Saturday, January 5, 2019

Take Two Reviews: Super Adventure Island (SNES)

Written: January 4th-5th, 2019

Hello everyone, StarBoy91 here, passionate about video games, big retrophile, and happy new year to you all!  =)  Hope you all had a good one, and... I know 2018 wasn't as productive a year on my StarBlog as most other years... but what better way to start off the new year than by making a new review of a game I previously reviewed years ago on account that I don't think the original review (from April 2013) has aged well.
Especially since it was written before I played the other installments of the series and hadn't paid close attention to some of its credits since for the past year or two I've learned to value deep, well-rounded research seriously, and with each review I hope to improve on my reviewing prowess.  I'm getting ahead of myself, though, here is a Take Two Reviews treatment of the following game:

Received: July 12th, 2010
Alternate Title: Takahashi Meijin no Daibōken Jima [ ]
Year: 1992 | Developed by: Produce
Published by: Hudson Soft | Supervised by: Westone
Following the success of the first two Famicom/NES installments of Hudson Soft's Takahashi Meijin no Bōken Jima/Adventure Island, it was only a matter of time before a subsequent iteration would pop up on the then young 16-bit Super Famicom/SNES console.  And that very game came out in Japan on January 11th, 1992 as Takahashi Meijin no Daibōken Jima, which would see an American and European SNES release that April and November under the title Super Adventure Island.
Image cropped from Paca Paca Passion cover from GameFAQs
What distinguishes today's title from the prior games and what came after the fact was that instead of being developed by Hudson Soft it was instead developed by Produce, a company founded by former Irem employees in 1990 led by Shinji Imada, for it was one of the first games they made as well as the first platformer they worked on... and the latter shows.

During a nightly date with Takahashi Meijin (named and modeled in the Japanese version after Hudson Soft's then executive of the same name), or Master Higgins in the Western versions, and his betrothed Tina on top of a rocky pillar underneath a star-studded sky, a hooded being on a broomstick by the name of Black Mantle appears out of thin air and turns Tina into stone.
What a great boyfriend, leaving her unattended and alarmingly close to the edge where she might fall off!
After cackling at his own misdeeds Black Mantle then flies away.  Takahashi Meijin/Master Higgins, enraged about this situation, summons a feathery King Bird (in the same franchise that has dinosaurs, no less, that has never been around before now and after) and follows after the hooded being.  His adventure to revert his girlfriend Tina back to normal begins.

Beginning by skating down the tropics
Takahashi Meijin no Daibōken Jima/Super Adventure Island is the third game in this sidescrolling platformer franchise, where once again you take control of Takahashi Meijin/Master Higgins, who retains some of his previous functions while also adding new ones in the mix as well as nixing certain elements in the process.  Whenever you start a new game, or anytime you resume after losing a life, you begin at your most vulnerable as until you get a weapon you cannot defend yourself, as was true of the majority of the franchise.  There are two weapons of choice here: the stone axe and the boomerang, the former of which gets thrown at an angled trajectory while the latter has got a healthy dosage of range which returns back to you, but once you obtain one of a different kind than the one you're currently carrying it will be replaced until you find the same one later on; when you first get a weapon you can only fire one at a time until you get two more (same or otherwise) which will enable you to throw up to three at a time, and upon getting it for the fourth time the stone axe or boomerang will be replaced with powerful flame projectiles.

Traversing in the jungle
Also carried over from the prior games is a skateboard that you'll come across on occasion where you'll be able to ride it continuously without being able to stop (you can slow down your ride a bit by doing a wheelie by holding left) until you either reach the end of the given area or until you trip on an obstacle thereby having you go on foot again.  Each round comprises of four parts, and the goal for the first three parts is to reach the end, but along the way you should get as much fruit as you can to sustain your stamina for it gradually depletes itself the more you progress for if it becomes fully empty you'll lose a life, same with sustaining damage from an enemy, its projectile, or falling offscreen at the bottom for this franchise is largely a one hit and you die affair, and doing so will start you back from either the beginning of the round's area or from the middle checkpoint.

Now let's not carried away there, Mister, you
don't want to get sued by Mario for trying to copy
his high jumps and wearing a red hat
The controls are simple as you can move left and right, jump (and swim in a couple segments) with the B button (with how much altitude you gain dependent on how hard you pressed the button), and amass any from one to three of your unlimited stone axe, boomerang, or flame projectiles with the Y button while standing, moving, while in midair, while swimming underwater, and while crouching down.  This time around you can crouch down and throw your projectiles above and below you as opposed to just in front of you, and exclusive to this game is the super jump ability which is accomplished by pressing B while holding down (yes, really) in order to gain a higher altitude than you would after a normal jump.  During the fourth and final part of each round is a boss fight which you must defeat in one life, otherwise you'll be sent back to the middle checkpoint of the third part of the respective round.

