It's a difficult task to judge Adventure Island: The Beginning. On the one hand, the gameplay is virtually unchanged from the original game and it's still lots of fun to play, even though it's incredibly easy now. Sadly you just can't help but notice all the oversights, such as the lack of a widescreen option, the jerky animations and the lack of a "classic" mode for the main game. It all makes you wonder how on earth Hudson Soft could have neglected to include such things. Still, any fan of the old games will like this, and even if you weren't a fan, you might still enjoy it. Let's just hope that Master Higgins's next adventure is a bit more polished.
"The Adventure Island and Wonder Boy series have a long shared history so let's explore both franchises and see which one's best." - A.J. Maciejewski from Video Chums
A.J. says: "When it comes to fast-paced retro platformers, very few games stand out in my memory as being as enjoyable as Adventure Island. Pull up your grass skirt, grab a stone axe, and let's eat as much fruit as our stomachs can handle!"
GamePro Arcade writes: "ADVENTURE ISLAND The Beginning also hit WiiWare this week. Just like Bubble Bobble, this is a remake of a classic franchise with spruced up visuals and some new content. In Adventure Island you play as Mater Higgins who must traverse through four worlds, each with four levels, to defeat the evil King Quiller, who has kidnapped the love of your life, Tina. It's a basic sidescroller with tons of weapons at your disposal to dispatch enemies all the way to the goal. But it's not as simple as just speeding through the levels and moving on. Higgins is, well, fat, so he must eat in order to keep his stamina up. Food is scattered through the level and you must pick it up in order to keep Higgins going."