It's the year 3006, and the evil “Rainbow Invaders” from the planet “Pacco”, are headed to Earth! They look like the ridiculous aliens depicted in 1980’s arcade games, but are extremely dangerous and their goal is to exterminate all humans! You command a fleet of spaceships and you must defeat all of the Invaders to save Earth! Good luck!
Rainbow Invaders is a new Space Invaders style game for the Atari 2600 from Italian developer Silvio Mogno. While many games of this nature have been released for the 2600 (to say nothing of the countless Space Invaders hacks), Silvio's game adds a breath of fresh air to the genre. Yes, you are shooting at descending waves of alien invaders, attempting to finish them off before they reach the ground. However, the aliens also periodically drop one of 16 random Special Shots, some of which will help and some of which will hinder your efforts if you catch them. Your ship also features a shield that will make you invulnerable for a few seconds, at the expense of not being able to fire again right away.
AtariAge held a Rainbow Invaders Label Contest to design original label artwork for Rainbow Invaders. Nearly 50 entries were received, and one entry from Nathan Strum was chosen as the winner and now graces the Rainbow Invaders label and manual. You can view all the entries here.
Includes cartridge and full-color manual.
Author |
Silvio Mogno |
Number of Players |
1 |
Controller |
Joystick |
Cartridge Size |
4K |
Label Design |
Nathan Strum |
Manual Design |
Tony Morse and Nathan Strum |
JASON JENKINS on 02/24/2007 03:44pm
I wanted to give this game a great grade. But to be honest the game play is very slow. Also the Power-ups are hard to notice. I found myself getting blown up tring to get power-ups. On the other hand the game is very colorful(Would explain the title- Rainbow Invaders). And i must say the Invaders look amazing. I just wish the power-ups and game play was a little faster. All and All i give this game a 3 out of 5. Its not a bad Invaders game, Just not the best.
Nathan Strum on 11/29/2006 02:07pm
A nice twist on the Space Invaders genre, Rainbow Invaders adds color-coded power-ups that you must catch in order to boost your abilities, or avoid if they help your enemies. The basic gameplay is straightforward - shoot everything that moves. There are no barricades to hide behind, but your ship does have shields you can activate briefly by pulling back on the joystick. The graphics (which I should admit to helping with) are colorful and fun, and the sound is pretty good for an Invaders-type game. The game ramps up the difficulty very nicely, and by the time you get to the higher levels (where the invaders fire much faster and more accurately) you'll have quite a challenge on your hands. The power-ups are well designed, and it doesn't take too many games before you'll have all 16 of them memorized. But the main drawback to the game is that the power-ups are lopsided in favor of the invaders (4 for you, 12 for them). A more balanced set of power-ups would have made the game a bit more fair, and would have given the player more incentive to risk going after them, rather than just avoiding them. Still, Rainbow Invaders is definitely recommended for fans of Invader games, or anyone who likes a good vertical shooter. The power-ups add a lot to the game, and the few that are in your favor are a lot of fun when you get them.