This article contains information about a character or stage with animations that may trigger seizures in readers with photosensitive epilepsy. It is strongly advised that you do not download this character/stage or continue reading this article if you are prone to seizures.
Rainbow Road
Captain Falcon shows Daisy his moves on Luneth's seventh Rainbow Road (F-ZERO X : BIG BLUE - Rainbow Road)
Rainbow Road is a recurring race course from the Mario Kart series, having appeared in every game of the series to date. As per tradition, Rainbow Road has always been the final course of the Special Cup, excluding those that appear as returning tracks, such as SNES Rainbow Road in Mario Kart 7 and N64 Rainbow Road in Mario Kart 8, which both appear as the final course of their game's respective Lightning Cup, and SNES Rainbow Road in Mario Kart 8, which appears as the second course of the downloadable Triforce Cup. Mario Kart 64's Rainbow Road makes an appearance in F-Zero X as the first course of the unlockable Joker Cup, with the tagline of "Psychedelic Experience".
In M.U.G.E.N, Rainbow Road has been made numerous times by a variety of creators, with some of those creators creating multiple versions of the stage. Most of Rainbow Road's iterations from the Mario Kart series have been made into stages, the only exception being the one from Mario Kart 8; there are also versions of Rainbow Road based off their appearances in Mario Kart Arcade GP and F-Zero X.
Enscripture's version is split into two definitions files that house Rainbow Road courses based on their appearances in Mario Kart: Super Circuit, with the 'old' .def containing the remade Rainbow Road from Super Mario Kart and the 'new' .def containing the Rainbow Road that'a native to Super Circuit. Both stages have the same dimensions and background starry night pattern, though the old .def has it so the background is static, while the new .def starts with the background a lot higher and has it scroll down at the start of the match, stopping when it hits the same position as the background in the old def. Other than the floor being noticeably different between the two stages, the old .def is the only one to contain Thwomps, though they flicker rapidly and have the potential to cause seizures to those with epilepsy; the new .def does not contain Thwomps, being replaced with a floating Bowser's castle in the far background, additional background cloud cover and the electrified thunderclouds that would shrink racers in the source game.
Videos[]
MUGEN RedMoon Homer Simpson(new) vs Homer Simpson(old)
EXShadow's first version[]
Rainbow Road
This stage does not feature any music
Animated
Yes
Parallax
No
Super Jump
Yes
Resolution
Low
EXShadow's first Rainbow Road is an original stage that nevertheless takes some visual cues from the Mario Kart Rainbow Roads, such as the stage floor being made up of a spectral rainbow of colours and the scene being set at night amid a starry sky. A waving rainbow can be seen flowing through the stage from the left side to the right side, with a large crescent moon situated directly above where the rainbow arches at its lowest point in the middle of the stage; below where the rainbow arches at its highest points on the left and right sides of the stage are two lamps that emit a bright light, both lamps seemingly sitting on the far edge of the stage floor. The starscape in the background moves slowly from left to right, though this movement will appear jerky when the stage is played in hi-res WinMUGEN, as the starscape incrementally moves one pixel at a time, whereas hi-res WinMugen can only move the starscape two pixels at a time.
Videos[]
Mugen 82 Captain Communism (100th video!)
EXShadow's second version[]
Rainbow Road
'Vampire (電気式華憐音楽集団)' by Denkishiki Karen Ongaku Shuudan
Animated
Yes
Parallax
No
Super Jump
Yes
Resolution
High
EXShadow's second Rainbow Road is another original stage that follows the same general theme as the creator's first version, though all the graphical assets have been replaced and the stage made high-res; curiously, the stage's width has been decreased significantly in regards to the first version, to the point where the camera barely needs to move any distance from its starting position before it hits either horizontal stage boundary. The stars in the background moving at considerable speeds would possibly imply that the stage is actually a moving platform flying through space, though it could simply be that the stars are meant to be the moving element; the speed at which the stars move decreases the further they appear into the background, though the stars in the furthest reaches of the background still move somewhat hastily considering their positions. The prominent large star that takes centre stage pulsates in a variety of different colours while slowly bobbing up and down, with the arching rainbow surrounding the star periodically shifting its colours for a brief half-second before returning to its prior appearance.
Videos[]
Mugen 330 Space Rainbow
davismaximus' edit[]
Bison On A Cow
'Bad Apples' from Dance Moms
Animated
Yes
Parallax
No
Super Jump
No
Resolution
High
Click to show/hide stage data
This quirky edit of EXShadow's second Rainbow Road removes the giant star and moving star field present in the original stage and replaces them with an image macro of M. Bison riding down Rainbow Road on a calf, though there is notable colour loss on the image that has resulted from the palette's 256 colour limit. Possibly due to the nature of the image macro, the stage's camera has been changed so that it stays affixed in a single location, so characters that could effectively utilise Super Jumps in the original version will be unable to do so here.
