Adventure Island

Quick, without searching the Internet, do you know who Master Higgins is? I’m willing to bet that the majority of you don’t, or you think you don’t. Master Higgins is the shoeless, shirtless, hero of the Adventure Island games.

The first Adventure Island game is the only game that I’ve ever played in the series. It stars Master Higgins as the hero, running to the right to rescue his girlfriend from the evil witch doctor. Master Higgins, you will discover has a life bar. However, Higgins like most video game characters, is incredibly fragile and will expire in one hit. So, why does he have a life bar? My best guess is to power his feet.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Master Higgins’ feet are constantly in motion… unless he’s on a skateboard. When he walks, his feet move so fast that they’re a blur. All that movement takes precious bars off his life meter. Well, that and tripping over rocks. You refill the bar by eating the fruits that are floating in the air all over the island, or from inside giant invisible dinosaur eggs. Incidentally, the eggs can also contain things like more powerful weapons or the aforementioned skateboard (complete with safety helmet). Did I mention this game is weird?

I played this game off and on for a period of several weeks. Eventually, after logging several dozen hours of play time, I managed to get to the dreaded witch doctor, and to vanquish him. Instead of getting to watch the ending sequence after all my hard work, I was treated to Area 2. I would later learn that I had spent all that time to experience one eighth of the game’s content.

I haven’t played the game since.

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