Banana Islands

Public domain games that are ‘influenced’ by famous games of the past usually come under one of three categories. Some are witless remakes with inept control, poor AI and ridiculous level designs, while others capture the magic of the original but add new ideas and neat technical features, while more can be seen as pure parodies, done with tongue firmly in cheek. You’ll find a bit of all 3 of those types in this Rainbow Islands-esque platform game written by a Nottingham University student.

You’re in control of a monkey, who must throw bananas at the various baddies, many of which are borrowed from Taito’s coin-op. The bananas can be used in many different ways, with the chance to hit, trap or dodge enemies. The levels resemble those in Rainbow Islands visually, but with different layouts. After a certain period of time a ‘hurry up’ message appears, causing water to flood the level – this is expanded from Rainbow Islands because the water takes longer to flow through densely-platformed areas, and a reflection effect is visible.