A colorful, accessible Hudson Super Adventure Island, no SNES platformer rival. Pleasant for short sessions.
Your verdict
Category
Platformer1 player3+
Description
Action platformer featuring Master Higgins exploring tropical islands. Published by Hudson Soft, released in Europe in 1992. Higgins running through jungle and beach levels, fruits to collect and bosses. Sequel in the Adventure Island series on Super Nintendo.
Super Adventure Island review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
1/5
Story
★★★★★
"Anecdotal"
Hudson repaints its tropical island with every colour the machine allows: near white sand, turquoise sea, jungles across several planes, ice caves and volcanoes. The tiny hero in a loincloth runs across quickly scrolling scenery, and readability stays total despite the density, which matters in a game this demanding.
Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima write a soundtrack far richer than an island platform game required: round bass, latin percussion, jazzy harmonies and melodies that stay in mind long after the session. This is the kind of score that makes a small production exist well beyond its subject.
Gameplay
"Excellent"
Fun
"From the very first minutes"
Addictiveness
"Captivating"
Difficulty
"Balanced"
Lifespan
"Average"
Technical info
💾0,51 MB📅01/09/1992
Published by Hudson Soft
Super Adventure Island (SNES) price, value & rarity
In its PAL form, this Super Adventure Island reflects the smaller European install base: the cardboard box and multilingual manual surface far less often than a bare cartridge, and a shorter local run feeds genuine niche appeal. Higgins is a likeable Hudson platforming figure, yet the draw here lies mainly in a complete European copy, quieter than the American release and sought by collectors of Japanese platformers localized for Europe.
Is Super Adventure Island still worth playing in 2026?
A Hudson platformer, Super Adventure Island brings the series' Wonder Boy formula to the Super Famicom, with its loincloth hero running across colourful islands, grabbing fruit and weapons against a draining vitality meter. The fast pace, the bright graphics and Yuzo Koshiro's music stay pleasant. The lack of variety and a somewhat flat level design place it among the good platformers without flair. A title for fans of classic 16 bit platforming and Hudson nostalgics.
