Tropical Island Adventure

"This is Keelhaul Key. The sun's brutal, as you'd expect on a southern isle. Blue skies... White clouds... I've always wanted to take an island vacation. Don't you just wanna yell, "Hey, stupid ocean! Look at me! I'm on vacation!'"

— Goombella, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Whenever an adventure far from civilization is needed, a tropical island is where it usually will be set. Typically located in or based on The Caribbean, Oceania or Southeast Asia, tropical islands are a very popular location for adventures due to their exotic environment and wildlife, remoteness and disconnection from the rest of the world, allowing for more fantastic elements than would be seen in a more civilized setting, and being popular places for vacations, due to their usually sunny weather, warm climate and pristine beaches. The protagonist could be there on a vacation, exploring the island due to rumors of treasure or be shipwrecked there and looking for a way off the island. Pirates (of either the classic or modern type) and their loot, dense jungles, coconut trees, carnivorous plantlife, temples, volcanoes, mad scientists, killer tikis and angry cannibalistic Hollywood Natives tend to be common in these settings, and the island can potentially overlap with Deserted Island, Island of Mystery and Isle of Giant Horrors. Caribbean examples can also overlap with Banana Republic and Latin Land if they are Spanish or French-speaking. Pacific examples meanwhile often come with Americasia overlaps.

Remember that this trope is specifically about TROPICAL islands. Just regular islands do not fit under it.

Compare Beach Episode, Holiday in Cambodia, Jungle Japes, Jungle Warfare, Ocean of Adventure, Palmtree Panic and Vacation Episode. See also Ruritania, Bulungi and Qurac.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Cage of Eden has this as its main plot, which is about a class of Japanese high schoolers crash-landing on the way back from a trip from Guam on an unknown tropical island filled with extinct prehistoric creatures (but not dinosaurs) and plants where Everything Is Trying to Kill You, and trying to survive the hostile environment.
• Dragon Ball has Papaya Island, a tropical island based on Bali (where Akira Toriyama went on holiday with his wife and was impressed with).
• Hetalia: Axis Powers has Germany, Italy, and Japan getting shipwrecked on a tropical island in a strip.
• One Piece, which is set on a Caribbean-like series of tropical islands on the equator known as the Grand Line, with the Straw Hats and other pirates being after the titular treasure hidden there.
• Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon is set in the tropical Alola region (basically the Pokémon version of Hawaii), where Ash attends a Pokémon school.
• Samurai Pizza Cats has "The Terror of Prisoner Island", where the Pizza Cats are sent to the titular tropical island by Al Dente to get information. Turns out the "prison" is actually a resort.
• Star Driver is set on a tropical island known as Southern Cross Island.

Comic Books

• Buck Danny has adventures in the Caribbean, Oceania and Southeast Asia (particularly Borneo), including fictional tropical island countries like Managua in the first and North Sarawak in the last.
• Tintin story Flight 714 is set in Sondonesia, a tropical island in the South Pacific featuring an active volcano, mysterious ruins and Komodo dragons.

Fan Works

• The latter half of "Empath's Honeymoon" from Empath: The Luckiest Smurf becomes this, as Empath and Smurfette search throughout Utopia Island to find the five missing pieces of the Mystic Star.

Film — Animated

• The Incredibles: Syndrome establishes his Super Villain Lair on Nomanisan Island, located in an unspecified sea and covered with thick jungle foliage to keep prying eyes from seeing what exactly is going on there. He uses the island to test his super-killing robot, the Omnidroid, against any super who is lured there by his assistant, Mirage.
• The first Madagascar features the main crew getting stranded on the titular tropical island after the Penguins take over the ship transferring them to Africa and send the crates they are in careening into the ocean.
• Moana is set on a series of tropical islands in Polynesia and draws inspiration from the region's culture, history and mythology.

