sevin0seven wrote:[prfsnl_gmr wrote:In any event, I’m looking forward to reading your impressions on the Adventure Island games. (I’m interested in your thoughts on all of the games listed for your challenge, but I am keenly interested in the Adventure Island games.) If, once you’re through those, you’re interested in exploring the series further, I can tell you what games to seek out (and which to avoid!).
Will do, and please do tell other games regarding the series or something that relates to it.
My pleasure!
The second two Adventure Island games, Adventure Island II and Adventure Island III, both look fantastic, and they have drastically different gameplay mechanics. They’re still action platformers, but there is less of an emphasis on running through levels quickly, picking up fruit to survive. Rather, you explore a bit more; you can ride dinosaurs; there are more varied boss fights, etc. The problem is that both games are way, way to po long to beat in a single sitting, and neither of them has a password or save system. (There are also a lot of cheap deaths, meaning you have to memorize some parts to ensure you don’t eat through your limited supply of lives and continues.)
The Gameboy ports, however, are just fantastic. Clearly, they don’t look as good as the NES games (which have some of the best, most colorful graphics on the NES), but they have just as much content. Better yet, though, the difficulty is turned down a bit, and both games have a password system. This makes a huge difference, and I enjoyed the Gameboy games much more than the NES games.
A lot of the later games followed the Adventure Island template. These games include Adventure Island: The Beginning, New Adventure Island, and Super Adventure Island. (Again, the music in Super Adventure Island is fantastic.) All are linear platformers that don’t iterate much on the original game’s design. (Of these Super Adventure Island is my favorite, but New Adventure Island us pretty solid too.)
Some of the other games go in different directions, however. Adventure Island IV is a Famicom-exclusive metroidvania game, and it’s actually really good. The cart is insanely expensive, though. Super Adventure Island II is non-linear, side-scrolling ARPG. Master Higgins wears armor, and it plays a lot like later games in the Wonder Boy series. Finally, Bug Honey is a truly bizarre Famicom exclusive based on a short-lived Takahashi Meijin TV show. It has both platforming and brick-breaking gameplay, neither of which are very good.