Adventure Island II (1991)

Beat. I definitely recall playing this back in the 90s but no idea if I beat it then. I instantly recognized it from the island graphics with little animated boss on each. I love that design though I wish the stages and links between them actually showed. It was pretty easy up until cave island, other than the occasional stage that didn't have much fruit, which required rushing and save stage scumming. I am not a fan of time limits though here it did prevent simply flying past everything on the pterodactyl. On cave island I found the warp to the next island and was so bad on time that my only options were take the skip or fail the stage. Up until here I had been mostly using the blue and red dinos, and sometimes going in on foot. The best way to play was to save state at the dino select screen before each stage (an awesome mechanic) to be able to switch if 1 attempt did not work out. A guide said riding a dino caused the time limit to deplete faster, the blue dino was immune to ice slip, the red could walk on lava, and that there were different paths through the islands. I never noticed any of that. For the rest of the game I used the purple Plesiosaur for water stages and the pterodactyl for the rest. Took some save state scumming to get past certain tricky spots but overall flight negated much of the challenge. The biggest problems were flying enemies, the ice falls from penguins, and volcanoes. The most difficult part was during the final stage where there was red water with shooter enemies on the ceiling. It took very precise movements to go under the shot fast enough to avoid the 2nd shot and not go low enough to lose the dino in the water. Probably should have taken the aquatic. The bosses seemed to shoot at the pterodactyl half the time but not sure if they were aimed or random.

This game was clearly inspired by Super Mario 3 but did not have the same quality as that legendary masterpiece. The inventory select before each stage and dino riding stood out as the best aspects, though Super Mario 3 had the same as costumes. Cute graphics, fun gameplay and relaxing tunes made this a NES classic.

8.0/10

I started off really enjoying the game. The improvements over the original are immediately obvious, but I started to sour on the game by world 4 and especially so when I got stuck in the last world for 5+ hours (skill issue). I ended up needing to look up a map for the last world and using saves states on the last level.

Pros

• Great music and visuals.
• Variety in level themes and layouts.
• Inventory system and multiple mounts. It blows me away that this game has 4 mounts when SMW on SNES just had Yoshi with color variants.
• Unlimited continues by default.
• A lot of levels and alternate routes. There's a lot of different pathways you can take after beating a level (e.g. you don't always have to go to level 2 after beating level 1). Adds replayability and variety.

• No level checkpoints. This is less of an issue in the early stages of the game where levels are shorter, but later on it becomes noticeable with how long and difficult the levels become.
• Hitboxes are horrendous. It feels like everything has a huge hitbox and will kill you on sight.
• Similarly to the first game, stage hazards and enemies seem to be placed at the most inconvenient places towards the end of the game.
• The game starts to not be generous with its items at the end, which is a shame considering it's taking away the mechanics that drew me towards the game to begin with.

Ultimately, I think this is the kind of game I'd revisit to play for a bit, but set down to play something else once I get to the point where I'm hitting game overs. The difficulty takes away a lot of the charm and makes it hard for me to recommend to other people.

Preliminary: Yay! Fast-paced gameplay with cute music and Look, always like that. Nothing spectacular so far, but pick up and play, got some sort of dinosaur I rode, as well as the usual skateboard. Love the overworld's Look. Etc. I didn't much care for the first Adventure Island, can't recall why (ah, because the first one was essentially a port of Wonder Boy and might as well just play that). Anyway, on with the gameplay! (I'm supposed to be playing my OSRS Ironman tho ahhh). Oh, and I of course am playing the original release on NES.

Day 1

Likely what I am most loving is the ability to run, something I always love love and sort of expect as a basic feature for platformer games now that we are past Super Mario World. Also like SMW, you kind of have to choose between an attack, say with your dinosaur, or run sometimes. Good balance there. And they sure give you a lot of Eggs to open, at least at the start, I keep getting all these animal helpers! Haha. Speaking of, it's Purple Lapras! haha

Omg I got a pterodactyl! That seems super OP! I suppose it's like the flight power-up in Marios :-p Time for the first boss then for real need to get some OSRS time in but this is thoroughly impressing me so far (plus is that genre/vibe that I can't help but get hooked to. The chronology project was intended to teach me to appreciate other genres, instead it's mostly just helped me come to terms with it being okay to have preferences haha) . I beat that first boss really quickly, and haven't looked to a guide or the manual at all :-p I suppose it is an NA-first release, and we often see those are less Nintendohard, but surely I will be regretting that at some point since I now see just how many worlds/islands there are

Day 2

Welp I keep going world to world, still having fun! On the Ice World now, flying along. Turns out the Pterodactyl isn't that OP, because the game designers clearly put thought and love into this game and the level designs take into account all the different dinosaurs. There's still one more dinosaur/power-up I haven't come upon. I love the dinosaur/power-up select process before each level. Such a neat idea and you can try out different variations of gameplay that way, and this is ripe for speedruns with teh run feature etc, and I loved stumbling upon Secret Rooms on my own, and so much to love about this. I also like that you can store up the dinosaurs, so if you lose one and had 2 "in stock" you still have one. Hard to explain. Just play it!

