The basic premise of the game is that each level is an island which is slowly sinking into the sea. The player must therefore get to the top of each level, by jumping on platforms and making use of the game's most distinctive feature: the ability to produce solid rainbows, which are used both as platforms to stand on, and as a weapon.
One of the features which sets this game apart from many others (and has no doubt been responsible for the game's popularity) is its 'hidden depths'. While initially appearing to be quite a simple game, Rainbow Islands in fact has a vast number of secrets for the player to discover, including secret levels, secret power-ups and riddles. Because of these elements, completing the game properly requires a large amount of dedication from the player. The scoring system also has secrets, which allow vastly higher scores to be achieved than normal.
The game is set on a chain of ten islands, each one with a different theme. Each island provides four rounds of gameplay, and once these are complete the player moves to the next island in the chain. The islands get progressively more difficult, with enemies moving much faster on the later ones.
In order of play, the islands are:
- Insect Island
- Combat Island
- Monster Island
- Toy Island
- Doh Island
- Robot Island
- Dragon Island
The three secret islands are:
- Magical Island
- Darius Island
- Bubble Island
These are depicted on a map screen before the start of each island. The three secret islands are not visible before fulfilling certain conditions; see the Diamonds section for more information. Most consumer versions of the game completely lack the secret islands.
The main characters are Bubblun and Bobblun, the protagonists of Bubble Bobble (known as "Bub and Bob" in the U.S. release). However, in this game they appear in their human forms as "Bubby" and "Bobby", as opposed to the "bubble dragons" of the first game. Also unlike the first game, players must now "alternate" (i.e., take turns), with player one as Bubby (green shirt), and player 2 as Bobby (blue shirt) (as with the first game).
Game structure
Level format
Every round has essentially the same format. The player begins at the bottom of a long, vertical level, and must reach the 'Goal' at the top.
Levels are filled with structures and platforms that can be used to ascend. On the way up, various enemies will attempt to thwart your efforts. A collision with an enemy results in the player's death. In addition, some enemies possess projectile weapons which will also kill the player.
If the player spends too long on a level, the message "Hurry!" appears on screen, accompanied by an urgent klaxon. Subsequently, the music speeds up, and a few seconds later, water begins to fill up the screen from the bottom. Immersion in the water results in death (it is possible to "wade" in it, up to about neck-deep), and thus the player must hasten his or her efforts to reach the Goal.
If the Goal is reached, a victory jingle is played and the message "GOAL IN!" appears on screen. As a reward for the player, a large chest full of bonus food items drops in and scatters its contents over the Goal platform, leaving the player to collect these to obtain more points before the round ends.
Bosses
At the top of the last round of every island, there is a large boss enemy, which is in most cases an enlarged version of one of the regular enemies on that island. Bosses are significantly tougher and better armed than their smaller counterparts. If the boss is defeated, a chest drops in and scatters its contents, in the manner of regular Goals, with the addition of a big 'points item' (which is always either an aubergine, an apricot, bananas, green grapes, a slice of cake, a money bag, or purple grapes). However, if all seven diamonds have been collected on that island, the big 'points item' is replaced with a big diamond.
Additionally, if certain conditions are met, which the conditions on the screen appears after the best ending, the boss can be skipped entirely.
Rainbows
The player's singular special ability is the power to create rainbows (similar in concept to Rainbow Brite's powers, but much more linear). These manifest as arcing trails left by a bouncing star. Unlike their physical counterparts, these rainbows are solid and can be walked upon by the player, or by enemies. If they are not collapsed by the player, they remain fixed in space before eventually disappearing, either after a number of seconds, or if a large number of rainbows have been created since (there can be only a finite number of rainbows on screen; approximately eight).
Offensive uses
Collapsing a rainbow before it is fully built (i.e. by firing a rainbow then immediately jumping on it) will result in the whole rainbow being immediately built and collapsing. This can provide a very effective way of rapidly collapsing rainbows; if firing a triple rainbow, you can jump on the first rainbow and it will immediately build and collapse all three, saving potentially vital seconds.
A collapsing rainbow will also collapse other rainbows in close proximity, allowing the player to cause large cascades of collapsing rainbows.
Additionally, collapsing rainbows will collect any items they collapse through. Direct projection can also be used, but the arc shape means that it can easily miss.
Rainbows can be jumped on without collapsing them if the jump button is held down.
Defensive uses
Trapping
Because of the arc shape of a rainbow, enemies can be trapped underneath them. It is then a simple matter to collapse the rainbow on top of them. Trapped enemies always become angry.
Blocking
Projectile weapons can be blocked by rainbows. The rainbow is always destroyed in the process.