Film — Live-Action

• Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked has the titular characters, Dave and the Chipettes getting stranded on a tropical island and trying to find a way off.
• Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid, set in Borneo, even though anacondas don't live in Southeast Asia.
• Cast Away is set on an uninhabited tropical island in the South Pacific where the protagonist, Chuck, tries to survive on after his plane crashes.
• Club Dread takes place on a fictional tropical island in the Caribbean owned by Coconut Pete, a parody of Jimmy Buffett. The protagonist, Lars, who is a fan of him, arrives on the island to start his new job.
• Club Paradise is set on a fictional tropical island in the Caribbean called St. Nicholas, where the protagonist, Jack Moniker, settles down to retire after nearly losing his life in a fire.
• A Dangerous Life, set in the Philippines at the end of the Marcos dictatorship in The '80s.
• Fantasy Island (2020), set on the titular tropical island, which twists the fantasies of those who are invited there into nightmares, and the guests have to solve it's mystery in order to escape with their lives.
• Father Goose takes place on Matalava Island somewhere in the South Pacific, where the main character, Walter Eckland, is left as a lookout for Japanese planes. Eventually, a French diplomatic staffer and her entourage of schoolgirls are stranded there as well, and have to learn to get by in the island jungle.
• The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) takes place on a tropical island in the Java Sea.
• Island of Lost Souls takes place on a tropical island.
• King Kong, specifically King Kong (1933), King Kong (1976), King Kong (2005) and Kong: Skull Island, with most of the movies following a group of humans exploring the eponymous tropical Skull Island, located west of Sumatra, inhabited by a number of giant animals such as (depending on the film) dinosaurs, snakes or other reptiles, spiders and insects, and of course the eponymous giant ape.
• Kontrabando is set in the Philippines, particularly the island of Sulu in the second half, and actually shows local Sulu nobility (possibly even royalty) and some of their traditionally Malay-based Islamic culture.
• Tropical island settings are popular in the James Bond series. In particular, Dr. No is set in Jamaica, Live and Let Die is set on a fictional island in the Caribbean called San Monique, Goldeneye has a segment set in Cuba, The Man with the Golden Gun has Scaramanga's base located on a tropical Chinese island (really an island in Thailand called Khao Phing Kan, which has often been nicknamed "The James Bond Island" as a result), Casino Royale (2006) has a segment in Madagascar, Quantum of Solace has a segment in Haiti, and No Time to Die is partially set in Jamaica.
• Jurassic Park, set on two fictional tropical Costa Rican islands known as Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna.
• Dekada '70 is set in the Philippines in The '70s (it's in the name), and whilst most of the action is in and around the capital of Metro Manila, one scene shows the Bartolome family vacationing on a tropical island beach.
• The majority of Palm Trees in the Snow takes place on the tropical island of Fernando Pó (AKA Bioko, part of Equatorial Guinea) in the Gulf of Guinea off of Cameroon, where Clarence's family used to raise cocoa and she got a hint about her family's past life, travelling there to find out the mystery of her family's past.
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Given the setting, it's no surprise that any islands they land on will be tropical in nature, where treasure, sword fights, supernatural creatures and danger await. And rum. Don't forget the rum.
  (Captain!) Jack Sparrow: Welcome to the Caribbean, love.
• Several of the Road to ... series are set on tropical islands, specifically Road to Singapore, Road to Zanzibar and Road to Bali.
• Scooby-Doo has the gang invited to Spooky Island, a tropical island resort with a ghostly and mystical theme.
• Six Days, Seven Nights is about a young couple crashing landing on a deserted tropical island during a trip to French Polynesia and having to survive, with Makatea also being a prominent location.
• Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams has Carmen and Juni send themselves on a mission originally meant for Gary and Gerti to investigate the titular tropical island, located near Madagascar.
• Similar to the book, Swiss Family Robinson is about the titular family getting shipwrecked on a tropical island during a hurricane (though this time, they were on a journey to New Guinea and were chased by pirates) and trying to survive.
• Water (1985) takes place on Cascara, a fictional tropical island and former British colony in the Caribbean.

Gamebooks

• A few Fighting Fantasy books have your hero exploring a tropical setting, including Fire Island in Island of the Lizard King, Solani Island in Island of the Undead (which is infested by zombies and skeletons, true to the title), Bone Island and Clam Beach in Bloodbones, various locations in Seas of Blood and the isles of Southern Allansia in The Riddling Reaver.
• Isle of the Ape is an old Dungeons & Dragons adventure in which high-level characters are brutally tested on what is essentially King Kong's island, complete with savage cannibals, nasty diseases, and the giant apes themselves (who it turns out aren't actually carnivorous, but if there's meat in the piles of fruit the natives leave out for them they aren't picky either).