Even tho I wish there were a larger variety of tunes, I still haven't gotten annoyed with these same few (and the occasional new one).

Even tho one could claim this "steals" a lot from Mario, it also feels entirely fresh and has roots in Wonder Boy and I dunno, it just doesn't feel like stealing. Plus, this was the closest a game has come to giving me "that feeling" that Super Mario World gives me, which has the benefit of decades of nostalgia, replays, and being-one-of-my-only-games-at-my-dad's, etc. etc. So , uh, that's a really good thing. Will this be the next Castlevania? The next action platformer that gives me that permanent Favorite/beloved Feel?! It's odd that these mid?/late-game levels are actually more fun than the beginning, usually I'm burning out on 80s and early 90s action games by that point cuz they get so difficult. This has that fun "I'm flying along! and I barely survived that with quick dodging thanks to responsive controls" that I only get with a few other games, namely SMW. I truly felt like I got to know the controls and it's only Day 2! (Albeit over an hour of playing ha, so I've had time to learn it). Anywayyyy, I love it! And I love the feeling of being good at a game, and I think it helps that this has similar controls and learnable mechanics and tight responsiveness like my beloved SMW.

I beat the Ice World now too! Flying along! I like that I haven't had to abuse, well even barely use, savestates! Feels like I'm truly entering the 90s gaming, and nearing the PS1 era gaming, where I know I can actually manage their difficulty levels :-p (and when not, they either have a difficulty option or it's only very late game)

Wait... I just remembered this is on NES not Genesis. Makes it even more impressive!!! I realize this was still the heyday of NES in general, and especially in NA where this game was first released, but sheesh. Very impressive. I haven't even had to complain about any sprite flicker/lag and whatnot. Well-played, designers. But I did just read there are eight islands! This is long, indeed for an NES platformer especially! I thought I was on the last island and was about to beat it but looks like this will be a multi-day game, and the best part is, I'm not even bemoaning it!

I finally have all dinosaurs/power-ups and it seems the purple lapras is still my favorite. Both Look-wise and use-wise. (and controls-wise).

(I just had to jinx it, I had my first instance of sprite flicker/lag in this Island 5 Cave Island >.< And the difficulty is definitely getting higher and I had to use savestate in the middle of a level. But I'm still loving it and forgiving it!)

Is... is this an evil angry Eggplant following me now? I thought only power-ups came out of eggs?!

The Cave Island boss was super easy :-p just stand a bit to the side of it on the platform (or get lucky and spawn there for the first platform and figure this out naturally :-p ). Imma play some OSRS Ironman for the rest of the night since it's already almost bedtime, but nice! Loving this. Oh boo tho I wont get to play this tomorrow cuz I'm chaperoning a football game :(

Day 3

Wasn't able to play it yesterday cuz of the football game, so I'm excited to hopefully finish it today! On the boss of Cloud World right now! I'm still absolutely loving this. I can confidently place its gameplay as equal to Castlevania and SMW for me as 10/10 type Plays. I just love it. The tight controls help. So impressive for an NES game too. I really just stick to my Purple Lapras for the most part, but still nice that you could play this so many different ways. It keeps reminding me of SMW, and while this will certainly be a Favorite for now, I wonder if it could creep up to an Ultimate even some day!

I like that instead of the overused time limit mechanic of so many of its contemporaries, SMW included, it has the Wonder Boy-style mechanic still (you can collect good to essentiatlly elongate your "time limit"). I feel the level designs and item spawns are well-balanced around this mechanic. Also, I like that there aren't headachey puzzles (at least, not yet, and I'm nearing the end) that bog down the pick up and play, yet still challenging, fun platforming. Another issue I have with many of its contemporaries, including the Marios.

I'm on the final world! The Volcano Island boss was really easy again lol, I suppose that is one potential complaint, the bosses are a bit lame, buttttt I do appreciate it. Makes it more approachable. But yea, definitely a bit lackluster in terms of their mechanics. Their Looks were all great imo.

This final world is definitely having the sprite flicker/slow-down more often, but I'm still enjoying it a lot. Pretty wild that they're still introducing new enemies in the last few levels, including the level to reach what I assume is a demi-boss of the final island? Wait lol it was just a 2-part boss and uh, it was ridiculously easy for a final boss. Especially compared to the difficulty of the last couple levels (which still never got to "Nintendohard" levels, I'm telling you, something about NA-first or NA-only NES releases). Either way, cute ending tune and great colors, tho nothing sentimental or powerful

Look: 9.5/10 Cute. That classic SMW era Look, and yet for the NES! Impressive. Great dinosaur characters, and all the bosses were neat. Tho it wasn't about sentimental horizons and zone out vibes, it has that epitomal cute early 90s Look to it that I love so much, and on the NES no less!

