Game Debate #50: Adventure Island

[Tanooki | 4,936]

It's straight up between meh and ok to me.  The mechanic with the fruit and run or die was never fun to me.  The game was like a poor mans sonic almost, it wasn't fast, but you had to be pretty quick on the jumping and throwing because your life just would get sucked away, and any hit you were basically toast or you get one and done kind of like Sonic unless you pick up another buffer of sorts.  The stages and designs got less annoying and bland as it moved along, but it just really never was that great a game, Hudson did far better with other titles.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,089]

When I was a wee lad, I was allowed to pick up two NES games a year: one for my birthday present and one for my Christmas present.  Well the first time this option became available to me, we drove into the big city and went into the Toys R Us, whereupon I promptly told the employee in the World of Nintendo department that I wanted Wonder Boy for my new Nintendo.  He informed me of the fact that I could not play that game on my Nintendo, but suggested I try the "copycat" game from Hudson called Adventure Island.  Well I looked at the screenshots on the back of the box and it sure as shit looked like the game Wonder Boy, but with a different character hopping around.  So I grabbed the little card and took it to the register and bought the game and read the manual over and over in the back seat of the car on the way home.  Long story short, it was love at first play...

SMB may have set the standard for how a run and gun should play, but Adventure Island copied it very faithfully, right down to the eight worlds with four levels each, and the same boss at the end of each world.  As an early NES adopter who came from Atari and arcade games, I've always liked fast-paced, challenging run-n-gun twitch games over the more adventurous NES titles that came later, and that's what the first AI provides in spades.  It is run-n-gun perfection for gamers like me, right up there with SMB 1, the Ninja Gaidens, Contras, Mega Mans et al.  Yeah, the later AI's have dino's and diverging paths and more "adventure," but I'll take the fast-paced "stop and you'll die" super challenging experience of the first Adventure Island over just about any other platform game out there.  And oh, that sweet sweet difficulty curve, <chef's kiss> Hudson, you've outdone yourself...  10/10 for me.

[Optomon | 65]

Where's the "I might play it occasionally even if it's cheap and unfair" option? I voted it a 4.

There are many poor things about this game, the main put off for me being the inane and punishing difficulty, and maybe also the item that was steals your power away, the other issues not so much.

On the other hand I love the fast pacing and platforming mechanics of the game. It's got an addictive gameplay scheme that works in spite of it's flaws. The physics and controls might feel slippery, and the backgrounds and levels feel repetitive, long and dry at times, but somehow I don't care to put the game down too quickly. The stunts over obstacles and enemies, as well as the power ups, feel gratifying.

The game was a significant influence on Rollie in these respects, especially the bit where the power ups land according to the speed and direction of the player.

[TDIRunner | 2,744]

I remember the game as a kid, but I never actually played it.  I might give it a try sometime. 

[elprincipe | 142]

I went for a 7. I've never beaten it, although I've gotten pretty far. It's a lot of fun to play and definitely worth recommending, although I greatly prefer New Adventure Island on the TG-16 which is easily the best in the series and a game I'd give a 10.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,089]

1 hour ago, elprincipe said:

I went for a 7. I've never beaten it, although I've gotten pretty far. It's a lot of fun to play and definitely worth recommending, although I greatly prefer New Adventure Island on the TG-16 which is easily the best in the series and a game I'd give a 10.

Not coincidentally, that is by far my favourite and most played game on my Turbo....  

[Sumez | 2,967]

Feels strange to me, to make a thread about Adventure Island rather than Wonderboy, considering it's completely the same game, with the former being a reskin of the latter  But I'm guessing the same discussion is considered valid for either version of the game? Most of the ports are pretty faithful to the arcade original, but I'd take the Master System version over this. 

The Adventure Island series is still interesting, due to how it would actually carry on making games of the same style for a while (while Wonderboy went in a completely different direction much earlier on)

Edited May 21, 2021 by Sumez

[fox | 1,668]

A little bit too bland platformer mixed with slippery, Er I mean CHALLENGING controls, and annoying, un I mean CHALLENGING food mechanics.

Just feels painfully average in land of platforming giants like Mario, Mega Man, and co.  

2+3 seem a bit tighter with added paths and dinos.  The first one doesn’t quite do it for me.

[asmikace | 68]

I gave it a 6. Its a classic game but holy crap its has cheap deaths abound that didn't aged well. The later ones improved on the gameplay though.

