Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2

Following the events of Bubble Bobble, Bubby and Bobby set out to defeat the "Dark Shadow" and rescue the Rainbow Islands. The Dark Shadow is the entity responsible for the events in Bubble Bobble. The game is set on a chain of ten islands, each one with a different theme. Each island provides four rounds of game-play, and once these are complete the player moves to the next island in the chain. In each round the player must get to the top before the sea level rises and kills them. 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. Players can release rainbows that act as weapons, makeshift platforms, and item collectors. Slinging rainbows damages any enemies and acquires any items that the rainbows come in contact with. When jumped upon, they fall down, beating any enemies below them, and releasing a damage field above them. To get a big diamond, the player must collect seven different-colored small diamonds on the island and finish the round. The small diamonds are found by destroying enemies by dropping a rainbow on them from above or destroying them with various special items. After collecting the small diamonds, a word "NICE" appears. If the small diamonds are collected in the correct order, the player will get to a secret room at the end of each island, which contains a permanent power up. The color of the small diamonds depends on where the fallen enemies land, so the player can somewhat determine which diamond colors will drop. The scoring system also has secrets, which allow vastly higher scores to be achieved than normal. == Ports ==

The European Master System port contains a bug that crashes the game after Level 7, sending the player back to the title screen. If the level select code is used to access Level 8, the same glitch occurs at the end of that level completely preventing the player from seeing the ending. The Brazilian version has fixed this glitch. The European version of the NES port, developed by Ocean, aims to be more faithful to the arcade version, whereas the Japanese and North American versions have original level designs and story intermissions. Rainbow Islands Extra Version is a modified version of Rainbow Islands; the layouts of the islands remain exactly the same except the stages' enemies and bosses appear in a different order (much like Bubble Bobble's Super Mode). In addition, the bosses were made more difficult by adding more variety to their behavior. Rainbow Islands Extra was released in limited quantities in the arcade. The game was also included as a mode in the Mega Drive version of Rainbow Islands. The game was also included in the Japanese compilation Taito Memories II Jōkan for the PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation Portable collection Taito Memories Pocket. == Reception ==

In Japan, Game Machine listed Rainbow Island: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2 as the second most successful table arcade unit of November 1987. It went on to become one of the top ten highest-grossing arcade games of 1988 in Japan. The Spectrum version of the game was number one on the UK sales chart from May to June 1990 at the time of release. It was re-released at a budget price, and was number one again from October 1992 to March 1993. It was also the top-selling Amiga budget title of March 1992. UK magazine C&VG gave the ST version a score of 93%, praising the graphics and calling the game addictive and "tremendous fun". In issue 93 of the same magazine, the readers voted it the second best game of all time. It was also awarded a 94% score in Crash. MegaTech magazine said it was "virtually arcade perfect, with only flickery sprites letting the side down". Despite these accomplishments, in his review of the Bubble Bobble Featuring Rainbow Islands pack, Rich Leadbetter of Sega Saturn Magazine said Rainbow Islands was "vastly underrated and over-looked". He added that the gameplay still felt fresh and unique despite the passage of years, and was good enough to make the collection a must-have by itself. and again in 1992. It held the spot for years until losing to Sensible Soccer, which retained the title for the rest of the magazine's run. In 1992, Mega magazine ranked the Mega Drive version ninth on its "Mega Top 100 Carts" list. In 1993, Commodore Force ranked the game at number five on its list of the top 100 Commodore 64 games. In 1996, GamesMaster ranked the game 79th on its list of the "Top 100 Games of All Time". == References ==