Back in 1986 a game called Takahashi Meijin no Bouken Jima would be released on the Famicom. It was basically made to be a Famicom port of Sega's Arcade hit Wonder Boy. Jaleco would do the same thing with Wonder Boy's sequel. The Famicom reskin of Wonder Boy would star a guy named Takahashi Meijin who was known for his fast speed on mashing the buttons on the controller. He also worked at Hudson Soft so it made sense to make him the star role for this game. There would also be a 2nd game (that played differently) based off an Anime because yes this game got an anime adaptation where even Bomberman made a cameo. Despite all that though he would finally make a comeback in 1991 with this game. The game you probably seen in many bootlegs starring Mario. This is Takahashi Meijin no Bouken Jima II!

So like the first game you go through stages throwing axes at your enemies and reach the end. You die in one hit but you also have to keep in mind the bar that's kind of like a timer. You need to eat food to keep the bar up otherwise it's death. If you have played the first game you'll feel right at home with this and you don't even need to do a secret this time for continues.

There's also dinosaurs to ride with one shooting fire balls, one hitting with it's tail, one being good for swimming, and one even letting you be able to fly. You get them from a square with a card symbol on them. I'm not sure if it's RNG but it seems hard to get some of them like I only got the fire breathing one like twice. They will also help you in bosses. One cool thing too is you can store axes and dinosaurs for later levels if you don't need them currently.

There are 8 worlds in this game and level design is kind of mixed. A lot of it can feel repetitive due to similar level ideas repeating throughout the game. Because of the design of the game I'd imagine it can be somewhat hard to think of full unique ideas. This game does add swimming levels but good lord are they boring even with the dinosaur that's good in it. They not only all feel the same but they're all just so dull and why does the last world have like 3 of these it's ridiculous.

This game also has a lot of gotcha moments ready to get you. Yeah the first game did that too I think but here there's just some enemies that run like they saw a murderer coming right at them it's insane. It also makes rushing through levels obnoxious at times with how little reaction time there is. The dinosaurs also run way too fast and I really don't like it especially for tight platforming. There's also a skateboard but I sadly never got to use it that much but at least it can take a hit for you but you do get bonus points if you make it to the end with it.

To the game's credit though levels are never long and it can feel good to get a level right but you do have limited lives so game over means back to the beginning of the world with none of your items. Though there is a secret that can prevent the 2nd part but you'll probably need to look it up. If you can get lucky you can get a 1-up in the end bonus for picking the right egg but i usually only got points. There's also bonus rooms for getting more fruit or even a dinosaur. Also why is the fairy and eggplant so rare in this game? I only ever saw the fairy once.

There's also unique bosses this time around and they're all pretty easy and use similar ideas. They all pretty much teleport around and shoot small easy to dodge projectiles. I'll say they're better than the first game but these aren't good either. There was one where you jump on clouds that are moving vertically making it kind of tense to not fall to your doom. Otherwise they are very uninteresting.

The game has seen some touch ups with the graphics compared to the first game. Nothing will impress you graphically but it works for what the game is. I always really liked Takahashi's sprite in this and the third game for some reason. The dinosaurs also got cute designs too. The music is also pretty good with my favorite being the boss theme or maybe the water theme. Sure the levels suck but at least that music is relaxing so can't complain except I just did a few paragraphs ago.

Takahashi Meijin no Bouken Jima II is a game that I think I could enjoy more maybe if I gave it a few more playthroughs but the game doesn't really make many strives for me to call it good. It is fun at times and there's nothing inherently wrong with the game but I just think there's better platformers out there. Despite what I said though, he must have done well enough as two more Famicom games would be made for the series with the last one even being the very last game for the console in Japan. Now all that is left to ask is, why is the US cover so ugly???