Escaping
A rainbow can provide a quick exit away from danger if necessary; it is possible to form an ascending path of rainbows without jumping. The player can easily walk on rainbows to cross from one side of the screen to the other, even through walls.
Rainbow upgrades
A rare special item, the rainbow cross, will provide fast quadruple rainbows for the remainder of the level.
Enemies
Every island has its own set of enemies; on Insect Island the player is confronted by ladybirds, spiders, and so on, while Combat Island features tanks and helicopters. However, many different enemies on different islands exhibit the same base behaviour.
Enemy deaths
When an enemy is killed, it turns blue and harmlessly spins through the air in a parabolic manner. When or if it lands on a platform, it turns into a bonus item.
Anger
As in Bubble Bobble, enemies can become angry. When this happens, they turn red and become faster and more aggressive. Enemies can be made angry in three different ways:
- Trapping an enemy underneath a rainbow.
- Spending too long in the presence of an enemy without killing it.
- Spending too long on a level such that it begins to flood with water. When this happens, all enemies on the level immediately become angry.
Collectable items
An essential element of Rainbow Islands is the collectable items. In a typical game, hundreds, if not thousands, of items will be encountered.
The game has a total of 135 different items, all of which fall into one of three categories:
(There are also 22 'big' versions of items, awarded at the end of boss rounds.)
Goodies
Goodies are by far the most common type of item: they are littered all over each level (some visible and some hidden). They are also produced from killing enemies by firing a rainbow directly at them. When the 'Hurry!' message appears, all the goodies in the entire round are removed.
Goodies, quite simply, reward the player with points. There are 80 different kinds of goody (mosty different types of food), starting off with the green pepper (10 points), then the aubergine (20 points), then the carrot (30 points), and so on all the way up to the gold crowns and money bags (10,000 points).
Hidden goodies
Roughly half of the goodies scattered throughout the levels are hidden, and are only revealed when a rainbow is fired through them. Hidden goodies are normally on 'the ground' (ie directly over platforms), however, there are certain points where hidden items can be found in mid air. Sometimes, several hidden items will occupy the same location (appearing on top of each other); this is never the case for visible goodies.
Sequential scoring
One of the lesser known features of Rainbow Islands is its sequential scoring system that allows very high scores to be gained. The normal visible goodies tend to be random low-scoring items, so it is difficult to achieve a high score from collecting them. Other goodies, however, such as those that are hidden or produced from killing enemies are not random: they appear according to a sequence starting with low point vegetables worth 10s of points and progressing to crowns and jewelry worth as much as 10,000 points. The sequence is only reset when the player loses a life. This allows high scores to be achieved from collecting as many hidden objects as possible within each life.
Diamonds
The second type of item in Rainbow Islands is diamonds. Diamonds are the key to completing Rainbow Islands properly, and seeing the true ending. Diamonds are produced by killing an enemy with a collapsing rainbow, with a star, or with special powers granted by a power-up.
There are seven diamonds; their colors are: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. The color of diamond that appears depends upon the horizontal location of where it lands on the screen. A diamond formed in the leftmost seventh of the screen will be red; in the second seventh it will be orange; and so on in the color order listed above. As diamonds are collected, diamond icons appear at the bottom of the screen to signify which colors have been collected so far.
Completing the game fully using diamonds
Collecting all seven colors of diamond before the end of the island gives the player a huge bonus, and rewards the player with a big diamond when the boss is defeated (instead of a big goody). Collecting this big diamond also gives a huge point bonus, and the fact that you have collected it is denoted on the map screen. A big diamond must be collected on all seven of the islands in order to reveal the three secret islands (not available in conversions of the game). In the secret islands, the equivalent of the big diamonds are colored mirrors(bronze, silver, gold), all three of which must be collected in order to complete the game fully.
Silver doors, secret rooms and Power-ups
Collecting all seven diamond colors in the rainbow order (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet), before the end of the island, gives the same bonus as normal, but also causes a 'Silver Door' to be revealed on the boss screen. This door leads to a secret room, and allows the boss battle to be bypassed completely. The player may still fight the boss and collect the contents of the bonus chest before entering the door if desired. However, this is risky as the door will disappear if the player loses a life.
Each of the islands, except for the final one, has its own secret room. Inside each secret room is a big diamond, the same as is dispensed from the bonus chest when all seven diamonds are collected. This makes it possible to collect two big diamonds on each island, to get more points (if the boss is defeated without losing a life).
More importantly, each secret room contains a super special bonus item, as listed below:
Additionally, there is an obfuscated lettered code written at the top of the level. This is a cheat code, and can be entered before a game starts to activate the corresponding power-up. The means of entering this code differ between the different computer versions of Rainbow Islands.
Warping to island 8 removes the requirement of getting all 7 big diamonds to get the best ending, even though they are not displayed on the map screen.
