I remember seeing this game way back in middle/early high school in all those sites and youtube videos showing "japans SECRET hidden gems that english speakers are TOO LAME to ever experience", and this game was one of the poster-games that kickstarted me actually getting off my ass to hit the books and learn Japanese. The game does have a fan translation, and ironically, that's actually what I ended up playing so the people watching me play could follow along in english.

Firstly, that fan translation. The website says that it's "95% complete" but imma be real with yall and say it's a good thing I actually knew how to read Japanese for when it shows up, because it really felt 75% complete at best. There were all too many times where the english text just gave up and just went back to JPN characters, and while I feel like enough is translated for someone with no japanese understanding whatsoever to fumble through the rough bits, it's certainly not ideal. The translation itself is also quite rough, there's a fair amount of typos and formatting errors. I can't really fault the game for these things, nor can I really dismiss the large amount of work that goes into fan translating a game in the first place, but it is worth pointing out for those that want to try this game out for themselves.

The premise of the game is absolutely me-bait. A game made by the chibi-robo developers that takes place on an island of misfit nintendo characters and you need to help them solve their problems and make their dreams come true as the titular captain rainbow.

The gameplay is quite unique, typical of skip games. There's like two gameplay modes; one where the game is a typical adventure game where you use your items and abilities to interact with and help the islanders with their various troubles. Eventually, once a problem is solved with an islander, a strong bond will be formed with them and they will give you these star collectables, which can also be found throughout the map. Collecting 20 stars will activate a starfall night, where a large star lands somewhere randomly on the island, and if you can find it, bring it to an islander that you have a strong bond with, and take them up to the heavenly star altar, you can ascend them to the stars, where whatever wish they have will come true. While ascending a character does remove them from the game permanently, the game is structured in a way where it both won't ever run out of collectable stars to activate the starfall nights with, nor will ascending a particular character get you stuck in a dead game. Ascend every character, and you get the good ending! Ironically outside of using the occasional ability and his quicker movement speed, there's not actually much use in playing as captain rainbow instead of his alter-ego, Nick, and the Rainbow transformation is on a timer that kills you if it runs out so I really spent most of the time in Captain Rainbow not actually being Captain Rainbow.

And as for the characters themselves, what a lively roster! There's Hikari from Shin Onigashima, Mappo from Giftpia, the soldiers from Famicom Wars, Takamaru from Nazo no Murasamejo, among other weirdoes and wackjobs from Nintendo's back catalogue. They all aren't the deepest of deep cuts, Birdo is a pretty popular Mario character and Little Mac has found new employment in Smash Bros, but most of the pulls are certifiably B-list. Despite the fact that every character has their own legacy's worth of history and background to pull from, surprisingly enough none of it really matters. You could pretty much replace the entire roster of wackjobs with generic equivalents and literally nothing would change whatsoever. You don't have to have played Golf on NES to know the old golfer mans unhygienic lifestyle, or read up on hours of Link's Awakening lore to understand what Crazy Tracy's deal is. It's incredibly beginner friendly for any newcomer to get into without needing to do piles of old Nintendo research, as the links between the characters and their mother IP is, quite literally, trivial. Did you know that Lip, the genki allergy-ridden magical girl in this game, is from Panel de Pon, the Japanese version of Tetris Attack? You don't need to. It doesn't matter.

Love-de-lic derivative games like this usually have some kind of greater message and theme in them, and I'm not entirely sure what this ones message is. The game is mostly about vibing on the island with a bunch of fellow misfits, all with unfulfilled dreams in their hearts and a whole lot of time on their hands. As the game goes on and more and more characters get ascended, things start getting really empty and lonely as there's just nobody around to give the island its energy. But the islanders have goals they want to accomplish, and while it's nice to appreciate the vibes of just being in that stagnant in-between part of life, by the end of the day it's better for everyone to go and make their dreams come true. And if you send someone out to make their dreams come true, they will inevitably come back. I think that's the kind of message the game is trying to convey.

The game certainly has a few qualms (why the hell is that stupid 50 hidden mimin easter egg hunt mandatory), but I did have quite a fun time playing through this game. It has that style of charm that skip/love-de-lic titles usually have, but without very many of the love-de-licisms that drive me crazy. It's just a very comfortable game to just be scooting around helpin people out on mimin island, and I'd definitely recommend giving it a try, jank enough as the English translation may be.

This is a game I've owned since my first trip to Japan eight years ago, but this month's TR theme finally pushed me to play it (I had always considered my Japanese not quite good enough to try it previously). A Japan-exclusive game I mostly knew for being one of Nintendo's worst selling first-party titles ever, it was only recently after playing moon that I learned that Captain Rainbow was the same dev team of Love De Lic alumni who made Giftpia and Chibi-Robo. With the combination of those two factors, I set to work at last playing through this oddball adventure game that I'd had on my shelf for so long. After 13 or so hours, I found my way to the good ending of the game.

