Review
Yoshi's Island DS Review (DS)
The original Yoshi’s Island on the SNES has its place in history as one of the greatest platformers of all time. Meticulously crafted, the game took the very fundamentals of its kind and expanded on them even more successfully, offering up a deluxe package of exploration, ample secrets, flawless gameplay and stacks of replay value. It was and still is the quintessential Nintendo platformer. Inevitable as this follow up was, can it possible live up to the high expectations of a game released over a decade ago?
The story – never really the focus in Mario games – once again takes place on the peaceful Yoshi’s Island. Having rescued Baby Mario and Luigi from the clutches of Kamek and Baby Bowser (as documented in the original Yoshi’s Island), things seem to have returned to normal at long last. That is, until Kamek decides to capture the toddler inhabitants of a local village. Fortunately, Baby Mario manages to evade capture and, reunited with his Yoshi pals, sets out to rescue his helpless brother once again – only this time, he’s not the only tot on parade.
Like it’s predecessor, the principle behind Yoshi’s Island DS has you travelling through five worlds, each one divided up into eight levels. On your way you’ll have to avoid a number of hazards including bottomless pits, lava, rapids and the usual array of Mario-based enemies, a couple of which are new to this game. Again, you either stomp on or chuck eggs at your enemies to defeat them. Needless to say, unless you have somehow managed to avoid playing a single Mario game your whole life (in which case you need to go and see a doctor), the mechanics should be instantly familiar. In terms of DS functionality, the only discernible change in gameplay is the use of the two screens to view the action, sometimes obscuring objects and enemies within the “gap” between each screen. Still, this isn’t really much of a problem, and there’s a greater sense of scope to each level due to viewing the action this way. The main difference with this latest instalment, however, is the fact you are now able to make use of five babies instead of one; Bowser, Donkey Kong, Mario, Peach and Wario, each with their unique set of abilities. Depending on which baby you use, our loveable dino friend will be endowed with a special ability allowing you to perform new moves or attacks. For example, Mario allows Yoshi to sprint faster than he normally would, whereas Peach will let you flutter for a longer period of time. Donkey Kong, meanwhile, can grab hold of vines and ropes, allowing you to reach places previously unreachable, as well as performing a new shoulder-charge attack.
The snag is, of course, in order to unlock every nook and cranny each world has, you’re going to have to make use of each baby at certain points. Activating various “stork” posts does this, which signals your feathered friend to swoop in and drop a new baby for you to strap on. While most areas yield a copious stash of coins or other basic pick-ups, the more difficult passages will lead you to special character coins. These items are marked with a particular baby head on them, thus allowing you to collect them only when Yoshi is carrying that particular character on his back. Needless to say, these new features allow for ample replay value and exploration, although it can be quite frustrating at times when you have to backtrack a lot.
As mentioned, there are plenty of secrets and other goodies hidden throughout each level, and that’s excluding the ones pertinent to which baby you are travelling with. As with the first game, you can collect 20 red coins and 5 flower tokens in each level, which give you a better score on completion. Scoring a perfect 100 on each level will reward you with additional prizes, including new bonus levels and stages. Of course, it’s not always an easy task finding the necessary items to do so, and most of the time you’ll need to search high and low sometimes just for a single coin. Then again, if secrets aren’t your thing, you could probably get through each stage fairly quickly, although some of the latter worlds do get significantly tougher, offering up a decent challenge, even for seasoned Mario fanatics. Still, there’s a distinct odour of repetition to be had, with the developers seemingly bringing back a lot of bosses and simply revamping them from the original game. Likewise, certain stages feel a little too samey, and there’s little intelligent use of the two screens used to view the action, minus a boss character in the second world. More DS-specific actions would have been a welcome addition.
Traditionally speaking, the original Yoshi’s Island was renowned for its captivating visuals, a style, which gave it, a somewhat comic book feel. Sadly, developers Artoon have seen fit to “clean” up the visual side of things, almost completely eradicating the infamous black outlining seen in the original. On the flip side, some of the animation and character/enemy models have seen mild improvements, coming off a lot more dexterous than before, seemingly bringing them to life more than before. More conspicuous (and spectacular), are the gigantic enemies that fill one portion of the DS screen, which come in abundance throughout some of the latter stages.
A colossal disappointment with the game is the soundtrack, which seems to have been knocked down a notch or two considerably. Whereas the first game had catchy, jaunty melodies, the DS sequel resorts to a lacklustre, tinny sounding accompanying score, which isn’t as memorable or as catchy as the original. Similarly, a lot of key sound effects present in the SNES game are inexplicably absent. Usually this wouldn’t matter, but to those who have played the first game, it feels almost like Artoon are reducing themselves to mere imitators – and bad ones at that.
Overall, Yoshi’s Island DS is still a remarkable game, and definitely one that will please followers of the original. There’s a few niggles with the visuals and sound, not to mention the fact a few things seem to feel recycled from previous outings. Still, its chock full of secrets and exploration thanks to the addition of four new babies, and will keep you busy for some time attempting to uncover everything. Fans and newcomers will love it, even though it doesn’t quite match up to its predecessor.
Top Game Moment: Battling it out with the games second world boss, who utilizes the games two screens in a particularly clever fashion.
