 Sssssssssssssssss Nostruck. Adventure Island started a somewhat popular series of games on NES that was originally quote unquote adapted from an arcade game called Wunderboy. The developer is West1, then called escape, wanted to port the game to the NES but the company that had the rights to Wonderboy's characters, bosses, and names was Sega, and yeah They weren't going to allow that so West1 just decided to team up with Hudsonsoft and create a very very similar game. Okay, it's practically the exact same game, just with some sprite swaps and name changes. Anyway, each Adventure Island NES game is a 2D side-scrolling platformer where you play as a dude named Master Higgins, who travel to the South Pacific Islands to rescue a princess of course. You run to the right, pick up weapons and kill stuff, but what makes this game a little different is the life meter up top. It gradually runs out as time goes on, so you have to keep going and pick up fruit to replenish your health, so in other words you don't really have a choice but to treat Adventure Island as a speedrun game. Time is money, or more accurately, time is health. Adventure Island 2 came out in 1991 that introduced an inventory system and some new friends to help Master Higgins along the way. And Super Adventure Island was released for the Super Nintendo a year later. You might expect this series to take a similar leap that Contra, Mega Man, and Kirby all did from NES to Super NES, and you'd be wrong. Sure, Super Adventure Island looks great, the visual upgrade here is substantial, and the music is really well done and very listenable if that makes sense, but I mean this is the same old Adventure Island stuff, nothing here has changed from the first game. There's two weapons, there's the skateboard powerup, the life meter mechanic is exactly the same, and the game can be finished easily within 30 minutes. What I mean to say is, this game is boring. Really if you wanted a game that expanded upon the first two Adventure Island games you'd have to roll with Adventure Island 3 for NES which came out a few months after Super Adventure Island, where there's hidden treasure rooms, surfing mini games, and a continuation of the stuff introduced in Adventure Island 2. So if anything, it's like Super Adventure Island took a step back in the series. The graphics are a huge improvement and the music is great, but it's so simple and straightforward, there's just no meat on the bone here so to speak, or the fruit hasn't ripened yet, or whatever hackneyed analogy you want to shoe-hort into there. If you want to experience something new with the Adventure Island series that goes beyond what the NES offers, you have to skip ahead to Super Adventure Island 2. Believe it or not, this is more of a side-scrolling adventure style format that's much larger and more ambitious than anything the previous games came close to attempting. In other words, it's very similar to how the Wonder Boy series eventually progressed. You can navigate through a huge overworld where you choose to play through five different islands so you can obtain spells that will eventually enable Master Higgins to knock down a barrier to get back his kidnapped princess. Yeah, that's still a thing, whatever. While you're traveling between islands, you can get sucked into these brief side-scrolling sections that are like something straight out of Zelda 2. Each island itself has its own theme, of course, and you can pick up or buy not just weapons, but armor, magic spells, shields, and other stuff. This is a far cry from the NES games and a welcome change for sure. Super Adventure Island 2 is one of the most unexpectedly fun and deep Super Nintendo games I can remember playing and not just in the gameplay depth, but the level design is fresh and unpredictable as well. There's quite a bit of replay value here too, since after conquering certain islands you can always go back and use newfound unlocked items to find more stuff and maybe even explore new areas. There is even a casino in this game where you can bet on monster races. I'm telling you, Super Adventure Island 2 is like Legend of the Mystical Ninja, crossed with Zelda 2, crossed with... I'm not even sure what. It's really a pleasant surprise. So yeah, when it comes to the Inventure Island games on the Super Nintendo, skip the first game, especially if you've already played the three NES games because there's really nothing new there. Yeah, it's got some great visual design and some good music, but I would only recommend it if you're looking for something straightforward and simple that would only take about 30 minutes to complete. Super Adventure Island 2, however, is not a typical Adventure Island game. It's way more in-depth and closer to an adventure style format, with sidescrolling platforming levels. It might not be the most polished game. I mean, the first Super Adventure Island almost certainly has better graphics and music, but it's still well worth playing today. I would dare call it a hidden gem. But yeah, it's a really pleasant surprise and a fun playthrough.