Regional Game Differences - NES - Rainbow Islands

[blind51de]

Euro version is just a porn of the arcade or amiga version.

[nickantibarney]

the european version is a different port. shocker.

[EyeAmTom]

my version of the game is the pal version the last 1 u showed i have to get the NTSC 1 i think

[Protagonist]

God damn Ocean were crap.

I always wondered what the fuss was about this game...now ive seen i was playing the wrong version.

Ocean = LJN?

[BetaArchiveCommunity]

PS: Why did it take long to bring NES Rainbow Islands to USA?

[BetaArchiveCommunity]

If Ocean had the rights to Rainbow Islands in Europe/Australia, is Ocean related to Tatio?

[htdmc2010]

@BetaArchiveCommunity

Taito were the original developers of the arcade game and ocean did the porting to the NES and home computer systems. Ocean also did alot of porting of other companies such as sega for the home computers and mostly they were bad.

[MrHossCartwright]

Thanks for uploading this video. I just now found out about there being 2 versions of Rainbow Islands on the NES. I instantly wanted to find out what the differences were, and your video explained it. I am SO getting the Ocean version of this!

[akualung]

It would be great if someone made a hack inserting the jap version music in the eur game. That way we would get a very faithful conversion of the orginal arcade (considering the obvious limitations of the nes hardware)

[ScrewAttackEurope]

The PAL versions of Rainbow Islands didn't have somewhere over the rainbow as Taito never obtained the rights, so got into a lot of legal shit. Which is why it's been removed from all re-releases since (inc the XBLA version)

Also Ocean had the rights to Rainbow Islands in Europe & Australia, so they made their own version. The Amiga version they made is arcade perfect.

[eukokhey]

it's nice for u to illustrate the sound tracks of different styles of this game..

btw, how can I find the complete sound tracks of the original version?

also, i want to see all the levels of the original version^^

[nufcdazzla]

In europe we got this game on the Master System, and to be honest, it is a far superior port, the NES port over here got absolutely and rightfully slated

[sparrabee]

@nufcdazzla Seem to remember TOTAL! independant nintendo magazine in the uk giving this game 91%, never played the master system version but the nes version in NO WAY got slated, cant see the ms version being that much better with them both being 8 bit consoles and all.

[MegaGoat]

The EU version is broken, even though it 'looks' more faithful to the arcade

Bub is a slow faggot

You can't bounce on the rainbows

The diamonds are small as shit, it's hard to get a set, let alone in order

Pickups will disappear cuntingly fast like a Jew

Enemies go into PMS mode in seconds

Flood moves up the screen, not up the level, so you can't run from it

Amiga, Atari ST, C64 and ZX Spectrum versions were published by Ocean; despite missing levels, they weren't fucked, minus ZX colour clash

[roorleper420]

@MegaGoat Also the EU version has 2 player mode which is fun.

[Ukinece]

when I hear this game soundtrack it makes me feel like I was young again!!!^^

[Andres33AU]

Oh wow, the differences are a lot. Ha ha! I too felt it sounded like a rip off of "Somewhere over the rainbow" =P ha ha nah it's all good.

I played the European version, and I realise how different it is from the others (coz it's published by Ocean?). Kinda weird though: Ocean presents to you... a game by Taito! lol. Thanks for bringing back memories.

[KarmaXprod]

The Japanese Level 1 music sounds a LOT like "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" from the Wizard Of Oz movie.

And i'm sure that's not a coincidence, seeing as both things are based on "rainbows".

I'm betting the US version was changed for potential copyright reasons, or fear of lawsuit from MGM.

[fenrisulvr]

@KarmaXprod your train has come 15 years too late.

[eman3030150]

the ps2 port is the best

[sparrabee]

@eman3030150 deffo, its just as you would play in the arcades. taito legends ftw!

[Drakulbites]

I've got a question. Do the US and Japan versions have the flood? In the European version, if you took too long on a level, a siren went off, the word "HURRY!" flew across the screen, the music sped up and water starter rising from the bottom of the screen. Was that a Europe thing or did everyone have that?

[3sque]

The US version does that as well.

[Mariwa69]

this game is awesome!

[wrestletube1]

We got the best version.

[sayastra]

the european version has better graphics (to state the obvious) probably running on a different engine.

[leopardseals]

I'm trying to find an English rom of this game, but I keep getting a strange version that is nothing like the NES version that I remember. The stages are shorter and the music is nothing like what's in this video.

[sayastra]

is that even the same system for the european version? Like i wanted to by the (very rare last title for bubble bobble one the nes) Parasol stars, but i would have to order it in and get a bumble bee adaptor (or some other adaptor)

[shinynewjb]

Yeah, that's the European NES version, done by Ocean (who were based in the UK). It's much more faithful to the original arcade version. You might say for once Europe didn't get screwed over by conversions :P.

[PeromyscusLeucopus]

I've noticed that the Japanese version of Rainbow Islands has a few bars from Somewhere Over The Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz, while they took that out in the North American version.

