Part 15: Seedy characters and mixed nuts.
With a new quest to undertake, it’s time that we bid Rainbow Land goodbye… We’ll explore it once there’s actually hamsters to talk to, because as is, it’s not even fully open.
Huh? Something’s written on it?
You can press SELECT at any time to go back to the Clubhouse! You can talk to Snoozer to select the Ham-Hams you want to go with you!
Bo’s recommendation to check out his Rainbow Art is definitely worth following, because it tells us about a couple of very handy features! No more running back to an exit just to head home, and…
We finally get to choose our own party members!
Everyone has their own animation for being picked to go out with the group, which can be seen here.
Despite what Snoozer says, we can immediately talk to him again to pick new party members. Since we need the right Ham-Hams for both tasks and minigames, there’s basically a recommended party for each area… but there’s often tasks for more characters than will fit in one party.
We’re headed off to Sunny Peak to start off with, and everyone in our party has something they can do there; Howdy does as well, just to prove my point.
That one hamster who likes playing with frogs is still around, and bumping into any of his amphibious friends will start another game where you need to run between them, working the same way as with those hermit crabs at the beach. Bumping into them from the left means only dodging two frogs, while coming from the right means dashing between three.
Over where the game began, we can find one of three gates that lead to the rainbow train stations, allowing us access to Rainbow Land. The ones on Sunny Peak and Sparkle Coast are kind of pointless though, since we can just walk out onto the Ham-Ham Lawn and go from there.
...Way to go there, champ. Guess we’d better save him from his own stupidity.
Fortunately, it’s a simple matter of grabbing him with A when Hamtaro goes past. You’ll get more attempts if you mistime it on the first pass, but less points.
Ah, excellent! Now that we’re going back and doing these optional little things for other hamsters, we should get plenty more five-star stickers.
Why yes, he will dumbly stumble off that cliff every time we rescue him. Some people just can’t be helped, you know?
These petals keep falling and falling. I’m cleaning, but I can’t keep up with them. Can you help me?
Sure, I think Bijou can handle it. The petals can still be picked up for a brief period after they touch the ground, but they come thick and fast enough that getting 35 shouldn’t be an issue.
Oh, and this is why the petals are falling there. More flower predictions! We’ll have to see about getting some of our own later.
Sandy has a task to do over by the river, but we can’t swing across this time. (We broke the vine, remember?)
We could visit the store now that it’s open, but I’ll wait until after getting the flyer. Instead, we need to do a minigame to get back to where Boss was once searching for oranges.
Speaking of which, Hamtaro has to put his old Stickee stick to use batting away more pinecones.
I’m getting ready to move, and I’m getting rid of things! Which reminds me. I just found this, so I’ll give it to you!
See? We’re going to be tripping over these things soon.
Moving left takes us to a game with a bit of a punny title.
Leaf of Faith is just a matter of timing. Press A when you land, and you’ll bounce up high. Press too early or land and then press A, and you’ll jump low. Use these to hop in the right pattern for maximum candy!
On the other side, we can go up and around to drop another vine…
...which allows us to climb down to another branch, which will allow us to climb down on the left side of the river. If you recall, there were hamsters gathering nuts up this one to keep us from roaming too much during the tutorial.
What do you think of my ladybugs? Huuhh?! I’ve managed to lose track of my ladybugs… What should I do? Will you find them with me?
Much like when Maxwell had to pick out cows on Flower Ranch, he’s called upon to track down the right ladybugs here. This one’s slightly more difficult simply because you can get caught up on the other ladybugs crawling about.
the value of ladybugs? Probably not. Hmmmm. Oh! As a show of thanks, I’ll give you this. Uh-huh.
In case you think it seems a little odd, this sticker belongs on the Movie Set mat. Which reminds me… I’m not sure yet whether I’ll gather up all of the 451 stickers and show them off. Feel free to speak up if you have strong opinions one way or the other.
I’m pretending to be a chestnut while thinking of them. There’s a moist kernel inside its bur. Oh… JOY!
Heke? Chestnuts are good! Chestnut rice, sweet chestnuts… Oh, I’ll bet there’s a chestnut dish that is just fabulous!♪ What? A place called Rainbow Land? There must be a new chestnut dish there! I want to go.
