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Posts with tag adventure-island

Takahashi Meijin: Hudson planning Adventure Island sequel


If there's one person who would know the future of Adventure Island's Master Higgins, it's ... Master Higgins himself. According to statements made by Takahashi Meijin (the real-life basis for the Master Higgins character) in a conference call a few minutes ago, Hudson is in the earliest stages of planning a new Adventure Island game, "probably" for WiiWare.

There are no details yet, but Takahashi expressed concern about "forcing" motion control into the game, saying it would "change what the game is about."

Regarding other Hudson WiiWare, Hudson's Mike Pepe said that between Alien Crush, Blue Oasis, and Karaoke Joysound Wii, "two out of three" would be localized for North America, and that more details would be known about a month before the release date. We don't know for sure which is excluded, but two of those games don't rely on multiple music licensing deals. We didn't get to ask about Bomberman or Tetris, but is there any doubt that Bomberman is coming out everywhere in the world?

In addition, Hudson is working on a "puzzle action" title that may use the Balance Board.

Wonder Boy and Fantasy Zone coming to North America

Upon reading the title of this post, some of you may have been bouncing off the walls like this blogger, while the rest of you probably shrugged and moved on with your lives.

If you don't realize how great these two games are, though, just trust us when we tell you that they are. We'd probably be excited for any Sega Master System games to hit our VCs, but these two happen to be some of our favorites. Our childhoods would have been empty, barren wastelands without them.

Granted, Wonder Boy came out ages ago on the Virtual Console in the guise of Adventure Island. Yet, even if you aren't incredibly biased like us to see the option based on the original arcade classic as the superior choice (elitist snobs that we are), Wonder Boy will cost you $1 less than the Takahashi Meijin-infused port. That's right -- in an incredible show of awesomeness, Sega is only charging 400 Wii Points for Master System games. (Note: Sega used tricky wording in their press release, stating that "prices start at 400 Wii™ Points for SEGA Master System titles." This means that the games announced today might cost more.)

Wonder Boy
aside, though, Fantasy Zone is a must buy. The crazy stages and enemies alone make this game a memorable experience, but it's also a fun side-scroller with super-cool music.

Of course, take our opinions with a grain of salt -- sometimes it's hard to see through nostalgia-tinted glasses. But, what we really mean by that is buy Fantasy Zone.

No word on exactly when these games will hit North American VCs, but Sega promises "soon."

Gallery: Fantasy Zone



Gallery: Wonder Boy



[Via press release]

VC Friday: It's only freakin' River City Ransom

We kind of knew all along that Street Gangs (or River City Ransom as NTSC gamers will know it) would materialize on the Virtual Console eventually. Yet even with this knowledge in hand, we still couldn't resist cartwheeling across our living rooms with joy after it appeared for really reals today on the PAL VC. People, it's Street Gangs, a.k.a. River City Ransom. Whatever name you give to it, it's a bona fide classic, and requires your instant attention.

Adventure Island is this week's second addition, yet may well go unnoticed, thanks to the game it shares this particular VC Friday with. That would be a shame, as Hudson's platformer is also worth investigating.

Hoist a trash can above your head and hit the break for footage of both!
  • Street Gangs -- NES -- 500 Wii points
  • Adventure Island -- NES -- 500 Wii points

Continue reading VC Friday: It's only freakin' River City Ransom

VC Tuesday: Adventure Mountain

This week brings another rare (not Rare) Nintendo 64 release, and a seasonally appropriate one at that. 1080 Snowboarding is making its appearance on the Virtual Console for the first time. When it hits the American download service, we look forward to playing it and pretending it's cold outside. Until then, we can just look at screenshots and pretend we're playing it and pretending it's cold outside.

The other two releases are distant cousins. Adventure Island is a remake of Westone's original Wonder Boy game with a different protagonist (which, of course, spun off into its own series), and Monster World IV is part of a Wonder Boy spinoff series. It's ... a lot more confusing when they release two of them at a time like this. We're all familiar with Adventure Island, at least.

The VC Advantage: Grass skirts and skateboards-- a winning combination


The Internet has made it easy to find cheats for games, but we miss the tips pages from game magazines, when the discovery of a new code could inspire you to go back to an old game. These codes aren't exactly new, but oldness is the essence of the Virtual Console! We're bringing back the classic codes every week on The VC Advantage.

Hudson's Adventure Island series stars a real-life Hudson executive called Takahashi Meijin, who is known as "16shot" for his famous ability to push buttons 16 times a second. In the game, he's a chubby kid in a grass skirt who finds weapons and stuff in enormous eggs. Just like in real life. (The game made a little more sense when it was called Wonder Boy and starred someone who didn't have a real job). What is it with Hudson and putting real people in their games?

Takahashi Meijin may be able to jam on some buttons, but you can influence his fake life with cheat codes. Advantage: you.

Adventure Island (NES):
Continue: Close to the "G" sign at the end of stage 1, jump up and down to make an egg appear, which contains the Hudson Bee. You can then continue your game by holding any direction and pressing start.

New Adventure Island (TG16):
Level Select: New Adventure Island is only new now in comparison with the original NES game. Given that it came out in 1992, it's a pretty Old Adventure Island itself. Press left, left, I, right, right, II, up, down, up, down at the title screen to select levels in this (much better, actually) semi-remake.

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