NES Parasol Stars: Rainbow Islands II (Europe) NES

[Juiceala]

Download from Repo​

• Parasol Stars: Rainbow Islands II (Europe) NES
• -

Not sure why the cover says "Rainbow Islands II" but the title screen says "Rainbow Islands III" but other sites refer to it as "Rainbow Islands II" so Rainbow Islands II it is.

 

[Slayzer Hiryu]

I rented this game a lot as a kid

Post automatically merged: Nov 14, 2025

I rented this game a lot as a kid.

 

[dada]

The PC Engine version is the original one. In an interview from Retro Gamer UK magazine, the Taito developpers said the chose the PC Engine specifically for its bright color palette. Ocean did all the other ports...and they're not know for making good ports.

 

[Ash Riot]

Yeah I had no clue about this version. Ive got the pc-engine one, actually found it with case and book at a random thrift store. They had no clue what it was so i paid 2 or 3 dollars

 

[throughdarkness]

Had no idea there was an NES release of this and that makes sense now since it was EU only. The NES port of Rainbow Islands is my favorite so definitely giving this a try.

 

[zavbaz]

At Sega Master System this game was more colorfull.

 

[JustLooking123]

I have played the PCEngine version of it!
It's one of my favorite games of all times!

 

[Alarond]

So, the CRC32 of this matches 'Parasol Stars - The Story of Bubble Bobble 3 (E) [!].nes' exactly. Gemini says they're the same game, just renamed differently depending on where released..but both are PAL. I'm confused on this one, a bit. Wikipedia says it was released as Rainbow Islands II on NES, and yet....this exists. Didn't see any sort of Start Screen hack on the usual spots either.

Edit: I know it is basically Rainbow Islands sequel, and the third game.

Edit2: If Nelson2001 likes this post, it is 'Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble 3' FOREVER.

Look... this game has one of the most f**** up title in the history. I think in fact, this game have literally 2 different titles, marked as 2 "different" sequels depending of which title you read. Plus, there are literally another 2 games in the series called "Bubble Bobble 2" and "Bubble Bobble II", both of which being released AFTER Parasol Stars (aka "Bubble Bobble III"), but do not worry, following the logic, they are just 2 completely different games, because... "Why not?".

(Taito executives deciding names for Bubble Bobble sequels).

I've never been able to remember what was the direct relation and order in this series without consulting. I only can remember Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands and Parasol Stars games... are literally the same game saga.
Puzzle Bobble / Bust-a-Move subseries which are technically also part of it, had its own conundrum: the "Bust-a-Move" games... should not be confused with another game of the late 90s, also called, "Bust a Move", for the original Playstation. This last game was a rythym game, appeared during the very same moment the Bust-a-Move (puzzle) sequels (2, 3 and 4) were appearing massively, at the same time, for all the consoles of that era (PSX, Saturn, N64, GB). Sony renamed that rythym game as "Bust a Groove" for its release outside Japan... but the original japanese name was also known by the western public, because was already shown (with its original name) for months, in the magazine previews/"new japanese games" sections. So...

(The US cover of Bust-a-Move 2 for PSX and Saturn editions, are just a nonsensical nightmare for a children-friendly game: Somebody in Acclaim wanted to be fired. GB and N64 later versions have no drug-addict faces with sticks in their eyes. Sorry Stephen King.)


The Bubble Bobble series titles are even more annoying than the Wonder Boy / Monster World and Adventure Island by (Escape/Westone, SEGA and Hudson Soft) which is another motherload of confusion and clones. Taito did a master job fucking children and adult minds forever, trying to remember or understand how this series goes. And it was just in the 90's! You could imagine they could not have enough time to do that "cluster F" in sequel titles: Square Enix has been trying hard the last 35 years to do the same, but they continue to be just pure amateurs. No wonder they bought Taito years ago...

 

[Nelson2001 Nelson2001]

I've played it once and it looks good to be the sequel to Rainbow Islands although in this one it is more like fixed-screen platformer like Bubble Bobble although the game system doesn't look so much like it but it has its own thing and is playable and for some reason the game it only came out in Europe and is only optimized to be played in PAL (50.08Hz) because if you try to play it in NTSC (60.10Hz) the game can go accelerated and with some Glitches which does not happen in the PAL version.

 

[The_Real_Thing]

So, the CRC32 of this matches 'Parasol Stars - The Story of Bubble Bobble 3 (E) [!].nes' exactly. Gemini says they're the same game, just renamed differently depending on where released..but both are PAL. I'm confused on this one, a bit. Wikipedia says it was released as Rainbow Islands II on NES, and yet....this exists. Didn't see any sort of Start Screen hack on the usual spots either.

Edit: I know it is basically Rainbow Islands sequel, and the third game.

Edit2: If Nelson2001 likes this post, it is 'Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble 3' FOREVER.