Power-ups
The third and final type of item in Rainbow Islands is power-ups. Power-ups are sometimes found placed around the levels, but the more common way to acquire power-ups is by killing enemies. For every third enemy that is killed, the item produced will always be a power-up (the other two will produce either a goody or a diamond, depending on the method of killing).
There are six standard power-ups, which always appear in the following order:
- Red potion (again)
- Yellow star
Special power-ups
Every eighth power-up is a special power-up. There are 42 in total, most of which have effects that last only temporarily or until the end of the round.
Which special power-up will appear depends on criteria unique to each one. For example, the red ring will not appear until three shoes have been collected, while the protective cape will not appear until the player has died ten times. In general, the more rewarding special power-ups have more demanding criteria.
Groups| Power-up | Number of power-ups in each group | Effect |
|---|
| Cane | 7 | Make crushed rainbows turn into several goodies. (Each color of cane requires seven of that color diamond.) |
| Ring | 3 | Award points for walking/jumping/firing. |
| Tiara | 3 | Make stars appear (in various ways) to kill enemies. |
| Lamp | 3 | The yellow and red lamps make money bags appear; the blue lamp gives the player full rainbow power-ups. |
| Sceptre | 3 | Cause one of three hints (A-C) to be displayed at the end of the round. A further three hints (D-F) are shown in the secret islands. |
| Bottle | 7 | Cause big goodies (worth 100,000 points) to come out of the chest at the end of the round. This will never replace big diamonds, however. (Each color of bottle requires two of that color cane.) |
Unique special power-ups
Rainbow star
Extra life.
Peacock feather
Protective fairy circles the player.
Blue chalice
Kills all on-screen enemies.
Balloon
Colored balloons float up through the screen, which can be popped for points.
Protective cape
Invulnerability.
Blue bell
A bell rings when the player stands over hidden goodies.
Magic wand
Turns all hidden items into red stars.
Clock
Freezes enemies for several seconds.
Blue potion
Unknown.
Rainbow potion
Surrounds the player with protective balls.
Gold cross
Fires lightning bolts which kill enemies.
Rainbow cross
Gives the player fast quadruple rainbows.
Book
Allows the player to fly.
Rainbow necklace
Gives the player all seven diamonds, in order.
Shooting star
Applies a random special power-up.
Flash bubble
Makes the following power-ups permanent: shoe, red potion, yellow potion and peacock feather (fairy).
References to other Taito games
Rainbow Islands is packed with secrets of various nature, as well as many references and homages to other Taito games.
- One such reference is the fifth island, Doh Island, a reference to the game Arkanoid, also by Taito. This level plays as any other, but the enemies are the same as encountered in Arkanoid, and the platforms are designed from colored blocks. Also, the music is absent and the player's jumping sound resembles the sound of the ball hitting the bat in Arkanoid. Losing the final life in this island also results in the game over music from Arkanoid instead of the usual Rainbow Islands music.
Similar homages and references can be found on all three secret islands:
- Magical Island (the eighth one) refers to Fairyland Story, and the graphics, music and enemies are the same ones found in that game.
- Darius Island (the ninth one) refers to Darius, and the graphics, music and enemies are the same ones found in that game.
- Bubble Island (the tenth one) is a homage to Bubble Bobble, and the music and enemies are modeled after the original game.
Another reference to Bubble Bobble can be found in the death animations of enemies: if a crystal ball has been collected, the animation frames of defeated enemies will turn to the death frames (blue) of a Bubble Bobble enemy, instead of a Rainbow Islands one, for the remainder of the level. The behavioural pattern of the enemy in question determines which Bubble Bobble enemy is revealed when it is killed.
Extra version
Rainbow Islands Extra Version is a modified version of Rainbow Islands; the game is exactly the same except the stages' enemies and bosses appear in a different order (much like Bubble Bobble's Super Mode). The game was included as a mode in the Sega Mega Drive version of Rainbow Islands. It was licensed to Romstar for US manufacturing and distribution.
