#14 - Adventure Island

Nothing says I love you in 1988 like a Mario clone for your NES! Master Higgins directs, writes, and stars in this, the very first Adventure Island game. Do you like fruit? Do you like jumping and running as fast as you can through levels filled with tropical baddies? How about SKATEBOARDING (with a helmet, of course)! How rad is that?! And let me just say, in the age of "720" and "Skate or Die," this game's skateboarding mechanic totally shreds those to pieces! It's a radical "adventure" that you won't soon forget.

...that's enough of that crap. In all honesty, this is probably the best game I've played since I started this destined-to-fail endeavor. It's a simple platformer that shamelessly copies the Mario formula, sans any sort of real power-ups, but it's a fun rip-off. Higgins is an enduring little sprite, who runs, runs, runs (or skates, skates, skates) because his heart tells him to. He must save the princess from the evil witch doctor of the island, because it's the right thing to do.  Maybe if he was "Mister" Higgins, things would be different. But he's Master Higgins, con sarn it, and he's gonna get the job done.

 The one difference between this game and Mario, is your "life bar" which constantly runs down unless you gorge yourself on fruit throughout the level. The fruit randomly pops up here and there, but it's never in too difficult of a spot. Just think of this "life bar" as more of a time bar that you refill with fruit as you go, because if you get hit once, you're dead. The graphics and music are as colorful as one would expect from a game entitled "Adventure Island," but the control is both exceptionally good and wonderfully bad. What does that mean, you ask? Sometimes you can fly through a level with the greatest of ease, killing bad guys, jumping across chasms, and feeling all around like a super star. Other times, jumping is a pain, enemies come out of nowhere to destroy you, and the chasms engulf you.

Such control doesn't take away from the wonderful pick-up-and-play nature of the game, though. It's easy to see why this game spawned numerous sequels too: it's a formula that, like Mega Man, is devilishly addictive.  So strap on that skateboarding helmet, get out your hammers, and go pound that evil ol' witch doctor's face. The princess is counting on you (and she's not in another castle).

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