We are still waiting on a suitable Amiga AGA emulator with robust recording features before tackling such games.
Bubble Bobble also featuring Rainbow Islands
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Download Part: 1Player's Review
Bubble Bobble also featuring Rainbow Islands was released for PlayStation/Saturn and PC in 1996 by Probe and Acclaim. It features Arcade conversions of the Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands original Arcade games.
Neither game is arcade accurate and are possibly ports of earlier 16bit efforts on the AtariST/Amiga and PC. The title of this compilation is odd in that the main game here is Rainbow islands as the game is available with original arcade graphics or an enhanced much more colorful look. Even the intro seems geared more towards rainbow islands.
Part1: Bubble Bobble.
I play through the game as usual and show the 3 secret rooms available at levels 20,30 and 40. I also use the level warp with the level 50 secret door. Level 72 was annoying with a potential game breaking bug. The bubble would not form in the right place and would too easily pop. I had to die here in order for the bubbles to work properly again. I finish the game with the good ending by activating player 2 just before killing the boss. I show the bad ending afterwards which you get in one player mode.
Another bug I encountered (Not Shown or game breaking) is that level 95 offers a level warp (Umbrella) to level 100. After defeating the boss and going to high score screen it says I only made it level 96 yet player two made it to 100. The game does not appear to have 'Super Bubble Bobble mode' and no secret message appeared to provide a code to enable it.
Overall I found this port of the game frustrating in places as the game mechanics differ slightly from other versions. Bubbles could be easily moved into walls which doesn't help me at all and sometimes you get pushed around by bubbles which hinders you ability to jump on them with any accuracy. I also note that the scores at the top of the screen seem to bleed into the level graphics.
00:05:40 Game Starts
00:59:50 Bad Ending (One Player)
Part2: Rainbow Islands
This game is provided in two versions and I play the enhanced version since we have longplays already with the original look. The new look is ok...yet somehow appears amateurish. I don't let it bother me though. I present the video in a similar fashion as I did with the Spectrum version. After the demo real, I show the bad ending as it acts as a kind of introduction and tells you what you are supposed to do. The gameplay shown here is my second run where I collect all stars in order and show all the secret rooms and get the good ending.
In my first run I just collected all the diamonds and got the good ending, but it told me I needed a higher score and should collect diamonds in order. I did this in the second run but still got the message. Game bug I guess. The extra 3 islands with the magical mirrors are not in this version of the game. Being converted by Graftgold I suspect it is pretty much based on their earlier 8/16bit conversions.
You might just get a glimpse of the extra hearts on the title screen which you awarded each time you complete the game with good ending. I suspect there are 7 to collect but I do not know if anything is supposed to happen if you collect them all. I am also not sure if they appeared in other conversions.
Examining the files on the disc, Rainbow islands seems to be mostly a single executable with tile sets split between original look and new look. All the sprites and tiles are stored in .tim files. The classic versions contains the tile for showing islands 8,9,10 on the map screen and both games have the tiles for the mirror gfx. Neither have tile sets for the actual 8,9,10 islands though so they are defiantly not in the game but I can see 7 coloured hearts which I think are linked to the title screen.
00:02:34 - Game starts
Neither game is arcade accurate and are possibly ports of earlier 16bit efforts on the AtariST/Amiga and PC. The title of this compilation is odd in that the main game here is Rainbow islands as the game is available with original arcade graphics or an enhanced much more colorful look. Even the intro seems geared more towards rainbow islands.
Part1: Bubble Bobble.
I play through the game as usual and show the 3 secret rooms available at levels 20,30 and 40. I also use the level warp with the level 50 secret door. Level 72 was annoying with a potential game breaking bug. The bubble would not form in the right place and would too easily pop. I had to die here in order for the bubbles to work properly again. I finish the game with the good ending by activating player 2 just before killing the boss. I show the bad ending afterwards which you get in one player mode.
Another bug I encountered (Not Shown or game breaking) is that level 95 offers a level warp (Umbrella) to level 100. After defeating the boss and going to high score screen it says I only made it level 96 yet player two made it to 100. The game does not appear to have 'Super Bubble Bobble mode' and no secret message appeared to provide a code to enable it.
Overall I found this port of the game frustrating in places as the game mechanics differ slightly from other versions. Bubbles could be easily moved into walls which doesn't help me at all and sometimes you get pushed around by bubbles which hinders you ability to jump on them with any accuracy. I also note that the scores at the top of the screen seem to bleed into the level graphics.
00:05:40 Game Starts
00:59:50 Bad Ending (One Player)
Part2: Rainbow Islands
This game is provided in two versions and I play the enhanced version since we have longplays already with the original look. The new look is ok...yet somehow appears amateurish. I don't let it bother me though. I present the video in a similar fashion as I did with the Spectrum version. After the demo real, I show the bad ending as it acts as a kind of introduction and tells you what you are supposed to do. The gameplay shown here is my second run where I collect all stars in order and show all the secret rooms and get the good ending.
In my first run I just collected all the diamonds and got the good ending, but it told me I needed a higher score and should collect diamonds in order. I did this in the second run but still got the message. Game bug I guess. The extra 3 islands with the magical mirrors are not in this version of the game. Being converted by Graftgold I suspect it is pretty much based on their earlier 8/16bit conversions.
You might just get a glimpse of the extra hearts on the title screen which you awarded each time you complete the game with good ending. I suspect there are 7 to collect but I do not know if anything is supposed to happen if you collect them all. I am also not sure if they appeared in other conversions.
Examining the files on the disc, Rainbow islands seems to be mostly a single executable with tile sets split between original look and new look. All the sprites and tiles are stored in .tim files. The classic versions contains the tile for showing islands 8,9,10 on the map screen and both games have the tiles for the mirror gfx. Neither have tile sets for the actual 8,9,10 islands though so they are defiantly not in the game but I can see 7 coloured hearts which I think are linked to the title screen.
00:02:34 - Game starts
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