From the screens you can see that the game will have gameplay very similar to earlier games in the series, with all of the unique gameplay elements we've come to know and love such as the skateboard and the gradually decreasing stamina bar.
Totally new however are minigames - It seems there will be a number of them included in the game which give a unique twist on the gameplay, such as collecting as much fruit as you can within a certain time limit or riding through a completely 3D level on the skateboard! There will also be online rankings, presumably for both the minigames and your single player scores. You can also test your button mashing speed to try and beat Takahashi Meijin's (The man who Master Higgins is based on, as you might know) record of 16 presses per second, which earned him the nickname 16shot back in the day.
Adventure Island: The Beginning is perhaps the most surprising Hudson WiiWare game yet - The last main game in the series was Super Adventure Island II on the SNES way back in 1994, and since then there's only been a few Japan-exclusive mobile phone games! There was an Adventure Island game on the GameCube as well, but this was simply a remake of the original with updated graphics and music.
As such we quite look forward to this release - Judging by the title it will be a prequel, so it should contain only the main elements that made the other games fun without any unnecessary extra stuff (Aside from the minigames!).
Comments 46
What a great game to have the first comment on.
09 really is shaping up to be a fantastic year for WiiWare. Kind of wish Master Higgins was a little fatter, though. I really miss the more rolly-polly version.
Ohhh nice! But I prefer Bonk, maybe for the next Hudson remake.
Also, a life bar? aaah well...
It's a stamina bar like in almost every other game, the only Adventure Island with actual life was Super Adventure Island II and that was more of an RPG
Haha it's great to see Hudson's bonkers button mashing 16Shot device in Adventure island as a minigame!
Check out Hudson's Takahashi Meijin mad skillz in action!
I was kind of hoping for a 2D game (2D > 3D FTW) but if this gets a good score, I'll be sure to take a look at it anyways.
What is Adventure Island? Is this similar to Wonderboy on the C64? (I hated it and it's terrible skateboard controls. Maybe it's just me.)
This is one of my all-time favorite game series and I can't WAIT for this game on WiiWare. Now all we need is a new Bonk game to go along with it.
Ah, finally. I've waited too long. A simple side-scroller. (I can live with whatever this 3d skateboard thing is)
Hudson keeps going on the franchise revival trail. Sweet! Here's hoping for some Bonk and perhaps maybe Neutopia... And is it crazy to dream that the first official English release of a game in the Far East Of Eden series will be a brand new WiiWare title?
@Omega:
The first Adventure Island was nothing more than a rebranding of Wonder Boy (which SEGA had exclusive rights to). I mean, apart from Master Higgins, everything was exactly the same. However, when the Wonder Boy series developed into more of an adventure series the Adventure Island games remained pure platform affairs. Good platformers though.
And no, it's not just you. However, the problem wasn't with the game per se, but rather with the C64 conversion.
Adventure Island? I've never heard of it, can somebody explain por favor?
@Djungelurban: Thanks for your explanations. This is very interesting. Then, I believe that the other versions of Wonderboy / Adventure Island are better than the C64 version. And this new WiiWare game can be quite different anyway. I hope they make it not too hard.
@Bahamut Zero: There is a review of Adventure Island on VC-Reviews. At least for the NES Version.
Edit: The japanese TG16 version of "Dragon's Curse" was also released as "Adventure Island". But this seems to be more like "Wonder Boy III" on the Sega Master System. I think this is something completely different.
I hope we see more Adventure Island games on the Virtual Console after this has been released.
Still no price point? Looks like it should be 1000-1200 points.
Wishing it were true 2D, the textures look blurry. I like the 3D mini-games, but have to say that the main game visuals in 2D perspective don't make me excited. Klonoa looks very sharp and makes these screen shots look a bit amateurish.
But Klonoa is $40 and this probably won't be more than $12.
This is some pretty good news. I liked the original Adventure Island but despised of Super Adventure Island ... I'll wait for a review first.
Just think if this does well and Sega takes notes. We could see a new Wonderboy or better yet a good Sonic game.
I've never played any games from this series. I hope this one's fun, it looks pretty hardcore for a WiiWare title. I love 2.5-D games.
It is very confusing Omega but check out this page http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/wonderboy/wonderboy.htm, it explains all the Wonder Boy games in detail and mentions the differences in the Turbo editions, which is usually sprite and name changes.
Personally I just find it less confusing to just get the Wonder Boy games, and get the Adventure Island games that aren't Wonder Boy ports
this actually looks good
This game sounds awesome. Hudson are definitely getting back in their stride what with Onslaught and now this. My appreciometer has shot back up to 10 for them.
The graphics on this game look pretty good to me. The first couple of screens did look a little out of focus but the later shots get better. I can imagine everything will look fine in the end.
