Adventure island 4 was my fav game, playing it untranslated on a famiclone. Btw the 'glitch' you mentioned in the minigames is due to lack of fruits. Minigame difficulty is decided by no of fruits and its basically impossible without a fruit in some games.
My first console was the gba, so I'm way too young to have experienced these when they were new. I can definitely say that adventure island is one of my favorite NES games. I always play with savestates, so it's fun holding down the b button and just running through the levels. It would be cool if an indie game tried to take inspiration. Similarly to how shovel knight took inspiration from games like duck tales and mega man.
Watching you stream this game, it popped into my head that Donkey Kong Country is pretty much a 2-player clone of Adventure Island 2. The tropical theme The various animal companions The unique approach to platformer boss design The skateboard segments play a lot like DKC's mine cart stages (though Super Adventure Island has minecarts years before DKC) And, of course, fruit collection It's interesting, as you said on stream, how DKC fails to meet the charm and enjoyability of AI2's animal companions and boss design. This isn't to say DKC is a bad game at all, but rather, highlights just how incredible the platforming and stage design of DKC is.
Me and my GF both grew up absolutely loving these games on NES and I even own the 1st 3 I had as a kid still. I loved this video man totally agree he needs a return, I feel that a refined version of the 2nd and 3rd game type would be awesome. Kind of like "Crash Bandicoot 4 about time" where even tho a 4th game existed they went back and made a new 4th more like the previous 3rd title. The series isn't mentioned much but if you find a person who likes the games they really really like them. Great video again and was a nice random out of nowhere video I appreciated
SAI2 being one of my favourite adventure island game for all the exploration aspect in it, Finding equipment, items and tecniques to progress further into the game is sometimes enjoyable
So, THAT'S what the Hudson Bee was for (continuing)... Adventure Island for Game Boy was my first video game ever, and I've obtained that Bee multiple times through the years, never knowing its purpose.
The Wonder Boy / Adventure Island / Whomp 'Em family tree sure is an oddity. Kinda wish they got Master Higgins into Wonder Boy Returns or Remix and call it "Wonder Boy in Adventure Island". Would've been a fun way to present that history.
Fantastic recap of the series. Many happy memories mixed with nostalgia. My big brother and I used to speedrun the first 3 games ~30 years ago. We thought we were so cool by coming up with the idea of running a game as fast as possible 😄 Unfortunately this appears to be another one of those classics that will live on in our memories only. In a parallel universe, this series could've become as popular as Sonic if not Mario, but alas. For some reason, as the series progressed they stripped away the fun features one by one. It feels like they stopped taking the it seriously and traded its identity for the common trend-chasing, to the point that the only way to sell it was banking on nostalgia. That's why they started re-imagining the first game for like 4 times. The optimist child in me hopes for a triumphant return, but unfortunately the jaded old realist in me, knows better 😅
Great video. Theres also Wonder Boy Returns and Wonderboy Returns Remix on modern platforms. Despite using the Wonder Boy title both are in the style of the first Adventure Island.
I remember a lot of kids having this game on the NES, any of the first 2. But those were the games we only played when we were bored with the other games like Mario, Mega Man and Nemo.
It would be hard for Konami to bring back the Adventure Island games, since Master Higgins was based on a real person. They're too cheap to pay royalties for his likeness. Plus, I think the current owners of Wonder Boy are paying more attention to the series to the point where even the first game is being acknowledged by them.
AI3 for nes and SAI2 for snes are the best in my opinion. It’s a shame Hudson never brought back the dinosaur friends and playability ever again. Ohh, that “glitch” in AI4 in the mini games isn’t actually a glitch: if you go to the mini game having lot of fruits, I’ll make the mini game far easier. If you go with no fruits it will be hard and “glitchy”. I don’t know what was the trigger of deciding this gameplay mechanic.
This game was hard but I feel like the original adventure island 1 was much better looking then the wonder boy game. Something about the palette and colors make it look so smooth and good. Even better then super Mario. Adventure island games and it's color palette got worse as it went on
@@invisiblepoop3752Absolutely the same for me. The overall gameplay and the OST are among some of my favorite of all time. That said every time I start it up I’m like “Damn! Higgins has a shitty life!”
