"A nice diversion, but not necessary to any collection."

Yoshi's always been one of my favorite video game characters. This little dinosaur is body cute and tough, and I've always enjoyed his games, as few as there have been. Yoshi's Island for the SNES and Yoshi's Story for the N64 were both fun games, and I made it a point to pick up Yoshi's Island DS. Ultimately, it's not a bad game, and I wouldn't call it disappointing, but to me it just felt too familiar for me to really fall in love with it.

Essentially, it's similar to Yoshi's Island except for one new thing: multiple babies. You can get 5 different babies to carry around with you, each of them doing different things. Mario can run fast and hit special blocks, Peach has an umbrella to lift you up in heavy wind, Donkey Kong can carry you around vines, Wario can attract metal objects with his magnet, and Baby Bowser can shoot fire. Though it's nice to see Nintendo still trying to do new things, I still felt like I was playing the SNES game all over again. You still have your eggs and the constantly moving aiming reticle, colorful graphics with bosses twice per world. It's a good feeling, but it's just too familiar. Anybody who's already played the first Yoshi's Island is going to know exactly what to expect coming into this one.

Which...obviously, doesn't leave me with much to say. The graphics are still cute and colorful, and the soundtrack is nice. I found the game a little short, with only five worlds with 7 levels each, which only the last world and the hidden stages having any challenge. Once you beat the game, you can go back and try to get a perfect score, but this grows tiresome quickly. If you're like me, you'll be unlikely to play it again once you've beaten it, as fun as it is the first time. Or maybe it will just be a mild diversion from pokemon, which I have yet to stop playing. In either case, the game isn't particularly long and there isn't much reason to keep playing it. At the very least, you might get some mileage out of the last world, which is so unbearably hard compared to the rest of the game. Quite unusual, considering that the game seems targeted to younger audiences, as much as Nintendo fans would hate to admit. The crayon-appearance of the graphics from the SNES game seems more cleaned up here, which might annoy some people, though it doesn't particularly bother me. The controls are customizable, which is a nice touch. Also, if you're bored, there are a few minigames, though I didn't find any of them too engaging.

Like I said, Yoshi's Island DS is a great game; the only thing holding it back is a feeling of "been there, done that". The two screens work well to portray a larger world, though occasionally the camera will get "stuck" on one screen or the other, limiting your vision. If you're a big fan of the original SNES game, go ahead and get this, as you'll probably enjoy it. If you're interested, you'll probably enjoy it. Just don't expect the adventure to be very meaty.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/30/07