Super Adventure Island

"Oh. ...oh! Is that it?"

Super Adventure Island is an odd game. I have the vaguest recollections of playing it many years ago, and for some reason it lodged itself in my brain just enough to dredge it up for the old emulation treatment. Upon replaying it, my thoughts were as follows:

Level 1-2
"Hey, this is fun! And I'm digging the music!"

Level 3-1
"...Is this all I do throughout the game? And why are there only two weapons?"

Level 4-2
"Jeez, I'm bored."

Level 5-3
"What? It's over already?"

And thus, my friends, Super Adventure Island was completed, in the span of half an hour. This game is a minuscule throwaway in the sea of SNES platformers with just a few insignificant hallmarks to set it apart from the competition. Where this zircon in the rough lacks in gameplay variety and overall staying power, it makes up for in graphical and aural charm. To be right out with it, there isn't a whole lot of pumpkin to Super Adventure Island. What you see in the first level is basically what you get throughout the entire game. Your sidescrolling fatty hero, Higgins, is tasked with uncursing his girlfriend who has been rendered stony by a random villain in a purple cloak, who giggles and flies off into the night. There's not any dialogue, but who cares? Everyone knows what's going on!

Regardless, your adventure starts rather abruptly with a stroll on the beach. You will quickly discover a hammer, which assumes a rather lame trajectory: one feeble arc several feet in front of you. Oh well, it does its job taking down the crabs littering the beach. You then find a boomerang, which flies in a nifty U shape in front of you. Time to kick monster ass! Unfortunately, in the midst of your tropical crusade, disaster can strike at the drop of a pin. Some of you may discover faster than others that touching any of these hazards, be it crab, bird or hostile spear-wielding native, results in immediate loss of a life and restarting to a hidden checkpoint in the level. You are also robbed of a life if you run out of time, which is depicted in the upper left corner. As you walk blissfully along through the well-animated, cheerfully lit level, you may realize that your time pretty much blasts to the bottom. This surprisingly fast countdown must be remedied by picking up all the fruit you see in the midst of your voyage. Yes, folks, kiwis and bananas do prolong your life.

And that is all the dimension there is to Super Adventure Island. All done. No more. Sometimes you may have to swim through the belly of a whale, and once in a while maybe you'll ascend the shady branches of a giant tree. But...well, it's all the same. You only get those two weapons, and sometimes a skateboard or minecart might crop up to expediate your progress. And I must admit, these highly basic systems are quite fun while they last. All that aside, though, Super Adventure Island has little more to offer you. Hell, there's only three types of fruit in the entire game, too. With such a prominent lack of gameplay spice, one might become very bored of the game in a short period of time.

Super Adventure Island does, however, make a last-ditch attempt at roping in potential players with its great graphics and music. Everything in the game is animated in a cutesy, colorful and attractive style. The environments are lit realistically; enemy and character sprites are fun and bursting with vigor and personality. Bosses look somewhat intimidating and somewhat jovial, and the environs are always chock-full of exciting graphical details. The game looks great, no way around that. Even more alarming, however, is the Awesome Quote of the music as well. Almost all of the tunes are composed with a sort of hip-hop island beat style, which lends so much character to the game that it's almost worth playing through just to hear the next level's music. The sound effects are equally vibrant and vivacious, like the unmistakable bubble noise when you die. If anything, the game does communicate a fair amount of personality through its presentation.

The problem is, well-rendered graphics and fun sound rarely make a game good. Super Adventure Island, with its colorless and highly repetitive gameplay, are a prime example of this. The title has absolutely nothing new to offer on a second playthrough, unless you want to listen to the music again; in fact, you'd be best off avoiding another tedious stroll through the locales of good old Adventure Island. Of course, if you do choose to pop the title in again someday and re-experience the magic...well, it's only 30 minutes long. What harm can it do?

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 12/10/05