Parasol Stars Amiga 1992
Ocean Software ported Taito's TurboGrafx-16 Parasol Stars aka Bubble Bobble 3 of 1991 to the Amiga in 1992. Sequel to Bubble Bobble of 1988 and successor to Rainbow Islands of 1990, Parasol Stars is a technically impressive one-player or two-player simultaneous fixed-screen and horizontally-scrolling platformer.
Parasol Stars consists of eight worlds of seven rounds each and a boss-fight at the end of each of the seventh rounds. Players control either Bub or Bob wielding a parasol that, when primed, can stun monsters as well as collect elemental droplets (water, fire, lightning, star) that drip down from the platforms. Once balanced atop the parasol, the stunned monster or droplet can be fired at active monsters, temporarily stunning, injuring or outright slaying them.
When five droplets accumulate on a parasol held aloft, a mega-droplet forms. In the case of water, the mega-droplet is unleashed as a torrent that washes Bub, Bob and the monsters down through a rounds' mazes (a form of getting around).
Stunned monsters can be balanced atop the parasol, carried about and then thrown at other monsters or better yet at rows of other stunned monsters, thereby yielding bonus points based on how many monsters were taken out in a single action (line them up and let loose). Thrown droplets are also used to collect items and reveal hidden items.
After collecting a power-up elemental droplets can be charged on the parasol during end-stage boss fights.
In keeping with the two other Bub and Bob games by Taito, the concept and execution of Parasol Stars constitutes a work of genius: the games are fun and addictive. Parasol Stars is perhaps the pick of the bunch in terms of replayability and audiovisuals, however; certainly, it employs the Amiga's capacities more than Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands, which were hamstrung by 8-bit and ST considerations.
It is a nice touch how the engine scrolls the screen from round to round, with Bub and Bob hovering in the air via parasol.
The Amiga version of Parasol Stars was programmed by Mick West; its graphics were drawn by Don McDermott; its audio composed by Matthew Cannon and Keith Tinman.
The controls, collision detection and audiovisuals are all but perfect; they can barely be faulted. Amiga Parasol Stars runs at full-frames; that is, 50 FPS.
Parasol Stars was distributed on 1x 3.5" 880 kB diskette.
List of Parasol Stars Worlds
- World One: Music World
- World Two: Woodland World
- World Three: Ocean World
- World Four: Machine World
- World Five: Casino World
- World Six: Cloud World
- World Seven: Giant World
- World Eight: Rainbow World
cf.
- Bubble Bobble Amiga 1988 Software Creations David J. Broadhurst
- The New Zealand Story Amiga 1989 Choice Colin Gordon
- Rainbow Islands Amiga 1990 Graftgold Andrew Braybrook
- Flood Amiga Bullfrog Productions 1990 Sean Cooper and Kevin Donkin
- James Pond Amiga Vectordean 1990 Chris Sorrell
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