Super Adventure Island

"Higgins gets the 16 bit treatment!"

Back in the day when NES was king, everybody knew somebody, or at least knew somebody that new somebody who had Adventure Island. This game was pretty popular, and it spawned a couple of NES sequels. Of course, like many successful NES games, when the Super Nintendo came out, Adventure Island got updated...but probably with les success then the NES version...

The game play of this is almost identical to the original 8 bit game. You play the role of Master Higgins, who's girlfriend got kidnapped by some cloaked guy. At first you have no weapons to defend yourself with, but soon you'll be able to find a weapon, either a hammer or a boomerag. The hammer flies in an arc, and you can throw two of them at a time (I think). The boomerang goes right at the enemy and comes back, but you can only throw one at a time (Again, I THINK). The skateboard from the NES series is back, but the dinosaurs are absent from this game. Higgins is a very hungry guy, and only fruit will do. He has a "fruit meter" at the top of the screen that goes down with time. If the meter runs out, Higgins dies! To prevent this, you must find fruit throughout the level, so you can't just dilly dally, you must hurry on through! Bosses and everything else are also found throughout the game, as they are with most other side scrollers.

The graphics of Super Adventure island aren't that bad, considering when it was released. Higgins looks pretty good and the enemies all seem to have character of their own. The sound is average 1992 Super NES fare, nothing too memorable.

If you liked the Adventure Island series for the NES, it wouldn't hurt to try this one out. It's pretty much like one of the NES games, only it seems a bit easier...Also the NES games (at least the first one) seem more like classic games, and this one is more of just a run of the mill side scroller. Also you can try this game's sequel, Super Adventure Island 2, which I've never played, but I hear that it's more strategy oriented or something. If you're a huge fan of SNES side scrollers, then Super Adventure Island will make a fine adition to your library. Otherwise, just play it at a friend's house, this game doesn't offer anything new.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 08/07/01