147. Rainbow Islands Revolution (Marvelous Entertainment, DS, 2006)

I'll admit, I never cared much for the original Rainbow Islands 1987 arcade game. It was subtitles as "The Story of Bubble Bobble 2", but I never gelled with the central rainbow-making mechanic, compared to the fun trap and pop rhythm of the original Bubble Bobble. So I was expecting Rainbow Islands Revolution to be a boring remake of a game I didn't really like. Turns out, the gameplay is pretty different, and controlled entirely by the DS stylus.

While the first Rainbow Islands was a platformer where you could shoot out rainbows to be used as weapons / bridges, in Rainbow Islands Revolution, both character movement and rainbow creation are controlled by the stylus. Your character is in a bubble, and can be dragged around the screen, but you can also draw a rainbow by using the stylus anywhere except your character. Rainbows act as physical barriers, but if an enemy is caught in a rainbow while it is being drawn, they will die. You can also tap on a completed rainbow and it will fall straight down, taking out any enemies in its path.

I can't say they didn't try, this is certainly a new way to looks at the Rainbow Islands formula, but the end result is not even as fun as the original. The easiest way to make it through stages is to just scoot forward a little bit at a time, protecting yourself with rainbows while taking care of any enemies before you can inch forward again, and the pace is just not fun. I had a better time in the first few easier levels before I realized I could draw rainbows, where I was just dodging enemies and making a mad dash for the goal area. I can at least say that the graphics are done in a pixel art style that feels like a nice upgrade to the original visuals.

2/5, an inferior update to a game I didn't like in the first place, but it's got a few ideas