VC/WiiWare Tuesday: Rainbow Islands!

Wow! Just a few weeks after the release of Bubble Bobble Wii, Taito just sneaked out a WiiWare version of its sequel, Rainbow Islands! As with Bubble Bobble, we knew that it was coming at some point, but we had yet to see any screens or gameplay information. Now it's out, and it appears to feature timed ascents up huge, vertical stages. Also out this week: a WiiWare version of The Game of Life.

• Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure (1-2 players, 800 Wii Points)
• Madsecta (Onslaught) (1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points)
• Jinsei Game (1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points)

In other Taito news, today marks the release of the second version of Space Invaders: The Original Game on the Japanese Virtual Console. This time, the PC Engine version of the ancient shooter is being released -- at exactly the same cost as the Super Famicom/SNES version, making the decision between the two basically a matter of platform preference. Unless silly anime-girl backgrounds make a big difference, in which case it's PC Engine all the way.

• Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes II (Mega Drive, 1 player, 700 Wii Points)
• Space Invaders: The Original Game (PC Engine, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points)

[Screens via Inside-Games]