Ports
Rainbow Islands has been converted to the following home computer and video game console platforms:
- Commodore 64 (1989, Graftgold/Ocean)
- ZX Spectrum (1989, Graftgold/Ocean)
- Amstrad CPC (1989, Graftgold/Ocean)
- Amiga (1990, Graftgold/Ocean)
- Atari ST (1990, Graftgold/Ocean)
- Sega Mega Drive (1990, Aisystem Tokyo/Taito) (released as Rainbow Islands Extra)
- NES (1991)
- Sega Master System (1993)
- PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 (1993, NEC Interchannel)
- Microsoft Windows (1996, Graftgold/Acclaim)
- PC (1996, Graftgold/Acclaim) (released as Bubble Bobble featuring Rainbow Islands, optionally plays with improved graphics)
- Sega Saturn (1996) (released as Bubble Bobble featuring Rainbow Islands, optionally plays with improved graphics)
- PlayStation (1996, Graftgold/Acclaim) (released as Bubble Bobble featuring Rainbow Islands, optionally plays with improved graphics)
- WonderSwan (2000, Bandai) (released as Rainbow Islands: Putty's Party)
- Game Boy Color (2001)
- PC (2005, Empire Interactive/Sega) (released as part of Taito Legends)
- PlayStation 2 (2005, Empire Interactive/Sega) (released as part of Taito Legends)
- Xbox (2005, Empire Interactive/Sega) (released as part of Taito Legends)
- Mobile (2005, Taito) (released as mobile version for various handsets)
Critical reaction
Rainbow Islands was the first game to make #1 on Amiga Power's annual All Time Top 100 list, and held the spot for years until losing to Sensible Soccer, which retained the title for the rest of the magazine's run.
The ZX Spectrum port of the game was awarded 94% in the April 1990 issue of Your Sinclair and was placed at number 8 in the Your Sinclair official top 100. It was also awarded 94% score in Crash.
UK magazine C&VG gave the ST version a score of 93 %, praising the graphics and calling the game addictive and "tremendous fun".
Trivia
- The overworld music from original arcade release of Rainbow Islands featured a musical motif from the song Over the Rainbow. Due to fears of copyright infringement, the song was replaced with an alternate, unnamed piece of music in many of the re-releases. The emulated version present in the more recent Taito Legends collection keeps the original theme, but the audio channels containing the offending melody line have been muted. Slightly remixed versions have been made for the Revolution port on Nintendo DS (one per each island using the theme).
- Obtaining the true ending in the Arcade game, displays a screen with text in katakana that anticipates the story of Bubble Bobble Part 2 (the NES game). Oddly it is presented as the "Legend of Bubble Bobble 3". Below, the enemies of the original Bubble Bobble are seen as they turn into human beings. This last bit may not have any particular significance (but it might if we consider how a certain item changes dying enemies into Bubble Bobble ones and how much changing innocents into monsters is featured in these games).
- There are actually two completely different conversions for the NES with the European version being far more faithful to the arcade original than the version released in the US. The latter is very similar to the Master System version, it doesn't seem to make a difference if diamonds are collected in the proper order, it's one player only and some islands are not in the game (Toy, Magical and Dragon, though some elements of the latter are included in Monster Island). However not all changes are for the worse as there is also an all new KiKi KaiKai Island (see screenshots in external links), there is a different Darius boss, and some extra plot (also to explain why Bob is not playable: he gets himself in all sort of troubles but eventually helps Bub enter the last island as stated in the manual) with several alternative endings not featured in the arcade game.
- The Game Boy Color version of the game has a rather bizarre introduction: Bub and Bob fly through space with the Parasols they are supposed to receive only after the game, wondering what adventure to go on next, when they run into Darius monsters kidnapping the president of the Rainbow Islands who, rescued, tells them monsters have returned to Rainbow Islands. Judging by this, it would seem that despite the title and gameplay in terms of story this may be intended as a sequel to the original Rainbow Islands and Parasol Stars (you can find screenshots of this in the external links below). However the rest of the game is pretty much the same as the original arcade but this port features all islands, even the KikiKaikai one.
- Steve Turner quoted in the french magazine joystick reveals that Ocean software did not allow Graftgold to add a 3rd floppy disk for the remaining islands. Hence the Amiga and ST versions are cut down and do not have the real final ending.
References
- ^ Rainbow Islands
- ^ Glancey, Paul (September 1989), "Wonderboy III", Computer and Video Games (no. 94): 80–81
External links
- Rainbow Islands Info Pages a detailed and comprehensive collection of information about the game
- The Arcade Flyer Archive the game's official flyer
- Rainbow Islands home port screenshots
- Rainbow Islands Amiga conversion
- Rainbow Islands Nintendo GBA (Unfinished)
| Bubble Bobble Video games |
|---|
| | Bubble Bobble | Bubble Bobble • Part 2 • Bubble Symphony • Bubble Memories • Revolution • Evolution • Double Shot | | | Rainbow Islands | Rainbow Islands • Revolution • Evolution • Parasol Stars | | | Puzzle Bobble (Bust-a-Move) | Puzzle Bobble / Bust-a-Move • 2 / 2X • 3 • 4 •Millennium • Pocket • Super (3000) • Super Puzzle Bobble 2 • Azumanga Daioh • DS (Hippatte!) • Bash! | | | Related games | Chack'n Pop • Fairyland Story • Puzzle De Pon |
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