[Average Reading Time: 7 Minutes]
A search action game that deserves to be remembered.
The Adventure Island series of games has always been a smaller curiosity of mine. I've played the NES entries in short bursts, never reaching the end of any of them due to the difficulty. Back when the Wii Shop was still alive, I bought and beat Adventure Island: The Beginning, which did little to impress me. Despite loving the SNES and its library, I never sought out the Adventure Island games that were released on it. After all this time of letting these entries live in my subconscious, I felt that now was the time to finally see first-hand what they were cooking for Nintendo's 16-bit juggernaut.
While the focus of this review will be its sequel, I would like to say a few words regarding Super Adventure Island. Those words are these: I didn't like it. 3 lives, 3 continues, 1 hit deaths and highly awkward platforming make this entry an annoying game to clear, despite its short length. There is another reason I'm telling you this, though. Chances are if you played that game and didn't enjoy it, you may have immediately written off playing the sequel, assuming it would be more of the same with barely any improvements to make it stand out. Oh, I am so happy to say that is not the case.
Much like games such as Knack 2 and Red Steel 2, Super Adventure Island II is a sequel that does away with the bad of the prior entry and introduces a wealth of gameplay that makes you wish the game was called anything else so you wouldn't have looked at it and thought of its lesser earlier entry. Unlike Knack 2 and Red Steel 2, though, Super Adventure Island II moves away from the previous game in such a large way that it's surprising to see that this is even in the same series!
Super Adventure Island II (which I'll be abbreviating to SAI2 from here on out) is a search action game in the same vein as the Metroid series of games. Funnily enough, SAI2 came out 5 months after Super Metroid, but I digress. Now, rather than simply running to the right while collecting fruit and throwing tomahawks, you'll be exploring open stages, collecting weapons and armor, and finding key items that allow you to explore more of the world.
Even the story gets a bit of an upgrade here. The game opens with Master Higgins and his newly wed wife Tina riding across the sea, celebrating their honeymoon. Their leisure-filled journey is brought to a halt when they're knocked off their raft by a storm shaking up the seas. They both wake up on different islands with their memories completely wiped. Master Higgins sets out to regain his memories, and Tina is found by the king of Waku-Waku Island, who falls in love with her and proceeds to marry her. During the wedding, though, Tina is kidnapped. Master Higgins arrives to the castle as this occurs and begins his quest to save Tina as requested by the king, oblivious to the fact that the woman he's saving is his wife.
Considering the simple setups of previous entries in the series (the prior Super game's story was just that a freaky little dude turned Tina to stone for no reason. Very deep.), this is quite a step up. I actually enjoyed watching the story unfold, as you get cutscenes after each boss fight showing Tina and Master Higgins beginning to remember each other. There's some quirkiness to the dialogue that caught me off-guard, as well. For example, you can rest at the castle which will result in Tina appearing to you in a dream to give you some guidance on what you need to do next. At the end of one of these hints, she commented that she was missing her "soaps", which got a good chuckle out of me. While the story here isn't revolutionary, I'm very happy with what's here, and feel it does a satisfying job keeping you interested in the plot.
When it comes to the gameplay, there's a lot to cover. Let's start with how Master Higgins feels to control in general. Compared to the prior entry, this is a step-up in every way. You don't have to rely on momentum for big jumps anymore. Master Higgins controls great in the air. You have a run button now. It's amazing how well they fixed the issues with the controls of the last game, and this is just for how he moves and jumps!
Combat in this game is way more involved. You start out with your fists, but as you explore you find weapons and armor to equip, as well as shields to block small projectiles. Most of the weapons you'll find come in the form of swords, allowing you to slice at enemies both on the ground and in the air. There's also a number of other types of weapons to find, such as daggers that can be thrown at distant foes and fireballs that spin around you. Experimenting with weapons is a lot of fun in this game and it allows you to develop your own strategies to take down foes and bosses in your path.