[shinynewjb]

The original arcade version has the same music as the Japanese version I do believe. Had to take it out for legal reasons.

[mariomario8489]

Or Copyrights just like *cough* Viacom *cough*.

[KiwiEvilFruit]

Oh good!! I'm not completely crazy! I did hear that. XD

[mevans1982]

Although the European version is much closer to being a faithful arcade port compared to the Jap and US versions, one thing that really bugged me about it was that you couldn't bounce on a rainbow by holding down the jump button...the rainbow would always just collapse. Kind of annoying if you mistimed a jump as you couldn't use old rainbows to stop you from falling down the screen!

[ToxieDogg]

Yeah, I've noticed that :( Also the gems seem to appear at random, there seems to be no proper way of making them appear like in the arcade version. :(

[sayastra]

to get more gems i find making a rainbow above the enemies and than having the rainbow fall on them works best- makes more diamonds.

[SSJMegla]

@mevans1982 That was one of its best aspects. You could brag more when beating it ;)

[Alianger]

seems like the euro version is very similar to the extra version for MD, are they arcade perfect?

[moriya2k2]

that Japanese music is clearly "Somewhere Under the Rainbow". i'm guessing they changed it, cause of license issues.

[crisco1up]

i played the american virsion when i was little i thought it was pretty fun

[marcusnns]

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

[deSolAxe]

hmm ... quite strange... I'm from europe.. but my NES was brought from vietnam including all games.. and i had amercan version :-/

[leson2403]

Of course, they must be the American version. If it include "all games" then you had bought a pirated version, and looks like American versions are always the targeted versions :))

[Megadeth72]

i played this game

20 years ago!

[darkcloud0710]

...the jap version song is somwhere over the rainbow from wizard of oz

[Kuhneghetz]

I'm very much aware of that. =)

And that version of the song has been used in other Rainbow Island ports, except for Master System port which uses the USA version.

[Infernolord]

it wasn't used in the ps1 port either

[Meneseth]

LOL, the EU version sucks! Not just the music, but the graphics are even worse!

[Drakulbites]

Really? I think the EU version is the better version. The graphics are bigger and there are more colours on screen in the EU version. The music isn't as high pitched as the other versions and has a nice laid-back leisurely feel to it. Plus the screen that shows you what level you're on is actually a series of named islands connected by rainbows and not just 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 as in other versions. Not to mention it has a 2-player option.

[Meneseth]

Dunno, I've played the jap version first, so, maybe that is why I thought it sucks, perhaps I'll try it later...

[FrostyHeadset]

Having played both, but growing up on the US version, I would say the JAP/Us version has a smoother control system, as well as not as many graphics problems. The EU version has that funky tendency to turn the background inverted on certain drops, and makes the game look amateur. Also, the rainbows are a little less bended in the US and Jap versions, giving the player more options when running around.

[bazfanv2]

european version owns, can i say owns at 33 years of age, oh well maybe not. The euro version was a bit slower but it was closer to the arcade than the others, and the best 8bit version of this port belongs to the c64. Thankyou.

[BassX0]

I never realised how inferior the American version looked or even that there were differences. I got the European Rainbow Islands some fifteen years ago and it quickly became a classic in our family. I don't know about which version is closest to how it should actually play but I'm happier that we got our version. Larger graphics, better presentation, and although musical preference is different for everyone, I much prefer our own version's music - the American version sounds really off to me

[FrostyHeadset]

Wow. Growing up on the American version, looking at the European version is like.....and insult to my childhood. It lacks the happy music and quaintness of the game that the Japanese and American versions had.

[mr3urious]

It's hard to notice at first, but the level theme in the Jap. version contains parts of the song "Over the Rainbow".

[MidnightMidna]

Most likely the reason why it was replaced with a soundalike for the NES version - Taito of America was afraid MGM would've sued.

[NintendosAdvocate]

I alway's wonder why games have differences just because they're from different regions? Cool but sometimes sucky! I just ordered the USA version of this. I can't wait to get it.

[PikaPalRika]

I LOVE THIS GAME!!

It fastforward..

[Bloodreign1]

While the European version appears to be superior, it has a major flaw, diamonds can't seem to be gotten the normal way by dropping rainbows on top of the enemies, they seem to appear more randomly.

[vikingscool]

WOW!! I had not seen it before for European

Version. I think EU version is best for NES

because it including better graphics with worlds, title screen and score is available

in UK! What a lucky UK people who played this

game. It's my favorite game! I want to buy

EU game sooner.

[Jac2Mac]

And what's really odd about the UK version is that it uses the old Taito logo even though it came out in 1991.

[Drakulbites]

Ywah that was a perk of being an EU gamer. The game was usually very slightly improved but sometimes things where altered like Super Mario Bros in the UK had better sound quality than the Japanese version but the game moved much slower in the EU than in Japan.