Relation to Wonder Boy Adventure Island began development as a port of the Sega arcade game Wonder Boy, which Hudson Soft obtained the rights from developer Escape (now known as Westone Bit Entertainment). During the development of the port, the decision was made to change the character design of the protagonist, modeling him and naming him after Hudson Soft's spokesman Takahashi Meijin. In the western version of Adventure Island, the Takahashi Meijin character was renamed Master Higgins.
While the Wonder Boy series adapted an action RPG system for its sequels (beginning with Wonder Boy in Monster Land), most of the Adventure Island sequels stuck to the game system of the original Wonder Boy. Moreoever, Hudson Soft also obtained the rights to port all of the Wonder Boy sequels to the TurboGrafx 16, changing the title and character designs of each game (with the exception of Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair). Incidentally, the Japanese version of Dracon's Curse (the TurboGrafx 16 adaptation of Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap) was titled Adventure Island.
Originally Posted by The Grouch
Relation to Wonder Boy Adventure Island began development as a port of the Sega arcade game Wonder Boy, which Hudson Soft obtained the rights from developer Escape (now known as Westone Bit Entertainment). During the development of the port, the decision was made to change the character design of the protagonist, modeling him and naming him after Hudson Soft's spokesman Takahashi Meijin. In the western version of Adventure Island, the Takahashi Meijin character was renamed Master Higgins.
