When I originally got the Saturn a couple of years back, I thought what first game will I get that will show me what ''next generation gaming'' is about. My first game to demonstrate that?.....Bubble Bobble featuring Rainbow Islands??!....Well at least it's two great classics in one package.
STORY
-Bubble Bobble: As Bubby and Bobble accidently went into the forest with there girlfriends, a couple of wizards came out of nowhere and turned them into bubble blowing dinosaurs and kidnapped there girlfriends. Now they have to go down an 100th floor underground tunnel to save there girlfriends.
-Rainbow Islands (The Story of Bubble Bobble 2): Yep, this is in fact the sequel to Bubble Bobble if you didn't know. Now this time Bubby and Bobby are normal humans that can shoot rainbows ( bubbles and now rainbows?....what's with these two guys?! ), and they must stop the enemies from taking over the islands.
GAMEPLAY
-Bubble Bobble: The basic gameplay is simple, in each level you must destroy all the enemies on the stage you are on by shooting and catching them in a bubble and smashing it. But as you progress deeper underground you'll be faced with harder enemies with different tactics of attacking you. And if that doesn't make it hard enough for you, if you take too long to finish a level a ghost will appear and chase you until you finish the stage. Now there are plenty of items ( fruits,jewelry,staffs etc.etc. ) and special power-ups ( rapid shooting,speed etc.etc. ) that'll help make the levels a bit easier to get by. There are also special letters you can collect spelled ''EXPAND'', that if all collected will give you an extra life. Each stage has it's own unique look and usually the stage looks like a picture or words ( example: one stage looks like Space Invaders ).
-Rainbow Island: Instead of going down an underground cave, here you are on islands and must go up the stage. Your basic weapon is one strip of rainbow and you can basically hit any thing with it, but you can upgrade it to 2 or three strips and make it faster. As in Bubble Bobble if you wait in a stage to long it'll make it harder on you, and instead of a ghost, you have to out run a rising flood to the top of the stage or drown. Also as in Bubble Bubble there's items and special power-ups that'll help you out. There's colored gems in each island that you can collect that'll give you an extra life if you do. Now these aren't just plain islands that you'll come across, each island has a different theme ( toys, zombies etc.etc. ).
GRAPHICS
For it's time these 2 games ( Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands ) had nice looking graphics and a cutesy look that worked good with the game.
-Rainbow Islands Enhanced: Yes there is also a 3rd game on this disc, but the reason I didn't include else where is because it's basically Rainbow Islands with enhanced graphics. It has rendered graphics that make the characters just look shiny and the backgrounds look prettier then the original. But I don't think you'll care which version of the game to play since that improvement isn't much of a difference.
SOUND/MUSIC
While at times the games have some good sound effects, it's all just basic sounds you hear. And the music is good and fits the game well, but most of the time you'll be only hearing the same tune over and over again in both games.
REPLAYABILITY
There's plenty of replay value in both games cause there just so much fun to play. While they both will be hard had times, you'll still be able to enjoy yourself.
OVERALL
Overall you'll be getting two great Taito classics in one package added to your library that'll you'll probably gonna be playing over again through the years.
Overall Rating: 8/10