Hudson's Adventure Island (NES review)

Developer: Hudson Soft

Publisher: Hudson Soft

Released: 1988

 

Hudson's Adventure Island is a platform game that was also released on MSX computers in 1986.

 

Playing as Master Higgins, your mission is to travel through eight worlds (with four levels each), defeat the Evil Witch Doctor and rescue Princess Leilani. Your weapons are a Stone Axe and Fireballs, but a Skateboard can also be collected to afford you a second hit before losing a life. As you play, an energy metre constantly depletes and to stay alive you'll need to collect fruit scattered around the area. While the game has a cute exterior, the action is hard-as-nails! Enemies are always in tough spots and beating most levels relies on pattern recognition and pixel-perfect jumps. The collision detection and controls are excellent though, leading to extreme satisfaction when you do manage to beat a tough level. It's a real thrill when you get on a roll, and pummelling through enemies with the Invincibility power-up is just as satisfying as Super Mario Bros (1985, NES). The action is simple, yet charming, and strikes a great balance of risk-reward whereby you instinctively want to rush through the level to avoid running out of fruit, yet, speeding along too fast will likely see you reaching an early grave! The levels are just the right length to give you a tough, yet realistic challenge too, and don't outstay their welcome. The main gameplay concept is admittedly repetitive, but the interesting and varied level design (including caves, forests and air-based sections) help to keep things feeling fresh. The biggest disappointment are the bosses, as they're almost identical to each other and have an easy-to-spot pattern. There's also some flicker and a ton of slowdown later in the game that can affect your timing and precision.

 

Hudson's Adventure Island definitely isn't for the faint-of-heart and if you're easily frustrated you should perhaps look elsewhere. However, if you like a real challenge there's a great little platformer here, and as long as you head into the game with the right mind-set there's plenty of fun to be had.

 

 

 

Random trivia: An in-game cheat allows you to continue at the same level with a full stock of lives.

Adventure Island (Game Boy review)

Developer: Hudson Soft
Publisher: Hudson Soft
Released: 1992

Confusingly, this Game Boy title is actually a reworking of Adventure Island II which was originally released on the NES in 1991.

In this side-scrolling platform game you play the role of Master Higgins who must travel through eight islands, defeat the Evil Witch Doctor and rescue your sweetheart Tina. To help you in your quest you can pick up items such as hammers that kill enemies in one hit and skateboards that race you along through the levels. Your health meter constantly diminishes so you must ensure that you collect fruit scattered around the levels to top it up. The controls are a bit slippery due to the momentum your character has after jumping - this results in a few unnecessary deaths as once you hit the ground you'll start sliding and subsequent button presses are sometimes ignored. If you manage to collect a hidden playing card suit Higgins will be aided by one of four types of dinosaur that have unique abilities such as fire attacks and tail whips - this drastically improves the control mechanics but does make the game a bit too easy. I would have liked to have seen more distinctive level design as each world tends to look the same and they end up blurring together. Even the bosses are a letdown as they're repeated throughout the whole game with only minor tweaks. There are some nicely detailed graphics with large sprites, smooth scrolling and no signs of slowdown. The music is pleasant and makes great use of the Game Boy's stereo output although there aren't any real memorable tunes. The SFX are excellent and I love the arcade style sounds when you collect fruit or hit an enemy with your hammer.

Don't get me wrong, Adventure Island isn't a bad game. If you can look past its shortcomings you'll find a solid platformer that's fun to play through. I did enjoy my time with it but just found it to be overly repetitive as it sticks to the same gameplay elements found early in the game and refuses to throw any other surprises your way.

Random trivia: The Adventure Island series is actually a reworking of the Wonder Boy franchise which began life in the arcades in 1986. The latter eventually moved towards the action RPG genre while Adventure Island predominantly stuck to its original roots.