The player controls Master Higgins (known as Master Wigins in the United Kingdom,[1] as Capulinita in Mexico and as Takahashi Meijin in Japanese versions), a young man who ventured to Adventure Island in the South Pacific after hearing that the Evil Witch Doctor kidnapped Princess Tina.

The player also has a health gauge that starts out with 11 points, which gradually depletes over time or whenever Higgins trips on a rock in his path.

Finding a bee-like fairy known as Honey Girl will grant Higgins invincibility for about ten seconds and allow him to kill enemies with a single touch.

The locations of these "hidden eggs" are usually indicated when a weapon thrown by a player disappears before falling to the ground and are uncovered by jumping at the indicated spot.

During bonus stages, the player can collect a series of fruits (each worth 500 points regardless of the type) until Higgins falls into a pitfall.

At the fourth round of each area, Higgins will confront a different form of the Evil Witch Doctor, the game's boss character.

In 2004 Hudson Soft adapted Wonder Boy in Monster Land to mobile phones as Super Adventure Island.

The NES version of Adventure Island was re-released in Japan for the Game Boy Advance as a Famicom Mini title on May 21, 2004.

[5][6] A remake was also developed for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube titled Hudson Selection Volume 4: Takahashi Meijin no Bōken Jima, which was released exclusively in Japan on December 18, 2003.

Takahashi Meijin appears as a playable character in the crossover fighting game DreamMix TV World Fighters, released in Japan for GameCube on December 13, 2003.

Takahashi Meijin also appears in the sport mobile game Gachapin & Mukku no Dai Undoukai ("Gachapin & Mukku's Big Sports Day") in 2008, and crosses over with Katamari franchise in the mobile game Takahashi Meijin and Katamari Damacy in 2010.