Parasol Stars
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| Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III {{#if:{{{image|}}}|<tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">{{{image|}}} | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Taito {{#if:{{{publisher|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Publisher(s)<td>{{{publisher|}}} |
| Release date(s) | 1991 |
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer {{#if:{{{ratings|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Rating(s)<td>{{{ratings|}}} |
| Platform(s) | PC Engine, NES, Game Boy, Amiga {{#if:{{{media|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Media<td>{{{media|}}} |
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 series. Unlike the other games of the series, this game was never released to arcades - the game was first released for the PC Engine (or TurboGrafx), and has been ported to a number of consoles. 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, the programmer of the Amiga and Atari ST versions, also stated that he converted the game directly from the the PC Engine version and said that "no coin-op of the game exists". Apparently, Taito just sent Ocean Software some artwork to work with.
Whilst officially there is no game with the name Bubble Bobble III, the game's subtitle is The Story of Bubble Bobble III, which, confusingly, was also used as the subtitle for Bubble Memories, released in 1995. Therefore, the name "Bubble Bobble III" can refer to either of these games. (Bubble Memories is the sequel to the 1994 game Bubble Symphony, also known as Bubble Bobble 2 in some countries and considered to be the "true" sequel to the original Bubble Bobble.)
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, droplets 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 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. If the player has nothing captured on the parasol, they can hold it in front of them.
- Throwing - Captured enemies or droplets can be thrown. This can be used to stun or kill other enemies.
- Parachuting - The parasol can be used in the manner of a parachute, to slow the player's descent through the air.
Droplets
Within the game, each level has droplets that 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:
- Lightning - can send a bolt of lightning horizontally across the screen, killing all enemies it touches.
- 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.
Ports
 Amiga port |
 Atari ST port |
 Game Boy port |
 NES port |
 TurboGrafx 16 port |
Also, a Commodore 64 version was in development, but the partly-developed game was lost when the programmers alcoholic estranged wife destroyed his computer equipment.