Sound: 9/10 Never got tired of it. Nothing sentimental or particularly great though, just good fun tunes. They might grow on me like how SMW goofy/fun tunes did, with future replays.

Play: 10/10 Pretty bold of me to put this on first playthrough but yea. Seems clear to me. This my kind of game.

Feel: 9.5/10 Such an impressive first playthrough. And I could even see the Look and Sound further growing on me, bringing this to an Ultimate. Unlikely to ever be a Perfect Rating, but you never know!

Attachment: 9.5/10 I know I will be returning to this!

Overall: 9.5/10

Completion: Main Story

Playtime: ~2h 15m

Ah, I finally do return to Adventure Island after all these long years... This game had been on my backlog for a while... as I wasn't a big fan of the first. I always felt like it was one of Hudson's more popular titles for NES but never found much enjoyment for the game, (so I was surprised at how good their games were for the TG-16 when I eventually checked it out) The second game however, was a bit more enjoyable that what I remember the recipe provided the first time around.
The different world maps look pretty nice and resemble level transition in SMB 3 and SMW

First of all, you'll notice a lot of this game looks very Super Mario Bros 3 (and arguably Super Mario World) inspired. I'm not saying it plays like it, it just looks and feels like it. Levels are bright and colorful, you have ridable dinos, oh and you have a weird exit goal thingie... A lot of the aesthetic is there on point. The result is a rather nice and colorful looking game for the NES.

You telling me I'm imagining they copied stuff to be like SMB3? Heck, you can even get Magic Flutes!

Boss battles are not one of the games strong points. Few are that interesting and they tend to resemble the boss fights of other Hudson Soft games I've played. (Fighting bosses is mechanical and mostly simply shooting at it as best you can.)

Gameplay is similar to the first game. The thing about Adventure Island is it really relies on muscle memory. You're trying to get through the level as fast as you can before that timer meter thing runs down, this result in you making a lot of somewhat-risky-and-constant run and jump moves and if you time your shots right on the enemies coming/around the corner, you can just blaze through a level. Since enemies are static, its really all about memorizing where they are after a few unsuccessful tries and just blitzing through it. This is an interesting approach to level design and as much as I appreciate the effort by the programmers to exercise their creativity (when you'll shoot at an enemy just showing up is rather well placed IMO, as all the enemies seem intelligently placed) I don't particularly like the way it skews gameplay towards a 'try and try again' approach of levels in order for you to make natural progress. Also, Master Higgins is still as slippy and sluggish as I remember him being and is a bit hard to control, but that makes it all the more fun when flying really fast and chaotically through a level and successfully timing your shots.

What's nice is building up the repertoire of ridable dinos. you can store a regular dino and upgrade it into a specialized version. You can even store your dinos between levels to save them for when you need them most!

AI2 is not a long game if you discard the difficulty of the game that would lead a normal playthrough to result in many retries and practice runs. The game IS a noticable improvement over its predecessor with it's Super Mario derived aesthetic, vertical tree climbing and water swimming levels (and dinos!), the game tries to bring SMW's Dinosaur Island to the NES with some level of aptitude, but despite these things it still doesn't really manage to set the bar higher for running and jumping scrolling platform titles or games providing an action-adventure experience. Also going against the game arel the bad habits of its coin-op roots; restarting a level upon your death, an annoying level timer, and strategically placed 'gotchas' in it's final inning.

When I started playing AI2, I was always hoping (dreading?) that the game will show me the same brutal difficulty of the first AI. So, when I got through the first few worlds I was a bit confused as the difficulty increase was slow, even unnoticeable at times. The dino mounts gave me a sense of security, as they at least give you an extra hit but also have different abilities that allows you to easily beat most of the levels up to world 4, maybe 5.

It was only in the last world that I felt that the game was getting really complicated, and I resorted to savestates to avoid dying in the last stage. In world 8 the axe becomes pretty much necessary, and losing it means that you are practically doomed to start the world again and go through the same stages over and over.

The new underwater and vertical stages are fine additions. The bosses are still very simple, although this time with a little more variety, but the fact that they escape to another stage if you don't beat them in the first try was quite frustrating.

In short, a good sequel that adds new stuff while maintaining the essence of the previous game.

Platform:

NES

Description:

Largely extended version of Adventure Island, with new features but still keeping the basic gameplay of the original.

I loved the dinosaur mounts. They look cute and that you keep the dinosaurs and weapons you managed to bring to the goal in a sort of inventory gives more strategic options what you take into the level. There is also some water levels now which offers some variety, and some levels are more vertically oriented. I also like the direction the art is taking in this, it looks great on the NES.

Disliked:

It's still a bit repetitive over time. The idea that the boss runs away when you don't beat it in the first go is interesting, but ultimately more frustrating then anything because you have to go through a bunch of pointless levels again just to get a chance at trying to beat it again.

It's a nice game, and serves as a good example that mounts are well possible on NES, despite rumors that Yoshi wasn't in SMB3 because of the NES hardware. It's got very average simple and linear level design, but still manage to have loads of character.