I'm also quite looking forward to the mini games - particularly if there's online leader boards. The skateboard survival game looks like it could be pretty good fun if they get the balance board control right and axe attack will probably wile away a little of people's time too. In fact all the mini-games look like good solid entertainment.
All in all, I'm really looking forward to this game! And no Wiiloveit, nobody's tied the real Calculon up in the basement before you ask
looks nice I can't wait
I wonder if other third party developers are going to start focusing their attention on Wiiware now... SEGA? Konami? It wouldn't be a bad move, as I'm sure Nintendo is going to remove the memory cap on WW games once they release the SD update this spring.
I have the original on VC and I played it on its original console. Great game!
@Terranigma - Onslaught happened and the interview suddenly became out of date!
And for anyone looking for some Adventure Island goodness, you should check out the black and white GameBoy titles. They're both amazing! Having said that, I still think New Adventure Island on the TurboGrafx-16 is the best Adventure Island to date. I never get tired of playing it. I guess I can play it again while waiting for this new title to see a release.
@Chunky_Droid (#19): Yes, I find that really irritating. And I thought that the numbering of Final Fantasy 1-6 is complicated to understand. Anyway, thank you very much for the link. This is an interesting website, which make things clearer.
@Terranigma - We did the interview about Onslaught, but by the time we got the answers back it had come out in Europe so most of it is a bit pointless now. We're going back to the drawing board!
Hopefully we can do a Adventure Island interview but it actually comes out
@Terranigma - We've revised some of the questions a bit so hopefully we'll have a complete interview to show you guys soon once Hudson get the chance to look over it again. Watch this space!
Really shaping up. Hope it's as great as expected.
This is looking solid. Nice worlds so far and the gameplay sounds decent. Wish I could say more but I don't know much about the series.
cant wait to get this looks really good!
Might be alright. I keep on forgetting that the Adventure Island series no is no longer connected to the Wonderboy series; for some reason, I was expecting it to be more like the Monster Land/World games (I do hope we see a Monster World V someday), so I was a little disappointed to see that it's just bare-bones platforming, and that the charming graphics of the earlier Adventure Islands didn't really translate well to 3D. Still, this might prove to be enjoyable, and hopefully lead to more Retro-sequels(Shinobi Reborn and Monster World V, hopefully).
This I'm actually really excited about. I love Adventure Island. I'd love to see a Bonk remake, too.
I would prefer a pure 2D game rather than a 2,5D one. On the one hand because of the 40MB limit and the length of the game, and on the other hand because I think the graphics would be better. For me the game doesn't look very good, hopefully it looks better in motion.
I was never really keen on the Adventure Island series, but the news of this certainly has sparked something. Looking forward to it.
Whatever it is, it will probably be amazing. Everyone seems to want a new Bonk, so that could be a possibility. I myself would love a new Chew Man Fu. Make it happen, Hudson!
Can't wait to try the Balance board incorporation.
Definitely getting this since I've always wanted to get AI band have been tempted to do so on more than one occasion (just like with Bubble Bobble Plus!) but waiting has been a great benefit cause now I can have my WiiWare fix.
Looks cool so far. I'll keep my eye on this one.
I love New Adventure Island. It's one of my favourite VC games, so this looks like a must-buy.
I'm not such a big fan of the Adventure Island series, but the original game can be quite entertaining, I got a remake for PS2, I can say 2.5D graphics do not fit that game, but maybe they'll get them better on this one; also the minigames seem like an interesting addition, I'll be waiting for the review. Btw I'd love to see a new Bonk game too .
awesome cant wait 4 this 2 come out
One of Hudson's upcoming games is called Water Warfare, as it's been rated by the USK. We don't know what it'll be about though and Hudson doesn't want to reveal anything yet.
I never even knew about the Adventure Island games until the Virtual Console. If I was a fan of them back when I was a kid, I would be way more excited about this announcement. Although, I do like the idea of rebuffing old franchises or at least bringing them back into the spotlight, like Mega Man 9, Gradius Rebirth, and whatever that R-Type game is they came out with. Not that they're all good or anything, but I think they should continue the trend, and maybe come out with revamped hard-hitters like Castlevania, Donkey Kong, Metroid, Sonic the Hedgehog or even something that's been dead for a long time like Earthworm Jim or Vectorman.
I was hoping for some hi-res 2D graphics, since the 3D ones here look way too blurry, but this is still looking really good! Yet another Wiiware game for me to look forward to...
@Corbie. I'd buy a new Bonk in a heartbeat! Suggest it to Hudson in your next interview!
I never understood the hype for Adventure Island; I didn't really like the game, and this WiiWare game looks ugly.
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