So when Bo said to give invitations to all the hamsters we’ve met, the general rule of thumb for this is to try anyone who was polite enough to give us their name.
Once you’re given a hamster their invitation, they’ll disappear from their regular location and show up in Rainbow Land. And with that, Marron is the first hamster to be invited to the Rainbow Theater!
Down at the bottom of the tree, we can head right to try our luck at flower predictions again. It turns out that in addition to having two possible outcomes for Hamtaro and Bijou…
Heke? Bijou, what’s going on? You’re acting weird.
Tee hee!♪ Phew! I’m so glad to hear that!♪
There’s also a Likes/Likes Not result for two other Ham-Ham pairs.
Maxwell/Sandy Likes:
Tee hee!♪ Phew! I’m so glad to hear that!♪Maxwell/Sandy Likes Not:
Wh-what?! That can’t be!
Th-that’s not true, Sandy! Honest! I...I… 
Ohhh, that’s OK! Don’t be too worried about it.And who are the other pair, you ask?
Howdy/Dexter Likes:
Ha ha! I knew it, Dexter! Why didn’t you say so?♪
Well, they say the more you fight, the better you get along! Tee hee!♪ Phew! I’m so glad to hear that!♪Howdy/Dexter Likes Not:
Hmph! That’s no surprise to me. I thought he felt that way!
”Hmph” to you too! I was mighty certain that you thought that way also! Ohhh, that’s OK! Don’t be too worried about it.Howdy and Dexter may be rivals, but they’re really good buddies too. I quite like that these conversations were included.
Back on the path to productivity, Stan can dance to cheer someone up while Oxnard knocks down the stick pole, the second of two items we need to make our fishing pole. Now we just need someone to put it together.
Huh? Really?! Then I’d like to go there, too.
That someone is not Seedric, but we can hand him an invitation once a fellow tree-nut has arrived at the theatre.
Aside from making Sandy look kinda like she’s one of the Sith, we can also complete another version of the game’s very first minigame, which is the same thing in reverse (but considered to be a separate game, as shown by the sunflower on the sign).
The path that used to be blocked off by a bunch of logs is now clear, but there’s something to attend to where we found our first ingredient.
I came here looking for a new friend, but they’re mostly tree-nut Ham-Hams, not my type. I want to meet a Ham-Ham like me.♪
Well, I’m going to go there now! Thank you!♪I looked it up, and Championi is from one of the Japanese-only episodes of Hamtaro… where she’s a princess getting married to Radar. Yes, the long-eared reporter. Apparently he’s a prince in the Japanese version of the show.
Heading along the formerly blocked path takes us to a new part of Sunny Peak, as well as our first rainbow path! Each of the seven places we visited in search of ingredients has one of these paths, and it takes us to one of two entirely new areas. However, we will not be crossing this rainbow today.
We are going to have Bijou try and throw sunflower seeds on top of some statues though. The part of the meter that counts for each statue is a bit on the small side, but it’s simple enough.
Sorry, but can you pick up Mom’s sack lunch for us? Go right until the end, and you’ll find my house. Please hurry!There’s no guarantees that Oxnard won’t eat it before we get back, bud. But we’ll try. Now, up the hill to the right…
...Okay then!
Fortunately, all we need to do is interact with the fan.
I can’t stop that fan by myself. What were you doing? Experiments on being able to fly freely through the sky. This surely is a man’s passion. Oh, I’ll give you this. Thanks!
Perhaps you should find an assistant to help you with the fan, friend.
Headline: “A Man’s Passion.” It’s a special article! It must be nice, wanting to be able to fly!
Now that’s a scoop! I’ve got to hurry and get there!Figured you might like the sound of that. Here, have an invitation.
With the
Hi, Ook-Ook! Tree climbing looks like fun! Ook-Ook, you must love high places. I’m sure Ook-Ook would like Rainbow Theater.
Uki?! Ukii! Ukii ukii!!♪
...I’m just going to take that as a yes and move on. Also, look at all these oranges!
Oh! Silly me! I thought you were my son. What?! My son is so hungry that he can’t move? He must be working so hard today!Well, he did clear away all those logs for us. I’d say that’s pretty impressive.
