Parasol Stars
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Parasol Stars is a video game by Taito released in 1991. It is the sequel to Rainbow Islands and the third game in the Bubble Bobble trilogy. Unlike the other games of the series, it was not officially released in the arcade. There are rumours about prototypes though, and the console and home computer versions are probably ports of this prototype. The game was first released for PC Engine.
Bub and Bob star once again as the main characters, retaining their human forms from Rainbow Islands. However, Parasol Stars bears much more resemblance to Bubble Bobble than to its direct predecessor.
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.
The rounds are simple arrangements of platforms. On every round, bubbles fall down from the ceiling and flow through the level. These are of strategic importance to the player.
Parasols
The player is armed with a parasol, a kind of umbrella. The parasol is a multi-purpose device, capable of the following actions:
- Blocking - A player can use their parasol as a shield to block an projectile attack from an enemy, although the impact leaves them momentarily stunned.
- 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.
- Throwing - Captured enemies or droplets can be thrown. This can be used to stun or kill other enemies.
- Storing droplets - A player can capture and hold more than one droplet at once, up to a maximum of three. If three droplets are exceeded, the droplets merge to form a super-droplet. Throwing a super-droplet produces a powerful effect.
- Parachuting - The parasol can be used in the manner of a parachute, to slow the player's descent through the air.
Within the game, each level has droplets that fall under the influence of gravity and roll along the platforms within the screen. The droplets came in different flavours with an elemental theme: Collect four Fire droplets to give a devastating area of fire to place in the level, collect four Water droplets to give a flood effect to sweep away enemies (and players!), collect four Lightning drops for lightning effects to hit enemies, and most rarely of all, collecting four Star drops gives a whirling set of stars that usually cleared the level of enemies.