Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands WiiWare

By Robert Purchese Published 6 April, 2009

Square Enix raids Taito cupboard.

A shellsuit-clad Square Enix plans to release Bubble Bobble Plus for WiiWare on 10th April, followed by Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure sometime in May.

These retro revamps harken back to the 1980s, but have some modern-day twists to hide their wrinkles.

Bubble Bobble Plus, for instance, arrives with fancy four-player co-op for the first time. Plus, there are tons of levels to platform through and various modes to spice things up - including two expert modes with 100 extra levels.

Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure returns with the regular Story mode, as well as a speed-based Challenge mode and Time Attack mode - where the toughest levels can be picked and then swiftly-bested for self satisfaction.

There's no word on a price for either just yet.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (12) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • spenner #1 3 years ago

    Bubble bobble now that takes me back first game i was ever addicted to on me old C64....get it on xbox arcade!

  • smelly #2 3 years ago

    Why do i get the impression they've ruined rainbow islands like they did with the awful ds version?

  • smelly #3 3 years ago

    .. and why not parasol stars (my favourite?)

  • GrandpaUlrira #4 3 years ago

    Did Square Enix buy Taito?

  • LazyDan #5 3 years ago

    AHHHH! RAINBOW ISLANDS!

    My all time favourite game and I've been praying for some kind of VC release of the arcade version since FOREVER. I see this news and I nearly soil myself.

    Then I remember I was cheated by Rainbow Islands DS.

    Then I look at some youtube videos of this WiiWare Rainbow Islands.


    Fuck you Taito.

    I can at least pray this is released alongside the arcade original :'(

  • kungfool #6 3 years ago

    I lost a whole summer playing Rainbow Islands on the Amiga. Amazing game. Learned the pattern of the first level so well that I could get a million points and unlock the secret door for the whole first world. Yes, check me out.

  • woodnotes #7 3 years ago

    Damn, these need to be on Xbox Live Arcade.

    I love Taito's old stuff.

  • Sean.Aaron #8 3 years ago

    Yes Square-Enix bought Taito awhile ago. Yes Rainbow Islands Towering Adventure sucks (read a review on my blog), yes Bubble Bobble Wii rocks and negates the need for the NES game or the arcade original.

  • thelatestmodel #9 3 years ago

    I've always had a crush on Rainbow Islands. It started with the Amstrad version, then on the Amiga, and even now I still get addicted to it on MAME once or twice a year. It's so under-rated, once you get the hang of all its subtleties and techniques it's just a joy to play. Great scoring system as well.

    I still find it baffling that Taito managed to fail so badly at reproducing it on DS. This probably won't be any better.

  • konniehuqfan #10 3 years ago

    i LOVE rainbow islands! it never gets the attention it deserves!

  • IronCladChicken #11 3 years ago

    So... anyone picked up a copy? Any good?

  • ozzzy189 #12 3 years ago

    I took my kids wii round to a mate to DL it. It's not bad (BB+), but it's not as good as it should be. The bubbles don't link together very well so you may think you can pop about 6 at once, but only 2 burst, and therefore it's hard to get big bonuses for lots of baddies at once. There are a few 'monster glitches' too, where a monster will get stuck in an inaccessible part of the screen. It's ok, but nowhere near the game it should be. From what i've seen of the new rainbow islands- the less said the better. Why can't we have bubble symphony and bubble memories on XBLA or wii ware ?