Adventure Island required Master Higgins to endure eight worlds of mayhem, each divided into four levels, which is THEN sliced into four smaller sections that connect into one long level. The gameplay basically involves continuous running through each world, dodging enemies or defeating them using an axe (and later, fireball) weapon. Master Higgins can also break eggs that you find along the way, most of which have favourable treasures inside, such as Honey Girl, the invincibility fairy, or a skateboard for shuffling along more quickly. If an eggplant pops out, though, he'll lose health as you go until that mad vegetable flies away. Speaking of health, this is one of the few series where the health bar just naturally decreases over time. In order to replenish himself, Master Higgins must grab as much fruit as he can; sometimes it's in grand numbers, but other times, fruit is more scarce and he must ensure he does not take any other damage in order to survive that world safely.

Adventure Island is quite a difficult game, but it can also be quite stimulating with its constant flow of action! It also helped pave the way for many sequels, although it would be several years before the world would see more of Master Higgins. Adventure Island (known as Takahashi Meijin no Bouken Jima in Japan) was remade for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube in 2003, and the game was also re-released in 2004 in its original state on the Game Boy Advance as part of the "Famicom Mini" series.

The mainstays of the game mechanics are still there: using an axe to defeat enemies, breaking eggs to find items, eating fruit to stay alive, grabbing a skateboard for faster movement, and even dealing with that rancid eggplant! But Adventure Island II brings something else to the table: dinosaurs. Yeah, that's right: dinosaurs. Typically hidden inside eggs, a card will pop out with one of the four suits on it (you know, hearts, clubs, etc.), which corresponds to a dinosaur; collecting the card will automatically summon the dinosaur and you'll be riding it immediately! The blue dinosaur (er, sorry, "camptosaurus") can fire electric shocks from its tail; the red camptosaurus breathes fire; the pterodon can fly and release bombs on the unfortunate creatures below; and the elasmosaurus will help you swim more easily. And the marvelous thing is that you now have an inventory to access between stages (which are no longer interconnected), where you can save dinosaurs and weaponry for future use. You may also find an egg with a key in it that will allow you to access special bonus areas or, better yet, an opportunity to skip to the next island.

Adventure Island II was a solid improvement over the original without being too unfamiliar, and its success helped the series to continue even further and even span other consoles.

Eight more islands lay ahead in his path, and if you've played Adventure Island II, you know exactly what to expect, since this is basically more of the same. The graphics are quite similar and the gameplay is pretty much in line. I guess new music is the main draw. The only new additions to Adventure Island 3 are the tripetaurus, a fifth kind of dinosaur that resembles a triceratops but is able to easily roll around and knock enemies out of your way, and a boomerang weapon. Oh, and there are invincibility crystals to collect and save for a special occasion. So, not much else new to report. Still, if you loved Adventure Island II, you'll find much to enjoy here as well.

A password function was included to help players retain their progress, and thankfully, the passwords are short. This game also has the distinction of being the last game ever officially released for the Famicom.