Literature

• Some of the Adventure Series is set on tropical islands, notably the South Sea Adventure and Cannibal Adventure.
• The second half of Anansi Boys takes place in the Caribbean, with the main cast themselves being of Caribbean heritage.
• Several of the Aubrey-Maturin series take place on tropical islands. The Mauritius Command has the protagonist Jack Aubrey and a British convoy tasked with taking over the titular tropical island country as well as Réunion from the French. The Far Side of the World has Jack and the crews of the Norfolk and Surprise marooned by a typhoon on an island in the Pacific near the equator. The Thirteen-Gun Salute is set on Java and insular Malaysia, where Jack and Sir Joseph Blaine are required to carry a diplomat to the Sultan of Pulo Prabang, and they are then shipwrecked and stranded on a remote tropical island in the South China Sea in The Nutmeg of Consolation until they are rescued and brought to Batavia (what is now Jakarta). Clarissa Oakes has Jack tasked to settle a local dispute on Moahu, a fictional Polynesian island south of Hawaii.
• Cat's Cradle is set on a fictional tropical island in the Caribbean called San Lorenzo, which is based on Haiti.
• The Coral Island, written in 1857, about a trio of plucky British youths shipwrecked on an island in the South Pacific. Lord of the Flies was written as a Take That! to it; Robert A. Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky was written in turn as a take that to Lord of the Flies.
• Crazy Rich Asians, apart from being set on Singapore, also takes many of the cast by exclusive private jet to Bali and other lush Southeast Asian private islands, some of which they personally own as well.
• Flashman's Lady has the titular character, his wife and father-in-law being kidnapped by pirates in Borneo and taken to Madagascar, where they are enslaved by Queen Ranavalona I.
• The Island of Doctor Moreau, which is about the narrator, Edward Prendick, being shipwrecked at sea and being taken to a tropical island where the titular doctor, a Mad Doctor obsessed with making beast men, works.
• Lord of the Flies is about a group of British schoolboys trying to survive on a tropical island after the plane they were on crashes there.
• The Pyrates has Madagascar and various tropical islands in the Caribbean as parts of it's setting.
• The Swiss Family Robinson is about a Swiss family being shipwrecked on a tropical island in the East Indies during a journey to Australia.
• The Twisted Tale of Tiki Island is set on the titular tropical island, which you and your cousin have been taken to by your mother and has recently fallen under a curse, with you needing to remove the curse and escape the island alive.

Live-Action TV

• Amaya is set in the pre-colonial Philippines, and explores several banwas or communities based on several different islands.
• Death in Paradise is set on the fictional tropical island of Saint Marie in the Caribbean, described in Episode 3.3 as a "pretty island" that is "situated in the Eastern Caribbean Sea" and "one-tenth the size of its north-west neighbour Guadeloupe"; this would make Saint Marie about 63 square miles (160 km2) in size. Saint Marie is a British Overseas Territory, but about 30% of its people are of French culture due to previous history, with the language still widely spoken.
• Fantasy Island, set on the titular tropical island, of which the owner, Mr. Roarke, invites guests to and twists their fantasies to teach them lessons.
• Gilligan's Island, set on the titular tropical island.
• Indio is set in the Philippines during the era of the Spanish colonization, and focuses on the precolonial kingdoms and societies that inhabited the archipelago.
• Last Resort takes place on a fictional tropical island in the Indian Ocean called Sainte Marina.
• Lost is about a group of survivors of a plane crash being stranded on a tropical island and learning to survive by working together.
• Serangoon Road is an investigation series set in Singapore during the 1960s, soon before the country became independent.
• Most of the Survivor series is set on tropical islands in Oceania and Southeast Asia, with Pearl Islands, All-Stars and Panama also set in the Pearl Islands off the southern coast of Panama.
• Tales of the Gold Monkey is set on a fictional tropical island in the South Pacific named Bora Gora, itself part of the fictional Marivellas archipelago.
• Like Lost, Wrecked takes place on a tropical island that the main cast ended up on after a plane crash.

Theatre

• Florodora has its first act set on the titular fictional tropical island in the Philippines.
• The Sultan of Sulu, set on the Sulu archipelago, part of the modern-day Philippines.

