Parasol Stars and Spica Adventure are coming to consoles in one bundle

ININ Games is released the Parasol Superstars bundle. It says it's out now but my link in the PlayStation store has not been updated quick yet. The collection brings the 1991 platformer Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III and the formerly Japan-exclusive arcade game Spica Adventure to modern consoles. The two-game package will be available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox platforms.

I have been a fan of the Bubble Bobble universe since I first had the original game on my NES. I spent countless hours trapping enemies in bubbles, memorizing the stage layouts, and trying to figure out the cryptic requirements for the good ending. When I finally discovered Parasol Stars years later, I was hooked immediately. I love the music, the frantic single-screen gameplay, and the bright artwork that defines Taito's classic arcade output.

Straight from the TurboGrafx-16

The history of Parasol Stars is a bit unusual for a classic franchise. Bubble Bobble launched in arcades in 1986 and became a massive hit. Taito followed it up with Rainbow Islands in 1987. But when it came time for the third chapter in 1991, Parasol Stars skipped the coin-op market entirely. It was developed specifically for the PC Engine (known as the TurboGrafx-16 in North America) before eventually getting ported to the Amiga, Atari ST, Game Boy, and NES.

In this entry, protagonists Bubby and Bobby retain their human forms from Rainbow Islands. Instead of blowing bubbles or shooting rainbows, they wield magical parasols. You use the umbrella to block projectiles, stun enemies, and scoop up bad guys to toss them across the screen. The stages are filled with elemental droplets of water, fire, lightning, and stars. If you catch five of them on your parasol, they merge into a massive attack. The water drop causes a flood that washes down the platforms, while the lightning drop sends a horizontal bolt of electricity across the screen.

A spiritual successor from 2005

The second game in the bundle, Spica Adventure, is a deep cut. Taito released it to Japanese arcades in 2005, and it never saw a home console port until now. You play as a girl named Nico who navigates 2D platforming stages using a familiar yellow parasol.

The mechanics borrow heavily from Bubby and Bobby's third outing. Nico uses her umbrella to float, attack, and bounce off walls to reach higher platforms. The game runs on the Taito Type X arcade hardware and includes 28 stages with branching paths. Including it alongside Parasol Stars makes perfect sense. It is essentially a spiritual successor that most players outside of Japan never had the chance to try.

I still have my NES cartridge

Ocean Software handled the original NES port of Parasol Stars back in 1992. It was a compromised version of the TurboGrafx-16 original, with slower gameplay and missing levels, but it was the only way I could play it at the time. The PC Engine version has always been the definitive release, and that is the version ININ Games is bringing forward in this collection.

The bundle supports two-player local cooperative play for Parasol Stars, just like the original release. Spica Adventure remains a single-player experience. Both games include the standard modern emulation conveniences like save states, display filters, and remappable controls.

Taito's platformers from this era have a specific rhythm to them. You start out just trying to survive, and eventually you figure out how to chain enemy defeats together to spawn high-value fruit and score items. Parasol Stars perfects that formula. The screen gets chaotic quickly, especially in the later worlds like the Casino Star and the Machine Star. Having it bundled with a lost 2005 arcade game is a great excuse to revisit the series.