Comments on: Super Adventure Island (SNES)

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 06 Jan 2019 20:53:24 +0000

As always my friend, you are a wealth of video game knowledge

I’ve stayed away from the North American version of the 7th Saga, but I beat the “Easier” version, which I enjoyed to a fair degree. Have no desire for the moment being to return to it anytime soon but I can see why others really like it.

A belated happy new year to you bro!

By: StarBoy91

StarBoy91 — Thu, 03 Jan 2019 23:05:42 +0000

So I decided to look deeply into Produce’s Takahashi Meijin no Daibōken Jima/Super Adventure Island’s game’s credits in preparation for my re-review of it on my blog (I feel the original does not hold up as it was written before I got to play all the other games that came out afterward, not to mention it was back before I took deep, well-rounded research seriously), and some names caught my attention (apart from Yuzo Koshiro, I already knew about that… I’m still scratching my head regarding his involvement): namely “Story by Ryuchi Nishizawa”, aka creator and consultant of the Wonder Boy franchise, and said franchise’s developer Westone served as supervisor here–which is really bizarre considering that the Wonder Boy and Takahashi Meijin/Adventure Island franchises (both of which began as pretty much the same game, only with several details altered so it would not be 100% the same) would each go in a different direction (with the former’s sequels adopting action-RPG elements and the latter’s sequels, apart from Takahashi Meijin no Bōken Jima IV and Super Adventure Island II/Takahashi Meijin no Daibōken Jima II, would vie for straightforward action fare) and Nishizawa’s roots came from the Wonder Boy franchise and mainly worked on those games only (and this is the only Takahashi Meijin/Adventure Island installment he was ever involved with… unfortunate; not just him though, but everyone involved in development). That said, considering how little there is of it in this game, I can’t help but find that story credit to be a moot point as there is nothing in-game to indicate such a thing (unless you count the occasional Mode 7 sequences and abrupt ending with no build up or fanfare leading up to it after defeating Black Mantle), not even a written story progression or a map to let you where you are going next, it just thrusts you from location to location. One of the programmers, Makoto Sakai, and three out of five designers would go on to work on Elnard (another Produce title) as sub programmer and graphic designers (T. Hirai and T. Sugou)/graphics director (J. Kusaka) respectively (although the less said about that RPG’s localization as The 7th Saga and how Enix of America royally screwed the pooch by augmenting a high degree of difficulty by reducing the stats of the chosen apprentice and stats you gain with each level and *not* for the other six apprentices as well thereby creating a sense of irreparably broken imbalance, the better, as I find the original Japanese version more enjoyable, manageable, and palatable to play, in my opinion; especially since the Super Famicart original has been growing on me the more I played it during the past month… and this month… yep, I’m going all in, as I plan to beat it with all seven apprentices; beat it two times so far in the span of six days, presently speaking I’m on my third playthrough). Well, got carried away there for a second; I’m not sure why Produce felt the need to go at a slow pace for this game as the pacing is slow but lacking in purpose, whereas if there was a point to it then it would different, and honestly Nishizawa and Westone’s credits here baffle me and makes me Wonder ( ) what happened, and the direction by Kyon Kyon, who designed for a couple of platformers beforehand, could’ve purely benefited from polish. I’d ask why some of the staff who worked on the second iteration of the Takahashi Meijin/Adventure Island franchise couldn’t be involved in this one, but chances are they were too busy making Takahashi Meijin no Shin Bōken Jima/New Adventure Island and Takahashi Meijin no Bōken Jima III/Adventure Island III to be available.

To each their own

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 12 May 2017 00:12:50 +0000

Hey StarBoy! Good to hear from you again. I agree. Great observations on your part, and thanks for sharing the Produce factoids (7th Saga, Brain Lord). “SAI” is definitely a visual treat and features some gnarly tunes from master composer Koshiro (Streets of Rage and ActRaiser fame) but it definitely falls short when it comes to the gameplay. A run button would have helped this game out so much. I’m currently working on a review for Super Adventure Island II which I hope to get out later this weekend. It’s a far superior product as compared to this game. Yeah, it’s funny that they changed Master Higgins’ hat to be red in this version. Hence why I made the tongue-in-cheek joke “Discount Mario”…

By: StarBoy91

StarBoy91 — Thu, 11 May 2017 22:51:01 +0000

Super Adventure Island is personally my least favorite of the five Takahashi Meijin/Adventure Island games that I played for I found it to be rather bland and average fare. I think what it gets down to for me is the gameplay: Master Higgins’ inability to dash on foot like in the other games was a huge mistake on Produce’s part as it makes it feel like a slog at points (not to mention lacking polish) and the way the super jump is accomplished through pressing down and jump feels super awkward. =( Games like Elnard/The 7th Saga and Brain Lord prove that Produce’s strong suit is RPGs, but in my eyes this platformer proved that this particular genre is wrong for them.

I’m not sure how Yuzo Koshiro got involved in this game, but I’m glad he did because his calypso soundtrack–while a different style compared to his work on Ancient Ys Vanished Chapters 1 and 2, ActRaiser, and Streets of Rage–is the main highlight of the game for me, though I’d be remiss if I didn’t feel that this game as a whole seemed to come across as nothing more than a visual and sound tech demo (namely for the Mode 7 moments, which ARE well done; the main character does look good, but I find it interesting that in the Nintendo 16-bit games his hat is red like Mario’s but in all the other games it’s white).

I felt that the only non-Nintendo game in the series New Adventure Island on the TurboGrafx-16 (which I downloaded on the Nintendo Wii U Virtual Console last Summer) was a huge improvement mere months following Super’s release as it was wholesomely fun for the dashing ability was back, the visuals were more colorful, exciting area design, and it hugely benefited from its strong sense of polish and charm in my opinion.