Well, I’m going to whip up some lunch. Want to help?
Order Up is another test of memory, but this one’s only one round and pays out pretty well.
Here’s the lunch, orange-flavored sunflower seeds! Please, take it to my son. Hurry!
As I’ve said, the game’s item descriptions were perhaps not AlphaDream’s highest priority.
Hey! This is it! Munch…… Crunch! Munch.. Man, that was good. Thanks a lot! Here, take this.
For making a quick delivery, we get rewarded with the Three Buddies picture. It’s simple, but still nice.
Now, back over by this guys’ house, there’s another path south.
My heavens! You have a stick pole and fishing line.♪ Shall I make you a fishing pole?
Some assembly later…
…
There’s also a kid nearby we can cheer up, and this one gives us something quite nice.
Stickers and pictures, here I come!
Oh, and we can ride the raft next to the old hamster for a shortcut back to the bottom of Sunny Peak.
Now that we finally have a functional fishing pole, we can try our luck in the pond.
I’m sure you know how fishing minigames tend to work, and the button prompts are shown above anyway. There are a number of different things you can catch, which will earn you either a medium sticker or 1-10 sunflower seeds.
Sorry, Mr. Turtle!
The final thing to take care of here is buying out the store; curiously, this one doesn’t have a picture available unless you have the flyer.
Birdhouse Builder is pretty cute.
And with that, we’re done with Sunny Peak! I posted in the thread that I was considering doing the seven known areas in order, then the new ones; however, I’ve since reconsidered.Now that we’ve finished this area, the ones with the most unseen content are Flower Ranch and Ticky-Ticky Park. Clover Elementary has some new stuff as well, but not as much. Sparkle Coast has a few things to do, while Tiptop Fair and Hamstarr Manor have very little left.
So in light of these facts, let’s sort out both of those last two right now.
Hamstarr Manor’s rainbow is right at the entrance, of course. Everywhere else is indoors, and we couldn’t see where any of the windows were.
Seems like today’s lucky place is the Rainbow Theater. Thanks, everyone.
Hamstarr is the one and only hamster at the manor who needs an invitation, since the only other hamsters here are the ghosts and the shopkeeper. He’s also the first hamster who requires a specific Ham-Ham in your party, since Howdy has dialogue for inviting him. The prompt to give an invitation simply doesn’t appear otherwise.
There’s also a little something beneath the Super Slider…
I’d better go hide somewhere else! Good-bye!
Another one for the collection!
The flyer for the giftshop fell down after our clash with the Puntaros, so we can claim it without hassle.
What? We’re uncool? Sheesh. All right!
Ah, so these ghosts can still shapeshift with Flipflop. If we manage to win against these second-rate Puntaros…
We get perhaps the game’s greatest picture, Red Punster & Hamtaro! In fact… Give me a minute here…
-By Yapping Eevee, age 26.
I wish I could have gotten rid of those lines on Hamtaro (dramatic shading's a little hard to do with the selection of colours on offer), but I gave it a shot. The picture deserved to at least be attempted.
After a quick stop at the giftshop, it’s time to make a quick journey around Tiptop Fair.
Oh, Rainbow Theater? There must be those who need care! I’ll go there for the health of all hamsters!
She does seem to be wound up a bit too tight…
Eh? Rainbow Theater? Sounds like a rowdy kind of place. For some reason, this reminds me of when I was young! Thank you, boys. I’ll go right now.
Why does Auntie Viv laugh like Boss?
This time, I won’t lose! I want my revenge!
What? Planning on tricking me with a present? Nice try!
Sparkle’s still a bit on the crazy side, but perhaps a good show will calm her down.
Sadly, being the Ham with no name means that we can’t invite the seedslinger to the show.
Turns out the Lucky Strings game had a five-star sticker hiding in it! It’s also a very easy source of stickers, since the festival has so many seeds to get out of the statues.
Rainbow Theater? Thanks, Cappy! Sure I’ll go!
What? What? Rainbow Theater? Sounds fun! Thanks, everyone!All of the named hamsters at the festival require someone specific to hand over their invitation; we’ve now managed to hand out eleven invites out of forty, as well as cleared out three whole areas! See you all next time for a trip to Flower Ranch!