The story – never really the focus in Mario games – once again takes place on the peaceful Yoshi’s Island. Having rescued Baby Mario and Luigi from the clutches of Kamek and Baby Bowser (as documented in the original Yoshi’s Island), things seem to have returned to normal at long last. That is, until Kamek decides to capture the toddler inhabitants of a local village. Fortunately, Baby Mario manages to evade capture and, reunited with his Yoshi pals, sets out to rescue his helpless brother once again – only this time, he’s not the only tot on parade.
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| It’s just as cute as it’s always been | Stages are once again set across five worlds, taking you to variety of locations |
Like it’s predecessor, the principle behind Yoshi’s Island DS has you travelling through five worlds, each one divided up into eight levels. On your way you’ll have to avoid a number of hazards including bottomless pits, lava, rapids and the usual array of Mario-based enemies, a couple of which are new to this game. Again, you either stomp on or chuck eggs at your enemies to defeat them. Needless to say, unless you have somehow managed to avoid playing a single Mario game your whole life (in which case you need to go and see a doctor), the mechanics should be instantly familiar. In terms of DS functionality, the only discernible change in gameplay is the use of the two screens to view the action, sometimes obscuring objects and enemies within the “gap” between each screen. Still, this isn’t really much of a problem, and there’s a greater sense of scope to each level due to viewing the action this way. The main difference with this latest instalment, however, is the fact you are now able to make use of five babies instead of one; Bowser, Donkey Kong, Mario, Peach and Wario, each with their unique set of abilities. Depending on which baby you use, our loveable dino friend will be endowed with a special ability allowing you to perform new moves or attacks. For example, Mario allows Yoshi to sprint faster than he normally would, whereas Peach will let you flutter for a longer period of time. Donkey Kong, meanwhile, can grab hold of vines and ropes, allowing you to reach places previously unreachable, as well as performing a new shoulder-charge attack.
The snag is, of course, in order to unlock every nook and cranny each world has, you’re going to have to make use of each baby at certain points. Activating various “stork” posts does this, which signals your feathered friend to swoop in and drop a new baby for you to strap on. While most areas yield a copious stash of coins or other basic pick-ups, the more difficult passages will lead you to special character coins. These items are marked with a particular baby head on them, thus allowing you to collect them only when Yoshi is carrying that particular character on his back. Needless to say, these new features allow for ample replay value and exploration, although it can be quite frustrating at times when you have to backtrack a lot.
As mentioned, there are plenty of secrets and other goodies hidden throughout each level, and that’s excluding the ones pertinent to which baby you are travelling with. As with the first game, you can collect 20 red coins and 5 flower tokens in each level, which give you a better score on completion. Scoring a perfect 100 on each level will reward you with additional prizes, including new bonus levels and stages. Of course, it’s not always an easy task finding the necessary items to do so, and most of the time you’ll need to search high and low sometimes just for a single coin. Then again, if secrets aren’t your thing, you could probably get through each stage fairly quickly, although some of the latter worlds do get significantly tougher, offering up a decent challenge, even for seasoned Mario fanatics. Still, there’s a distinct odour of repetition to be had, with the developers seemingly bringing back a lot of bosses and simply revamping them from the original game. Likewise, certain stages feel a little too samey, and there’s little intelligent use of the two screens used to view the action, minus a boss character in the second world. More DS-specific actions would have been a welcome addition.
 |
 |
|
| With two screens to view the action across, you’ll need a keen eye not to miss anything | These red pads allow you to change the baby, which Yoshi carries |
Traditionally speaking, the original Yoshi’s Island was renowned for its captivating visuals, a style, which gave it, a somewhat comic book feel. Sadly, developers Artoon have seen fit to “clean” up the visual side of things, almost completely eradicating the infamous black outlining seen in the original. On the flip side, some of the animation and character/enemy models have seen mild improvements, coming off a lot more dexterous than before, seemingly bringing them to life more than before. More conspicuous (and spectacular), are the gigantic enemies that fill one portion of the DS screen, which come in abundance throughout some of the latter stages.
A colossal disappointment with the game is the soundtrack, which seems to have been knocked down a notch or two considerably. Whereas the first game had catchy, jaunty melodies, the DS sequel resorts to a lacklustre, tinny sounding accompanying score, which isn’t as memorable or as catchy as the original. Similarly, a lot of key sound effects present in the SNES game are inexplicably absent. Usually this wouldn’t matter, but to those who have played the first game, it feels almost like Artoon are reducing themselves to mere imitators – and bad ones at that.
 |
 |
|
| Each baby has its own special ability. Peach for example, allows you to float for a greater distance | It looks and sounds almost the same, but long time fans will notice some discrepancies between the original and its sequel |
Overall, Yoshi’s Island DS is still a remarkable game, and definitely one that will please followers of the original. There’s a few niggles with the visuals and sound, not to mention the fact a few things seem to feel recycled from previous outings. Still, its chock full of secrets and exploration thanks to the addition of four new babies, and will keep you busy for some time attempting to uncover everything. Fans and newcomers will love it, even though it doesn’t quite match up to its predecessor.
Top Game Moment: Battling it out with the games second world boss, who utilizes the games two screens in a particularly clever fashion.