Video Games

• The Adventure Island series is set on a tropical island, as the name suggests.
• Animal Crossing:
  • New Leaf has Tortimer Island, reachable by Kapp'n's boat, which you can play minigames on and acts an effective Peninsula of Power Leveling due to exotic fruit and nocturnal beetles there that net the player tons of bells when sold.
  • New Horizons has a tropical island as the main setting of the game, with the player also being able to visit other tropical islands inhabited by other players or smaller ones for resource gathering. Then there’s the DLC which has the player character building vacation homes on even more of these.
• Ape Escape has the third world, Oceana, in the first game, The Blue Baboon in the second game and Eversummer Island in the third game.
• ARK: Survival Evolved is set on the titular ARK, a tropical island full of dinosaurs and other giant beasts which you must try to survive on. Or so it seems...
• ARMA III's expansion Apex is set in the tropical island of Tanoa in the Pacific, sprawling with a thick jungle.
• Assassin's Creed III and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag both have prominent Caribbean settings, including Martinique in the former, the Cayman Islands and Cuba in the latter, and Jamaica and The Bahamas in both, with the latter also having São Tomé and Príncipe as an explorable location.
• Battlefield 1942, Battlefield 1943 and Battlefield V cover the Pacific Theater of World War II, with maps sets in Wake Island, Iwo Jima, the Solomon Islands and the Philippines. Battlefield 4 also has the USMC unsuccessfully assaulting a PLA-controlled Singapore in it's campaign.
• Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time has the Pirate Years era, which is set entirely on tropical islands.
• Call of Duty: World at War features the Pacific Theater of World War II for the American side of it's campaign, with missions set in Kiribati, Palau and Okinawa.
• The ClayFighter titles made for Nintendo 64 (ClayFighter 63 1/3 and Sculptor's Cut) got as their setting the Klaymodo Island, a paradise island where the meteorite "Betsy" is found, primordial for Dr. Kiln to make his clay formula and Take Over the World. In fact, various of the characters went to Klaymodo for vacations without knowing this to later find this scheme and then choose to help Kiln or stop him.
• Corpse Killer is set on the fictional Caribbean island of Cay Noir, with most of the footage for the game being shot in Puerto Rico and around the area.
• The main setting of the Crash Bandicoot series is a tropical island called N. Sanity Island, off the east coast of Australia. This is particularly prominent in the first game, which has you go through a series of three islands known as the Tasmanian Islands to free them from Cortex's control.
• Dead Island takes place on Banoi, a fictional tropical island off the coast of Papua New Guinea. Escape Dead Island is also set on the island of Narapela, part of the same archipelago as Banoi.
• Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed has Fantasy Atoll, a series of tropical islands located near Malaysia according to the saucer's navicom.
• Diddy Kong Racing has Sherbet Island, featuring a lot of beach and pirate-themed tracks with a giant octopus named Bubbler the Octopus as it's boss.
• Donald in Maui Mallard is set on a tropical island where Maui Mallard is tasked with recovering the missing idol statue of Shabuhm Shabuhm before it explodes.
• The Donkey Kong Country series, with the exception of 3. 1 and Returns are set on the tropical Donkey Kong Island with 64 and Tropical Freeze also being set on it and the nearby tropical islands, while 2 is set on Crocodile Island, the home of the Kremlings.
• The Shipwrecked DLC of Don't Starve has this as it's setting.
• Dragon Quest XI has Lonalulu, a tropical island based on Okinawa in the original Japanese version and Hawaii in the English localisation.
• Duke Nukem 3D has the expansion pack Duke Caribbean: Life's a Beach, set on a tropical island resort with the weapons and enemies palette-swapped to fit the theme (i.e. a super soaker instead of a shotgun, Pig Cops wearing hula skirts, etc.) and featuring new bouncing dinosaur life preserver enemies.
• The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind takes place on the island of Vvardenfell, a tropical island off of mainland Morrowind centered around the largest volcano in Tamriel, Red Mountain, home to all sorts of weird exotic beasts and scenery.
• Ghost Recon Breakpoint is set on the fictional tropical archipelago of Auroa in the South Pacific.
• This is the setting for Far Cry, Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 6, all three being set on fictional tropical islands with the Rook Islands of 3 implied to be somewhere near Thailand and 6's Yara being based on Cuba/the Caribbean, and the sequel to the console version of Far Cry 1, Far Cry Instincts: Evolution, takes place in Indonesia.
• Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2 have the tropical islands of Besaid and Kilika as two of the places the gang go through, with the former in particular being Lulu, Yuna and Wakka's home.
• The second half of Freedom Planet 2 focuses on the main heroines travelling to the islands of Parusa located in the south, consisting of a beachside, a lush green jungle, a volcano in the brink of an eruption, and even a Floating Continent.
• Front Mission and Online have a fictional tropical island in the Pacific called Huffman Island as their primary setting, Front Mission 3 has a large portion of the game set in the Philippines as well as missions in Indonesia, Singapore, Okinawa and Taiwan, and the fifth game has missions in the aforementioned Huffman Island as well as Kiribati.