Captain Rainbow is the story of the titular Captain Rainbow, or more accurately, Nick, whom Captain Rainbow is the alter ego to. He used to be a big shot TV superhero, hero to children everywhere, but as soon as a new big hero came onto the scene, Captain Rainbow found himself unloved and looking for answers. In his quest to regain his glory days, Nick builds a raft and sails off to find the legendary Mimin Island, where it's said wishes can be granted. Through some more shenanigans, Nick finds himself not just on the island, but also as the arbiter of wishes to the many other people who've come to the island. Those other people just also happen to be washed up Nintendo mascots from older games (a motley crew of characters from the nameless protagonist of Nintendo's "Golf" to even someone as recognizable as Birdo).

Captain Rainbow is an adventure game with some light action elements, and going around Mimin Island is how you'll experience his quest for renewed glory. Nick can transform into Captain Rainbow to use his yo-yo powers to destroy obstacles, but you have a timer on this and you'll need to eat fruit you find all around the island to refill your meter. If Nick chooses to help out the islanders with their problems and gain their trust, he can then take them up to the top of the island and have their wish granted (or he can just grant his own wish and get a bad ending). The only real action parts of the game come in this wish granting sequence, where you need to get to the shooting star that's landed (once you collect 20 little stars hidden around the island) and avoid evil ink-like darkness creatures who wanna steal the wish for themselves. Faking out these guys isn't too hard, especially if you're being Captain Rainbow to bop them in the face with your yo-yo. It's not super engaging, but like Chibi-Robo, Captain Rainbow's action segments are an element of the that doesn't exactly harm the game but definitely does feel out of place.

There are 12 islanders in total, and the length of just how much you'll have to help them with their problems varies from character to character. You actually never really see their wishes, and all you really see is Nick helping them improve their lives and qualities about themselves. Even as you go through the game, you end up playing as Captain Rainbow less and less as Nick is better equipped to solve their problems. The game's message is largely one around this, about how you don't need to be a super hero to help people out, and how you don't need some magic wish to make your life visibly better. All it takes to make things better and help people around you is to have the willingness to do it. It's not a story or message done quite as well as something like in moon or Chibi-Robo, but it's still a sweet story that I enjoyed most of.

That said, while the quality of the writing itself is often quite good, or at least charming, it often wanders into the realm of crass and even downright perverse. The game's treatment of Birdo may not be the most transphobic thing I've seen in a game (it's a disgusting caricature as opposed to being outright hateful/demonizing), and it honestly didn't ruin the game for me entirely (as it's out of the way fairly quick), but like how I feel with Mother 3, it's a black mark on the game's quality and is a HUGE caveat to anyone interested in playing it.

The game's presentation is very much in line with how Giftpia and Chibi-Robo look, but more towards how the former does things. The island is a super colorful but small location that you'll get to know pretty quickly, and the super deformed representations of other Nintendo characters is a mix of charming and uncanny. The music is also pretty good, and it suits the environments well. The themes of each of the islanders are also fun renditions either remixed from or inspired from (I think) the game's they're actually from, which is another nice touch.

Verdict: Hesitantly Recommended. This is a pretty solid adventure game (no real moon logic to be found), and I enjoyed my time with it for the most part, but with the language barrier as well as the spotty writing, I don't think it's one super worth going for. If what I described sounds like something you'd be up for, I wouldn't call you a weirdo for wanting to experience the game yourself. But if the choice of your time is between this or most else of the Love De Lic alumni's library, I'd say this is definitely one you don't really need to give your time to. It's pretty good, but it's not THAT good, and it's no huge deal that English speakers never got this game.

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This game sports one of the best videogame soundtracks I've yet heard. One listen to the day theme might lead you to join me in this conclusion. Unique, jazz fusion-flavored bass and guitar mixed with a bit of light and floaty ukulele, to give a sense of whimsy. Aesthetically, everything is bright and explodes with color. A vivid, tropical palette. Mixed with Skip (one of my favorite developers) quirky humor, we should have a masterpiece on our hands. Unfortunately, something went wrong here for me. Let's talk about what went right, first, however.
Captain Rainbow is up there in the echelon of unapologetically strange, surreal and colorful. Up there along with the games "Nintendo wants you to forget about", it is genuinely one of the most left-field games published by them. Perhaps we can even call it, for lack of a better term, the most "profane", humor-wise, of Nintendo's library.