Light up the candle
Super Adventure Island's visuals are of the decent variety considering that it's the first 16-bit game in the series, and it is largely colorful throughout which works in most cases (except for the color brown which in this case is largely unappealing) but could benefit in certain areas (i.e. the foreground has got more detail than the backdrop) but there is that occasional effect that makes up for that.  Some examples are the tropical setting you begin your adventure in with the palm trees and green hills painted in the backdrop, when you're dropped off at the beach setting there is a subtle skewing effect when it comes to the crashing waves the further along you move to the right, the second portion of the second round has got a chartreuse sky with big clouds adorning it, in a forest there is a deep mist that is blanketing it, two of the swimming segments have got nice wavy effects, and during the desert there is a sizzling effect in the mountainous backdrop with a small amount of parallax scrolling dedicated to the group of cacti to add a sense of visual depth.

Defeat the fire idol
Master Higgins has got a good design for his 16-bit foray, and there is a sense of detail about him, though I'm not sure why he's got a red hat in this venue as opposed to the white one he usually wears in the series; we already have one red hat wearing platforming hero, we don't need two.  Anyway, he's got solid animation when it comes to walking, remaining idol, jumping, swimming, and even when prepping for a bonus round when you find a hidden star, but when it comes to throwing his weapon they are just a single frame of animation, and honestly there is just something off putting about the way he's drawn when doing that.
Someone at Produce and/or Hudson Soft must've been really proud of that sprite...  That's sad...
My least favorite animation of his, however, is the one that occurs whenever you lose a life due to his obnoxious "oh" face and the equally obnoxious sound effect that accompanies it, the fact that it lingers on that sprite until he falls straight offscreen (adding to the overbearing quality), and the fact that he always does so when facing the left.  Well, why bother with a side pose if you're not going to have it both ways?  Why not directly face the screen during that situation like most installments did?

Bad penguin
This time around the enemy roster is radically different than what came beforehand as this time you get to contend with worms inside shells, moth-like creatures that move in a circular motion, lit up sentient candles with legs, bouncing black balls of goo, penguins with little curls on their head that occasionally attempt to fly towards your direction, indigenous spear throwing enemies, spinning stingrays, inflated walruses, electric eels, and beach bums, et al...  o_O  Now just so we're clear, this is the same franchise we're talking about, right?  Regardless, they are designed decently and animate decently as well.  In terms of bosses they are huge and tower over you as this time you face off against a giant fire idol, a tentacle squid, a rock salamander, and a giant sword-wielding skeleton.
Like a lot of early Nintendo 16-bit games the developers would always try to find a way to incorporate the console's trademark Mode 7 rotating and scaling effects, and this game is no exception as there are a few instances of it: before the game starts proper with Master Higgins falling towards the screen, being swallowed whole by a whale, falling down into the water, and when Black Mantle is initially defeated he zooms in until just his eyes are visible and then zooms out to reveal his true form, and they are all done to good effect

Stingray barrage
Super Adventure Island's soundtrack was provided by Yuzo Koshiro, who was a household name at this point after composing music for Nihon Falcom's Ancient Ys Vanished diptych, Sega's The Super Shinobi/The Revenge of Shinobi, Quintet's inaugural title Actraiser/ActRaiser, and Ancient's Bare Knuckle: Furious Iron Fist/Streets of Rage.  I'm not quite sure how he got involved in this game as it's the only game in the series he composed for (perhaps it was under the recommendation of Hudson Soft following his aforementioned contribution to the Ys franchise), but all the same it is the highlight of this game for me with its hip hop stylings and beats which augment an appropriate sense of atmosphere, even if it does deviate from all the other games' musical stylings it does showcase his range and versatility as composer.

Light jogging
The first round's theme sets off your adventure with its hip hop beat, the second round's theme really complements the fun scenery with its funky calypso tunes, the desert theme has got a bit of a Western vibe due to the hot nature of its setting, and the final area leading up to Black Mantle has got a menacing build up to its theme and is a sign that things are about to come to an end.  There is a whimsical harp-driven number that plays in the intro as Tina gets turned to stone, the swimming theme sounds relaxing, the normal boss theme is driven by hard piano, Black Mantle's theme is intense in nature, and finally the ending credits theme are filled to the brim with calypso music.  The sound effects are serviceable for the most part (and I'm not counting the one for when you lose a life) in regards to downing enemies, boss explosions, throwing weapons, jumping, and swimming, but I could swear that the sound effect that emanates from the King Bird whenever it pops up is the exact same one that was used by the people-carrying bats and Arctic wyvern in Actraiser/ActRaiser (and I thought the other Quintet games were the only ones to recycle that sound--among other ones--but I guess not).

