Adventure Island 3 (1992)

Beat using slow motion mode since for some reason this played a lot faster than 2. Pretty sure I did not play this back in the 90s since nothing triggered memories. I found this game a little more difficult with trickier platforming, hazards and bosses, but the time limit seemed more forgiving. The new triceratops was cool with its attack reversing contact damage to the enemies, which made it excellent for platforming. Unfortunately I was riding that for the 1st boss, and having to melee the boss was certainly not the optimal strategy. He always dismounted the dinos during boss fights in 2 so that was an interesting new mechanic here. The inventory select screen at the beginning of each stage was improved because it showed what kind of stage it would be; whether under water, a mix of water and land, lava, ice, sky, forest etc, which made it easy to choose the appropriate dino. The red was good for lava, blue for ice, purple for water and pterodactyl owned everything again. In fact I found it even easier to cheese past almost every stage while flying than in 2. One water cave stage towards the end I failed using purple, almost making it to the end but time ran out. Trying again with flight was way faster and easier than going underwater. I also beat every subsequent boss using the pterodactyl, which was sometimes hilariously overpowered. Other times the bosses were too high to bomb and I had to be evasive until they moved. The surfing bonus level early on was ridiculously difficult as I could not figure out how to move to the next wave without sliding off. At least that was optional. I found 1 stage warp but decided not to use it as my time was good and the bosses were more varied this time. So it was pretty much the same game as 2 just with a few new things. I didn't like the boomerang because a 2nd could not be thrown so it was not a spam weapon. At least it was something different and I had to use it on the underwater boss. There was 1 egg slot in the inventory that I have no idea what went there. Was there a weapon I never found? The only thing I felt this game did worse was the map. The islands were no longer themed and there were a mix of biomes all over the place, there was no zoomed out view of the entire area, and the cute little animated bosses were all just the same UFO until you reached them and a brief image of the boss appeared. It gave the game less feeling of charm and wonder. Overall I give it the same score.

8.0/10

Preliminary: Yesss on the 4th-ish level I got my favorite of the Dinosaurs. (Ugh the screenshot didn't capture it but it's the purple Lapras-type dinosaur I loved in the second Adventure Island) I liked the new Triceratops too. I lovvved the second Adventure Island and this is basically an extension of that. Some of the level design has been meh so far, and it doesn't have that excitement since I had already experienced this before, but can't deny it. I love it still

Sheesh that first area's boss was really easy lol. And I'm oddly liking the Blue Dragon type dinosaur the most this time rather than my usual beloved purple Lapras guy

Despite it being my "calm night" where I have to take breaks from gaming (I will I will) and that I have so many OSRS things I wanna do, as soon as I started this, I was intensely hooked like to an unhealthy degree where my neck tensed up and I put off getting up to pee lol. That's a good thing for the game, but is exactly why I implemented 2 nights a week where I set a timer and have to take breaks :-p Cuz if I did this all night and beat it in one night, it wouldn't be healthy! Anyway, I def have that platforming hook!

Welp I very well may beat this tonight even with the breaks lol. In my first 45 min gaming time, I got to the 5th Area :-p And based on my googling there are 7 in total. The level design and world map parts and music aren't as striking this time around, but it's still got that addictive gameplay formula from the second one that will make this surely a 4 star and likely a 5 star. (Oh wait there are 8 areas)

Day 1

Welp I'm back and almost to Area 7 lol. Smh. It's interesting how in the first one I absolutely overused the purple Lapras guy, but this time around I'm almost entirely using the Blue Dragon with a bit of the Triceratops which reminded me of Sonic and the Metroid Ball power. The level design still hasn't been stellar and the game itself hasn't presented anything new or exciting compared to its predecessor, except perhaps the neat Triceratops move, but still hooked! Oh and I got the Pterodactyl way less this time around, in fact so far I only got it in a Key-accessed "secret" power up area I stumbled upon.

I feel like Adventure Island II had level designs that encouraged and embraced the run/skate aspect of the early Adventure Islands more, while this one feels more inspired by the early levels of Sonic 1 where it keeps trying to gotcha so you can't ever just run for fun. (tho I did anyway lol)

As expected with NES platformers, the sprite collision masks are quite tight and the gameplay overall quite tight, compared to its Genesis and SNES full-sprite contemporaries that got a bit sloppy in favor of better music and Look. The downside, of course, is the NES limitations on music and sprite slowdown/flicker.

I kept telling myself I would stop so I could do calm OSRS playing for calm night but here I am on the last Area... smh lol

Yessss

Day 2

I managed to stop playing last night to prioritize some calm time instead. I only have a bit left though. I got to the final boss with no dinosaur, and the 2 phases so far have been meh. Like the 2nd phase is so simple, just long.

The UFO sounds were annoying and for the most part the ending was shaping up to just be annoying, but a nice tune for the credits and nice colors for that too

Look: 7.5/10 I still love the dinosaur sprites but for the most part just rehashes of the prior game. And a second time around, a year later, it just isn't as special.

Sound: 7.5/10 Good tunes but not enough new spectacular ones to warrant the excitement the prior game gave me.

Play: 8.5/10 Still just love the Adventure Island II gameplay. I was thoroughly hooked. The level design was hit or miss, but still, I love the different dinosaurs capabilities even if I usually focus on just one or two each game, and I love the straightforward platforming.

Feel: 8.5/10 This probly would be a 7.5 or 8 if I didn't love the first one so much.

Attachment: 8/10 Ditto

Overall: 8/10

Completion: Main Story

Playtime: ~2 hours

A challenging but fun platformer. I was a little disappointed by the fact that several of the enemies and traps in the game are recycled from Adventure Island II, although some additions such as the new green "rolling" dinosaur and the much appreciated hidden Warps, made this third game more bearable for me.

I found it a bit easier than AI2, as I only needed to use savestates to avoid having to replay stages 7-1 and 8-1... I had enough after beating them at least four times each. I also noticed that there is a clearer logic or reasoning behind the levels, in the sense that several of them (especially in the last two worlds) seem intended to be completed using a specific dinosaur. I also liked the new secret rooms where you get more than one dinosaur at a time, so you can use them in later levels.

In short, recommended. It left me wanting to try the (japan-only) fourth game as well.

Platform:

NES

Description:

This game continues down the path the Adventure Island II took.

Since I liked the dinosaur mounts in the second, I like the additional in this game. I also think that the level design here complements the dinosaur abilities a bit better (the red one can walk through lava and there is quite some lava levels here for example). I also liked the secret shortcuts of which I found more in this than in the second.

Disliked:

It has the same flaws as the second game in the series, since there is basically not much difference between the two. So the levels again drag a bit once you get to the late worlds, since there is no surprises at all.

Summary:

I don't know if it surpasses the second game in quality, even though there is some minor added features. Both the second and this kind of feel the same in almost every aspect. So it's a good play, for sure, albeit having only average level design.