WonderBoy>Adventure Island

[ReTrO-pLaYeR]

I'm awfully sure all of you know that Adventure Island for the NES is a total knock-off of Sega's WonderBoy game for Sega Master System. After playing the two games side by side, I think there are differences that are worth noting.

I have a preference for the WonderBoy version, after playing a bit of it on Virtual Console for Wii. The controls are much more refined, and you will not be slipping around unless you happen to be on icy territory. The jumping is also enhanced- except you still need to press the 2 button as well as the 1 button to perform a power jump. Collecting all 36 dolls also provides replayability- because I hear you can unlock Area 10 if you snag them all. There are also less points required for 1-ups. This and many other features of WonderBoy make it an easy win over Adventure Island. Simply put, it is more accessible and replayable.

Anybody else agree- or think differently?

[Zap!]

I agree. I never obtained all 36 dolls. I tried seriously about 15 years ago, and got to within one or two.

[InsaneDavid]

You do realize they were both developed by the same team, right?

[retroman]

yea but for some reason i still prefer Master Higgins.

[Icarus Moonsight]

The Adventure Island ripped off WonderBoy thing made me remember a post from a while back... Someone said something to the effect of "Astro Boy was a rip-off of Mega Man". O_O It all came flooding back... lolwut and all. LOL

I loved Wonderboy 2 and 3 on SMS. And also Adventure Island on NES. Never played Wonderboy though... I feel I sorta have, just on the NES. :)

[Ricochet]

You do realize they were both developed by the same team, right?

Adventure Island was developed by Hudson Soft, I don't think anyone would doubt that. So are you implying that Hudson Soft created Wonder Boy? In that case, do you think Sega somehow licensed it from them??

The original team, Escape/Westone, developed the arcade versions of Wonder Boy I, II, and III (shmup). They also did the console version of III. The other Sega console versions were presumably ported by Sega themselves.

[Lady Jaye]

Actually, Hudson Soft only published the first Adventure Island, didn't actually develop it. Wonder Boy and Adventure Island were created by the studio Escape.

And as indicated on Wikipedia, "Escape/Westone had a licensing arrangement whereby they owned the rights to the game, but Sega retained rights to the main characters, bosses, and names. Because of this they teamed up with Hudson Soft to produce a conversion of the game for the NES, under a new license."

Also: "In this arrangement, once again, Hudson Soft retained the rights to the character and name, allowing them to continue to produce future games using the Adventure Island name and characters. These sequels are not based on the Wonder Boy sequels." (Note that there's an error on the Wiki page about the first Adventure Island game: it was actually developed by Escape, and I don't know how much input came from Hudson Soft)

All this to say that at its core, Adventure Island is a legal port of Wonder Boy, not a ripoff or a clone. However, I personally love the Wonder Boy series and can't stand Adventure Island, so it is possible that the controls aren't as tight or that there were minor gameplay changes that in the end makes all the difference.

[Ruudos]

This is get confusing. I got this from Wikipedia


The game was developed by Hudson, which took the graphics from Escape, which had developed Wonder Boy for the arcade. The levels are the exact same ones as in Wonder Boy, but the eighth area in Adventure Island was a bonus area in Wonder Boy. The sprites are nearly identical as in Wonder Boy

Also, at vgrebirth.org they mention Hudson as the developer of NES Adventure Island, and Sega as (port) developer of SMS Wonder Boy.

[Lady Jaye]

If someone can read Japanese, this would settle the whole debate. Westone is still in business and on their Japanese-only website, they've listed the games they worked on and for which platform.

http://www.westone.co.jp/title.html

[InsaneDavid]

Adventure Island was developed by Hudson Soft, I don't think anyone would doubt that. So are you implying that Hudson Soft created Wonder Boy? In that case, do you think Sega somehow licensed it from them??

The original team, Escape/Westone, developed the arcade versions of Wonder Boy I, II, and III (shmup). They also did the console version of III. The other Sega console versions were presumably ported by Sega themselves.

http://hg101.kontek.net/wonderboy/wonderboy.htm

[Lady Jaye]

Thanks to a combination of Babelfish and Google Image (when in doubt), here's what Westone has developed relating to Wonder Boy and Adventure Island. Basically, almost ALL Wonder Boy ports (except apparently the SG-1000 port, which probably came from Sega) including on the PC-Engine and the first Adventure Island were developped by Westone. The other Adventure Island games on NES and SNES past the first one were done by Hudson.

