Parasol Superstars Review

I am a huge retro game fan, so any time one of these games is rereleased, I am sure to be interested. The title I had to pick up this time is Parasol Superstars, which is a collection of two arcade-style games: Parasol Stars: Bubble Bobble III and Spica Adventure. You can buy the games separately, but why bother when you can get both at once? The collection was released on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and the original Nintendo Switch, so there are a variety of different ways to play it. I’ll talk about both games in the collection, but before diving into Parasol Stars: Bubble Bobble III, we should have a quick history lesson. 

When I was a kid, Bubble Bobble was one of my favourite games on the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Developed by TAITO, it was a game that I loved to play cooperatively with my brother. We never owned it, but we rented it numerous times to play together. There was a sequel called Bubble Bobble Part 2, but I never played it, as this was now primarily a solo game, and the only way to play with two players was to take turns. 

Following this was Rainbow Island: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2. Instead of playing as the cute dinos Bub and Bob that we know from that game, they are in their human forms as they release rainbows to defeat enemies and move up the stage as it fills with water. To me, that title didn’t feel like it actually fit in the franchise. 

Then we finally get to the last title, Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble 3. This game is a sequel to Rainbow Island and the third title in the series. Parasol Stars: Bubble Bobble III was initially released on the TurboGrafx-16 and then ported to other systems like the Game Boy and the NES. This game has you playing in human form, but instead of climbing vertically like in Rainbow Islands, we are back to clearing out enemies on single stages like in the original Bubble Bobble. 

Like all the other Bubble Bobble games in the franchise, the visuals are bright and colourful; there is so much personality here, and the music is classic TAITO. It is upbeat, catchy, and gets stuck in your head. There are eight worlds to play through and two secret bonus ones, each with its own theme and look. Our heroes, Bubby and Bobby, are back, but they aren’t in their dragon form that we are familiar with. Instead, they are in their human forms.

To attack, you won’t be blowing bubbles; instead, you use a parasol (an umbrella) to catch water droplets, which you stack and throw at your foes. Or instead, you can scoop up the enemies and toss them across the screen. The parasol can also be used as a shield or to slow your fall if you jump down from a high platform. 

You can play the game on your own, or if you want, there is also two-player co-op available to team up with a friend. As you progress through the levels, the difficulty ramps up, and the enemies that you are facing have more complex patterns to observe to plan your attacks to take them all out. It might take some experimentation as the game lets you figure stuff out on your own and doesn’t explain everything. A lot of the moves you will discover on your own as you play. 

If you mess up and take damage or die, this version of the game has a lot of quality-of-life additions like rewind, fast forward, and save states that help make Parasol Stars: Bubble Bobble III more accessible if you need. It’s nice to instantly recover your health by rewinding instead of starting over. The game also has cheats available to use, like invincibility and infinite lives, if you want to enable them.

There are two different modes available in the game to check out: a standard mode and an arcade mode. The standard has all the modern features, making it more approachable than the original game was, and the arcade mode, which is a lot more challenging, is constantly pushing you forward; there is no time to sit and contemplate your moves! 

The second game in the Parasol Superstars bundle is Spica Adventure. This title also has a protagonist who is armed with a parasol. Here, you play as Nico, a little girl decked out in all pink clothing with her parasol as she goes on a dangerous journey through space. This game has never been released on a home console before, so I’m excited to see how the arcade title translates. 

This TAITO title was a Japan-exclusive 2D action run-and-jump game that has a wonderful cutesy-cartoon look and whimsical feel. Nico has a yellow parasol that isn't only an accessory; it is also an effective weapon to battle the mix of enemies that are coming right out of a toybox. This umbrella can be used to shoot, slash, and jump off of platforms, gliding and floating to safety. Besides attacking, it can also be used to parry, defend, and reflect enemy projectiles in up to eight directions.

Spica begins when Nico’s space rocket journey is interrupted when a stray piece of paper sticks to her face, which causes her to crash-land on an alien planet. She is mad and wants to get revenge against the robots who were carelessly handing out these fliers. Her personal mission has her fighting through 28 stages as she makes her way through the solar system. There are multiple paths to follow, so each time you play, you can select a different route, which makes it feel fresh as you travel through the universe of Spica. The story here isn’t deep or super involved, which makes sense since it’s an arcade game.

The titles in the Parasol Superstars collection have been sharpened for modern platforms and have multiple display filters that you can apply to tweak the look to how you like it. Both games let you use save states and give you the ability to rewind what you have done when you die, and have cheat menus to access. The one thing that I felt the collection was missing was extra content, like information on how this Bubble Bobble title fits into the franchise and info like that. 

If you are a fan of arcade-style gameplay or hunting for high scores, there is so much here to love, so you are sure to be a fan of it. There isn’t much here for extras, but you do have some modern improvements like save states and a rewind ability that can be helpful, no matter your level of ability. It’s cute, wholesome, and addictive, so it's worth trying out yourself.