Runbow turns a simple idea into a test of nerve. The background of every level shifts through a cycle of colors, and any platform or obstacle sharing that color vanishes. If you can’t see it, it doesn’t exist. That single rule drives everything 13AM Games built here.
Trailer, via 13AMgames.
The color mechanic and nine-player chaos
Runbow is a multiplayer-focused platformer. Players race to reach a trophy at the end of each level, and the color cycle decides which ground is real from one second to the next. Blockades and spikes of the matching color drop away. So does the floor under your feet.
You get a double jump and a basic attack. The attack can take out enemies or stretch your reach mid-jump. Both tools matter when a platform blinks out of existence and you have to commit to a leap before you can confirm there’s anything to land on.
The game supports up to nine players, using the Wii Remote alongside Wii Nunchuk or Wii Classic Controllers. Runbow makes that work by keeping the rules legible. Everyone reads the same color at the same time. The chaos is shared, not confusing.
On Wii U, one player can pick up the GamePad and become the ColourMaster, controlling the colors and obstacles in the level directly. That’s the sharpest idea in the package. It turns a spectator into an active saboteur.
Racing, King of the Hill, and the Bowhemoth
The main event is The Runbow Run, a straight race to the trophy. Beyond it, Runbow spreads out into modes that aren’t race-focused, including King of the Hill and Arena. Character customization and hundreds of unlockable costumes sit on top.
Then there’s The Bowhemoth, also called “Master the Bowhemoth.” It’s a platforming challenge that runs 30+ minutes and tests patience and skill. For a game built on short, loud multiplayer rounds, a half-hour solo gauntlet is a strange and welcome flex.
The modes rank roughly like this, from the one that will hold a group longest to the one that will break a solo player:
- The Runbow Run, the core race that the whole color system was designed around.
- King of the Hill and Arena, which use the same mechanics without the finish line.
- The Bowhemoth, a 30+ minute endurance test for players who want the mechanics stripped of company.
The problem is what surrounds all of it. Achievements, time trials, costumes, dozens of modes — Runbow is generous to a fault. The color mechanic is strong enough to carry a tighter game, and the sprawl sometimes buries it.
What holds up and what doesn’t
Runbow’s art style is clean and readable, which the mechanic demands. You need to parse a shifting palette instantly, and the game never makes that harder than it should be. The side-view perspective keeps everything on one plane, so the color rule stays the whole puzzle.
The weakness is that the color trick does most of the work. Modes change the objective, not the vocabulary. King of the Hill and Arena are the same read, the same jumps, the same blink-and-fall stakes. The variety is real but shallow.
The Bowhemoth is the exception, and it’s the mode worth the price of entry. It takes the color cycle and asks you to survive it alone for 30+ minutes. That’s where Runbow stops being a party trick and becomes a game about concentration.
Runbow earns its place on the strength of that color rule, and it gives a full room something to shout about together. It’s fast, frantic, and genuinely fun.
It’s also uneven. The sprawl of modes and costumes pads a game whose best idea is one rule. Strip Runbow down to The Runbow Run and The Bowhemoth and it’s sharper than what shipped.
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