I can bet you anything why the dinosaurs were limited to nes and gameboy games. Marketing controls management, and management controls development. Management doesnt understand or play games, and doesnt care about the end result, they just want the most money possible. So they listen to marketing. Marketing also doesnt play or understand games, and all they have to work with to try to understand them is sales numbers. If we look at the adventure island games, the first one sold really well. Why? Well, it was an ok game, and there wasnt a lot of competition at the time of it coming out. It was the right kind of game at the right time on the right system. When the sequels came out, the NES was swamped with titles, and other, hotter systems were out. The sequels were better titles, but they weren't positioned to do well. So the conclusion management comes to is, the quality of the game is directly tied to sales numbers only. "Gamers hated the inventory system, the overworld, the dinosaurs. Get rid of all that stuff. Just remake the original." This is what killed the series. If they had allowed the developers to just progress with the series as they had been, they could have produced something truly great with their SNES debut, and cultivated a fan base around the series. Now, with the SNES sequel turning into an action RPG, i cant even imagine what happened there. Thats the opposite problem: a very bold move, but a little too weird. Thats more like a reskin of a totally different game than a sequel. Hudson was not Nintendo. Nintendo generally puts the product first, and trusts it will sell. It also balances innovation with spiritual faithfulness to a series.
Adventure island 4 was my fav game, playing it untranslated on a famiclone.
Btw the 'glitch' you mentioned in the minigames is due to lack of fruits. Minigame difficulty is decided by no of fruits and its basically impossible without a fruit in some games.
*LOVED* the NES and SNES Adventure Island Games!!!
Big like & sub!!!
My first console was the gba, so I'm way too young to have experienced these when they were new. I can definitely say that adventure island is one of my favorite NES games. I always play with savestates, so it's fun holding down the b button and just running through the levels. It would be cool if an indie game tried to take inspiration. Similarly to how shovel knight took inspiration from games like duck tales and mega man.
6:00 the manual explicitly tells you to look for the Hudson Bee in the first level
Watching you stream this game, it popped into my head that Donkey Kong Country is pretty much a 2-player clone of Adventure Island 2.
The tropical theme
The various animal companions
The unique approach to platformer boss design
The skateboard segments play a lot like DKC's mine cart stages (though Super Adventure Island has minecarts years before DKC)
And, of course, fruit collection
It's interesting, as you said on stream, how DKC fails to meet the charm and enjoyability of AI2's animal companions and boss design. This isn't to say DKC is a bad game at all, but rather, highlights just how incredible the platforming and stage design of DKC is.
This is an underrated channel! Subscribed
Me and my GF both grew up absolutely loving these games on NES and I even own the 1st 3 I had as a kid still. I loved this video man totally agree he needs a return, I feel that a refined version of the 2nd and 3rd game type would be awesome. Kind of like "Crash Bandicoot 4 about time" where even tho a 4th game existed they went back and made a new 4th more like the previous 3rd title. The series isn't mentioned much but if you find a person who likes the games they really really like them. Great video again and was a nice random out of nowhere video I appreciated
SAI2 being one of my favourite adventure island game for all the exploration aspect in it,
Finding equipment, items and tecniques to progress further into the game is sometimes enjoyable
So, THAT'S what the Hudson Bee was for (continuing)... Adventure Island for Game Boy was my first video game ever, and I've obtained that Bee multiple times through the years, never knowing its purpose.
The Wonder Boy / Adventure Island / Whomp 'Em family tree sure is an oddity. Kinda wish they got Master Higgins into Wonder Boy Returns or Remix and call it "Wonder Boy in Adventure Island". Would've been a fun way to present that history.
Fantastic recap of the series. Many happy memories mixed with nostalgia. My big brother and I used to speedrun the first 3 games ~30 years ago. We thought we were so cool by coming up with the idea of running a game as fast as possible 😄
Unfortunately this appears to be another one of those classics that will live on in our memories only. In a parallel universe, this series could've become as popular as Sonic if not Mario, but alas.