With an armor system, we also get one of the most important changes made for this game: NO MORE ONE-HIT KILLS! Ooooh, boy, it feels so good to have a health bar in an Adventure Island game for once. As you explore, you'll even find upgrades to make your health bar bigger! After playing the previous game and dealing with those annoying one-hit deaths, it feels like such a breath of fresh air to not die instantly because I let a weird flying fox touch me or something. Speaking of dying, the penalty for death isn't too bad here, either. You simply restart at the entrance of the island you're on with everything you collected so far still in your inventory. Man, it almost feels like they're apologizing for years of unfair retro gaming practices in the form of a game that actually respects your time and I'm all here for it!
Speaking of islands, there's a few to sail between and explore. You travel via raft on the overworld to each one, with each large island being its own level. There's also a number of side paths on the overworld that lead to more upgrades and progression items, so exploration is rewarded well here! Another quirk of overworld travel is that there are random encounters, which is weird since there's no exp system at all. They kind of exist to slow you down, but they're over as quickly as they start. They kinda function like overworld encounters in Zelda 2, where you're dropped in the middle of a screen with some enemies around you and you have to reach the left or right end of the screen to get out. Very simple and more of an annoyance than anything else.
Along with a health bar, Master Higgins also gains the ability to wield magic! Once you find a wand, you'll be able to use all sorts of spells to even the playing field when the going gets tough. At the start, you'll just have a spell that returns you to the start of a stage (useful for when you revisit islands for missed items), but as you collect magic upgrades, you'll gain access to even more spells to cast, from healing moves to attacking moves to fast travel! Fast travel in a SNES game! It's hard to believe, but it's real!
Enemies will also drop health and magic refills, so there's not often too much of a worry about keeping either level up. Enemies can also drop coins, which can be spent to teach Master Higgins new moves, such as pushing rocks and doing Zelda 2 style upward and downward stabs, which not only aid with progression but also in combat! Coins are also used to rest at the castle to hear Tina complain about missing her shows while she gives you hints. There's one other use for coins, though...
ENTER THE CASINO! So there's a casino hiding in the world of SAI2, and in it lies the best equipment in the game. However, it's a casino, so they're not gonna give these to you cheap. You're gonna have to play casino games, like slots, to earn enough dosh to get yourself suited up with crazy powerful gear! Now, I'd like to state that this game is very beatable without grinding the casino for gear. I will admit, though, that I spent over 3 hours grinding the casino game "Run for Doe" (think horse race betting except the horses are enemies you fight) to get enough funds for the best equipment and I don't regret it at all, so it's entirely up to you if you're down for that kind of grind!
Honestly, though, I don't think I would've bothered with the casino at all if I didn't like this game. I genuinely loved my time with this game from beginning to end, even with the casino grind. The soundtrack is fun, the gameplay feels great, getting stronger gear and new magic moves is highly satisfying, and the story kept me interested for once. There's not much more I can say other than this: If you enjoy search action games, you owe it to yourself to try Super Adventure Island II!
A search action game that deserves to be remembered.
The Adventure Island series of games has always been a smaller curiosity of mine. I've played the NES entries in short bursts, never reaching the end of any of them due to the difficulty. Back when the Wii Shop was still alive, I bought and beat Adventure Island: The Beginning, which did little to impress me. Despite loving the SNES and its library, I never sought out the Adventure Island games that were released on it. After all this time of letting these entries live in my subconscious, I felt that now was the time to finally see first-hand what they were cooking for Nintendo's 16-bit juggernaut.
While the focus of this review will be its sequel, I would like to say a few words regarding Super Adventure Island. Those words are these: I didn't like it. 3 lives, 3 continues, 1 hit deaths and highly awkward platforming make this entry an annoying game to clear, despite its short length. There is another reason I'm telling you this, though. Chances are if you played that game and didn't enjoy it, you may have immediately written off playing the sequel, assuming it would be more of the same with barely any improvements to make it stand out. Oh, I am so happy to say that is not the case.
