Captain Rainbow

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Captain Rainbow is a game for the Wii that was released exclusively in Japan and Taiwan on August 28th, 2008. It was developed by skip Ltd. and published by Nintendo. The main protagonist is Nick, who has an alter-ego named Captain Rainbow. Characters from several other Nintendo games make an appearance.

The game was only released in Japan and Taiwan. The UK-based Official Nintendo Magazine mentioned a possible release of Captain Rainbow in Europe in summer 2009,[1] but this never occurred.

Story[edit]

Nick comes from Mameruca, "The Land of the Free". His alter-ego Captain Rainbow is a yo-yo-wielding superhero who stars in his own TV show. However, the show is no longer popular because another superhero attracts the interest of the audience. In order to restore his lost popularity, Nick decides to venture to Mimin Island, an island where wishes are said to come true.

In a dark night, Nick ventures to the island by raft. During his journey, he notices a bunny-like creature desperately paddling in the water. In order to save this being, Nick transforms into Captain Rainbow and jumps into the water. However, his try fails and he sinks. The superhero loses his belt, which is needed for the transformation, and so Captain Rainbow turns back to the ordinary Nick.

When Nick regains consciousness, he has been washed up at the beach of Mimin Island. After a short moment of confusion, Nick spots that his belt is missing. Then he sees the belt being carried away by bunny-like creatures who have obtained it. Since this special item is essential for him, Nick starts exploring the island. It doesn't take much time to get the belt back. On Mimin Island, Nick meets various Nintendo characters who also came there because of their own dreams and wishes. During their conversations, he learns that no one's wish has actually been granted so far. Only with the help of a chosen hero, Nick, or rather Captain Rainbow in this case, the wishes can be granted. Nick decides to help the islanders. The hero gets support from bunny-like beings called Mimin, the dominant species of Mimin Island.

Gameplay[edit]

The player's task is to control Nick or Captain Rainbow in order to enjoy the island life with the other islanders and to help them. They all have their individual requests, which can lead to minigames such as boxing or golf. Nick can also do activities like fishing and bug catching. There are no strict presettings for what to do on the island.

By helping the islanders, Nick gets Kirarin (literally "Sparklies"). If 20 Kirarin are collected, a star will fall from the sky, which can grant a wish. It has to be carried to an altar on the top of the island. While doing this, mysterious black creatures named Shadows challenge Nick in order to get the star for themselves. If Nick successfully brings the star to the altar, the player is presented with two choices. Nick can either let the star grant his own wish to become popular again, or the wish of an islander. By taking the latter choice, the wish of the islander comes true and Nick has to collect new Kirarin to make another star appear.

Characters[edit]

While several of the characters are from different Nintendo games, a few were created specifically for Captain Rainbow:

  • Nick – A resident of Mameruca (a parody on America), Nick's alter-ego is Captain Rainbow. Although not as popular as he used to be, Nick came to Mimin Island with the dream of restoring his popularity.
  • Mimin – They are little bunny-like creatures with yellow ears. The original inhabitants of Mimin Island. They seem to have a connection with the Island's ability to grant wishes. They can be seen forming a bridge so that Nick can reach the shrine at the top of the island.
  • Shadow – After Nick obtains a star, this figure appears to steal the star away from him. Nick can try to knock him out with his Yo-Yo while in his Captain Rainbow form, but can also try to defeat him in a duel when the Shadow hits him in the back. A group of four Shadows can be seen dancing around a stolen star, slowly dancing its life-force away.

The following are characters who originally appeared in Nintendo games from the 1980s and 1990s, and a majority of them have rarely made a returning appearance:

  • Birdo (Catherine) (from Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic / Super Mario Bros. 2) – Birdo's reason to come to Mimin Island is to become popular with all the boys, but is arrested by Mappo after walking in the women's restroom, uncertain of Birdo's gender. Birdo claims that Nick is her boyfriend after Nick proves she is female and releases her from prison. Birdo lives in the Cute Home on a separated part of the Island. The interior consists of mostly pink colored furniture, ribbons, and eggs. The game continues the recurring controversy around Birdo's sex, where she claims to be female and that Nick is her boyfriend but she has a male voice.
  • Mappo (from GiFTPiA) – A robot jailer who came to Mimin Island to become a plainclothes officer instead of a Koban officer. Mappo lives together with Tao in a strange guard station with monitors resembling Mappo and a doghouse for Tao. It holds no furniture as neither of them have need for it. Birdo's cell is located here.
  • Tao (from Chibi-Robo! and GiFTPiA) – A dog whose dream is to do nothing but eat.
  • Drake Redcrest (Gitchoman) (from Chibi-Robo!) – An action figure who can be found on the beach, near the Famicom Wars Soldier's volleyball net.
  • Little Mac (from the Punch-Out!! series) – Mac's wish is to become a world champion once again. It is shown that, depending on how Nick helps Mac with his training, he can become either massive or incredibly thin. He lives in his boxing ring near Birdo's house.
  • Hikari (from Shin Onigashima) – She is shown to be intimate with Nick, as they can be seen sitting together at the beach at night. She lives in a house shaped like a Japanese shrine. Next to her house is a pond with a waterfall. She's much older here than in her original game.
  • Takamaru (from The Mysterious Murasame Castle) – His wish has something to do with the fact that he cannot control his excitement when thinking of women, which leads to extreme nosebleeds. He lives in a dojo so run down, that pieces of wall and roof are missing.
  • Ossan (from Famicom Golf) – He is portrayed as an old man. His house is fairly normal, besides the fact that it has a giant golf tee with a giant golf ball next to it.
  • Lip (from Panel de Pon) – Her dream is to become a great magician. She lives in a Mushroom shaped house which has a Piranha Plant from Super Mario Bros. in its garden. Her choice of interior consists of flower shaped furniture with eyes and crayon drawings of herself on rainbows.
  • Tracy (from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening) – Above her throne she has a portrait of Mario and Link next to an empty portrait that later in the game has a portrait of Takamaru. Her wish is to enslave all the men in the world. She lives in a Grand Mansion in the center of the Island where she usually sits on her throne with a swarm of flies swirling and buzzing around her (a small indication that she may be the flies queen). At night, she can be found in front of her mirror, powdering her face with flies or using the toilet behind a revealing shower curtain.
  • Famicom Soldiers (from Famicom Wars) – For some reason, their wish is to become good at volleyball. They train their volleyball skills during the day, search for shellfish when the tide is low and sit around the campfire at night. They live in a camp near the beach with a watchtower. Army binoculars can be seen together with a picture of Tracy with flies buzzing around it in the watchtower.
  • Devil (from Devil World) – His wish is to become the number one villain in the underworld. He lives in a house shaped like a skull with bat wings on a far side of the island where hardly any plants grow. His house is decorated with mostly skull themed furniture.

Staff[edit]

Main article: List of Captain Rainbow staff

Critical reception[edit]

Reviews
Release Reviewer, Publication Score Comment
Nintendo Wii Stuart Reddick,
Nintendo Life 		8/10 While it's hardly the deepest experience on the Wii, Captain Rainbow is one of the most bizarre games Nintendo has published in ages. From the game’s wacky graphics to the unique gameplay, Captain Rainbow has plenty going for it. The language barrier presents something of an issue, and it's worth bearing in mind that the game hasn’t been confirmed for a release outside of Japan, and may never be localized because of some of the content. Most of the game’s characters are of Japanese origin and have never seen the light of day in North America, which obviously causes some problems. However, Nintendo has taken a chance on quirky games before, so we can always hope for a worldwide release. In the meantime, if you're lucky enough to own a Japanese Wii then you should certainly try this out.
Nintendo Wii Richard Eisenbeis,
Kotaku 		N/A While there were some very funny moments to be found in Captain Rainbow, they are ultimately overshadowed by the sheer amount of mindless boredom that permeates the rest of the game. The gameplay is uninspired, the mini-games flawed, and the constant waiting unbearable. There is a reason Captain Rainbow was a commercial and critical failure here in Japan: It's a boring, monotonous game.
Nintendo Wii Rudy Lavaux,
Cubed3 		8/10 The sole fact that it's full of long lost or forgotten Nintendo characters, all in goofy roles and humorous situations should be enough to tease any long time Nintendo fan, especially if you played Nintendo games in the mid 80's to mid 90's, or like to play games from those eras. Unfortunately it's necessary to understand Japanese at least a little bit to really appreciate the story, humour, and most of all to understand what you have to do in the game. Luckily walkthroughs exist on the Internet to help you know what to do if you're stuck, and a fan group has taken on the task of translating the game in English and Italian, providing gamers a patch to be used with an original copy of the game when work on it is done. If you're up for an uncommon gaming experience, Captain Rainbow is sure to deliver this and leave you with a good feeling after playing it.
Aggregators
Compiler Platform / Score
GameRankings 80.00%

Sales[edit]

Captain Rainbow sold an estimated 6,361 copies in its first week.[2] By the end of 2008, around 22,682 copies had been sold.[3]

Gallery[edit]

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Captain Rainbow.

Names in other languages[edit]

Language Name Meaning
Japanese キャプテン レインボー
Kyaputen Reinbō
 Captain Rainbow

Chinese 彩虹隊長[4]
Cǎihóng Duìzhǎng
 Rainbow Captain

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ GoNintendo: Official Nintendo Magazine - tiny bits of info on Pokemon Platinum, Captain Rainbow
  2. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20090211182505/http://chartget.com/2008/10/media-create-sales-0922-0928-software.html
  3. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20090830044033/http://geimin.net:80/da/db/2008_ne_fa/index.php
  4. ^ Nintendo Taiwan website

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