Adventure Island is a Hudson Soft platformer that began as a port of Sega's arcade game Wonder Boy. Because Escape had assigned the Wonder Boy name and characters to Sega, Hudson built a new hero around its spokesman, Takahashi Meijin. The Famicom and MSX versions were released in Japan on the same day, 12 September 1986, and the Famicom version shipped about 1.05 million copies there.
The game has 32 rounds across eight areas, with a boss at the end of every fourth round, and music by Jun Chikuma. In the West the hero became Master Higgins; North America got the NES version in 1988 and Europe in 1992. The TV anime Bug-tte Honey (1986–87) was set in the game's world.
The game later returned on the Game Boy Advance in Japan, both on its own and in Hudson Best Collection Vol. 6 with all four NES games. Note that the Game Boy Adventure Island is based on the second NES game, not this one.12
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | Hudson's Adventure Island | NES | September 1988 | Hudson Soft | 1 |
| JP | 高橋名人の冒険島Takahashi Meijin no Bōken Jima | MSX | Sep 12, 1986 | Hudson Soft | 2 |
| JP | 高橋名人の冒険島Takahashi Meijin no Bōken JimaFamicom; same date in Japanese Wikipedia | NES | Sep 12, 1986 | Hudson Soft | 1 |
| EU | Adventure Island ClassicPAL; also sold as Adventure Island in the Pacific | NES | 1992 | Hudson Soft | 1 |
| JP | 高橋名人の冒険島Takahashi Meijin no Bōken JimaFamicom Mini | Game Boy Advance | May 21, 2004 | Hudson Soft | 1 |
| JP | Hudson Best Collection Vol. 6: Bōken Jima CollectionHudson Best Collection Vol. 6 with all four NES games | Game Boy Advance | Jan 19, 2006 | Hudson Soft | 1 |
| WW | Adventure IslandVirtual Console | Wii | 2008 | Hudson Soft | 1 |
| WW | Adventure IslandVirtual Console | Wii U | 2014 | — | 1 |
Also known as: 高橋名人の冒険島 JP1Takahashi Meijin no Bōken Jima JP1Hudson's Adventure Island NA1Adventure Island Classic EU1Adventure Island in the Pacific EU1
Box art by region
NA Hudson's Adventure Island 
JP 高橋名人の冒険島
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: libretro-thumbnails.
Version differences
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ContentNES (NA/EU)Famicom (JP)
In Japan the hero is Takahashi Meijin, Hudson's spokesman; in the West he became Master Higgins, in the UK Master Wigins and in Mexico Capulinita.1
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ContentFamicom vs. Wonder Boy
Compared with Sega's arcade Wonder Boy, on which it is based, the game swaps characters (a bee becomes a crow) and adds a blue octopus enemy, new music, bonus stages and different bosses.2
Reception
The Famicom version shipped about 1.05 million copies in Japan. In the West the NES game has a 62% GameRankings average and is widely seen as one of the hardest NES games; GamesRadar+ ranked it 23rd among the best NES games.1
In lists
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
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