Thankfully this is an adaption of Adventure Island II on the NES/Famicom, rather than a port of the original Adventure Island. I say “Thankfully” because the original Adventure Island was nothing more than a port of the Sega‘s 1986 arcade game, Wonder Boy, and Adventure Island II on the NES/Famicom was a step towards something a bit more substantial. Which is what we’re getting here.

A key feature in this game is the ability to rescue and befriend dinosaur companions who you can ride to take advantage of their abilities. In the original NES game the ‘red’ dragon can walk on lava, but in this game the ‘red’ dragon is grey, so telling them apart means having to memorise their names and remembering who does what. Not easy without colours, but I guess they didn’t envisage a monochrome version of the game when they initially made it…

Adventure Island on the Game Boy was first published by Hudson Soft in 1992 and it remains an excellent platform game to this day, and there are many great platform games on the Game Boy. Is it among the best? I’d say that it might be. Both Adventure Island games on the Game Boy are worth owning and playing, in my opinion.

More: Adventure Island II on Wikipedia