Addicted To Fun - Rainbow Collection

Addicted To Fun!

This is a compilation released by Ocean Software called Addicted To Fun: Rainbow Collection which features three classic Taito games: New Zealand Story, Bubble Bobble, and Rainbow Islands. I have already featured two of these games here but sadly I've never "clicked" with Bubble Bobble. In fact, I hated it if I'm honest!

New Zealand Story was one of the first 16-bit games I saw when I was still a ZX Spectrum guy. Sadly, that was on a mate's Amiga and months passed before I managed to "source" the Atari ST game. It's brilliant, although the difficulty increases after the first couple of levels. You might need a trainer with extra lives?

Rainbow Islands needs no introduction because it's a fantastic arcade conversion with glorious graphics, sounds, and gameplay. In fact, it's one of the best conversions and one I am proud to own. Yes, I bought it!

New Zealand Story.

Rainbow Islands.

Umm, so what about Bubble Bobble?

I figured I should try the other disk inside the lovely Ocean plastic bag. Remember, I've never been a fan but I decided to give it my best shot. Well, the first thing I noticed is the music - it never stops! And I didn't see anything in the manual that says how to turn it off but it actually becomes enjoyably bewitching.

The levels are all on the one screen and first appear humble in design, but somehow I get the feeling this is exactly how it's meant to be for progressive effect. There are a few monster cuties and killing them is easy - hit fire to blow a bubble and turn them into fruits! Don't dare bump in the baddies or you'll lose a life but there are lots of power-ups and I got another shock on level 5 when water poured in and washed me away!

Overall, I still prefer Rainbow Islands over Bubble Bobble but this is an excellent and faithful conversion. I loved it because it's simple yet insanely addictive with bucketloads of fun. I wonder why I didn't enjoy playing this back in the day? Madness!! I admit I was stupid because it is a brilliant Atari ST game.

Bubble Bobble

- DOWNLOADS AND LINKS -

8BitChip has Bubble Bobble ready to be installed onto a hard drive!

But if you need a floppy disk image look no further than Old Games Finder.

Fancy a couple of juicy tips. Of course, you do!

          -> Stand beside a wall, close enough to blow a bubble that instantly pops, for extra points!

          -> When you lose your last life, hold down the fire button and you can continue playing.

StrategyWiki has a helpful guide which explains the basics for us Bub/Bob noobs.

Here is a cool web page and shows the Atari ST has the best version.