Boomerangs increase range
Super Adventure Island has got only one difficulty, and the degree in difficulty is largely steady and manageable, unfortunately there is one caveat to all this: so is your pacing, which in this case is slow.  Yes, unlike the other games where you could alternate between walking and running by holding down the attack button, this time you don't have such a privilege, and the fastest you can go is when you ride on a skateboard.  You start off with three lives and gain a new one after every 50,000 points, but upon losing the last one you'll be given a prompt to continue or forfeit; the continues are limited in this installment as you only have two, but unusually enough you have seven seconds to decide as opposed to the usual nine (odd choice in numbers), and choosing to continue will start you back at the start of the current part you were in.

End of area
The slow pacing sort of makes Master Higgins a big target (no pun intended), and while it is possible to progress and get over that handicap you still have to be careful when it comes to enemies but it would've been nice to have a little bit of traction to make the proceedings feel less awkward (I mean of the consistent variety).  The bosses have easy to follow patterns and having flame projectiles at your disposal will ensure that the battles are shorter; during one fight in particular against the rock salamander you must stay on top of its coiling and recoiling body as you attack its head and avert wall obstacles.  The game also ends abruptly upon defeating Black Mantle, as there is no build up or lead in to that moment, we don't even see Tina revert back to normal, as both her and Master Higgins are happily together in the end; I expected better from Ryuichi Nishizawa.  ...  O_O  Wait, Ryuichi Nishizawa?  Creator and consultant of the Wonder Boy franchise Ryuichi Nishizawa??

Swimming inside a whale
Apparently!  And compounding things further is the involvement of Wonder Boy developer Westone albeit as the supervisor for this game; which is really bizarre when you know that Nishizawa's and Westone's roots are deeply embedded in the Wonder Boy series of games.  I know the first Wonder Boy and Takahashi Meijin no Bōken Jima/Adventure Island are more or less the same game albeit with enough differences to give them their own identity, but afterwards the two individual games would form up franchises in their own right that each went in a different direction from each other (the former would incorporate RPG elements while the latter would mostly rely on straightforward action).
And yes, that is no exaggeration and you are not reading that wrong, but that really is Ryuichi Nishizawa's name in his one and only Takahashi Meijin/Adventure Island contribution--with a story credit.  A story credit in a platformer, no less.  I would actually give that the benefit of the doubt if there was much of one in-game to begin with, but there's not.
There's no written story progression or narration inbetween areas, and you're not really given any clue (e.g. a map, like the last game) what location the King Bird will drop you off at in the beginning of each round until you're there; guess Takahashi Meijin/Master Higgins is just lucky that he's on the right track.  He gets swallowed by a whale in the middle of the second round and is outside at the beginning of the third round, but we never see him exit the mammal one way or another; he had to have come out somehow.  And it really makes the trip feel worthwhile when the game concludes itself on such a rushed and spontaneous note with no build up or fanfare leading up to it, so glad this game told such a great story-_-

Okay, I'll admit, that squid is adorable~
For awhile the first Nintendo 16-bit incarnation of the series was relegated as a console-exclusive, though eventually it (alongside its direct 16-bit sequel Super Adventure Island II/Takahashi Meijin no Daibōken Jima II) would see a second lease in life as a downloadable on Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console (RIP, 2006-2019) in 2011 which is the only time it ever got rereleased to date.  When you compare this game with the other traditional installments it really feels like the odd one of the bunch as there is a lot different aside from the monster roster, sound style, and lack of a running feature; 

Jumping up on the tree's branches
there are no eggs that encase items this time around as you stumble across the weapons in midair (which means no invincibility fairies and no eggplants trying to momentarily siphon your stamina from you) and the skateboard is just there on the ground waiting to be ridden on, no seemingly normal flowers to pass by to be followed later on by a wolf which will leave behind the controller of the console pertaining to the present game should you manage to take it down, there are invisible fruit which can only be revealed if you throw your projectiles at seemingly inconspicuous spots, instead of the goal being the entrance of the next area or a flagpole the given area ends when you jump to grab the ball,

