Rainbow Islands.

Rainbow Islands… now there’s an arcade classic that anybody of a certain gaming generation would have proudly had in their collection, back in the day. It’s almost impossible to not think of it when listing those seemingly immortal classic games. Bit does its reputation precede it?

It’s fun and colourful, pretty playable and moderately addictive. It’s also pretty tough, and with occasionally poor sprite collision and a pitiful number of lives at the start, it can become very frustrating, very quickly.

Of course, once you power up, with your multi-arc rainbows and other goodies, Bubble ends up pretty tough – though in a single hit, you’re reduced back to nothing. The end of level bosses are fun and challenging, and the overall world of the game has a certain charm. The rainbow-oriented gameplay still feels original and creative, providing a reminder as to the game’s lasting appeal and why is was o good at the time.

However playing Rainbow Islands today, I soon found the music infuriating, and by the Amiga’s standard, the cutesie graphics are blocky, garish and poor – increasingly so on the later levels. You can’t help but feel that this game should have looked and sounded so much better on the Amiga.

Granted, I’m harder to please and less patient at 40 than when I was 12 and first played the game. Although I enjoyed the nostalgia of playing it again, the appeal soon wore off as the game quickly becomes tedious and repetitive after you’ve made it through a dozen levels.

There’s no denying Rainbow Islands is a classic, but some classics have worn better than others, and I’m not entirely convinced that Rainbow Islands quite lives up to one’s expectations today.