Rainbow Islands is first and foremost a brilliant game that I would recommend to anyone and apart from a few frustrating moments on the last few lives I have left it should be classed as one of the best underrated games of all time. It is the second in the Bubble Bobble series and is followed by two more classic arcade games in the form of Parasol Stars and Bubble Bobble part 2. The aspect that appealed to me most when I picked up the controller and played for the first time was the instant colour that greets you on the first level.
The heroes of this game are ironically two brothers (sound familiar!) Bub and Bob who must fight through an original number of 7 islands each of varying difficulty and then onto a final boss at the end of the fourth level of that island. If the player however completes the game collecting all 7 big diamonds in the correct order (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet) on each of the islands, 3 secret isles are added to the game. The initial 7 islands start with Insect and the boss of a giant spider, Combat which finishes with a helicopter and Monster with a fiendish vampire at the end of the fourth level. The next 4 levels consist of
Toy Island with a giant clown as your nemesis at the end, Doh’s Island which I found toughest as the number 5, Robot who is governed by the namesake Robot and the last of the original levels is Dragon Island. Aside from attempting to complete the game through the normal route, there are many items and bonus points to be awarded for successful enemy kills including the classic rainbow drop onto their heads. Items range from the very unrewarding green peppers, aubergines and carrots to the highly satisfying jewels, crowns and necklaces which can immediately launch your score into the records. The ability of this game to appeal not only to first time novices but the experienced hardcore gamer sets it apart from many of its puzzle game genre challengers. The “hidden depths” of this are seemingly never-ending and after almost a year of constant gaming I still don’t think I have unlocked everything! If there is anything else to unlock I am sure that this game will stay turned on for many more months to come.
