"I underestimated this game, and I regret that."

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was considered by many the greatest SNES title ever released. Abusing of the system's capabilities, it turned out to be a great success, graphically revolutionary, and well-known for having impressively big stages and yet a decent difficulty level.

When this sequel was firstly announced, I thought: “Cool, another cheap and commercial sequel taking advantage of a classic game's fame”. Based on most DS games released so far, I judged that this game would be short and ridiculously easy like New Super Mario Bros. Guided by these feelings and assuming it wasn't worth tracking or eventually buying, I decided to keep distance from this game. It happened that I coincidentally got this game as a present from my brother, and after playing it for just a few time, I realized I was wrong. Let me explain my impressions on the game:

Graphics: 7/10

The first thing I did when I got the game was to look to the screenshots on the back of the game box. I noticed that the sprites were all new, but resembling the original game's scenery. The same grey, giant rocks that you used to climb, the same grass with flowers, the same stone cubes that fell, the same blocks, clouds, poles, platforms and arrow signs, but re-designed. And they do look fine. However, some details on those pictures caught my attention. By the screenshot, I could see that in the game there was some kind of flower that blew you to higher areas. Despite the fact that the game's graphics look like if drawn with crayons, the flower looked like it was taken from another game and feels totally apart from the background scenario. In fact, most of the new elements in the game's design (like new enemies, support characters or items) do look kind of amateur. You will know what I'm talking about when you see the buddy kangaroo that will help you in some stages and the enemy that looks like an angry ox. It looks like they were drawn on Paintbrush by a newbie, on a style that doesn't match the game's. I don't want to get pushy with this subject, but really, you will feel that some objects just don't belong to the game.

Some of the animations also look kind of cheap, but in general, this game has a very beautiful presentation. The colors are live as never seen before, especially if you play it on your DS Lite. They kept the menus looking the same as they were in this game's prequel, and the much higher screen resolution makes the game look cleaner and more pleasant to play.

Another weak point is that the game rarely uses the DS's graphical capabilities. New Super Mario Bros. was a mediocre game in my opinion, but its graphics really looked worthy of a DS game, using the portable's visual effect and 3-D features. It hurts to say, but despite the resolution and the re-designed sprites, the game's graphics are still inferior to the SNES version. The gigantic bosses' animations that were impressive on the original game and only possible thanks to the Super FX 2 chip are NOT back. The bosses are still huge, sometimes occupying both screens, but their animations have a low frame rate and their body doesn't look soft and bouncy as expected from a Yoshi's Island game.

I know I complained a lot about the graphics, but thrust me, they ARE, overall, good. Despite that matter concerning the design of the new elements, they did a great work on re-creating the old ones, and on portraying the various locations of Yoshi's Island. You'll go through plains, mountains, rivers, forests, beaches and every single place will have its unique effects and awesome look. One of the best-looking bi-dimensional DS game so far, in my opinion.

Sound: 7/10

Not much to talk here. If you are expecting an awesome soundtrack, you will be disappointed. The music quality is good, but the tunes aren't very catchy. Yoshi's Island for SNES was also well-known for having a great soundtrack, but this game just lacks at good music. On the other hand, I give a 10/10 for the game's sound effects and voices. The sound is very similar to the GBA version of Yoshi's Island, but much clearer. Speaking of the voices, remember how annoying was Baby Mario's cry? So, it's not anymore (well, at least not SO annoying), and in addition all the 5 different babies have different voices (obviously), so you won't get sick of them easily as if you had to play the game with just one baby.

Gameplay: 10/10

Now that's where the game gets interesting. Some people were afraid that this new baby-switching system would make the game not feel like a Yoshi's Island. At first, I thought that this new engine would make the game complicated and too puzzle-centered for a Yoshi's Island game. But it doesn't. If you were afraid that you would have to explore each level with all 5 babies, one by one, you can relax. Actually, very rarely you'll be going back and forth on a course. The stages still have the classic linearity because obstacles that need a specific baby are not that common, and usually the Stork Stop signs (where you switch babies) are easily found before each one of them. You'll be switching babies quite regularly, but it won't take much time and it is pretty fun to use their abilities.

Playing this game feels exactly the same as the first one. The levels still have the same quality and the game is still fun to play. Besides the 4 new babies and the dual-screen action, there are not really many additions, so it's like if you were playing new levels of the same game. And believe me, that is good, even more if you consider that most people who get interested on this game have played Yoshi's Island.

The stages are long as anyone could expect (what is impressive if you compare to recent releases like New Super Mario Bros), and despite the number of levels being slightly smaller, you'll feel that the game is almost as long as the original one.

I'm also glad that Nintendo didn't push the DS's touch and voice-recognizing features into this game, as they usually do. It would turn out to be a completely different game if they decided to change the gameplay to touch-control like they are usually doing with DS games. Actually, you won't use the microphone or the touch-screen this time, and the only DS feature that is used is the dual screen. And it's used in a very good way. The two screens together work as a big vertical screen that you may slide up and down at almost anytime of the game, allowing you to see paths, secrets, enemies or items in the sky, upper level or underground. It is very useful on levels with vertical or auto-scrolling parts. The only problem is that there's a blind spot between the two screens, and that may hide floating items, making you just pass by them without noticing, or hinder your movement when you try jumping to the upper screen in auto-scrolling levels.
The game is slightly easier than the original one, but it's a big challenge to complete it with 100% and unlocking the extra levels, just like it was in the classic Yoshi's Island. Beating the game is nothing compared to the time you'll spend getting every red coin, heart and baby coin.

In conclusion, I'll give this game a 9 out of 10. I know I got kind of annoying by sticking to some minor flaws, but the great gameplay hides any faults. You will be very satisfied if you buy this, and really, be prepared to forget your New Super Mario Bros forever.

Thanks for reading the review, and sorry for any grammar mistakes, English is not my native language.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/27/06