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.
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.