Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2

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Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2

Developer(s) Taito
Publisher(s) Taito
Designer(s) Fukio Mitsuji
Platform(s) Arcade, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Amiga, NES, Master System, TurboGrafx-16, FM Towns, WonderSwan, Game Boy Color, Sega Saturn, Playstation, Mobile
Release date(s) 1987
Genre(s) Platform
Mode(s) Up to 2 players, alternating turns
Input methods Joystick (2-way); 2 buttons
Cabinet Upright
Display Raster, 320 x 224 (horizontal), 60 Hz, Palette Colors 8192

Rainbow Islands (レインボーアイランド Reinbō Airando?) is a 1987 arcade game from Taito. The game is subtitled "The Story of Bubble Bobble 2" and is the sequel to Taito's hit game Bubble Bobble from the previous year. It is the second of four arcade games in the Bubble Bobble series (followed by Bubble Symphony and Bubble Memories, but itself has two direct sequels: Parasol Stars and Bubble Bobble Part 2). The game was ported for numerous home computers and game consoles.

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.

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

The second stage of Rainbow Islands.

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. These are depicted on a map screen before the start of each island. The three secret islands are not visible until all 7 big diamonds are collected. 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 western releases). 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).

[edit] 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). Rainbow Islands Extra was released in limited quantities in the arcade. The game was also included as a mode in the Sega Mega Drive version of Rainbow Islands. It was licensed to Romstar for US manufacturing and distribution.

[edit] Ports

Rainbow Islands arcade PCB (Taito B22)

Rainbow Islands has been converted to the following home computer and video game console platforms:

[edit] 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[1] 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".[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Rainbow Islands
  2. ^ Glancey, Paul (September 1989), "Wonderboy III", Computer and Video Games (94): 80–81 

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Bubble Bobble Video games
Bubble Bobble
Rainbow Islands
Rainbow Islands • Parasol Stars • Revolution • Evolution • Towering Adventure! 
Puzzle Bobble (Bust-a-Move)
Related games
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