Luneth's first version[]
Mario Kart 64 - Rainbow Road -
'Rainbow Road' from Mario Kart 64
Animated
Yes
Parallax
Yes
Super Jump
No
Resolution
High
The first of many Rainbow Road stages created by Luneth takes heavy visual cues from its Mario Kart 64 counterpart, though it doesn't represent any particular section of the course from that game. While the stage has noticeable parallax on both the stage floor and the road in the background, the geometries that come about as a result of this are somewhat unusual, a good example of this can be observed when comparing the road in the background to the rainbow rings that surround it; another parallaxing issue on the background road is the appearance of it 'collapsing' like a trapdoor should the camera reach a certain height, with the floor disappearing altogether if the camera goes higher still. The stage's incredible width grants plenty of horizontal room, to the point where it's plausible that neither stage wall is encountered during a fight; the stage would be able to boast about having a respectable height as well, if it weren't for the slow scrolling vertical camera making it so combatants disappear off the top of the screen in very short order. In what may have been an unintentional added bonus, the stage floor becomes semi-transparent in M.U.G.E.N 1.1, allowing the illuminations in the background to show through it.
Luneth's second Rainbow Road stage bases its appearance on the Mario Kart Wii course of the same name, complete with the homages to Super Mario Galaxy that were present in the source game's track, such as the star bit fields and guard rails with sling stars integrated into them. Neither the road that serves as the stage floor or the strip of road in the background bear a great resemblance the source game's course layout, as the only section of track that's easily recognisable is the figure of eight and the wavy road preceding it, both of which can be found on the right side of the stage; the right side of the stage also contains two green arrows that periodically 'pulse' a green ring of light, both of which point to the left. The stage has a notable design flaw that can be potentially jarring, which is the large fence-like object that covers the vast majority of the left hand side of the stage's foreground, which is something that may initially seem visually appealing, but can end up being a potential distraction that only serves to obstruct the combatants; another minor issue crops up in the stage's deltas, which give off the false impression that a character's movement velocities are being restricted.
Videos[]
Mugen Mario Bros vs Wario Bros
SonicBrawler77's version[]
Rainbow Road
Remix of 'Rainbow Road' from Mario Kart Wii by GaMetal
Animated
Yes
Parallax
Yes
Super Jump
No
Resolution
Low
Based on the Rainbow Road course as it appears in Super Mario Kart, SonicBrawler's stage has the cast of said game racing along the track from left to right, though Bowser is being informed by a Lakitu that he is indeed driving the wrong way around the track. Over the course of time, the racers become further distanced from each other, getting to the point where racers at the front of the pack eventually lap those that are trailing behind. Behind the yellow Starmen at the stage's top is a banner of stars that travel in a leftward direction; another animated element is the invincible Thwomps that periodically elevate themselves and slam back down onto the track, though these Thwomps do flicker rapidly and may cause discomfort if looked at for a long enough period of time. The stage is very small, having almost not vertical camera movement and limited horizontal camera movement, the former ensuring that characters using a Super Jump will briefly disappear off the top of the screen.
Videos[]
Austin Parker's M.U.G.E.N - Bubbyaustin vs BlackHeart
Daikeru123 MUGEN - Christmas Mission Part 1
MUGEN Taste the Rainbows - R. Mika vs Rainbow Dash
Luneth's third version[]
Mario Kart DS - Rainbow Road -
'Rainbow Road' from Mario Kart DS
Animated
Yes
Parallax
Yes
Super Jump
No
Resolution
High
Being based off the Mario Kart DS iteration of the course, Luneth's third Rainbow Road stage has a significant portion of the track occupying the background, though the vast majority of it is positioned on the left hand side of the stage, with the only bit of track at the right hand side of the stage being the last corner and the small stretch of road leading up to it. The stage floor doesn't appear to be part of the course itself, as its position relative to the rest of the track would most likely place it somewhere above the starting straight, which may be the reason as to why some of the course's otherwise unseen elements are visible around the stage floor, such as the boost panels and pipes; while characters are likely to pass over the dash panels on the stage floor, they are purely aesthetic and do not grant anyone a temporary burst of speed. Because the creator used a high value for the floortension parameter, the stage's camera doesn't start scrolling vertically until combatants near the top of the screen, to the point where characters using a Super Jump don't quite stay mostly on screen when reaching the apex of their jump.