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The story goes like this. Nick is our hero, who's superhero alter-ego is the eponymous "Captain Rainbow". Captain Rainbow has fallen out of popularity, so Nick goes on a voyage of self-discovery, on a raft, only for a storm to hit him. He washes up on a mysterious island, who meets a woman named Hikari who explains the story of the island. The island is called "Mimin Island", named after the supernatural creatures inhabiting it. Most of the characters living here are retired or forgotten Nintendo characters. Little Mac is here for example, even Crazy Tracey from Link's Awakening. The thing is, each of these characters are heavily caricaturized. Little Mac is now out of shape, and Tracey is now a lascivious woman who wants to seduce every man in the world. Birdo... I can't even describe. Believe me, I completely understand why this game wasn't brought to western audiences. It probably would've changed our perception of Nintendo as family-friendly and innocent.

Every character on this island has a wish. A chosen hero is supposed to be picked by the Mimin for the purpose of granting wishes. Nick eventually discovers he is "the chosen one" who must grant every one of these characters wishes.

---------------------THE GOOD, THE BAD ᵃⁿᵈ ᵗʰᵉ ᵘᵍˡʸ---------------------
It's all building up to be something beautiful. It is something beautiful, aesthetically. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into the pace of the game. My biggest complaint was that the island felt "empty". By empty, I mean there is a lot of space, but not a lot of meaningful space. They got the aesthetic down perfectly, don't get me wrong, but they missed something here.

To use an example of another Skip game, Chibi Robo (the original one, but Park Patrol and Okaeri! work too). Maybe it was the really emotional storytelling of Chibi-Robo that sold me on it, yet, I also think they did something amazing with the space in that game. There was a very meaningful progression from one area to the next. Going into the foyer, you would come across the Free Rangers, egg soldiers whose purpose was to defend the house from intruders. Then in the basement you would find the forgotten pirate, Plankbeard. I liked this because each character played a role in the space they were assigned. Blackbeard, the forgotten pirate, in the strange and shady basement. Free Rangers, the defenders of the vast foyer, near the entrace of the house. This game kind of misses the mark in connecting characters to their spaces.

Sure, each character has a day-and-night cycle and routine, which was awesome. Yet there wasn't enough fascination here with the characters routines in the first place. Much of the action in the game takes place outside. The lack of large interiors (other than Tracey's house) is really interesting, but it also very much limits the game. Most of the interiors here are cramped and don't have much to do in them. I bring this up, because without purposeful buildings, I didn't feel a sense that there was really anywhere to go, or anything new to see. This not only affects the player, but the characters living in this world. What part of their routine defines them and connects them to the island, as well as the other characters? Sure, each character had a routine that very much connected to their, albeit caricaturized, personality. Lip from "Panel de Pon" features in this game. She has bad allergies, so she wears a mask. Funnily enough, she spends a lot of time around flowers. Point being, this was a really funny example of how someone's personality quirks DID connect with their routine and living space.

Still, however, there wasn't enough beyond this limited palette of silly and caricaturized personality to really interest me in the characters. When you talked to these folks, you would often get very short responses. Also, they, as far as I know, would rarely talk or interact with each other. So even if they had lovable and unique personalities, they were isolated, and thus the space felt very cold and separated. In Chibi-Robo, once again, I felt very much attuned to the space and lives of the characters. It was really "lived-in", and my favorite thing was to see how each characters story related to another person or character. The characters are wandering around the island here, but they don't feel in tune with the space, or each other. They are like molecules bouncing around in wide open spaces, gaseous. Their identity, however charming it is, still feels unformed and separated.

Also, there is one sour minigame: Takamaru's meditation. In this minigame you have to press most of the buttons on the Wii remote and nunchuk simultaneously, without letting go of any of them. If anyone figured out how to do this, let me know. I would've liked for the game to have let you replay these minigames immediately. That's not the case. You have to wait a full day to retry the minigames. It makes it a very time consuming game. Other reviewers (Rombouts) have pointed to this as being part of the charm and style of the game, which makes you take your time and just experience things, giving it a living feel. On paper though, it does produce more of a mind-numbing and frustrating repetition than a laid-back appreciation.

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Overall, my opinions of this game are not negative in any way. Skip very much delivers. However, it wasn't for me. It very much feels like the descendent of "Moon: Remix RPG Adventure" (which is a game I also love). It is a sometimes difficult and oblique adventure game. I had trouble appreciating it gameplay wise (aesthetically it's awesome), due to it's somewhat repetitive gameplay, difficulty attaching myself to the characters, and lack of much meaningful activities during the in-between moments. There is animal-collecting, but I wish there was a little something more.

My overall impressions are positive, so I will come back to this one. It is the sole reason I imported a Japanese Wii, after all.