• The "The Pen and the Sword" mission of Hitman 2 is set in Singapore, where Agent 47 is tasked with eliminating some hostage takers, and the "The Last Resort" DLC mission is set in the Maldives on a fictional island known as Haven Island, where 47 is tasked with eliminating three of HAVEN's higher ups. Hitman 3 later added Ambrose Island, a fictional tropical island and pirates nest in the Andaman Sea.
• The first chapter of Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb is set in Ceylon (what is now known as Sri Lanka), where Indy is searching for the Idol of Kouru at the ruins of the Lost City and the Temple of the Black River Goddess in Wariyapola.
• Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine has the Palawan levels, taking place on a tropical island chain in the Philippines where a part of the Infernal Machine is hidden in a volcano temple.
• The first two Just Cause games are set on tropical islands, with Just Cause taking place on a fictional Caribbean island called San Esperito, and Just Cause 2 being set in Panau, a fictional island country in Southeast Asia that is a cultural mishmash of various countries of the region.
• In Kingdom Hearts, Sora, Riku and Kairi's home world is Destiny Islands, a set of tropical islands which acts as the tutorial area for the first game and a late-game world in Chain of Memories, and has several cutscenes set there in other games in the series. The 358/2 Days and Birth by Sleep incarnations of Neverland are also a series of tropical islands, as are Port Royal and The Caribbean from Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts III respectively.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • In a departure from the Medieval European Fantasy setting of the rest of the series, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening takes place on the tropical Koholint Island as the page image shows, where Link is shipwrecked after a storm while at sea, and the adventure is about him trying to wake the Wind Fish so he can escape it. The island and its inhabitants aren't actually real, being manifestations of the Wind Fish's dreams, and once he awakens, they disappear, with Link waking up on the wreckage of his ship in the middle of the sea.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages has a section where Link is shipwrecked on a tropical island called Crescent Island, where the third dungeon, Moonlit Grotto, is located. Link's equipment is stolen by a race of native lizard-like creatures called Tokay while he's unconscious, and he must search around the island to get it back and be able to access the dungeon.
  • The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is set on a series of tropical islands on a sea known as the Great Sea, being another departure from the Medieval European setting. These islands are actually the mountaintops of Hyrule, which was flooded by the Gods in a desperate attempt to stop Ganon after he returned and Ocarina of Time Link disappeared, and the inhabitants are the descendants of survivors of the flood.
  • Being a direct sequel to Wind Waker, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is also set on a series of tropical islands on a sea, this time called the World of the Ocean King, and like Link's Awakening, it's also seemingly a dream world, with Link and Tetra winding up back on their boat after Bellum is defeated and the Ocean King regains his strength, though Link finds the Phantom Hourglass on him after waking up and sees Linebeck sailing away in the distance.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has a trial taking place on Eventide Island. Doubles as a No-Gear Level as any weapons or armor Link has up to this point is stripped away, forcing Link to get new weapons to use until the trial is completed.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom brings back Eventide Island, though this time, your task here is to take out a group of pirates (who had razed Lurelin Village) by attacking them in their cave hidden at the back of the island.
• Like the film series it's based on, LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean obviously takes place on tropical islands throughout the Caribbean (particularly Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica), and Singapore is also a prominent location.
• Leisure Suit Larry 2: Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places) and Leisure Suit Larry 3: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals take place on Nontoonyt Island, a tropical island in the South Pacific ruled by the evil Dr. Nonookee. Most of Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Dry Twice takes place on the tropical island of Kalau'a and the surrounding archipelago.
• The setting of Let's Go Island is a tropical island in the Pacific.
• The Lost in Blue/Survival Kids series, with the main character being stranded on a tropical island where they have to survive and find a way off it.
• Medal of Honor: Rising Sun and Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault take place in the Pacific Theater of World War II, with the former having missions in the Philippines and Singapore, the latter having missions in Kiribati, and both having missions in Hawaii and the Solomon Islands. Medal of Honor: Warfighter also has a mission about taking down Abu Sayyaf terrorists in the Philippines and rescuing their hostages.
• The Mega Man Legends series has this as its main setting, being set on a series of tropical islands created after the world was flooded long ago.
• Miasmata has you playing as a scientist on a secluded tropical island looking for a cure for his mysterious plague, and being hunted by a strange creature.
• The Monkey Island series, being set in the Caribbean, takes place on various tropical islands, including the titular Monkey Island.
