Developer: Tokai Publisher: Sunsoft Release: 01/23/88 Genre: Adventure
Kemco’s NES ports of the MacVenture point and click games sparked my love of adventure games. But while the pickings were slim for the NES in the West in Japan they were spoiled for choice. Thanks to the wonders of emulation and the fan translation community a whole new world of options are now available to fans of the genre. Ripple Island is one of the better adventure games for the NES, equal parts simple, charming, and entertaining. It has its growing pains like many of these titles do but is still enjoyable today.
In the land of Ripple Island humans and animals live together in peace. However one day an evil emperor named Groaker came to the island and built a castle on its northern outskirts. From there Groaker attacks the rightful King Dotella and kidnaps Princess Nasarell. King Dotella sends the word that whoever can defeat Groaker will be given treasure and his daughter’s hand in marriage. Kyle, an adventurer decides to take the King on his offer in order to secure the prize.
The story and world of Ripple Island is incredibly charming. You can converse with all of the animal inhabitants of the Miyazaki style island. In fact humans are rare. These furry characters are exactly that, often funny while helping or hindering your progress. They give the game a lot of distinct personality. Once your female companion Cal joins the party her back and forth with Kyle as you explore is delightful. Watching their relationship grow is probably the best part of the game.
Ripple Island uses an icon based system to interact with the environment. Navigation is easy as you can choose to move in one of the four cardinal directions when necessary rather than manually clicking on the screen. At any time you can look, speak, take, use an item, enter, push, and pull objects. This is simpler than similar titles and makes gameplay faster as well. Unlike most adventure games you will not amass a large inventory of various items; at most you will probably have four or five. Whether it was a deliberate choice because of the platform or serendipity this system works extremely well. There is other design decisions that make the game relatively painless compared to its NES contemporaries as well.
Ripple Island has five chapters with no backtracking between them. Each chapter is its own unique location and relatively small. The overall map for each is at most twenty four screens making it easy to map. Do not let the game’s streamlined design fool you however. Like many early adventure titles the game is light on hints. The various animals will tell you the exact item you need in order to receive their help. But you are left to find it on your own. The game does not highlight key items you can take leading to annoying pixel hunts. You will also need to combine items but there is no indication of this. Some items are used multiple items leading to tedious backtracking as well. To be fair you cannot die or become stuck. But for a game that so thoughtful of the player these annoyances stand out.
Despite the picture I have painted Ripple Island is far from hard. You cannot die and while the pixel hunts are annoying it only means your journey will take a little longer. None of the puzzles are complex and with a little trial and error you will stumble on to the solution eventually. The compact nature of each chapter facilitates this. There are only two or three items that you can permanently miss and one scenario that you can initiate that has an effect on the ending you will receive.
In total there are four endings. There is no bad ending per se but you can end the game prematurely and receive a bittersweet finale. The different endings do not all come at the game’s conclusion either. Some of them present moral quandaries that may leave you questioning what is the right choice. It is a bold move to include multiple endings in this fashion and seeing as the game is so short it is easy to go back to see the different outcomes.
In Closing
Ripple Island fares better as an adventure game than some of the later titles for the system. It’s simple interface and light puzzles make it easily accessible to anyone and its story, while brief, is enjoyable while it lasts. I enjoyed this one immensely and highly recommend it.
