Yoshi's Island for the SNES-this sequel in name only to Super Mario World is not has good has the orignal

Note all pictures and videos on this hub were taken by me using a capture device, Yoshi's Island was made by Nintendo.

Super Mario World for the SNES is one of my favorite Mario games of all times. So when Nintendo kind of released a sequel for it in 1995 called Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (and it was also to celebrate 10 years of Super Mario Bros) I was excited and ask for it for Christmas. I got it from my grandmother but felt a little disappointed after playing it. I couldn’t put my fingers on it but I think I know why I do. Yoshi’s Island is a great game but it’s missing some of that open world exploration charm that the original Super Mario World had.

Typical to a Super Mario Bros game there is no real narrative at the core of the game outside of an opening cut scene. Basically baby Mario and Luigi are being carried to their parents by the stork (yes Nintendo will put phallic looking shapes into there games but there not going to touch the birds and the bees.) when Kamek the magic koopa ambushes the stork and takes one of the babies. The other baby (baby Mario) falls onto Yoshi’s island and onto Yoshi’s back. The Yoshi’s decide to reunite the brothers and deliver them back to the stork. Yeah not much of an actual plot basically at the end of every level you get a cut scene of Yoshi blowing up a castle and that’s pretty much it.

Legend has it that Shigeru Miyamoto wasn’t a fan of Rares Donkey Kong Country and the way it looked and wanted to do a game using similar tech but with a different style. Yoshi’s Island rater then being more realistic is more artsy looking. The graphics look like something you would see in a child’s play room. Still you get some really great backgrounds and even 3d rotating effects which were outstanding when you consider this was the SNES. Add in some really cool transformation scenes when Yoshi grabs power ups that turn him into a helicopter and a tank. All of this required a special FX 2 chip in order to get done. It’s not hard to say that with a slight HD upgrade for new TV’s Yoshi’s Island would look like a lot of the artsy 2d games to today and hold up to the likes of Dust an Elysian Tale.

The sound to be in this game ok but it can get a little tedious (the large levels don’t help) a lot of the music kinds have this kids music box feel to it and fits the game, but it does loop to much. Sound effects wise prepare to cringe whenever you hear baby Mario cry when you ever get hit. His screams ranks up there with Flame Hynards from Mega Man X7 for being cringe inducing.

Ok let’s start off with the one fact that keeps Yoshi’s Island from being has good has its predecessor. Yoshi’s Island ridiculously linear. You complete one stage and you move on to the next. No secret exits, no special maps, or any world building what so ever. Its linear platform design 101.

That said it’s still quite a bit of fun for the most part. The one thing that separates Yoshi from Mario is that when Yoshi eats enemies he poops out eggs and then can throw those eggs at enemies and to solve puzzles. There will be plenty of times where you’re going to have to bounce them off of walls and other obstacles to open door ways and such. The egg elements is kind of fun.

Dying usually won’t come from enemies though. If you get hit by an enemy baby Mario will fall of your back and then yell like crazy while a countdown timer starts. Once the timer hits zero Kameks forces will take baby Mario unless Yoshi touches him and gets him back on his back. Most deaths will come from bits or one hit kill obstacles.

Also fighting the huge bosses in this game is also really fun. Finding there weakness and just battling them out watching them change shape, and then just blow up at the end gives a unique charm to the bosses, I do love fighting the bosses in this game.

And has far has exploring and finding new things goes although linear Yoshi’s Island does have something to expand its replay value. Each stage has 20 red coins (most of them look yellow coins until collected), and 5 flowers to find, also there are starts that increase the countdown timer to up to 30, finishing with a full count down timer has well will get you a perfect score. Finding all the secrets and getting a perfect score in a stage will unlock a secret stage and the ability to play a bonus game whenever you want for power ups and 1-ups.

To help get these Yoshi can win power ups that he can use at any time during a stage by use of the pause menu. The magnifying glass power up lets you see the secrets in a stage and is quite useful. That said the game is not above using cheap tricks to get you to replay stage for a perfect 100. Sometimes an obstacle will appear that will only give you one shot at a prize. For example in one stage in order to get a flower you have to time an egg throw just right so it hits a moving arrow that will fire your egg twords the flower. The arrow disappears after one use so if you don’t time it right you have to start over if you want that flower and a 100%. This is annoying to say the least.

Also towards end of the game the stages get ridiculously long, 20 minutes or longer to finish a stage in one pass, they can get tedious and if you manage to have trouble and die on a few obstacles prepare to get frustrated and that tedious music to come back and bite you in the butt.

Yoshi’s Island is still a fun platforming game despite its flaws. Its beautiful looking, has solid controls, and most of the bosses and stages are fun. However it does have its flaws, it’s linear and some of the stages can be too long.