vein of bubble bobble or snow bros! and it's pretty good! I sat down with a friend and played through in one sitting (imo, that's a ringing endorsement in this genre 👍)
as a fan of this kind of game I'd recommend it to you. even better if you are a Joe and Mac fan ✌️
@Ristar24
(question: "Bobble Bobble")
@Mario500 Ha ha, the true unknown sequel! Now corrected.
@Ooyah Thanks for the recommendation, now downloaded & it's great. Back in the 8-bit days I first played Bubble Bobble on a 48k Spectrum, so the graphics & audio were suitably limited - but the gameplay always shone through. When playing the arcade version years later on MAME I thought all my Christmases had come at once.
Speaking of the Spectrum I remember playing a demo of Outrun & it came with an audio cassette of the Sega arcade soundtrack, so that you could enjoy it properly - yes, the Spectrum audio processor really was that poor.
$4.99 would be a bargain price
@BillyB I had a tape of the Outrun music too! I think it came with C and VG, maybe? I remember that it had music from 720° on the other side. I listened to it so much, I wore it out! 😆 Yeah, the Speccy and the C64 had some amazing arcade conversions. Rainbow Islands was incredible too. I hope you continue to enjoy Parasol Stars!
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