Videos[]
MUGEN Battle 112 - Mario Duck Hunt Dog vs. Parasite The Question
Luneth's fourth version[]
Mario Kart Double Dash!! - Rainbow Road -
'Rainbow Road' from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
Animated
Yes
Parallax
Yes
Super Jump
Yes
Resolution
High
The fourth version of Rainbow Road created by Luneth highly resembles the course as it appears in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, with the background showcasing the section of track between the ascending spiral and the wind tunnel. Like in the source game, lights from the buildings and roads of Mushroom City can be seen below the track, though they illuminate in a rainbow spectrum rather than being the yellow-white colour normally seen in the source game; some of the large, floating, rainbow-coloured replicas of items from Double Dash!! also make an appearance here, with a green shell situated high up on the right hand side of the stage, a Bowser's shell being located slightly left of the stage's centre, and a banana being positioned above the Bowser's shell. The stage is both incredibly wide and impressively tall, which not only means that there's plenty of room for combatants to manoeuvre around in, but also enough stage height for flight-enabled characters to wage high altitude warfare.
Videos[]
M.U.G.E.N Rina Ogata(me) VS Rion by OGko OGwo
MUGEN John Rambo vs Duke Nukem
MUGEN Exhibition Shadow Lady VS Blue Eyes White Karin
Luneth's fifth version of Rainbow Road is based on the Rainbow Coaster course that appears in Mario Kart Arcade GP and Mario Kart Arcade GP 2, alternately transitioning between a starry night sky area typical of Rainbow Road courses and a daytime area with floating islands in the background. The night section of the stage has large objects floating in the sky that take the forms of Mario Kart items, as well as what appear to be turntables on the left side of the stage, which have 2D spites of items from the original Super Mario Bros rotating on them; the day section of the stage has beanstalks rising up from behind the stage floor, with the left beanstalk having a bubble-blowing Toad sitting on one of its leaves. Unlike Luneth's other Rainbow Road stages, this version is only a bit wider than average horizontally, though what significant height the stage has can't be taken advantage of due to the camera scrolling upwards too slowly, which happens to greatly hinder the practicality of Super Jumps. Packaged in a separate download are two additional definitions files that split the stage into the night and day variants, while also doing away with the transition between the two.
The sixth Rainbow Road stage created by Luneth is heavily based on the course as it appears in Mario Kart 7, with the background scenery taking place between the parts of the track which contain the large moon and the section of road just after the rotating star tunnel. The prominent sun visible in the background rotates with any horizontal movement of the camera, rotating clockwise when the camera scrolls to the left and anti-clockwise when the camera scrolls to the right; the sun also gives off a glare effect, which moves in opposition to the camera's movement. One of the stage's most notable features is the immense distance between its horizontal boundaries, going so far as to be the widest of the creator's Rainbow Road stages; that being said, the stage's height isn't quite as impressive as its width, lying in the region of somewhere above average, though any benefits gained from this height are impeded by the camera's slow vertical scrolling speed, which makes it so combatanats will quickly disappear off the top of the game screen. An additional definitions file can be downloaded separately that reduces the stage's width to just under half that of the original's, though the vast size of the original stage means that this smaller stage is still quite large.
Videos[]
39MUGEN 22 Close Encounters... VERY Close Encounters..
Contrary to the creator's previous Rainbow Road stages all hailing from the Mario Kart series, Luneth's seventh version is the Mario Kart 64 Rainbow Road as it appears in F-Zero X, complete with a large body of water flowing underneath the track that appeared in the source game. While the track is devoid of any racers, there are mines to the right side of the stage placed on the rainbow portion of the track, as well as a sign that advertises F-Zero TV airing at 9:00pm on a Monday; on the spiralling section of the track that's in the background are two rotating objects that display an image of a dolphin, which may have been a reference to the codename of Nintendo's (at the time) upcoming new GameCube console, though these objects can only be seen if the camera is scrolled vertically enough by characters with significant jumping prowess. The stage's deltas give off the false impression that combatants are moving slowly across it when the camera scrolls horizontally, this in turn also applies to jump heights supposedly being restricted when the camera starts to scroll vertically.
TheMasterGamerify's version is little more that a still image screenshot of the Rainbow Road from Mario Kart 64, with the screenshot in question not being big enough to fill a 640x480 game area. There aren't any animated or otherwise noteworthy features to this stage, nor is there any camera movement, which can make the fight seem somewhat claustrophobic.
