Yoshi's Island. This one is pretty famous because instead of Mario, you get to control

Yoshi for the first time. I'm not talking about riding on him; you get to actually run

around and play as him. So, let's get down to gaming and see why everyone likes this

game so much.

Here's our intro cut scene. A long, long time ago, when baby Mario and Luigi were being

carried to their parents by a stork (because that's totally how nature works), the evil

wizard Kamek swooped in on his broomstick and snatched Luigi. Kamek did this because

he's pretty much a douchebag. Anyway, in the craziness, Baby Mario fell to the ground where

he was discovered by a pack of Yoshi's. The Yoshi's decided to save the babies and return

them to their rightful families. And that's our story.

Here's the first level playing as Yoshi, carrying Baby Mario on his back. Yoshi is a pretty

strong character because he can eat enemies and turn them into eggs. Then, you can press

'A' to throw the eggs at your enemies and cause plenty of destruction. You can aim them

in any direction so they'll usually be your weapon of choice. You're only allowed to carry

seven eggs at a time which is a bit limited but, luckily, it's always easy to get more.

Now, don't ask me that tired old question: Is Yoshi is a boy or a girl? "If he's a dude

why does he lay eggs?" Look, Nintendo doesn't know the answer so neither should we. If you

want to get to sleep at night, please don't ask that question.

Never mind. Back to how Yoshi controls. Another thing you'll notice right away is that his

jump is a lot different than Mario's. This game invented a move called the flutter jump.

How it works is you hold down the jump button and Yoshi can stay in the air a little longer,

defying gravity and all manner of physics. It sounds like a tiny little gimmick but it

actually changes how you play the game, giving you a lot better control of Yoshi in the air.

No more worrying about making it to that next ledge or plummeting into the lava below. Now,

you can count on your little second jump to get you out of those tight spots.

So, what is Baby Mario's role in this game? Well, for the most part, he's just an annoyance.

If Yoshi gets hit by an enemy, he'll lose Mario who floats away in a bubble. If you

don't run after the baby and catch him before a timer runs out, then Kamek's minions will

swoop in and steal him and you lose a life. This really irritates me. Chasing after a

baby in a bubble while it yells at you "Wah, wah, wah!" isn't my idea of a heroic adventure.

If I wanted to put up with that, I'd work at a day care and at least get paid minimum

wage. This is a game! It's supposed to be fun! But oh well, other than that the game

doesn't have too many frustrations.

What are the levels like in Yoshi's Island? They're pretty great. Don't be fooled by the

childish graphics. This is a challenging game with lots of puzzle elements and some really

big, complex levels. You're not going to blaze through the whole thing in an hour because

it takes a lot of exploring to find out where you're supposed to go, especially the castles.

The combat can be a bit challenging too. Sometimes you need to smack the enemies with a lot of

eggs to kill them or use a special strategy like ground pounding them. The bosses are

pretty well made. Each one has a special weakness that you have to figure out, just like in

Zelda. They all look really cartoonish. The game's sense of humor is refreshing. An enormous,

obese clown? Awesome! A ghost in a pot? Badass. An evil frog's stomach? Legendary.

And of course there are some just plain weird levels like the famous Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy.

Here, you have to watch out for a bunch of puff ball enemies because if you hit one,

you don't get hurt, No, that would be too merciful! Instead, Yoshi starts tripping like

he just took a hit of acid. It's like the drunk scene in Dumbo and you can barely control

him! I'm guessing Yoshi's Island was trying to make this level into an Anti-Drug PSA.

Kids, say no to fuzzies!

Another weird part of the levels is the Yoshi vehicles. For really short sections of the

game, Yoshi can magically turn into a car, a plane, a submarine, and even a mole. I like

the submarine because it fires missiles but the other forms kind of annoy me. You're always

under a strict time limit when you use them so you can't relax or get used to them. And

a mole? Really? Does anyone actually prefer digging up dirt to playing as Yoshi? Nah,

they don't. You can also play as Baby Mario a couple times, when he gets a star, which

is pretty cool because for once, Mario is helping out on the adventure instead of being

a nuisance. Still, I feel like all these weird little parts of the game could have been done

better. They need to be longer and give you more freedom, not this constrictive time limit

crap.

I really liked the music and sounds in this game, well except the baby noises of course.

Shut up! The music is really cheerful and catchy on the overworld levels. Even years

after playing the game, it's still easy to remember that kind of melody. The castle theme

is pretty similar to Super Mario World's theme except it's faster and it has a waltz feel.

So, how does this game stack up to the first Super Mario World? That's actually a matter

of opinion. I preferred the first one because it had so many more levels, it had fun power

ups like the cape, and it was just simple, classic Mario platforming that I never get

tired of. Still, I do realize that Yoshi's Island made a lot of improvements. The graphics

are way more detailed and fancy, the levels are more complex and challenging, and it was

pretty creative how they turned Yoshi into a real hero instead of a glorified horse like

he had always been before. Yoshi's Island is a big step in the Mario series even if

Mario isn't the lead character. For example, it invented the flutter jump and it brought

back Shy Guys from Super Mario Bros 2, making them important enemies in the series. So,

it's up to interpretation if Super Mario World or Yoshi's Island is better,

THINGS TO MAKE IT BETTER

-Improve the vehicle segments. These are too short and awkward to be as good as they could

be. -Alter the Baby Mario damage system so it's

not as annoying. Or at least get rid of that stupid crying sound effect!

-Get rid of one hit deaths on spikes or lava. This isn't Mega Man! Show some mercy.

Overall, Yoshi's Island is an excellent game, though. It has minor flaws but that doesn't

ruin the fact that's a classic plat former, one of the best on the Super Nintendo. On

my scale, it scores a 9 out of 10. I'd recommend it to everyone.

So that's Yoshi's Island and I hope you enjoyed this review. Before you go, I'd like to take

a second to talk to you about my show. It's probably obvious to you guys that I've been

way slower than in the past and I'm sorry about that. As I've said before, I have a

lot of responsibilities now than I didn't have when I started these reviews five years

ago. So, it looks like progress is going to stay slow but that doesn't mean I'm done.

I'm SNES Man and I'll talk to you again sometime soon.