Tripped
and finally there are bonus rounds that can be accessed when you throw your projectile at seemingly nothing yet there's a sound anyway, jump up from said spot to reveal the star, and get said star.  None of the staff from Hudson Soft who worked on the other Takahashi Meijin/Adventure Island games (before and after) were involved in this one, and the staff that actually was involved had never worked on a Takahashi Meijin/Adventure Island game before.
Images from GameFAQs
That is, except for Japanese manga artist Susumu Matsushita who worked on the cover art for the other Takahashi Meijin installments courtesy of Light & Shadows for he provided the cover for the Japanese and European versions of this game, whereas the American version of Super Adventure Island had an entirely Americanized art cover which is one of those instances of making the game look more exciting than it actually is.

Misty forest
I first found out about this game over a decade ago, and general consensus says that Takahashi Meijin/Master Higgins' first 16-bit venue is not good.  Before I played it the only experience I had with the Adventure Island series was the original NES game and the Game Boy port of Adventure Island II (which dropped the Roman numeral in the localized version for some reason so it was simply called Adventure Island), and those games at the time I thought were okay (just okay, nothing great).  I kept my expectation in check when I ordered it back in the Summer of 2010, and upon playing it I could not help but agree, and more than eight and a half years later my thoughts on Super Adventure Island are pretty much the same on the whole (I've learned to appreciate certain visual aspects, but it doesn't change the gameplay); it didn't help that at the time I was not a fan of the series.

Crouching
But after I first reviewed it back in 2013 I was curious about other installments, namely New Adventure Island and Super Adventure Island II, but I wouldn't get to play the former until I downloaded it on the Nintendo Wii U Virtual Console in 2016; it was such a huge improvement over today's game that it felt cathartic, it reinvigorated the series with a fresh new take, it had a good sense of polish, it was charming and appealing to look at with its vibrantly colorful palette as opposed to emphasizing on shading, and it was the most fun I had in the series; and the latter I imported from Japan in 2017, and it was also good fun, embracing the nonlinear open-ended structure while retaining the series' action.  =)  All the games in the franchise that I played that came out after this one made me appreciate and like the series more, which is a good thing.

"Ow!  Why'd you slap me?!"
I had actually considered re-reviewing this game almost two years ago, but I had no patience for it at that point so those plans were scrapped.  That may have been a blessing in disguise, in hindsight, as looking in to the credits recently in preparation for this review had shed some new light.  The problem with Super Adventure Island wasn't a change in developer; many video game franchises had at least one or two installments that was developed by a different company than the one that usually worked on it, and largely turned out fine.  No, the problem with Super Adventure Island was the developer in question Produce's lack of experience in the platforming genre.

This reminds me, I haven't played Hudson Soft's
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West video game in
years
This was one of Kyon Kyon's two directing credits, the other was Produce's SuperGrafx horizontally sidescrolling shoot'em up Aldynes: The Mission Code for Rage Crisis which was also a Hudson Soft release which might explain how Produce got roped into this game due to those ties.  It also had two producers (Mikio Ueyama and Mitsuhiro Kadowaki), two programmers (B. Hanawa and Makoto Sakai), and five designers (Takayuki Hirai, Tomoko Sugou, T. Suzuki, Y. Asakura, and Jun Kusaka), and a common link I found with most of these names was their involvement in one way or another with Hudson Soft's Super Bomberman but also many of them would move on to different things.
Primarily Produce's Nintendo 16-bit contribution to the RPG genre beginning with their turn-based Elnard/The 7th Saga which had Sakai serving as sub programmer, Kusaka as graphics director, and Hirai and Sugou as graphic designers.  Produce would ultimately find more success with the Enix-released RPGs, and while they would collaborate with Hudson Soft again (namely for Super Bomberman 4), it was clear that the platforming genre was not for them as they have not worked on another one after today's game.

Jumping up on a skateboard in the desert
My biggest problem with Super Adventure Island comes down to two issues: its lack of polish and its need to go at a slow pace.  There are at least two if not three areas where you must venture forth and confront the enemies ahead of you but occasionally you must be mindful of a penguin that will try to blindside you by appearing from the left edge of the screen out of thin air (they don't even appear from offscreen) which is blatantly bad design.  It's awkward enough to move at a slow pace, but is even awkward still when you have to hold down and jump to reach your highest altitude.  I don't have a problem with a slow paced platformer if it was done so by design and with a purpose (Quintet's ActRaiser 2 is always the example I fall on whenever this argument pops up), but when the slowness comes across as an afterthought and feels intrusive, then that's where I draw a line.

