This is the game where baby Mario, Luigi, and Bowser were introduced into the Nintendo world. At this point have they gone overboard with the babies bringing in baby Peach, Daisy, Wario, Donkey Kong, etc. Probably, but the original three were involved in a truly interesting game.
So the basis of this game is that the stork that was delivering baby Mario and Luigi to their parents got kidnapped by Kamek
and brought to Bower's Keep. In all the commotion baby Mario dropped from the stork and landed on Yoshi's Islands. So the Yoshis decided to help the baby get his brother back, free the stork, and send them on their merry way back to their parents. Sounds simple right? Well overall the game is not too terribly difficult. There are plenty of challenges if you choose to challenge yourself. An example of those challenges is the game's scoring system. It's pretty simple. What you find in the game adds to your score.
As you can see you are scored on stars (life), red coins, and flowers. Having max of each will net you a 100 and inch you closer to unlocking the world's bonus levels in which there are two of in each world.
So to fully complete the game you need to score 48 100%s. 6 worlds with 8 stages each. There are also bonuses along the way that can net you extra lives and items which work in a similar fashion to Super Mario Bros. 3 item system. The big difference being you can use these items in the game as opposed to just on the map screen. So the game while appearing cute and fuzzy can actually be quite the challenge.
So lets look at some more things about this game. The gameplay is nothing like any other Mario game you will ever play (unless you are looking at a post SNES system). So as opposed to playing Mario, you play the game largely as Yoshi. There are times where you play as Mario, but I'll get back to that in a minute. There are multiple ways Yoshi can defeat enemies. One is the traditional jump that is pretty standard in Mario games. Another is that Yoshi can eat his enemies.
Once an enemy is in his mouth, he can either spit it back out as a weapon against other enemies or swallow it and turn it into an egg. There are a few enemies that Yoshi cannot turn into eggs though and some just get swallowed automatically without an egg being made. Yoshi can also use three different watermelons as weapons. One is just a standard watermelon that uses the seeds as a weapon.
The other two are fire and ice respectively and you can probably figure out what each of them do. The most famous way that Yoshi goes about defeating his foes though, is the egg toss. Yoshi can hurl his eggs at his opponents and eliminate a great number of them this way, including bosses.
Each world contains a half way boss and a main boss. Oh yeah, I forgot to continue what I started before. From time to time you do play as Mario... Super Baby Mario! No photo spoiler on that one :). You will also occasionally be transformed into various vehicles. The controls are excellent in their responsiveness and as is the case with many SNES games, the button layout is fairly easy to remember and execute. Yoshi's famous hover was introduced in this game as a second jump along with his ground pound ability. Sound familiar Super Smash Bros fans? Yes the majority of Yoshi's moveset seems to have originated in Yoshi's Island. You lose lives in a few different ways. If you touch molten lava, you die. If you fall off a ledge, you die. If you land of sharp, spikes you die. Pretty basic platform style play right? Well there is a new way to die introduced to Mario fans in Yoshi's Island. When Yoshi gets struck by an enemy baby Mario will enter a bubble and start to float away crying.
The longer the baby is off Yoshi's back, the lower the clock will get until it hits zero. At that point Bowser's minions capture the baby and bring him to the keep. You can increase the timer by collecting the stars that were mentioned earlier. Great things happened in this game in terms of gameplay and really in developing Yoshi as more of a character than what was seen in Super Mario World. Gameplay rating: 10 out of 10
Graphically, this game is simply put, different. This game looks like it completely takes place in a child's toy-box or something of that nature. The colors are bright, cartooney, and very very happy.
Some people have an issue with the graphics being like this, but given the whole story of the game and the fact that it is Yoshi we are talking about, I think this style does great and helps the game to even further stand out from any other Mario game that was out at the time. My only question of the graphics was why are things in the boss levels so happy? I mean seriously look at the hills below. Why would they be happy with a monster existing right next door? Whatever. Graphically this game gets a solid 9.5 out of 10 from me. Just about flawless in that department.
The Yoshi's Island soundtrack is actually very well done I think. The music is for the most part very upbeat and bouncy. Perfectly complementing the happy nature of the graphics and the Yoshis themselves. The boss level music does take a turn however and is quite mysterious feeling. Something that's welcome when the unsuspecting dinosaur has no idea what he's going to be up against.Probably the most epic thing soundtrack is the music that plays as you have the inevitable battle against Bowser. I mean seriously. Listen to this.
That's gotta be by far my favorite Bowser theme. The opening right to the end just screams Bowser and once you play the fight, you'll find the music even more epic. Soundtrack for this game. 10 out of 10. I have it on my ipod it's so good.
All of the above adds to the replay value of this game. Fun graphics, smooth gameplay, a great soundtrack, challenges to finish if you choose to do so just scratch the surface as to why I keep coming back to this game. Replay value 10 out of 10. It just does not get old.
So before I throw down my final verdict on the game I just want to throw out a fun fact. This game was recreated on the Gameboy Advance as Super Mario World 3: Yoshi's Island. The game is largely the same as it was the first time around and is a very respectable remake of the game. Keeps the old charm and adds in a couple things here and there.
Yoshi's Island Fianl Verdict
Gameplay: 10/10
Graphics: 9.5/10
Soundtrack: 10/10
Replay: 10/10
Overall Rating: 10/10! Just a perfect SNES experience.
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