Yoshi's Island Review

Some time ago, I had the great enjoyment of revisiting Yoshi's Island. It was still as charming as ever — colorful, youthful — almost as if imagined by a child. The soulful music box story introduction, and sheer innocence of our heroes, set this game apart from all others — one the talented folks at Nintendo poured their hearts and souls into.

You play as the Yoshis in their quest to reunite Baby Mario with his twin brother Luigi, who was kidnapped by Bowser's faithful Magikoopa Kamek. Yoshis have an amazing ability: they can eat enemies and turn them into eggs which can be thrown. Not all enemies can be eaten, but they are affected by eggs. Yoshis can also do flutter jumps and ground pounds, which along with the eggs, make up the core mechanics.

When a Yoshi gets injured, Baby Mario floats in the air, surrounded by a protective bubble. As he cries, a timer counts down. If Yoshi can't reach him in time, Kamek's Toadies will swoop down and reunite Mario with Luigi as a prisoner in Bowser's Castle. This triggers a level reset from the beginning or checkpoint (if you have an extra life). The timer defaults to 10 seconds and can be extended to 30 seconds by finding stars in the level — this counts toward the level score along with finding 20 red coins and 5 flowers. Get a score of 100 for all 8 levels in a world and you unlock a bonus level. Beat that and you can play a mini-game to win prizes.

By choosing a resetting timer, Nintendo went contrary to the traditional Mario game countdown clock which forces players to rush through levels. Instead, they encouraged exploration to try and reach the finish line with 30 stars, 20 red coins, and 5 red flowers to earn that 100 percent score. But sometimes levels still feel rushed, like when the camera scrolls or something is chasing Yoshi — these levels I often found to be anxiety-inducing. I also didn't like most of the cave levels, and I think it's because they feel claustrophobic (as caves should), and as a result Yoshi is too close to things that can hurt him. Boulders rolling down and Bandits skulking behind crystals add to the tension.

Throughout the campaign, Yoshi and friends will sometimes come across magic items. These enable Yoshis to shape-shift into vehicles such as Helicopters, Mole Tanks, and Submarines. Baby Mario can even run via the Super Star power-up, helping Yoshi! Some of these help break up the levels and are fun, but at times these prove difficult (6–2 is nerve-wracking).

The sound effects and music are quite good, although the latter could use more variety. While playing I often find myself so focused on navigating the level that the music seems to fade into the background.

There are 12 boss battles in the game, and many of them feel epic the first time. Take, for example, the Naval Piranha in World 3–8. You need to use the skills you've mastered thus far to dodge his attacks and ricochet eggs across the water to hit his weak spot. This was a very difficult fight the first time around. Castle and fortress levels leading to these bosses are also often maze-like in design and fraught with dangers. Many of them are themed around the boss — Ghost castles, castles filled with Slimes, Koopas, Piranha plants, etc. Each one feels different, and often introduces new challenges.

Kamek starts out arrogant, even condescending to Yoshi. As you progress, his attitude changes to worried and finally fearful. During the attack on Bowser's Castle, Kamek comes swooping down on Yoshi while riding his broom. He even casts spells in the long corridor to Bowser's room, and begs Yoshi to stop his advance.

Little Yoshi started out as a naive child, with no idea about the struggle ahead of him and his friends. After leaving the green hills of home, wading through swamps, marching through forests, trudging through snow on the mountaintops, and even visiting the moon, Yoshi becomes a powerful hero who has overcome every trial the Koopa Kingdom could throw at him. As he stood before the doors to Bowser, he was ready for the fight ahead. Nothing would stand between him and final victory.