• Monster Hunter Tri, and by extension 3 Ultimate, are set in the tropical Moga island, though some of the hunting areas are located elsewhere (this includes Misty Peaks, which is part of Yukumo Village from Portable 3rd).
• Nancy Drew has The Creature of Kapu Cave and Ransom of the Seven Ships, set in Hawaii and The Bahamas respectively. In the former, Nancy goes there to serve as a research assistant to an entomologist named Dr. Quigley Kim and finds the doctor's camp ravaged and him missing when she arrives, with a devastating scourge destroying the local pineapple crop and residents whispering that a secretive research compound has awoken the legendary Kāne 'Ōkala, a man who was killed in a volcano centuries ago and now prowls the Big Island wreaking havoc, so she teams up with the Hardy Boys to solve the mystery. The latter has Bess Marvin invite Nancy and George Fayn to go with her there on a five-day vacation she won, with Bess being kidnapped before Nancy arrives, and she has to solve the 300-year old Bahamian mystery of the riches of El Toro's lost fleet of seven ships before time runs out to save her.
• Phantom Brave is set on Ivoire, a series of tropical islands.
• Pirates: Legend of the Black Buccaneer is set on La Borge's Isle, an uncharted tropical island accessible by entering The Bermuda Triangle. It's also infested with hostile wildlife and enemy pirates.
• Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, set in the Hoenn region, a series of tropical islands based on Kyushu, Japan. Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen adds the Sevii Islands to the original game. This is also the setting of Pokémon Sun and Moon and Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, this time in Alola, a region based on Hawaii.
• Zigzagged in Poptropica. Some islands, like the jungle of Monkey Wrench Island or the tropical beach of Shark Tooth Island, do have tropical theming. Others, like the comic convention of PoptropiCon Island, the deserted wasteland of Steamworks Island, and the vampire castle of Vampire's Curse Island, not so much. Despite all the levels being prefixed with "Island," some of them certainly don't seem like islands.
• King Hippo's home country in Punch-Out!!, Hippo Island, is shown to be this in the Wii version, a tropical island located in the South Pacific.
• The Glade of Dreams is depicted as a tropical island in Rayman 2: The Great Escape, as seen in the official map that came with the N64 and PC versions and the level select of the Dreamcast and 3DS versions. It is taken over by the Robo-Pirates in this game, and Rayman has to find the Four Masks of Polokus hidden in temples around the island to awaken Polokus so he can defeat the pirates.
• In Red Dead Redemption II, Chapter Five takes place on an island in the Caribbean called Guarma that the protagonists get shipwrecked on. Unfortunately, the owner of the island is already aware that they're wanted men with a large bounty in the US.
• The first half of Runaway 2: The Dream of the Turtle is set on a fictional tropical island in the Pacific called Mala Island, which the protagonist and his girlfriend crash land on during a private jet ride in Hawaii.
• Sea of Thieves is set on a series of tropical islands somewhere in the upper Caribbean.
• As you'd expect, Sid Meier's Pirates! takes place on tropical islands throughout the Caribbean.
• Skylar and Plux: Adventure On Clover Island, as you'd expect from the name, is set on the titular tropical island, located on the Ocean moon of the yellow gas giant Lo.
• Sly Cooper:
  • Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus has Episode 3, "Vicious Voodoo", set in the Haitian jungle where Mz. Ruby is hiding out.
  • Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves has the final two Episodes, "Dead Men Tell No Tales" and "Honor Among Thieves", the former set on a series of tropical islands in the Caribbean known as Blood Bath Bay, inhabited by hostile hermits stuck in the pirate traditions of their forefathers, and the latter (as well as the prologue of the game, "Beginning of the End") set in Kaine Island, a tropical island in the South Pacific home to the Cooper Vault and currently taken over by Dr. M and his mutant henchmen.
• Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow has an opening mission in Timor-Leste (AKA East Timor) and a set of three missions in Indonesia. The former has Sam infiltrating a US Embassy under siege by the Darah Dan Doa through a coastal village in order to rescue Douglas Shetland and recover information from him, while the latter has Sam first infiltrating Kundang Camp in the jungle to plant a bug on Sadono's phone to trace his Pandora Tomorrow calls, then investigating an abandoned shipyard taken over by the Darah Dan Doa on the island of Komodo which the calls have been traced to, before finally heading to a TV station in the capital of Jakarta where Sadono is hiding out and has been making broadcasts in order to capture him and get the locations of the pox boxes.
• Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly has the level Laua Island, featuring tourists, killer Tikis and a drum-playing minigame.
• As the name implies, a tropical island is the primary setting of the Startropics series.
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Sonic the Hedgehog, the Game Gear version of Sonic 2 and Sonic Chaos take place on South Island, a tropical island in the middle of the ocean and Sonic's home.
  • Sonic 3 & Knuckles, set on the tropical Floating Island, with the first zone, Angel Island Zone, taking place in it's jungle.
  • Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island is set on the titular tropical Flicky Island, home to a species of birds known as Flickies who can travel through dimension via giant rings, which Robotnik plans to use to seize the seven Chaos Emeralds and take over the world.
