Adventure Island II

The adventure continues — and this time Higgins has dinosaurs on his side. Adventure Island II is Hudson Soft's 1991 NES platformer sequel — bigger, with rideable dino friends and a new inventory system — and the full 1991 cartridge plays on this page for nothing, with no download step to get through first. Run, jump, and ride your way across eight islands to the rescue. Press Play whenever you're ready; below you'll find the dinosaur friends, the inventory system, the controls, and tips for clearing all eight islands.

What Is Adventure Island II?

Adventure Island II is a side-scrolling platform game developed by Now Production and published by Hudson Soft for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1991. It's the sequel to the original Adventure Island, and unlike the first game (which adapted Sega's Wonder Boy), Adventure Island II is an entirely original work — as were all the sequels that followed.

The story: Princess Leilani is safe, but her sister Tina has now been kidnapped by the Evil Witch Doctor's followers. Eight perilous islands stand in Master Higgins' way — but four friendly dinosaurs are ready to help anyone brave enough to fight back. Higgins sets off to rescue his sweetheart once more.

What's New

Adventure Island II keeps the core running-and-jumping of the first game but adds real depth:

• Dinosaur friends — collect a playing-card suit from an egg to summon a rideable dino. The blue camptosaurus (heart) attacks with its tail, the red camptosaurus (spade) breathes fire, the pteranodon (clover) flies and drops stones, and the elasmosaurus (diamond) swims through underwater stages.
• Inventory system — before each stage you can choose which rescued dino to bring and whether to pack a stone hammer.
• New stage types — underwater levels and vertical-scrolling stages join the mix.
• Shorter, tougher stages — the checkpoint system is gone, so dying means restarting the stage from the start, but stages are shorter to compensate.
• Hidden eggs & keys — strike hidden eggs for keys that unlock bonus zones, item rooms, or shortcuts to the next island.

Bosses now lurk at a specific stage on each island — but if you lose to one, it relocates, forcing you to clear another stage to reach it again.

How to Play

Getting started is instant. Press the Play button on this page and Adventure Island II opens on its title screen, where Start sends you to the first island. Then:

1. Pick your loadout — choose a dino friend and a hammer before the stage if you have them.
2. Run and jump through each island's hazards.
3. Throw hammers to clear enemies and break obstacles.
4. Summon and ride dinos to gain their special abilities.
5. Find the boss, defeat it, and move on toward rescuing Tina.

Higgins asks so little of your hands — a direction, a jump, a thrown hammer — that Adventure Island II travels easily between a desk and a phone. A USB or Bluetooth gamepad is detected as soon as you plug it in and needs no button mapping, the keyboard equivalents are listed below, and on a phone an NES-shaped pad is laid over the game with the D-pad sitting under your left thumb.

Controls

Higgins jumps higher when running, and holding the B button speeds up his run, swim, or flight. A connected gamepad follows the same mapping, which helps if you like to hold B for the run boost while jumping.

Tips for New Players

• Match the dino to the stage. Bring the elasmosaurus to underwater levels (the others are lost in water) and the pteranodon for stages with tricky gaps.
• Pack a hammer in reserve. The inventory lets you carry a spare weapon — keep one banked for tough stretches.
• Stages are short — push forward. With checkpoints gone, dying restarts the stage, but they're brief, so play aggressively and learn the layout.
• Open hidden eggs for keys. Keys unlock bonus zones and shortcuts that can skip you ahead an island.
• Protect your dino. Riding a dinosaur acts as a buffer — losing it is better than losing a life, so use them as a shield through danger.

Why Play It in Your Browser?

Adventure Island II is the sequel that gave the series its signature rideable dinosaurs, and here it needs neither a working console nor a copy of the cart: the ROM arrives with the page, and the first island is seconds away. Because it's the genuine NES build, you get all eight islands, the dino friends, the inventory system, and the underwater and vertical stages exactly as Hudson designed them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Adventure Island II free to play here? Yes. All eight islands are here start to finish, with nothing to pay and no sign-up asked for at any point.

When did Adventure Island II come out? It released in 1991 for the NES, developed by Now Production and published by Hudson Soft. The version here is that NES release.

How do I get the dinosaurs? Collect a playing-card suit hidden inside an egg to summon a matching dino friend — each has a different special ability.

What happened to the checkpoints? Adventure Island II removed the checkpoint system, so dying restarts the stage from the beginning — but the stages are shorter than in the first game.

Can I play it on my phone? Absolutely. The on-screen NES pad handles Adventure Island II well, since the game asks little more of you than holding a direction, holding B for speed, and tapping A to jump. Desktop plays identically with the keyboard or a connected gamepad.

Ready to ride to the rescue? Press Play and start the adventure.