Ultimate Guide: Super Adventure Island
Darran explains why Master Higgins’ first adventure on the Super Nintendo is still worth playing today
If we’ve learned one thing about Master Higgins over the years it’s that he’s certainly not the brightest of videogame heroes. Despite having to continuously rescue his girlfriend/ wife across numerous games, he continues to live on Adventure Island. Fortunately, Master Higgins’ inability to come to terms with just how dangerous his idyllic home is means that we’ve been able to enjoy many adventures over the past 30-odd years and one of our favourites remains his first entry on Nintendo’s 16-bit console.
Hudson Soft’s very first Adventure Island game was essentially an adaptation of Westone’s
Wonder Boy, but with a brand-new hero (along with bosses and music) who was based on an
executive at Hudson Soft called Takahashi Meijin. Just as later Westone Wonder Boy games would dabble with new game mechanics and branch out into different genres, many of the later
Adventure Island games would also be markedly different to Sega’s popular 1986 arcade hit. The NES and Game Boy games, for example, feature cute dragons that Master Higgins can use as steeds, and it’s possible to carry them across to later levels or stockpile them for later use in the game. These neat mechanics helped give the early Adventure Island games a nice distinctive vibe from the releases Westone was working on, ensuring they stood apart from the many other platformers that appeared on Nintendo’s consoles. Interestingly, the first Adventure Island game to grace Nintendo’s 16-bit console decided to once again mine the original Wonder Boy for inspiration, and as a result it’s a very different beast to the sequels that appeared on the NES.
Despite the sheer raw power of the Super Nintendo compared to Nintendo’s original 8-bit system, developer Produce! decided to keep things simple for its first and only entry in the
Adventure Island series. Sure there are some snazzy Mode 7 effects and graphically things are a lot more impressive compared to the earlier
NES games, but mechanically the series takes something of a step back. Levels are fairly linear affairs with only the odd chasm or moving platform to mix things up and challenge the player. Later stages do start adding the odd vertical level to add some variety but the core focus is typically based around completing a stage as quickly as possible, just like the arcade version of
Wonder Boy. This focus on not dallying is further impressed on you by the visual representation of Master Higgins’ energy, which is displayed onscreen and constantly ticks down, meaning you’ll need to continually be on the lookout for fruit and milk in order to ensure your energy reserves remain high. It means, at the very least, that Super
Adventure Island is a fast-paced romp through some very colourful environments.
Adventure Island is crawling with enemies and Master Higgins typically starts off with no weapons, meaning he has to rely on his legs in order to propel him past the game’s many hazards. Fortunately, Higgins is pretty handy when it comes to jumping and he can easily leap over most foes in the game. Crucially he can leap higher and further by pressing up on the d-pad while jumping, which becomes far more important in later stages where moving platforms and more deviously placed enemies start coming into play. Higgins can also now crouch, which not only enables him to avoid incoming enemies and projectiles, but also allows him to perform an even more impressive ‘Super Jump’ that again helps with avoiding enemies and has the added bonus of letting him reach out of the way fruit. Jumping will only get Higgins so far, however, so each course often features a number of power-ups in the form of axes and boomerangs for him to use. The axe is a throwback to both Wonder Boy and the earlier Adventure Island games, allowing Higgins to lob projectiles in a lazy arc that destroy any wayward enemies they come across. Even more useful is the boomerang, which can be thrown in various directions (including up and down) and has the additional benefit
“it’s one of the few super nintendo games that won’t cost you a fortune“
of potentially taking out any missed enemies as it returns to Higgins’ eager hand. Both items can be powered up a total of four times and their final incarnations become fused with fire, which allows Higgins to break open the troublesome rocks that can be found on most stages.
As well as its mechanics, another similarity Adventure Island shares with Wonder Boy is its bright cartoonlike aesthetic. While Master Higgins himself isn’t the most endearing-looking of characters, the world he inhabits is a lush and verdant paradise Levels take place across slippery snowfields, gloomy-looking caves, vibrant palm tree-filled beaches, misty forests and hazy deserts. Every environment you’ve ever raced through in a platformer is present and correct, but Produce!’s game still manages to make them feel distinctive
thanks to Super Adventure Island’s bright and punchy visuals. This larger-than-life style extends to the game’s bosses, which are often huge abominations that are as cute as they are deadly. A giant octopus, lava-protected snake and a huge guardian statue are just a few of the deadly creations that Higgins has to face and each and every one of them is hugely satisfying to fight.
Super Adventure Island also finds time to throw in some neat Mode 7 effects. Granted they’re not as spectacular as those seen in the likes of
Pilotwings, Super Castlevania IV or Contra III, but they do manage to complement the cartoon style of Produce!’s release, whether its seeing Higgins fall towards the ground at the start of the game or when he gets swallowed by a whale. The flourishes found throughout Super Adventure
Island are further enhanced by Yuzo Koshiro’s excellent soundtrack. It’s a delightful fusion of tropical tunes and big bouncy beats that will be familiar to anyone who has experienced his earlier work. It particularly comes to life during boss fights, delivering a dance-fuelled groove-like tune that you can’t help but hum along to.
Super Adventure Island isn’t the easiest game in the series, thanks to some annoying difficulty spikes, but it still remains a lot of fun to play, even if it does feel like something of a step back compared to Adventure Island 2 on the NES. Fortunately, it’s one of the few Super Nintendo games that won’t cost you a small fortune to own nowadays, meaning that there’s never been a more ideal time to head to paradise and experience Master Higgins’
16-bit SNES adventure.