Rainbow Islands (2001)

Yes, Bubby and Bobby fans, it's the sequel to Bubble Bobble -- Rainbow Islands (You may have been one of the few who saw it in the arcades).

Island Fever

In this one player adventure Bubby travels to the Rainbow Islands in search of seven colored diamonds. There are seven levels of action, each with four stages and one big boss to fight (32 stages in all). Each stage has several different areas. If you "do the right thing" there's also a special bonus world. Just as in Bubble Bobble you must snag special treats, avoid nasty bad guys, and collect letters for a special surprise (this time you get to spell RAINBOW).

But that's about where the similarity ends. Our buddy Bobby has apparently fallen prey to the evil Bubble Dragon. Instead of bubbles Bubby uses Rainbow Magic to grab treats and subdue bad guys.

Rainbow's End

At first Rainbow Islands seems a little cloudy. The two-player simultaneous action was half the fun in Bubble Bobble, and it's missed in Rainbow Islands. Challenge-wise the first several levels are too easy and the action only picks up with Level Three.

On the other hand, Rainbow Islands does use many of the same fun devices of the original that make all kinds of unexpected things happen. You can also do some really nifty tricks with your rainbows.

Although Rainbow Islands doesn't quite live up to its classic predecessor, it captures some of Bubble Bobble's magic. There's a little pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.

Eat rainbow, insufferably cute animal scum! TDK Mediactive is new to the world of videogames, its first foray into Game Boy Color territory coming in the form of Game Boy versions of fairly old arcade licences. The first, Elevator Action (reviewed elsewhere in this issue) is a fairly entertaining game. The next: Extreme Sports is – frankly – pants, so much so that we decided it wasn't worth reviewing. The real jewel in the crown for TDK though, and the game which every (every!) self-respecting Game Boy Color owner should have in their collection, is a masterpiece of platform action by the name of Rainbow Islands.

Long term gamers will be familiar with this title, which met with some considerable success both in the arcade and on various home gaming formats in the days before the PlayStation and the N64. The plot of the game is simple: a pair of small boys called Bub and Bob (who used to be dragons, but more on that in a minute) have to save a little archipelago called the Rainbow Islands. This is a tiny cluster of islands upon which all sorts of weird and wonderful creatures live strange and bizarre lives.

Somewhere...

Now, if you're old enough, then you'll probably remember Bubble Bobble, a terrific arcade game (which has also been released on the Game Boy Color) which starred two little dragons – the aforementioned Bub and Bob – who had to fight through level after level of strange meanies in a quest to save their girlfriends, with naught but a strange capacity for blowing bubbles and a few handy power-ups to help them.

Bubble Bobble was simple, cute and incredibly addictive and thus it was inevitable that it would spawn a sequel. Rather than just produce another identical game with different levels though, arcade-master Taito instead came up with a slightly different concept. Bub and Bob became human, and instead of bubbles, they fired rainbows (as you do) and thus Rainbow Islands was born (shortly afterwards the boys swapped their rainbows for rather camp parasols, but we don't like to talk about that).

Rainbow Islands on the Game Boy Color is a practically flawless conversion of the arcade game. Unfortunately it's only one-player (a link-up option would've been the icing on the cake!) but despite this it's one of the most addictive games you're ever likely to play.

The object of the game is a simple one – make your way from the bottom of each stage to the top, collecting various bonuses and avoiding/offing all manner of nasty creatures along the way. Each island is divided into six stages, every two stages you get a bonus, and then at the end of the sixth stage you meet a huge level boss.

...Over The Rainbow...

The key to the addictiveness of Rainbow Islands is in the rainbows. These function as weapons, as a means of getting about, and as a way of uncovering hidden bonuses. Fire a rainbow into a bad guy, and you turn them into a fruit which you can then collect for extra points.

Drop a rainbow on a bad guy however (accomplished by making a rainbow and then jumping through it, causing it to fall down the screen) and it turns into something more special – either a high-scoring object or a power-up of some kind. Falling rainbows also often reveal previously invisible items.

In addition to their offensive capabilities though, your rainbows also make exceedingly good bridges. Once you've got the hang of it, it's possible to make your way up the screen without ever needing to stand on a platform, and indeed, on the later levels you pretty much have to do just that!

Da Boss!

At the end of each of the islands, you come across a huge boss monster. These are all themed to match the island, and strangely, their toughness doesn't always match the difficulty level of the island – ie: some of the early bosses are incredibly tricky while a few of the later ones are a complete walkover! Essentially, defeating each boss is simply a matter of learning their attack pattern and keeping out of their way!

Initially you can only fire single rainbows and they come out fairly slowly, however by collecting potion power-ups you can increase the number of rainbows you can utilise, and the speed at which they are produced. You can also get a running shoe, which increases the speed of your movement – very useful against the nippier enemies.

...Way Up High!

The game is divided into three different modes – Story mode, Score Attack and Time Attack. In Story mode you initially have access to six different themed islands, each of which has its own particular look and suitable enemies (like Insect Island, for example, where all the bad guys are insects or variations thereof). Finish all the islands in Story mode successfully and you get access to a seventh, Dragon Island. However, play the game in one of the other two modes, and you get access to yet more islands – a total of 11 in all – each with six stages and an end-of-island boss. While it is possible to get through the initial six stages fairly quickly, the later islands ensure that you'll have plenty to keep you coming back to the game, long after you would've tired of others.

The only real downside to Rainbow Islands is that there is no save facility, not even a password, and this is a shame because it means you lose all your scores once the machine is turned off. Despite this though, the game is an absolute must-buy, with ultra-addictive classic arcade gameplay and some of the best graphics yet seen on the Game Boy Color. Oh... and it has some of the catchiest music too! If you've got a Game Boy Color, then you really need to get a copy of Rainbow Islands, it's as simple as that!