Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2 is a masterclass in vertical platforming, successfully transitioning the series from the single-screen arcade style of its predecessor into a sprawling, multi-tiered adventure. Players control Bubby and Bobby, now in their human forms, as they ascend through seven distinctly themed islands, ranging from Insect Island to Robot Island. The core mechanic revolves around generating rainbows, which serve as both a versatile weapon to trap enemies and a temporary bridge to reach higher platforms. It is a deceptively simple system that hides a surprising amount of depth, particularly when managing the screen-clearing "falling" rainbows or chasing the elusive secret diamonds.
This 8-bit port, handled by the wizards at Graftgold, is remarkably faithful to the arcade original despite the aging hardware of the Master System. While there is unavoidable sprite flickering when multiple rainbows and enemies occupy the same horizontal plane, the vibrant color palette perfectly captures the whimsical aesthetic of the Taito classic. The scrolling is smooth, and the controls remain tight, ensuring that the precision required for later boss encounters—like the giant spider or the mechanical dragon—feels fair. The music, though simplified, retains the iconic, upbeat melody that defines the cheerful atmosphere of the series.
Released late in the Master System’s lifecycle in 1993, Rainbow Islands stands as one of the platform's most polished and essential titles. It manages to cram a significant amount of content into a cartridge, including the hidden "True Ending" which requires players to collect seven small diamonds of different colors on every island to unlock the final secret zones. This layer of complexity encourages replayability and rewards players who master the nuanced physics of the rainbow arcs. It remains a definitive example of how to scale down a high-end arcade experience without losing the soul of the gameplay.