  • Sonic Rush Adventure is set on a series of tropical islands, with Sonic and Tails waking up on one after the Tornado is struck by lightning and crashes.
  • Sonic Unleashed has Sonic visit Adabat, a country consisting of a series of tropical islands based on a mishmash of various Southeast Asian countries, including Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.
  • Sonic Superstars is set on the tropical Northstar Islands, with areas like Bridge Island and Speed Jungle Zones encompassing the theme.
• Version 1.5 of Stardew Valley added Ginger Island, a tropical paradise, which is unlocked after restoring the Community Center. It has many locations to explore, including a jungle, a volcano, and a pirate cove.
• Stranded Deep is set on various tropical islands in the Pacific, with you playing as a plane crash survivor trying to survive on them.
• Super Lucky's Tale has the Gilly Island DLC, set on a tropical island currently being harassed by Lady Meowmalade.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • New Super Mario Bros. has World 3, with many ocean and beach themed levels to fit it.
  • The DS remake of Super Mario 64 has Sunshine Isles, a set of small tropical islands that you need to find five Silver Stars to get a Power Star on.
  • Super Mario Sunshine, set on the tropical Delfino Island, where Mario was going on vacation but is framed and not allowed to leave until he has cleaned up the pollution around the island and collected the Shine Sprites.
  • Super Mario Galaxy has Beach Bowl Galaxy and Sea Slide Galaxy, and Super Mario Galaxy 2 has Starshine Beach Galaxy.
  • Super Mario Odyssey has Mario crash-landing in the Lost Kingdom, a series of tropical islands over a sea of poison, when the Odyssey is shot down after the first fight with Bowser, and having to explore the islands and find Power Moons to repair it and continue to the Metro Kingdom. Word of God in the official artbook confirms the kingdom is based on Southeast Asia.
  • Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga has Oho Oasis and Gwarhar Lagoon, the former notably being where Mario & Luigi learn the Firebrand and Thunderhand techniques respectively, and the latter being where they learn the Dash and Tickle techniques and recover one of the pieces of the Beanstar.
  • Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, set on Pi'illo Island, a tropical island in the middle of the sea where the Mario Bros. and Princess Peach were invited to for vacation.
  • Chapter 5 of Paper Mario 64, Hot Hot Times on Lavalava Island, as well as Chapter 5 of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, The Key to Pirates, set on Keelhaul Key, a tropical island and former pirate hideout where the Sapphire Star is hidden. Paper Mario: The Origami King has the Great Sea, a Shout-Out to The Wind Waker.
  • Mario Party has Yoshi's Tropical Island in the first game (which returns in Mario Party Superstars), Pirate Land in Mario Party 2, Castaway Bay in Mario Party 6, Goomba's Booty Boardwalk in Mario Party 8, Blooper Beach in Mario Party 9, and Megafruit Paradise in Super Mario Party.
  • Mario Kart has Koopa Beach, Shy Guy Beach, Cheep Cheep Island and Cheep Cheep Beach.
• Tomb Raider III has the South Pacific Islands, a series of levels set in tropical islands full of cannibal tribesmen and dinosaurs in, judging by the location of the marker on the map, the Philippines (or at least the Sulu Sea).
• The Touryst is all about this, being set on a series of tropical islands known as the Monument Islands which the titular Tourist explores and vacations at.
• The Tropico series takes place on a tropical island country in the Caribbean called Tropico, with you in the role of El Presidente, the dictator of the country.
• Twisted Wonderland: Event "Lost in the Book with Stitch", being based on Lilo & Stitch, has a group of characters stranded on a tropical island setting and eventually enjoying a nice beach vacation there.
• Ty the Tasmanian Tiger has the levels "Ship Rex" and "Rex Marks the Spot", set on a series of tropical islands. The third game has a series of missions on KakaBoom Island, another tropical island.
• Uncharted:
  • The majority of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune takes place on Versteckte Insel, a tropical island in the South Pacific near Peru and former Spanish colony where El Dorado is supposedly located. El Dorado is actually a sarcophagus containing a deadly plague that turns people into zombies, and the descendants of the Spaniards and Nazis that later discovered the island still inhabit the place.
  • Chapters 3 & 4 of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves take place in Borneo, with Drake being there in search of the Cintamani Stone, taking down one of Lazarevic's camps there and finding a Phurba and map to the location of Shambhala in Nepal.
  • Part of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is set in Madagascar, with Drake searching for pirate Henry Avery's treasure hidden in the pirate colony of Libertalia, and the last few chapters of the game take place in Libertalia itself, also a tropical island in the Indian Ocean.
• Wii Sports Resort is set on a tropical island resort called Wuhu Island, and many of the game's sports events take place close to the coast.
• Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego has Singapore and Sri Lanka as two of the locations in the game.
• Galleon Galaxy in Yooka-Laylee combines this with Space Zone.
• Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana takes place on the deserted Isle of Seiren after the ship the protagonist, Adol, and several castaways were on gets destroyed by a sea monster.