However, if its Wonderboy on the SMS I would give it a 7 just because any decent game on the SMS is a great thing.

[twiztor | 851]

This was one of the games i had as a kid and spent tons of hours playing. I've never beaten it, those late stages are SO GODDAMN HARD! i didn't get Adventure Island 2 until much later in life, so this one is definitely my preference. The concept is simple, the platforming is basic, the enemies aren't anything to write home about, but somehow it all ends up in a package that is a ton of fun. Absolutely a case where the sum of the whole outweighs the parts.

[docile tapeworm | 4,203]

fell in love with this game during the weekly contest, when it crushed my nut sack with difficulty.

[docile tapeworm | 4,203]

i had never played it further than testing before that.

[docile tapeworm | 4,203]

now i have a copy that came with a funco dust sleeve and funco instructions!!!

[AstralSoul | 502]

Part of why I love these game debate topics is to get an understanding of why people like games that I don't like. This topic has made me want to try Adventure Island again. I think when I played it initially I expected too much from it. Can't say I'll like the game but I like that these discussions get me to try a game I don't like or a game I never played.

[docile tapeworm | 4,203]

game is simple and straight up. Get Good.

[WhyNotZoidberg | 585]

8/10 for me. It's an iconic game that instantly comes to mind when I think about the NES. 

I never beat the game, but I'm much better at it now than I was as a kid. Back then I struggled to get past the 3rd level. 

Graphics are great, music is great, there are plenty of secrets to discover and the game rewards practice and memorization big time.

Cheap deaths? Yes and no. Just like in Ninja Gaiden, you have to know what's coming.

Everyone should play it.

[JamesRobot | 5,806]

4 hours ago, Sumez said:

Feels strange to me, to make a thread about Adventure Island rather than Wonderboy, considering it's completely the same game, with the former being a reskin of the latter

I've never heard of Wonderboy until now.  Holy crap I had no idea.

[Gloves | 11,791]

54 minutes ago, AstralSoul said:

Part of why I love these game debate topics is to get an understanding of why people like games that I don't like. This topic has made me want to try Adventure Island again. I think when I played it initially I expected too much from it. Can't say I'll like the game but I like that these discussions get me to try a game I don't like or a game I never played.

If you've not tried the sequels on account of the first, I highly suggest giving Adventure Island 2 a go.

[docile tapeworm | 4,203]

1 hour ago, Gloves said:

If you've not tried the sequels on account of the first, I highly suggest giving Adventure Island 2 a go.

ai2 is crap its like a beta bersion of 3 wich is doodoo as well. dinosaur cowboy. btw have a nice day  

Edited May 21, 2021 by docile tapeworm

[JamesRobot | 5,806]

26 minutes ago, docile tapeworm said:

...crap ...doodoo ...caca

 

[fcgamer | 4,729]

The first one is a solid six for me. The nes sequels would get somewhere from 8-10.

For the latter, it's great fun to grab a bottle of Kaoliang on a lazy Saturday afternoon, pop the game in, and then whisk away to that funny island world for a few hours.

 

 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,547]

7 hours ago, Sumez said:

Feels strange to me, to make a thread about Adventure Island rather than Wonderboy, considering it's completely the same game, with the former being a reskin of the latter

Dr. Morbis picked the game this week.

And I doubt we do too many SMS games considering Americans' limited exposure to the console (which is the majority of us).  It would probably get under 10 scores.

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

16 hours ago, cj_robot said:

Yeah, I'm not a fan of this game. I thought it was fun for a little bit, until I really tried to play through the whole game. There's not nearly enough variety in the levels to entice me to spend a whole hour playing through this one. It just gets very repetitive and tedious way too quickly for me. It's fun in short bursts, but that's about it. I like the sequels a lot more.

4/10

This is where I stand on the game. I always play it short bursts, have a few stupid deaths, then just lose motivation to keep playing. I want to like this game but it's extremely hard for me to stick with it for whatever reason. I'll hold off on voting until I play sometime in the next few days but will likely vote 4 or 5. 

[Gentlegamer | 174]

Adventure Island is Sonic the Hedgehog if Sonic was actually good.

Gotta go fast!

[cj_robot | 543]

46 minutes ago, Gentlegamer said:

Adventure Island is Sonic the Hedgehog if Sonic was actually good.

Gotta go fast!

Adventure Island is Sonic the Hedgehog Pac-Land if Sonic Pac-Land was actually good tolerable.