Much like games such as Knack 2 and Red Steel 2, Super Adventure Island II is a sequel that does away with the bad of the prior entry and introduces a wealth of gameplay that makes you wish the game was called anything else so you wouldn't have looked at it and thought of its lesser earlier entry. Unlike Knack 2 and Red Steel 2, though, Super Adventure Island II moves away from the previous game in such a large way that it's surprising to see that this is even in the same series!
Super Adventure Island II (which I'll be abbreviating to SAI2 from here on out) is a search action game in the same vein as the Metroid series of games. Funnily enough, SAI2 came out 5 months after Super Metroid, but I digress. Now, rather than simply running to the right while collecting fruit and throwing tomahawks, you'll be exploring open stages, collecting weapons and armor, and finding key items that allow you to explore more of the world.
Even the story gets a bit of an upgrade here. The game opens with Master Higgins and his newly wed wife Tina riding across the sea, celebrating their honeymoon. Their leisure-filled journey is brought to a halt when they're knocked off their raft by a storm shaking up the seas. They both wake up on different islands with their memories completely wiped. Master Higgins sets out to regain his memories, and Tina is found by the king of Waku-Waku Island, who falls in love with her and proceeds to marry her. During the wedding, though, Tina is kidnapped. Master Higgins arrives to the castle as this occurs and begins his quest to save Tina as requested by the king, oblivious to the fact that the woman he's saving is his wife.
Considering the simple setups of previous entries in the series (the prior Super game's story was just that a freaky little dude turned Tina to stone for no reason. Very deep.), this is quite a step up. I actually enjoyed watching the story unfold, as you get cutscenes after each boss fight showing Tina and Master Higgins beginning to remember each other. There's some quirkiness to the dialogue that caught me off-guard, as well. For example, you can rest at the castle which will result in Tina appearing to you in a dream to give you some guidance on what you need to do next. At the end of one of these hints, she commented that she was missing her "soaps", which got a good chuckle out of me. While the story here isn't revolutionary, I'm very happy with what's here, and feel it does a satisfying job keeping you interested in the plot.
When it comes to the gameplay, there's a lot to cover. Let's start with how Master Higgins feels to control in general. Compared to the prior entry, this is a step-up in every way. You don't have to rely on momentum for big jumps anymore. Master Higgins controls great in the air. You have a run button now. It's amazing how well they fixed the issues with the controls of the last game, and this is just for how he moves and jumps!
Combat in this game is way more involved. You start out with your fists, but as you explore you find weapons and armor to equip, as well as shields to block small projectiles. Most of the weapons you'll find come in the form of swords, allowing you to slice at enemies both on the ground and in the air. There's also a number of other types of weapons to find, such as daggers that can be thrown at distant foes and fireballs that spin around you. Experimenting with weapons is a lot of fun in this game and it allows you to develop your own strategies to take down foes and bosses in your path.
With an armor system, we also get one of the most important changes made for this game: NO MORE ONE-HIT KILLS! Ooooh, boy, it feels so good to have a health bar in an Adventure Island game for once. As you explore, you'll even find upgrades to make your health bar bigger! After playing the previous game and dealing with those annoying one-hit deaths, it feels like such a breath of fresh air to not die instantly because I let a weird flying fox touch me or something. Speaking of dying, the penalty for death isn't too bad here, either. You simply restart at the entrance of the island you're on with everything you collected so far still in your inventory. Man, it almost feels like they're apologizing for years of unfair retro gaming practices in the form of a game that actually respects your time and I'm all here for it!
Speaking of islands, there's a few to sail between and explore. You travel via raft on the overworld to each one, with each large island being its own level. There's also a number of side paths on the overworld that lead to more upgrades and progression items, so exploration is rewarded well here! Another quirk of overworld travel is that there are random encounters, which is weird since there's no exp system at all. They kind of exist to slow you down, but they're over as quickly as they start. They kinda function like overworld encounters in Zelda 2, where you're dropped in the middle of a screen with some enemies around you and you have to reach the left or right end of the screen to get out. Very simple and more of an annoyance than anything else.
