If there is one series I deeply love, despite its unchanging gameplay concepts, it's the Adventure Island series. Created by the now-defunct Hudson Soft, Adventure Island is a platforming series starring plucky island adventurer Master Higgins (who is actually based on former Hudson Soft employee Takahashi  Meijin, known at the time for his rapid button pressing ability). The best way to describe the whole series is that its structure is similar to Nintendo's Super Mario series. Now, imagine if Mario had a rapidly decreasing health bar and needed to eat as much fruit as possible to stay alive, with one enemy hit able to instantly kill him, and you have the Adventure Island series in a nutshell. As you can possibly guess, it is 10 times more challenging than the standard Mario platformer, which makes for some very patience-testing gameplay. Despite that, I love the series to death, and have been a fan since I played the NES Adventure Island game.

What about Super Adventure Island, though? Well, it plays identically to previous Adventure Island games, save for enhanced music and graphics. Really, the game wouldn't experience a radical departure from the norm umtil Super Adventure Island II, which plays more like an RPG than a platformer. And yet, I can't help but play them all and enjoy them immensely, Super Adventure Island not being an obvious exception. The reason why is that yes, they are very hard games to play through, and games that require a lot of trial and error. But I have never really been frustrated by it all, and I am usually the type of gamer who hates being overly frustrated by hard gameplay. I play games to both relax and have fun. I appreciate the challenge every once in a while, but if it goes too far I lose interest and patience rather quickly. Never have I felt too angry playing the Adventure Island games, even as a kid, when I was at my worst in terms of gamer anger.

The reason why is because the Adventure Island games invite players to improve on their skills by memorizing the obstacles that lie ahead, have quick reflexes, and properly use the weapons given, all while trying to keep Master Higgins alive. Intimidating, sure, but when you are succeeding in your quest, it can be both really addictive and beyond satisfying. It being at a faster pace than Mario also helps in making Super Adventure Island fun to play.

Now, having said that, the Adventure Island games are not as famous as the Mario games for the reasons I just stated. Not everyone is into trial and error-based gameplay. Having to try the same levels over and over again can become draining and annoying for many. If I were to recommend the Adventure Island games to someone, I would go with the very first game, Adventure Island for the NES. If they enjoy that game, I would go ahead and recommend New Adventure Island for the TurboGrafx-16, and then Super Adventure Island, as they stand as the best and most polished of the Adventure Island series.

It was great going back to Super Adventure Island. The gameplay may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it has been entertaining me since I was but a wee gamer. I may have never fully completed the game, but I am more than willing to come back again and gain if it means I will be entertained by its unique level of challenge.