Review
Release Date: 1991
Platform:
TurboGrafx-16Developer:
Taito CorporationPublisher:
Working DesignsReviewed by
Brian J. Balsan on 4.26.2003
| Review Rating: 8/10 | User Rating: 7/10 |
Before Working Designs became one of the early pioneers in the CD-ROM media for consoles, they, like everyone else in the late 80s, did their thing with limited storage capability. In this case, HuCards, Flat credit-card sized pieces of plastic with a small ROM chip connected to a set of pins. Hey, it was enough to make a game, and the TurboGrafx was home to some rather accurate arcade ports. Parasol Stars (The Story of Bubble Bobble 3) was one of them.
Parasol Stars, just like Rainbow Islands and the original Bubble Bobble before it, is a simple concept, only except bubbles or rainbows, this time it's an umbrella....hey, whatever makes a good game, right? And Parasol Stars falls into this "Simple but fun" catagory. If you know Bubble Bobble, you know this; defeat all the enemies to make it to the next stage. After several stages, you reach a big boss at the end (Not bad for a TG16 game), More baddie-busting, more big boss fighting and so on...This is simple arcade gameplay at its purest, Some may think it too repetitious, others may consider it good wholesome fun.
Graphics are really pretty. Really colorful worlds, enemies bosses...It truely feels like an arcade experience. Sound is also really good. There's only one soundtrack but it makes nice use of the TG's good-for-its-day sound chip. Controls are rock-solid and simple to understand, making it a good pick-up-and-play kind of title. And it's two player, you can't go wrong with that.
Again, people may consider this game too simple, especially in an era of deep-story RPGs and fancy 3D graphics, but for a good, mindless romp where the biggest challenge is reaching the high score, Parasol Stars is it.