Webcomics

• Banzai Girl is set in the Philippines (albeit one mixed with some Americasia elements), with the protagonist, Jinky, fighting monsters from Filipino folklore.
• Homestuck: Jade's Grandpa, an eccentric millionaire and safari-style world explorer, moves to a small tropical island complete with a volcano in order to continue his investigations into ancient ruins related to a game (Sburb) he's building in his business. He and his granddaughter frequently go hunting and exploring ancient ruins there. In post-scratch earth, Jake, an alternate universe version of the same guy, lives on the same island, where it's also covered in a jungle and filled with dangerous beasts. In both cases, the tropical island adventures are out of focus/related to Hero of Another Story, but the setting is present in the background.

Western Animation

• All Hail King Julien, being a prequel/spinoff to Madagascar, is also set on the same tropical island, chronicling the titular king's life prior to the events of the films.
• Archer Danger Island, the ninth season of Archer. As part of the ongoing Adventures in Comaland the season is set around 1939 on a South Pacific tropical island that's apparently under French colonial control.
• The Betty Boop shorts that take place on a tropical island are "Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle", "Is My Palm Read?" and "Zula Hula".
• V.I.L.E.'s base is located on a tropical island in Carmen Sandiego, which the titular protagonist escapes from, and the third episode takes her and her two thief friends to Java in Indonesia, where they foil a V.I.L.E. plot to contaminate local rice supplies and corner local markets with their own rice exports.
• Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island, being about the adventures of the titular character on his tropical island.
• Courage the Cowardly Dog has the episodes "Klub Katz", where Courage, Muriel and Eustace end up shipwrecked on a tropical island while going on a vacation cruise, which turns out to be a front for Katz, turning people into machines and having them fight each other for his amusement while under the guise of being the owner of a five star resort, and "Courage Under the Volcano", which has Courage, Muriel and Eustace go on vacation to a tropical island, where the natives attempt to sacrifice Muriel to the volcano to appease their god.
• Evil Con Carne takes place on Bunny Island, a tropical island owned by Villain Protagonist Hector Con Carne and his henchmen. His rival, Estroy, also has his own tropical island, Skull Island.
• The Legends of Treasure Island is about a crew of Funny Animals searching for a treasure on the titular tropical island, being hindered by pirates and supernatural forces in their journey.
• This is the main setting of Mike, Lu & Og, set on a tropical island called Albonquetine.
• TaleSpin spans the world, but the main locations of Cape Suzette and Louie's are definitely in a very Caribbean or South Pacific tropical island setting.
  • Probably the South Pacific, since the show is apparently based on Tales of the Gold Monkey.
• Teen Titans Go! has the "Island Adventures" arc, which was 5 episodes with the Titans stranded on a tropical island. Each episode focused on some different island-themed pop culture parody like Jurassic Park, Gilligan's Island, and Predator.
• Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers and Tom and Jerry: Spy Quest are both set on tropical islands.
• In a VeggieTales parody of Gilligan's Island called "Larry's Lagoon", Bob and Larry are running a tour-boat service. When Bob goes below deck, he lets Larry takes a turn steering, but Larry forgets his promise not to daydream, wrecking the boat and stranding everyone on a Deserted Island full of palm trees and bamboo.
• The primary setting of Wakfu, set on a series of tropical islands created after the world got flooded by the tears of a giant Ogre.
• The Wild Thornberrys has the episode "Bogged Down", where the Thornberrys are in The Philippines searching for an angler fish.
  • One episode is set in the Galápagos Islands where Eliza and Debbie search for buried treasure.
• Zig & Sharko, with the titular antagonist, Zig, living on said tropical island and trying to catch Marina the mermaid to eat her, and her shark bodyguard, Sharko, protecting her from him.

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