Mountain climbing
It's not so much a problem when you're in the midst of swimming, but since the game has you largely go on foot then that's a different scenario entirely.  The reason I feel that it is an afterthought is because this is not how the Takahashi Meijin/Adventure Island series was established from the start, it was established as a series where you could choose to walk or run, but because you're just relegated to walking it really sucks out the energy of the proceedings here, and without the other elements that were present in the past and future iterations (like the random content eggs) it really makes this venture feel bland and unremarkable (with or without Yuzo Koshiro's music that would still ring true, for a good soundtrack does not automatically make a game better), and let's face it, the areas would be a lot shorter than they actually are if they did incorporate speed.  Poor Europe, at a time when TV console games ran at 50 Hz speed, which is roughly 16.7% slower than the 60 Hz speed of the Japanese and American versions, I imagine the slowness must've been highly unbearable in that region (and on the 1992 PAL SNES launch year, no less).  =(  I understand going in a new direction, but the direction this installment went in for is not one I'm particularly fond of.

Sanitary water
There's elements that try to freshen up things once in awhile (like a mine car ride, scaling up a tree and later on a mountain, swimming in a whale's stomach and later in the water, and a very dark room with a small vignette circled around you), for sure, but it doesn't change the fact that it lacks in fun value for it could have benefited so much from it (beginning with more exciting area designs and gaining traction as you move, but alas, no).  The only area design I felt was genuinely interesting was the final one as it's the biggest room in the game where you must scale upward and occasionally jump from moving platform from moving platform.  You'd think the game was rushed for release; Nintendo's 1990 16-bit launch title Super Mario World was rushed for release, and yet it still felt polished and well-made in spite of that.

"Let me ask you something:
DO YOU WANT TO HAVE A BAD TIME?"
Look, I love platformers, it's one of my top favorite video game genres alongside RPGs and puzzlers, but Super Adventure Island did not fit the bill at all for it is easily the nadir of the series bar none (I haven't played Takahashi Meijin no Bōken Jima Wii/Adventure Island: The Beginning as I never downloaded it on the Nintendo Wii's WiiWare service, so I can't comment on that one).  I've played far worse platformers than this and it is not so much bad so much as average, but it is not one I find myself playing over and over again.  I know there are some people who like this game in spite of its flaws, and I respect them for that, but I have seen some try to excuse its lesser quality on account of its age and perceive it as normal because some other games at the time were like that (a line of defense I'm less receptive of; age is irrelevant, there have been many platformers at the time that were better made and enjoyable, so forgive me if I respectfully don't believe in that excuse, but you do you, to each their own).

Snow wheelie
Regarding then console-exclusive Nintendo 16-bit platformers that were around by the time this game came out, I personally wouldn't play it over Nintendo's Super Mario World, System Sacom's Jerry Boy/Smart Ball, Capcom's Chōmakaimura/Super Ghouls'n Ghosts, or Konami's Akumajō Dracula/Super Castlevania IV.  I wouldn't even play Super Adventure Island over Quintet's Actraiser/ActRaiser (granted, the last one is less of a full-fledged platformer and more of a game that occasionally becomes one).  I especially wouldn't play it over the first Nintendo 16-bit installment of Red Company's Genjin/Bonk franchise
in the form of the 1994 Red Company/A.I/Amble-developed Chō Genjin/Super Bonk/Super B.C. Kid (even if it too is the nadir of its series, in my opinion, it's still okay to play as it feels like a proper continuation of the ideas presented in the prior installments).

Final destination
I know the people at Produce who worked on this game were out of their depth when they worked on it, but I'm sincerely hoping that this was not the best that they could come up with for their one and only contribution to the Takahashi Meijin/Adventure Island series.  Maybe that rushed speculation theory isn't that far off...  Still, there is an upside to unremarkable platformers like this one, and that is they make you appreciate the fellow games in the genre that are better made even more.  Waste of a story credit for a game that barely has enough to warrant one, though.  If you are curious about this game though, it's not a great or even good game in my opinion but if you want to play a game that's simple and short then this game will do you fine (it's roughly a half hour long), but if want to play a Nintendo 16-bit Takahashi Meijin/Adventure Island that is genuinely fun to play and one that is legitimately good, then I recommend you play the direct sequel instead.

My Personal Score: 5.5/10

d(^-^)bTO EACH THEIR OWNd(^-^)b

Thank you for reading my review, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think (neither spam nor NSFW comments are allowed); hope you have a great day and I wish you all a happy new year, take care!

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