For some reason, as the series progressed they stripped away the fun features one by one. It feels like they stopped taking the it seriously and traded its identity for the common trend-chasing, to the point that the only way to sell it was banking on nostalgia. That's why they started re-imagining the first game for like 4 times.
The optimist child in me hopes for a triumphant return, but unfortunately the jaded old realist in me, knows better 😅
Super Adventure Island is the pinnacle of the series, gameplay met soundtrack to make a complete banger of a game.
I disagree. I think nothing would do better than adventure island 3 and super adventure island 2
@@dieinfire920 But we can agree on the fact, that Super Adventure Island is the ONLY one what have GOD tier music, the others are good at best...
Great video. Theres also Wonder Boy Returns and Wonderboy Returns Remix on modern platforms. Despite using the Wonder Boy title both are in the style of the first Adventure Island.
Did you play takahashi meijin no bug t honey
I’ve dabbled with this series a good few times .
Always good to have a thorough resource on these more obscure things!
New Adventure Island on PCE with Super Adventure Island's OST would be the perfect game for me I think.
i played these games in a DVD player
I remember a lot of kids having this game on the NES, any of the first 2. But those were the games we only played when we were bored with the other games like Mario, Mega Man and Nemo.
Thx for this video man
Salutes from Brazil
It would be hard for Konami to bring back the Adventure Island games, since Master Higgins was based on a real person. They're too cheap to pay royalties for his likeness. Plus, I think the current owners of Wonder Boy are paying more attention to the series to the point where even the first game is being acknowledged by them.
AI3 for nes and SAI2 for snes are the best in my opinion.
It’s a shame Hudson never brought back the dinosaur friends and playability ever again.
Ohh, that “glitch” in AI4 in the mini games isn’t actually a glitch: if you go to the mini game having lot of fruits, I’ll make the mini game far easier. If you go with no fruits it will be hard and “glitchy”. I don’t know what was the trigger of deciding this gameplay mechanic.
We call this Caveman in the Philippines when I was a kid
3 is the best. As game and as ost
There was something disturbing about the main character that kept me from spending too much time on it.
This game was hard but I feel like the original adventure island 1 was much better looking then the wonder boy game. Something about the palette and colors make it look so smooth and good. Even better then super Mario. Adventure island games and it's color palette got worse as it went on
I could see that
Super adventure island 2 is a fantastic game
My favorite adventure island game And one of my favorite games on the snes.
@@invisiblepoop3752Absolutely the same for me. The overall gameplay and the OST are among some of my favorite of all time. That said every time I start it up I’m like “Damn! Higgins has a shitty life!”
I can bet you anything why the dinosaurs were limited to nes and gameboy games.
Marketing controls management, and management controls development.
Management doesnt understand or play games, and doesnt care about the end result, they just want the most money possible. So they listen to marketing.
Marketing also doesnt play or understand games, and all they have to work with to try to understand them is sales numbers.
If we look at the adventure island games, the first one sold really well. Why? Well, it was an ok game, and there wasnt a lot of competition at the time of it coming out. It was the right kind of game at the right time on the right system.
When the sequels came out, the NES was swamped with titles, and other, hotter systems were out. The sequels were better titles, but they weren't positioned to do well.
So the conclusion management comes to is, the quality of the game is directly tied to sales numbers only.
"Gamers hated the inventory system, the overworld, the dinosaurs. Get rid of all that stuff. Just remake the original."
This is what killed the series. If they had allowed the developers to just progress with the series as they had been, they could have produced something truly great with their SNES debut, and cultivated a fan base around the series.
Now, with the SNES sequel turning into an action RPG, i cant even imagine what happened there. Thats the opposite problem: a very bold move, but a little too weird. Thats more like a reskin of a totally different game than a sequel.
Hudson was not Nintendo. Nintendo generally puts the product first, and trusts it will sell. It also balances innovation with spiritual faithfulness to a series.
It seems that for Adventure Island 3 they just copied Sonic's palm trees LOL
New Adventure Island is the best.
Well aren't we all interested to forgotten games?😊😄😅😆
Nice