Super Adventure Island II (SNES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
1,339A playthrough of Hudson's 1994 action-adevnture game for the Super Nintendo, Super Adventure Island II.
Super Adventure Island II marked Master Higgins' final starring role of the 1990s, and it was the last time we saw him until 2003 with the Japanese-only remake of the original game on PS2 and GameCube. While he was sorely missed during his near 10 year hiatus, he went out on quite a high note.
The changes made for this installment were a solid evolution of the classic platforming formula that we all knew and loved, and provided the game with a fair amount more depth than most of his previous outings, maybe save for Adventure Island IV.
Instead of again taking up the Wonderboy template, Super Adventure Island II eschews simple platforming in favor of a Metroidvania-like experience. The overworld gives you access to several different stages, but progress relies on finding items and weapons to open new paths in other areas.
It's a much simpler layout than you'll find in Symphony of the Night or Super Metroid, but it is a good fit for the gameplay. And while you still can access the traditional Adventure Island weapons like the stone axe and the boomerang, the majority of game is spent using elemental swords to exploit enemy weaknesses. The controls are better than they've ever been in this one - the looseness that Super Adventure Island suffered from is all but gone in this sequel.
The game is substantially easier than any of the previous titles, which for many will be a relief. You no longer need to be a god of platforming to finish an Adventure Island title! The few puzzles are integrated well, and the difficulty level is pitched just right to avoid being frustrating, though it's not a total cakewalk. Some of those boss patterns really do require some practice to get down.
The graphics are a bit of a mixed bag, disappointingly. Many of the backdrops, sprites, and animations are impeccably well done, while others look oddly unfinished. Why are there so many areas that feature a single flat color for the backdrop? It doesn't detract too much from the overall experience, but it certainly gives the impression that more could've been done with a bit more time or money.
The sound, on the other hand, is excellent. Yuzo Koshiro didn't return for this sequel, but that doesn't prevent it from having an absolutely stellar soundtrack. It's a bounces from tropical and breezy to heavy and dramatic when it needs to, and it sounds fantastic on the SNES hardware. A lot of it sounds similar to Super Bomberman 2, too, which should be good news to fans of Hudson's other works. The sound effects are well suited as well, though I'm still scratching my head over that wildly out-of-place speech sample on the title screen.
Overall, Super Adventure Island II does an excellent job of updating an aging franchise while maintaining its familiar character and sense of charm that its fans had come to expect. It is, to borrow a phrase from MetalJesusRocks, a hidden gem.
*Side note: I did edit out a few chunks when I started gambling at the casino. Whenever I won big, I saved the game, and if I wasn't hitting any jackpots, I'd reset, reload the game and try again. At that point in the video, you're only seeing the successful tries because really, who wants to watch hours of trial and error with slot machines?
_
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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