Oh boy am I in a rush this evening! I have barely noticed that there are hardly any and I say ANY games left for me to review on the whole entire vizzed board! I mean sure there is the video game room beta that has more modern games like for the GC, PS2, XBOX and not, but those aren't games that we can actually "Play"! But anyways, right when I thought I was completely out of games to review on the vizzed board, I have suddenly came across THIS underrated gem of a game here! Now you are probably wondering, what is this underrated gem? Well this game is Adventure island on the NES! So anyways, I really need some GOOD real NES games to review on the board, so let's get started shall we?

Story-7/10
One sunny evening on a peaceful island, there lives quite a humble fella named Master Higgins, how he got here on the island is a mystery beyond me, but anyways, master Higgins is a very humble brave and quiet fella who really needs something to do on this huge island. He is then in a startle when he discovers that one very day his beautiful girlfriend Tina has been suddenly kidnapped by the evil king quiller! It is now up to YOU and  I really mean YOU to save higgin's girlfriend and restore peace to the humble island! I know what you guys are going to say, the story is a ripoff of such games like Mario, Zelda, ghosts and goblins, etc, but who cares? At least the game still has a story! (Even though the only way you will really get to read about this is the instruction manual) But anyways, that is pretty much it for the story, now let's get to the gameplay!

Gameplay-8/10
In this 2D action side scroller adventure game, you take the role of our hero Master higgins, as you run, jump, bounce, and conquer your way through more then 20 action packed levels in an attempt to save Tina! The controls are pretty simple to be honest, you use the D-pad to move, A button is jump, and the B button can be used to throw your powerful boomerang like projectiles. Each level is divided up by 4 levels per world, at the end of the 4th level you must face a huge giant and really powerful boss fight in order to progress any farther. Along Higgin's quest, he will be recovering alot of items, and most of them are pretty self explanatory, You can collect fruits like bananas in order to gain points and any lost health, you can find these bee like creatures that will give you invincibility, and you can collect these bones in order to use them as projectiles, and so on. What I really like about the game is not that it is not just a plain old ordinary platformer, but it is that the game manages to bring in a whole bucketload of new things to it's own to make itself stand out from all other platformers at the time! Master Higgins can also use this skateboard of his in order to get through levels faster, and that is a real huge plus if you ask me! Master Higgins will every once in a while run into King quiller and must fight him in his different forms in order to progress some areas, now the bosses are actually pretty fun if you ask me! They are really challenging, fun, and really feel like actual bosses! Or else they would just be called Mini-bosses. Anyways, that is all pretty much it for the gameplay guys.

Graphics-8/10
This game was made QUITE early in the NES' life span, and for what it is worth, It doesn't look too bad to be honest! I mean after all, the game does take place on a huge big and vast island, but is that really a bad thing? No, because as I have said before, it helps the game stand out from all other platformers at the time, But anyways, the graphics, They are actually really good! Every world, object, and everything is sharp as a tack, everything else is really really alive and just overall bursting with color! Now the Box art for this game is what really baffled me though, as with the Mega man 1 box art, everybody here looks like actual grown adults in costumes as such, and that is what caused the game to open up to poor sales, But anyways, now for the level design! The levels here are what really help the game feel original, the leves arrange from caves, glaciers, islands (Well of course!) And so on. The HUD is pretty self explanatory, it displays how many extra lives you have left until game over, your amount of health left until you lose a life, and your overall score. Yeah, everytime you collect fruits or defeat enemies and such, your score increases by the dozen, try to break your high score guys so you can be entered in the high score board for this game! But anyways, that is pretty much it for the graphics.

Sound-7/10
The Music and SFX in this game are your typical stuff, but that is pretty much rather obvious considering this game does take place on a tropical island, but anyways, the Music and sound effects in this game are pretty darn top-notch for an NES game! Each level you'll be exploring has really happy, bright, and just overall great music that really helps you prepare for each level after the last in this big action packed adventure! Now as for the sound effects, they are pretty average to be real here, Since this game is on the NES, be ready to here alot of Bloops, beeps, booms, and other stuff that you come to expect from 8-bit system games! The Sound in this game is like the Oozma Kappa, It isn't bad, it isn't good, It is just OK.

Addictiveness-8/10
The game does actually offer quite alot of fun to be had here! And here are a couple of reasons on why I say that, Well first, the game is just a platformer, and a very original one at that! That way the game doesn't feel stale boring and well, overall rushed like most other bad games I have played! And second, the scoring system, The freaking scoring system, I have been trying to beat that one user on this game with over 400,000 points, but I still can't though! I will try my best later though!

Depth-7/10
This tropical adventure is pretty long and here is why I say that, well, The game has over 8 distinct worlds each with 4 or so levels, and so that brings the game up for a whooping total of 32 big levels to explore and beat! This is really one of the longer platformers I have played on the NES! And that is saying alot, and there is the scoring system as I have addressed before, and it is pretty darn fun breaking your old and new high scores to be honest!

Difficulty-5/10
This one shouldn't give you too much trouble along the way, but there are still SOME minor gripes around with the difficulty level, and that is not alot. Well, some of those pesky bosses will take you QUITE a few lives to waste around right before you finally work out how to beat them, and some of those other later levels can be a little challenging, but if you are pretty good at games and can beat it at all, then this one should not give you TOO much trouble.

Overall-8.3/10
Oh man was this one a pretty fun platformer! Now I say this because the game is original, it is fun, it is actually kind of cute, and well, It just flat out rocks I tell you! Those were the main reasons why I gave this adventure an 8.3, now It is getting really late and I have to do my homework right now, so this has been RedHotToddy's 114thr review! And well, see you guys later! If I run out of retro games to review here, then I might review some modern games over at the Beta room! Anyways, see you guys tomorrow in my next review!