Rainbow Islands

The Good
Rainbow Islands is the sequel to Bubble Bobble. In this predecessor, if you got to watch the true ending to this game, then you would have seen Bud and Bob rescuing their girlfriends, and transform from dragons to cute little boys (I apologize for referring to them as dinosaurs before). You don’t get to see the last of them, in Rainbow Islands, where all people who inhabit the Rainbow Islands are turned in bubble dragons, and either Bub or Bob must turn them back, and save the islands.

You job, as Bub or Bob, must get through seven islands filled with wildlife that are hazardous to your health, and the only way to survive on each island is to get rid of it. You do this, not by blowing bubbles, but by simply shooting rainbows at them, or by dropping rainbows onto them. You can also climb rainbows, then when you do, you can shoot more rainbows. This makes it easier to reach platforms. And not only that, but when you feel that you shot enough rainbows, you can jump on them and the rainbows drop. This last technique helps defeat bosses at the end of each island. Some enemies become more aggressive when you get further into the game, and throw things like fireballs, arrows, thunderbolts, and even bombs.

You start the game off with one rainbow, but once you collect enough items scattered on each island, you’ll end up getting to shoot three rainbows and with maximum speed. Unfortunately, if you lose a life getting through each of the islands, you have to start all over again. Each island consists of four rounds, making it a total of 28 rounds. At the end of each island, a boss, a larger version of one of the enemies you meet in each round, will be there waiting to knock you out. Each round has a time limit, meaning if you spend too much time in a round, the words “Hurry Up!” will scroll across the screen. Shortly after, water will flood the entire round, and drowning will result in a loss of life. This also applies when you are trying to defeat the bosses.

If you do survive all 28 rounds, you’ll receive a bad ending because you can’t save the inhabitants and turn then into human again. To do this, you must collect seven big diamonds on each of the seven islands. Collecting these will reveal three more islands, each with four rounds also, bringing the total number of rounds to 40. Then on all three islands, you must collect 21 more small diamonds so that you can get the three mirrors needed to start up the machine capable of turning the bubble dragons to normal people. This will eventually lead to the good ending.

The NES version also has dialogue in between islands, telling you a part of your mission. The background music in the computer versions (C64, Amiga, Atari ST) has a slightly distorted version of Judy Garland's classic Somewhere Over The Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz, while the console versions (NES, Sega Master System) plays a different tune altogether. The graphics in the Amiga version comes close to the arcade's, since the graphics have more of a cartoon feel to it. Rainbow Islands is available on all computers and consoles three years after it hit the arcades. The music in the console versions is slightly different from what you’ll hear in the computer versions, apart from the version included in this remake.

The Bad
Nothing, apart from the fact that I didn’t like playing Rainbow Islands again just to get the good ending instead of the bad one.

The Bottom Line
This game can might as well be addictive if you keep playing the same game just to receive more than one ending like Rainbow Islands. This game is followed by a sequel called Parasol Stars, where the object of the game is to wipe out enemies by using an umbrella on them, not by shooting bubbles or rainbows.

Rating: ****

The Good
There's a certain magic to this game that few others can come close to. The gameplay is brilliantly designed, with the rainbows adding all manner of seat-of-the-pants strategy. You can use them to 'shoot' bad guys, or trap them inside one's arc, or clip them with one. All the while you can let them go into just the right position so as to gain the gems you require, as which of the 7 colours you get depends on where the bad guy lands.

The seven levels are suitably varied in terms of the baddies on offer, with some having attack patterns and strategies that beggar belief in their intricacy, and well-drawn and colourful considering the limits of the system.

By scrolling vertically, and having the 'hurry up' feature forcing you to get to the top in a certain amount of time, the challenge is increased, and the tension is immense as you try to stay above water.

Controls are slick and responsive, and with no unexpected deaths or blind jumps (inevitable with the vertical scrolling) you know that every time you die, it's your own fault - something few platformers can claim.

The cutesy colours and music only add to the charm.

The Bad
The hidden fruit of the arcade game is gone, as are the secret islands (which werenn't even in the Amiga version), and some of the end-of-level baddies are a little too easy, especially Combat Island's helicopter

The Bottom Line
An unusual platformer, which like its predecessor Bubble Bobble (and sequel Parasol Stars) features gameplay largely structured around the use of a particular item - rainbows in this case. You fire them off with any contact killing bad guys. This can be on top of them, into them, or up at them. You start with only one, slow-paced rainbow, but up to 3 can be collected, as can a speed-up, as well as magic shoes which allow faster jumping.

The game is split into 28 levels across 7 different worlds, from Insect Island to Monster Island and Doh's Island, each featuring a variety of themed enemies. Each island ends with an end-of-level boss.

When bad guys die after being killed in particular ways, they release one of 7 coloured gems. Collecting all 7 in an island gives an extra life, but to complete the game properly you have to collect all 7 in the correct order, from red to violet in the order of the rainbow, every time. This'll take a while!

The Good
For raw playability this game is really up there. Once you realize what this game is about (getting those gems in Rainbow order), you begin to see that it goes a little deeper than your first expect. Once you get this game mastered you can quickly lose hours playing it. Much more playable than Bubble Bobble (at least in one-player mode).

The Bad
No simultaneous two-player mode! :( The original arcade didn't have it, but boy it would have been fun! Plus there's some islands missing (in order to fit the game into the Amiga's 512k memory, or so they said).

The Bottom Line
More fun that it first looks, another Amiga classic!