I've always liked NAI's little introductory bits, during which kidnappings take place and angry Higgins holds up his fist against a fiery backdrop. In fact, that depiction of vengeance-minded Higgins is even more awesome than Last Alert's famous BURNING KAZAMA scene! Well, not really...but it definitely beats the "Mode 7 falling fat man" nonsense in Super Adventure Island for the SNES.
Sadly, I'm old and crabby now, so I no longer get a kick out of the silly between-board intermissions (which show our chubby hero dancing around with a bunch of animals--blech). What makes me crabbier is the game's poor music. Its graphics range from typical old-school platformer stuff to rather impressive multi-layer material. Almost the entire adventure is cake, with no truly tricky spots until Stage 6 (of 7), and every boss (including the last one) is easy to defeat.
You'd think that all of those factors would combine to produce a mediocre effort, but New Adventure Island is actually one of the most enjoyable HuCard games around. The fast-paced action is its bread and butter, and once I get going with this chip, I pretty much can't stop playing. While it's not particularly tough, it constantly has you leaping, dashing, and tossing, all at a quick, unabated pace. You've always got to be on your toes, and the smooth controls really allow you to get in a zone and just enjoy the breezy ride, making NAI a perfect biding-time, pick-up-and-play sort of title. It doesn't have any memorable moments that will stick with you forever, but its pure playability will make you return to it often, making its general lack of difficulty forgivable.
These fools should've known better than to mess with Master Higgins on his wedding day.
The Mario-style agenda: four sub-stages per "world," with the fourth taking place in a boss's castle.
It ain't all "sunny island" stuff.
You can see some appealing multi-layer scrolling in a few of the cavern levels.
I suppose that these guys loosely qualify as "mini-bosses."
Despite Higgins' concerned countenance, the bosses are easy to beat. The bear can cause some trouble with his "ice wall" attack, though.
Bozhe moi.
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