I'm surprised that they did the Sega Ages port as well on the Japanese PS2... Then again, why not? They did develop other games for the PS2 so it's not like they're unfamiliar with that system. And note that Wonder Boy was ported to the Sega Master System AFTER Monster Land, and that Adventure Island came out before either.

Arcade:
1986 - Wonder Boy
1987 - Monster Land
1988 - Monster Lair

Consoles and other platforms:
1986 - Adventure Island (Famicom)
1987 - Monster World (aka Monster Land) (Mark III)
1988 - (Super) Wonder Boy (Mark III) -- the name "Super" was added probably in comparison to the SG-1000 version, since the Mark III was backward-compatible with that platform
1988 - Monster Lair (PC-Engine CD)
1988 - Monster Lair (MegaDrive)
1989 - Monster World 2 (aka Dragon's Trap) (Sega Master System)
1990 - Wonder Boy (Game Gear)
1991 - Adventure Island (port of Dragon's Trap) (PC-Engine)
1991 - Monster World III (aka Monster World) (MegaDrive)
1992 - Monster World II (Dragon's Trap) (Game Gear)
1994 - Monster World IV (with the girl) (Japanese MegaDrive only)
2002 - Adventure Island (Famicom version) (cell phones)
2004 - Wonder Boy (cell phones)
2007 - Sega Ages: Monster World Complete Collection (Japanese PS2 only)

[Black_Tiger]

I really don't think that Westone directly handled all the ports listed. I think it's more of a list of games they had a hand in. It doesn't make sense for them to put so much work into redrawing the graphics of the Mega Drive port of Monster Lair just to make it look worse. That was how Sega handled arcade to Mega Drive ports back then though. I wouldn't be surprised if Hudson did all the work in the Famicom AI's and just licensed the original game from Escape/Westone (maybe even the case with all the PC Engine ports).

For something like the PS2 collection, they did do all the work that was involved in the original versions. But if someone else simply handled the emulation, it's still mainly their work. They likely contributed input and art materials for it.

I wonder if Sega messed up the paperwork for Monster Lair somehow and lost the same rights for it, since the PC Engine version is a "Sega"-free straight port.



Anyways, I love Wonderboy and Adventure Island just feels kinda gross. Master Higgins was a very unattractive character back in the day, although I appreciate the cheeziness of it now. Still, that original Famicom sprite is way too ugly. I also love the original Wonderboy music that was so effective with so few notes. The Master System version is my favorite.

The original Adventure Island still seemed like masterpiece to me compared to Super Adventure Island. SAI had some neat sounds and quite a bit of color and shading in spots, but it just looked and felt completely broken. The super slow, jogging on a conveyor belt, large character sprite with tiny limp toss hatchets and tiny obstacles was like someone who knew nothing about Wonderboy/AI looked at the originals for a few seconds and then slapped together the Super version. New Adventure Island was thankfully a return to form and is fast paced like the original Wonderboy. Unfortunately, it's also missing the aesthetic charm of the original Wonderboy.

[Pk116]

Adventure Island 2 was the highlight of the Adventure Island series. Adventure Island IV (Japan only) and Super Adventure Island 2, like the later Wonderboy games, were action/adventure games, not platformers. These did not work as well as other action/adventure games (e.g. Goonies II and Castlevania II) or Adventure Island 1 - 3, which were platformers. I prefer Adventure Island 1 over Wonderboy because it is the first in a great platforming trilogy. The sequels to Wonderboy may also be good (I am going to play them soon), but they seem to be very different from the first. I like the continuity of Adventure Island. It is also brighter to me, which works well with the theme. Do not judge this series by Super Adventure Island; that game was oversized and unchallenging. Adventure Island II is one of the best platformers on the NES, and that is really saying something. Adventure Island I - III is a great trilogy of platformers.

[GarrettCRW]

I like both series, and each has its own merits, but to call the Hudson-published titles "rip-offs" is a bit harsh when Westone lists those games on their own website.

[j_factor]

I really don't think that Westone directly handled all the ports listed. I think it's more of a list of games they had a hand in.

But note that they did not list Dynastic Hero (the PCE/Turbo port of Monster World III) or Bikkuriman World (the PCE conversion of Monster Land with an anime license). They also don't list the SMS version of Monster World (III), but that one could be just because it didn't come out in Japan. Not sure if this means anything, really.

[ccovell]

What this means is that companies' official websites are often inaccurate and incomplete. It's best to consult game preservation websites, really.

[Tsar]

I loved them all to be honest.