Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

"Yoshi's big break!"

Introduction

Yoshi's Island is the prequel to Super Mario World and stars, of course, Yoshi! The game has several strong points and is one of my personal favorites. Though not quite like the other Mario games (mostly due to the fact that you do not control him,) the game is still very much like them. Yoshi's Island exceeds its predecessors in some areas, however, and definitely deserves to be played.

Graphics 9/10

The graphics of Super Mario World were fantastic, and Yoshi's island is no different in this. Though perhaps just a touch kiddie here and there, it still looks very good; the backgrounds are full of vibrant color, the enemies are detailed, Yoshi himself is rather detailed, and the overworld looks much better than that of Super Mario World.

Music/Sound 9/10

The music in Yoshi's Island is very happy in most cases and is actually enjoyable to listen to, and never gets old. As for the sound effects, most of them are quite bearable, if not enjoyable, to hear except for that blasted sound of Mario crying, which gets old quite fast, but it wasn't exactly designed to make you feel happy that your going to lose, so, oh well.

Challenge 8/10

Despite what you may think, there are actually some real challenging parts in the game. Some of the bosses also require some thinking and some skill to defeat. Additionally, some of the levels are fast paced and require very good reflexes to complete. To top all of this off, there is a scoring system for each level that takes into account several things that happened during the level (i.e. how many red coins you retrieved) and getting perfect 100s on each level is quite difficult, but you do get a bonus for getting 100s on each level in a world.

Plot 8/10

The story of Super Mario World II is that, one day, while all the yoshis were lounging around doing nothing, a baby fell from the sky, and seemed to know where it wanted to go. The Yoshi's decided to transport the baby to where it desires, and thus the quest begins. I will not spoil the ending, however, so you'll have to get the game if you want to know the rest. The plot is very unique compared to the rest of the series (how many times DOES Princess Toadstool get kidnapped anyway?)

Gameplay 10/10

The gameplay of SMW II is much like the other 2-D Mario games, except Yoshi has his own special lick attack, with which he can swallow enemies and turn them into eggs, which he can then throw. Yoshi's jump is also more efficient than Mario or Luigi's in the other games, for he is capable of hovering for a short period of time. Yoshi also introduces the concept of the ground pound, a now essential part of any Mario game. Yoshi also encounter many enemies that Mario did not, such as the pop bloom flower, the now very common shy guys, and several others.

Fun 10/10

SMW II is an extremely fun game to play and will keep you occupied for a very long time. I honestly have no idea how much time I've spent playing this game through the years, but I know that it was a long time. I used to play this game for hours non-stop, and I remember beating the game at least twice, which brings us too...

Re-playability 9/10

Yoshi's Island is, IMO, very re-playable, for the levels are enjoyable instead of tedious. This game was a source of hours of fun for me, and probably will be several years from now. I will openly admit this to be my 3nd favorite Mario game (beaten only by SMW followed by SMB3) and I have probably played it more than any other.

Conclusion

Yoshi's Island is a tremendous 2-D platformer and a real competitor for the title of one of the best Mario games of all time! I would suggest buying this game if you are a fan of Mario's, but I would stick to renting it if you were not. Either way, this game promises to be one of the best games you'll ever play. And for those of you who think it is too kiddie to play then you are missing out on a really good game.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/23/06