Rainbow Islands reworked for DS

Rainbow Islands Revolution will be the next in Rising Star Games' series of classics updated for Nintendo DS, and should be with us here in Europe during February, the publisher's announced.

Although graphically it'll be mostly familiar, as you can tell from the screenshots, RSG reveals that the actual gameplay's been radically reworked to make use of the stylus for control.

Players will now direct Bub or Bob, who sit in an eternally floating bubble, by touching and dragging them with the stylus. Rainbows will be drawn directly onto the play area, and can be used to trap enemies individually or in groups depending on your current level of rainbow power. There'll be a cap on how big your rainbows can be, but this can be increased by collecting certain familiar power-ups.

The new control system changes the pacing quite significantly, RSG says, presenting all sorts of new strategic possibilities - there's even a special mode that allows you to clear the entire screen of enemies from time to time for a big bonus.

That said, the DS version will remain true to the original visually at least, with original enemies and bosses, as well as the old "Goal In!" level endings. "Rainbow Islands Revolution even has the same secrets and techniques for unlocking the secret islands," according to RSG COO Martin DeFries. One noticeable change though will be the new player sprites, drawn up by Harvest Moon artist Igusa Matsuyama.

"It's as close to a genuine update as you could ask for - but with the new touch-screen control method, it also adds something entirely new," says DeFries.

RSG says we can expect more details in the next couple of months, including news of an additional single-player mode and a pair of multiplayer modes. We'll let you know what those are when we do.