With the news that Taito’s Rainbow Islands is coming to Hamster’s Arcade Archives series, long-standing fans have one burning question and that is: what version of the theme tune will it use?
The main theme used in the arcade version of the game was changed for the NES port, as it was felt that it was based a little too much on “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz, composed by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg. There was a concern, according to Retro PM, that there might be a copyright legal challenge, so it altered the music, using a new tune created by its in-house music team, Zuntata. It should also be noted that the NES received two ports of Rainbow Islands, with the Taito version being exclusive to Japan and North America, and Europe receiving a different version, that was coded under license by Ocean and which also used different music.
While some other home ports used the original music, recent ports have stuck to various versions of the alternate music. And that will be the case again as Taito has confirmed that Zunata’s alternate music from the NES will be used for the Arcade Archives release.
As an added bonus though, Rainbow Islands Extra will be included in the release.
