Anyone familiar with Super Adventure Island (and the sequel)?

[Tanooki | 4,930]

I recently bumped into a copy of it at a local consignment shop for $20 but left it there.  I didn't have long to look and what I got off gamefaqs was a mixed bag of comments that didn't make a lot of sense, elsewhere either the little I did see.

Is the game divisive for quality and fun?

 

I saw a range of its boring and lacking because of less weapons and no monsters to ride, to being a whole lot of fun as it goes back to the core game and isn't too bad, still retaining the one hit deaths and his ever declining health timer.  I get the timer, chunky Higgins there with his blood sugar bar has to keep eating or goes into a diabetic shock and dies, fair enough.

 

The sequel though it's far more expensive on a level of like 5x the price, but it looks like they did a whole bunch of unique things, sort of a lighter Super Metroid style thing with a map, RPG elements, gear.  I'm looking to pop for stuff largely locally I have not had before that isn't insane in price so I figured I'd ask if it's worth the bother.

[rdrunner | 422]

Super Adventure Island is basically a super easy version of the original Adventure Island/Wonderboy gameplay, enhanced with more interesting boss fights and a killer soundtrack.  Probably worth it just for the music.

I haven't played the sequel, but for the price I'm not interested either.  Just another "rare" game that everyone ignored when it was released.

[MagusSmurf | 577]

Super Adventure Island 1 is basically competent and certainly isn't what I'd call a bad game, but it's pretty unmemorable and unremarkable.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,510]

http://snesrankings.com/games/250_226.html#243

http://snesrankings.com/games/175_151.html#164

[Sumez | 2,933]

Yes

[ifightdragons | 234]

I'd recommend this review:

https://youtu.be/TCyLTUJGXzQ

Edited May 2, 2022 by ifightdragons

[Tanooki | 4,930]

So fun but nothing special is what I'm getting here.

 

Given it seems to be around $25 shipped on ebay, $5 off isn't such a bad deal locally if it's still there.

And sorry there @Reed Rothchild years of your work and I forgot to even think of that.   It was only just in the last couple of months I stopped ignoring the system (and genesis) for some years now.  My new angle I feel like sticking to it buying 16bit games locally, rarely online anymore as it's just nasty and demotivating.  But not just buying, playing, buying to play so that's why I made the thread.  I'll read your notes but given the numbers it looks like a higher contender in both cases.

I've added more SNES/SFC and Genesis games to my shelf this year than I have in the last 5-7 years easily.

[Nintegageo | 582]

I enjoyed the 2nd one, though I imagine it costs a ridiculous $ w/2022

[Tanooki | 4,930]

$90-100 unless you like paying more for impatience.

[MrWunderful | 2,926]

Ive come to assume that any halfway decent faux-hidden gem on snes is 100+ all day

[Webhead123 | 675]

I couldn't care less if my opinion is unpopular but I actually rather like Super Adventure Island. It isn't all that challenging and certainly isn't in the upper echelons of the SNES library but it's a good game with nice graphics and great music. A perfectly pleasant playthrough.

I have not played the sequel, so I can't comment on it on way or the other.

Edited May 3, 2022 by Webhead123

[Tanooki | 4,930]

I did go by that place again on the way to pick the kid up from school and grabbed it.  I guess i just need to figure it out, the stages aren't too bad, but you have to watch how you land as that forward foot doesn't mean it doesn't pass through the floor into a lava pit or something.  And I have not figured out the first boss, I mean I could cheat with the faq, don't want to.

It's not bad, worth the price at least.  I think the 2nd one would be a lot of fun but that price...

[fox | 1,665]

Super Adventure Island II is kind of Metroidvania-lite.  There are interconnected levels, but the game doesn't really do anything interesting with them because there is also an overworld map to hop between areas and you mostly play the levels in order anyways, so it really is lacking that sense or exploration and discovery.  It feels downright lazy at times with enemies that have no animation at all, they just stuck them on the map and they don't actually move.

It was fun enough back in the day and I picked it up for $3 at a swap meet, but hell no is it worth whatever stupid price it goes for in 2022.  Nowadays there are dozens of indie titles that do the whole search platformer thing way better, for a fraction of the price.

[Tanooki | 4,930]

@fox

So on a scale of a type of game like that, SA2 on a scale from 0-10 (10 being Super Metroid) would fall in around a 3, lite touch, but nothing too outrageous, kind of like Castlevania II if that, but definitely more than Demon's Crest pulled off.

These days $90-100 is about where it sits which isn't as awful as a lot of solid SNES games sadly are now.  And while you're right, they're not making them much for SNES sadly.  I did get I guess it's a homebrew today for the system though, but it's more of like an early 90s arcade style game with light shopping mechanics.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

I hate to be a "Peg-style" party pooper, but I have to say: an Adventure Island game without a run button is freakin' garbage!!!!  I absolutely detest Super AI and it's slow plodding gameplay, due to the inexcusable decision (or oversight?!?) to not let Master Higgins run.  As a result, the game is absolute rubbish when compared to all other AI games.

It's sequel, Super AI 2, on the other hand, is pretty good, and even includes some fun exploration aspects to go along with the standard core gameplay...

[fcgamer | 4,719]

On 5/5/2022 at 12:13 PM, Dr. Morbis said:

I hate to be a "Peg-style" party pooper, but I have to say: an Adventure Island game without a run button is freakin' garbage!!!!  I absolutely detest Super AI and it's slow plodding gameplay, due to the inexcusable decision (or oversight?!?) to not let Master Higgins run.  As a result, the game is absolute rubbish when compared to all other AI games.

It's sequel, Super AI 2, on the other hand, is pretty good, and even includes some fun exploration aspects to go along with the standard core gameplay...

Haven't played it, though I have a copy. That decision sounds horrible though.

[Tanooki | 4,930]

It does make thing tricky.  Without running it seems they figured out too late they fucked up, so with various jumps the edges have a like 1/2 wide square if you want to think of it as such a square lower so when you jump often you end up catching that instead of the rest of the platform that'll save you from even more cheap deaths.  The gaps are just a hair too wide, if that wasn't there, you couldn't finish the first world let alone first stage or two of that.

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

I played through the first one for the NA SNES contest maybe. I beat it within a few runs without dying. Slow and forgettable like a lot of early SNES platformers. Not worth $20 unless you needed it for your collection. 

Edited May 14, 2022 by Andy_Bogomil

[Reed Rothchild | 9,510]

3 hours ago, Andy_Bogomil said:

I played through the first one for the NA SNES contest maybe. I beat it within a few runs without dying. Slow and forgettable like a lot of early SNES platformers. Not worth $20 unless you needed it for your collection. 

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

3 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Ah yeah... all coming back to me now. I played the hell out of some of those games that I hadn't really played before for that contest, like Smash TV, Star Wars and Super GnG. That Street Fighter 2 battle with quest4nes was also pretty epic. Good times.