Adventure Island

INTRODUCTION

Hudson's Adventure Island, also known simply as Adventure Island and released in Japan as Takahashi Meijin no Bōken Jima, is a side-scrolling platform game produced by Hudson Soft that was first released in Japan for the Family Computer and MSX on September 12, 1986. It was later released in North America for the Nintendo Entertainment System on September 1988 and in the PAL region in 1992 under the title of Adventure Island Classic.

CONCEPT

The player controls Master Higgins, a young man whose girlfriend Tina has been kidnapped by King Quiller. To rescue Tina, Higgins must traverse through a series of 32 stages. There are eight worlds called "areas", which are divided four stages or "rounds" each, which are further divided into four checkpoints. When the player reaches the fourth round of each area, he must confront a boss at the end to continue to the next area. The game is completed when the player rescues Tina after defeating the eighth and final boss.

CHALLENGE

Master Higgins (the player character) loses a life whenever he touches an enemy, an enemy's attack or a fire roast, or when he falls into a pitfall or a body of water. Moreover, the player also has a health gauge that starts out with 11 points, which gradually depletes over time or whenever Higgins trips on a rock in his path. When Higgins' health gauge reaches zero, he will lose a life as well. If Higgins still has extra lives left, he will revive at the last checkpoint he passed through. The game ends when all of Higgins' lives runs out. To replenish his health, Higgins can pick up numerous fruits (or a milk bottle) on his path (his maximum health reaches up to 13 points). When the player's score reaches 50,000 points, 100,000 points, and every 200,000 points afterward, Higgins will receive an extra life. Finding a bee-like fairy known as Honey Girl will grant Higgins invincibility for fifteen seconds and allow him to kill enemies with a single touch.

Higgins starts off each life without the ability to attack and can only gain the ability to attack by picking up a stone, which can found in specific spots in each stage or hidden inside eggs. When Higgins is wielding the stone axe, he can trade it for magical fireballs that have longer range and are capable of destroying rolling stones (which are invulnerable to the stone axe).

To break an egg, the player must touch it or hit with a weapon twice. In addition to weapons, there are numerous bonus items and weapons stuck inside. There are also "hidden eggs" that are not immediately visible in plain sight. The locations of these "hidden eggs" are usually indicated when a weapon thrown by a player disappears before falling to the ground and are uncovered by jumping at the indicated spot. Some of these hidden spots don't contain hidden eggs, but instead a cloud that will warp the player to a bonus stage, which is instead uncovered by hitting the spot repeatedly with a weapon or by standing still for a short period of time. At the bonus stages, the player can collect a series of fruits (each worth 500 points regardless of the type) until Higgins falls into a pitfall. However, instead of losing a life, he will return to the regular stage at the next checkpoint.

GOAL

At the fourth round of each area, Higgins will confront a different form of King Quiller, the game's boss character. King Quiller has the ability to change his head by up to eight different types. Higgins must defeat King Quiller by striking his head a specific amount of times with his weapon. The number of hits required to defeat Quiller increases with each area (his first form requires eight hits and every subsequent form requires two additional hits until the eighth and final form, which requires 22 hits). When King Quiller is defeated, he will change his head and escape to the next area. King Quiller uses the same attack in each form, with the only thing that changes besides his durability are his mobility speed and the speed of his fireball attacks. When Higgins defeats King Quiller's final form, Quiller will fall off a cliff and Tina is rescued.

 Analysis using A.G.E. Framework