Adventure Island (eShop)

It took the original 1986 Japanese release of Adventure Island a whole six years to venture over to European shores, with its unabashed, straight-to-the-point platforming action.

Master Higgins starred in a rather simple game, with straightforward platforming, some silly power-ups for taking on the baddies, and boss battles that would all of a sudden turn up the heat on the player.

But while Adventure Island appears to be missing vital ingredients for the perfect platformer, it also has odd sparks of excitement as you manage to pick off snakes as they lunge for Higgins, or land your skateboard right on the edge of a deep pit.

Just remember: whatever you do - don't say the words 'Wonder Boy ripoff'.

Off on an adventure

You play as Master Higgins, on a quest to save his girlfriend Tina who has been kidnapped by a nasty king creature thing.

Through 32 levels, you throw stone axes at enemies and takes on giant boss creatures, with single hits killing him.

There's a variety of twists. Higgins starts off with no weapon, and must crack open giant eggs to grab power-ups and weapons, ranging from skateboards to big, rideable lizards that can spit out killer venom at the snakes, spiders, and nasty birds.

Your health is also constantly falling, so you need to reach the end of the level before it runs out. If you trip on a stone it'll drop, while specific pickups will increase it.

All this together, along with hidden stages and bonus eggs to find, make for a retro platformer that isn't simply the same as every other one you've played.

Stone cold

At the end of each of the four levels you're treated to a boss battle with huge screen-filling enemies. These are entertaining enough, but unfortuately they come at a price.

First off, this particular port has some horrible frame-rate issues that occur during boss battles, which makes it rather difficult to aim properly.

And if you die during a boss battle you're sent all the way back to the start of the fourth level, rather than the start of the boss. This can be really infuriating.

The overall level design isn't exactly fantastic, either - in fact, it's really quite primitive, with many levels simply featuring a straight run with some pits and enemies here and there.

Later zones attempt to mix it up a bit with platforms at elevated levels, but it never even nearly reaches the majesty of, say, the Super Mario series.

Adventure Island is a classic retro experience that's well worth grabbing if you've never played it before. Just don't expect anything groundbreaking and it'll bring a smile to your face.