Along with a health bar, Master Higgins also gains the ability to wield magic! Once you find a wand, you'll be able to use all sorts of spells to even the playing field when the going gets tough. At the start, you'll just have a spell that returns you to the start of a stage (useful for when you revisit islands for missed items), but as you collect magic upgrades, you'll gain access to even more spells to cast, from healing moves to attacking moves to fast travel! Fast travel in a SNES game! It's hard to believe, but it's real!
Enemies will also drop health and magic refills, so there's not often too much of a worry about keeping either level up. Enemies can also drop coins, which can be spent to teach Master Higgins new moves, such as pushing rocks and doing Zelda 2 style upward and downward stabs, which not only aid with progression but also in combat! Coins are also used to rest at the castle to hear Tina complain about missing her shows while she gives you hints. There's one other use for coins, though...
ENTER THE CASINO! So there's a casino hiding in the world of SAI2, and in it lies the best equipment in the game. However, it's a casino, so they're not gonna give these to you cheap. You're gonna have to play casino games, like slots, to earn enough dosh to get yourself suited up with crazy powerful gear! Now, I'd like to state that this game is very beatable without grinding the casino for gear. I will admit, though, that I spent over 3 hours grinding the casino game "Run for Doe" (think horse race betting except the horses are enemies you fight) to get enough funds for the best equipment and I don't regret it at all, so it's entirely up to you if you're down for that kind of grind!
Honestly, though, I don't think I would've bothered with the casino at all if I didn't like this game. I genuinely loved my time with this game from beginning to end, even with the casino grind. The soundtrack is fun, the gameplay feels great, getting stronger gear and new magic moves is highly satisfying, and the story kept me interested for once. There's not much more I can say other than this: If you enjoy search action games, you owe it to yourself to try Super Adventure Island II!
5 Comments
@JCLKaytwo a search action game is a game that focuses on exploration while also featuring a strong amount of combat. Games like Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night would be search action games, for example.
@UrLocalBanktoad Couldn't that description be applied to literally any action-adventure game tho? I mean, it's in the name. "action" + "adventure". We already have a name for the Metroid genre, metroidvania. Though I've always preferred to call them platform-adventures, since I feel that's more descriptive and specific.
@JCLKaytwo The problem with the term "Action Adventure" is that it's extremely broad and doesn't really have much focus. With "Action Adventure", this basically means a game that both has action and can be considered an adventure. Therefore, Devil May Cry games can be considered Action Adventure. Fallout games can also be considered Action Adventure. Uncharted? Silent Hill? All of these feature action and an adventure, yet also cover a plethora of other genres. Because of this, simply using the term "Action Adventure" fails to capture the true nature of many games.
For me, the term "Search Action" works primarily due to the focus on exploration that comes with these specific types of games. A number of titles that can be described as "Action Adventure" don't make exploration the main focus of the game, doing things like guiding you in a linear path or not giving incentive to revisit older areas with new gear to see previously inaccessible paths.
With search action bringing focus to the term "search", you can identify that this will be a game that wants you to make the most of your abilities and to-be-acquired abilities to traverse as many paths as you can to see what lies beyond, and of course there will be plenty of combat scenarios that may be enhanced due to the items you find as you explore.
I never really liked the term "Metroidvania", since more often than not you'll see games emulating the style of "Metroid" rather than the IgaVania games when they wear this genre label. Despite both of these games being search action games in design, they do things very differently from each other. Metroid titles focus deeply on making the most of your toolkit to explore the environment, finding upgrades hidden throughout the world in order to make yourself stronger and give you the ability to traverse new areas.
IgaVanias (Symphony of the Night, Aria of Sorrow, etc.), on the other hand, give players more RPG elements, such as leveling up, trading currency for items and equipment, and finding items in the form of drops from enemies. There, you gain strength primarily from equippable items and levels, and while exploration is a key component of the games, you'll be finding more items to bolster your strength than items that allow for access to previously inaccessible areas.
