Rainbow Islands

~ RAINBOW ISLANDS ~

Taito / NEC Avenue

CD-ROM

1993

Well, I like Parasol Stars but not nearly as much as everyone else seems to, and the consensus seems to be that Rainbow Islands is similar to Parasol but not nearly as good, so I was expecting RI to be rather bleh. I actually ended up loving it.

Its race-to-the-top gameplay appeals to me much more than Parasol Stars' bumble-around-in-a-box formula. At first, it kinda reminded me of the vertical levels in Kid Icarus, but with much more color, much faster action, and far less suckiness. The best thing about it is that you can do so many different things with your rainbow weaponry, from killing enemies to nabbing items to building bridges.

The level themes, especially the game-related ones (elements of Darius, Bubble Bobble, and Arkanoid are incorporated), add a lot of personality to concepts and mechanics that are entertaining to begin with. The bosses are awesome, and to top it all off, there's a sweet vocal number at the conclusion (if you get the good ending).

The one thing that bugged me at first was how bloody difficult it can be to get the elusive hyper items. (You have to collect diamonds in each world in the ROYGBIV order.) But when I finally got a few and realized how incredibly helpful they are, I understood why we have to go through such a trial to obtain them. And man, does it feel good to get them.

Unfortunately, Rainbow Islands isn't the easiest game to come by, and $90 seems to be a common price for it these days. I was fortunate enough to acquire it from a friend for much less than that a few years ago. Knowing now how enjoyable it is, I wouldn't hesitate to plunk down a decent amount of cash for it if I had to, but I'd probably wait until I was presented with a price significantly lower than the going rate.