The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island
System: NES
Release Date: July 1990
Developer: Human Entertainment
Publisher: Bandai
Genre: Adventure
Just sit right back and hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip here on the Adventures of Gilligan’s Island! Take control of the Skipper as he does every fetch quest available on the island to make the rest of the castaways happy.
There are four episodes of increasing complexity. The castaways (minus Ginger) are located at different spots around the map. You have to talk to them so they give you instructions on what to do next. As you walk around the island, many enemies and obstacles get in your way. The Skipper’s health is shown by hearts on the left side of the screen. Getting hit knocks off half a heart. These can be replenished by eating food from the menu, that increases when you pick up bananas from the screens. I used these the most when fighting bosses on each level with the club.
Gilligan follows you around a few steps behind. He can’t be hurt, but he does get hung up on obstacles. You move slower in mud pits, get pulled to the center in quicksand, and swept away by rivers. This wouldn’t be an issue, but if you don’t have him when you talk to the others, they’re hung up on the fact that Gilligan is not there. Then you can’t forward the quests! Gilligan fears the headhunters and sometimes runs away from them. If he’s not right with you when you leave a screen, he stays behind. He can fall down pits forcing you to backtrack. Of course, if you don’t want to deal with finding him, you can use a rope and pull him right to you.
There’s a time limit on each stage. These are generous enough that I didn’t run into any issues. The clock can be extended by picking up hourglasses on the screen. When Gilligan is separated from you, there is a 2 minute timer to reunite with him. Popping the map up on the bottom of the screen is something you’ll do quite a bit. When you find the castaways, they will be annotated on the map with a letter.
Mr. Howell is right, Gilligan is a bungler… he constantly ruins everyone’s shot at getting home. Though, I feel like the Professor should have been able to make some sort of device to transmit a distress signal. But hey, Gilligan really wanted a mountain of ice cream and Skipper kept the poor guy in the dark about their plans.
Graphics: 2.0
It doesn’t look great, but I can tell what everything is, though Gilligan should have a red shirt, not black and white stripes.
Sound: 2.0
Each level has its own song, but they are plain. Sound effects are fine, but nothing special.
Gameplay: 2.0
Talk to someone, climb a tree, talk to someone else, jump over obstacles, talk to someone else, repeat a bunch of times, get a club, fight a boss, next level.
Difficulty: 2.0
Gilligan falling down a pit you didn’t want to go down. That’s the source of difficulty.
Fun Factor: 2.0
There’s nothing extra fun, but it’s too quick to be boring, so that’s a plus.
Overall Grade: 2.0
The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island earns a C. This is an average all around game. You don’t get a lot of adventure games on the NES, though, so give it a try.