"Platform Adventures" can work as a way to define these games specifically, due to the emphasis on platforming. However, could you not consider Mario games to be platform adventures? Or sonic games? While creative and a step in the right direction, I feel this once again falls into a place of being too broad. Because of situations like this I feel that "Search Action" is the closest we'll get to a proper term for this genre that doesn't rely on referencing two titles that, while similar in structure, do things very differently from one another.
For me, the term "Search Action" works primarily due to the focus on exploration that comes with these specific types of games. A number of titles that can be described as "Action Adventure" don't make exploration the main focus of the game, doing things like guiding you in a linear path or not giving incentive to revisit older areas with new gear to see previously inaccessible paths.
With search action bringing focus to the term "search", you can identify that this will be a game that wants you to make the most of your abilities and to-be-acquired abilities to traverse as many paths as you can to see what lies beyond, and of course there will be plenty of combat scenarios that may be enhanced due to the items you find as you explore.
I never really liked the term "Metroidvania", since more often than not you'll see games emulating the style of "Metroid" rather than the IgaVania games when they wear this genre label. Despite both of these games being search action games in design, they do things very differently from each other. Metroid titles focus deeply on making the most of your toolkit to explore the environment, finding upgrades hidden throughout the world in order to make yourself stronger and give you the ability to traverse new areas.
IgaVanias (Symphony of the Night, Aria of Sorrow, etc.), on the other hand, give players more RPG elements, such as leveling up, trading currency for items and equipment, and finding items in the form of drops from enemies. There, you gain strength primarily from equippable items and levels, and while exploration is a key component of the games, you'll be finding more items to bolster your strength than items that allow for access to previously inaccessible areas.
"Platform Adventures" can work as a way to define these games specifically, due to the emphasis on platforming. However, could you not consider Mario games to be platform adventures? Or sonic games? While creative and a step in the right direction, I feel this once again falls into a place of being too broad. Because of situations like this I feel that "Search Action" is the closest we'll get to a proper term for this genre that doesn't rely on referencing two titles that, while similar in structure, do things very differently from one another.
@UrLocalBanktoad I think "platform-adventure" is apt because it is a combination of the platformer genre (Mario-like) and the action-adventure genre (Zelda-like), which is what Metroid was specifically intended to be in the first place. You traverse the world by platforming, but the gameplay is structured like an adventure game. Mario and Sonic are just pure platformers that have very little to do with the adventure genre.
I think the term "search action" is kinda dumb sounding because like I said it's just way too ambiguous and isn't specific enough. "Search" and "adventure" imply the same thing, so it is not descriptive at all. Even if certain action-adventure games do not focus heavily on exploration, the word "adventure" still implies exploration to some degree. In my mind there is no better term for the genre than "platform-adventure", since one of the defining features of the genre is platforming and I find it extremely weird to exclude that from the name of the genre. If you wanna find a substitute for "metroidvania", it is baffling to me that the word "platform" would be excluded. We already have "puzzle-platform", so the template works.
But, y'know, since metroidvania is by far the most common term for the genre, and everyone knows what to expect when someone calls a game a metroidvania, to call it something so random and undescriptive as "search action" just feels more contrarian than anything.
I think the term "search action" is kinda dumb sounding because like I said it's just way too ambiguous and isn't specific enough. "Search" and "adventure" imply the same thing, so it is not descriptive at all. Even if certain action-adventure games do not focus heavily on exploration, the word "adventure" still implies exploration to some degree. In my mind there is no better term for the genre than "platform-adventure", since one of the defining features of the genre is platforming and I find it extremely weird to exclude that from the name of the genre. If you wanna find a substitute for "metroidvania", it is baffling to me that the word "platform" would be excluded. We already have "puzzle-platform", so the template works.
But, y'know, since metroidvania is by far the most common term for the genre, and everyone knows what to expect when someone calls a game a metroidvania, to call it something so random and undescriptive as "search action" just feels more contrarian than anything.
JCLKaytwo
10 days ago