"Island stylin'."

Behold the Yoshi – an elusive mumbling creature that is generally docile in nature. That was, of course, until man arrived on its island. Separated from its stork carrier, an Italian baby once drifted from the skies and landed on the saddle of a stray, innocent Yoshi. Using its unholy human powers, the toddler commanded an army of Yoshi slaves to his very whim in his conquest of the creatures' island in order to retrieve his brother, the green guy. It was through this experience that the Yoshi population became vicious, using their extraordinarily long tongues to gobble up anything that was different from them, crap them out into an egg, and hurl the omelet at a distant object. And all this time, the human baby did nothing but sit on their backs and slobber on their heads. Oh, and he cried. A lot. So much so that whenever he became separated from the Yoshi, the dinosaur would have no choice but to save the baby before his crying drove the Yoshi to the brink of insanity. Once Baby Bowser was trumped and the stork was saved, the Yoshi species hoped to have been rid of the obnoxious tot for eternity. Alas, peace has once again been broken on Yoshi's Island, as not only has the incessant crybaby returned, but he's brought company – each more irritable than the last.

Yoshi's Island DS picks up the storyline from where the previous title left off, with the Super Toddler Bros. snug at home in their mushroom cottage, long before their days of shell-stomping and minimum wage-paying plumbing. Kamek the Magikoopa, however, is still infuriated at the thoughts of his previous defeat. Fortunately for him, a light appears in the form of mean old Bowser from the future, who has journeyed to the past by some means of unexplained time travel to become his own grandfather...err, to seek out seven elusive stars. These stars accompany seven babies on who reside in the Mushroom Kingdom, respectively. Kamek the newly rejuvenated pedophile then brings his latest plan into fruition – send his Toadies to kidnap every newborn baby and bring them to Baby Bowser's Castle. This includes the infant Mario Bros, Princess Peach, Donkey Kong, Wario, and a bunch of other nameless babies nobody could care less about. Fortunately for Mario and Peach, the stork intercepts the Toady in mid-air, sending them plummeting to the island below. Conveniently enough, this island happens to be Yoshi's Island. Reunited with the Yoshis, the duo sets off on yet another adventure to retrieve the other babies from Bowser's clutches.

Yoshi's Island DS sports a similar presentation to its Super Nintendo predecessor, and in many ways, plays similarly. For those unacquainted, the game pits the player in control of one of many colored Yoshis, with the baby in tow riding on its back. In addition to the standard platform game abilities, Yoshi can flutter for a short period of time to extend the apex of his jump. Yoshi can also make use of his lengthy tongue to gobble up small enemies and turn them into eggs. Up to six eggs can follow behind Yoshi at a time, which can then be launched at objects via a moving cursor. But this sequel brings a few new innovations to the table, the most noticeable being the baby-swapping system. For you see, Baby Mario is not the only toddler you will tote around this time. Using Stork Stops found at certain points within each stage, you can cycle through five different babies, although some babies can only be played with at certain points in the game. Certain challenges will require certain babies to complete, as each comes with a unique ability. Yoshi can only run at full speed while Baby Mario is on his back, while the wee plumber can also nab a Star in order to dash off on his own with invincibility in a similar fashion to the previous installment.

But the other babies all bring new elements to the Yoshi franchise. Baby Peach, who becomes available rather quickly, can use her umbrella to ride updrafts caused by wind tunnels. Yoshi's flutter also has a greater longevity with Peach on-board. Baby Donkey Kong can climb vines and chains and cause Yoshi to shoot eggs that explode, creating a wider radius of damage. The main drawback is that the young Kong's hefty weight limits the power of Yoshi's flutter. The other babies are only available for a few stages. Baby Wario fittingly carries around a giant magnet to attract coins and drag them toward Yoshi. This becomes useful when coins are trapped behind objects, but the game sometimes is not able to detect the magnet's pull accurately, being inconsistent with its reliability. Lastly, Baby Bowser, as you may have guessed, breathes fire at enemies, often taking them out with a single scorch. The downside to this firepower, however, is that Yoshi cannot launch eggs with Baby Bowser on his back. The whole alternative baby system adds variety to a game that would otherwise nearly be a clone of its predecessor. Switching babies via the Stork Stops is a little time-consuming and becomes tedious after a while, but the process is only a minor inconvenience, and choosing the correct baby for each challenge becomes part of the game's strategy.

Being a DS title, Yoshi's Island DS opts to use the dual screen system as an expansion of the main screen rather than utilizing its touch capabilities. This works to the game's advantage, adding a second view rather than resorting to a cheap gimmick. Often challenges will involve objects opposite the screen Yoshi is standing in, so a wary eye on both screens is required. The main goals and collections found in the original title remain virtually the same. There are 100 possible points to obtain per stage, depending on the number of Stars, Red Coins, and Flowers you collect. The same Bonus Challenges from the original return (which appear by chance upon clearing a stage), with one glaring difference – lives are earned instead of items. This is due to the unfortunate fact that items have been removed altogether in this installment. Gone are the watermelons, POW blocks, and the free stars that made it a whole lot less infuriating to achieve a perfect score. This is one of the sequel's major fallings, as not only did items add variety to the game, but they added strategy. While we are on the subject on removals from the first game, the Fuzzy enemies are also gone, meaning you can no longer “Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy”. Whether this is because of the subliminal hallucinogen advertising it created, nobody knows. The only thing that's for sure is that Yoshi's acid trips will be sorely missed.

Fortunately, the game retains most other successful elements from the original. Many familiar enemies make their return, such as Shy Guys, Koopa Troopas, Lava Bubbles, and Goonies – all ready to make your life a miserable living hell once again. The game also keeps the pattern of sporting two castles per world, each with its own boss made monstrous courtesy of Kamek. Though none of these battles quite match the dizzying perils of the Raphael the Raven battle, the bosses remain just as creative as they were in the original, with unique methods of defeating them. Poochie the dog has been replaced by an unnamed kangaroo. When Yoshi hops in its pouch, the kangaroo will bounce to extraordinary heights and collect coins or other trinkets. A few of the transformations – namely the helicopter, mole tank, and submarine – also return. When Yoshi touches a vehicle bubble, he will transform into one of the aforementioned vehicles for a limited period of time and make use of their unique abilities. Yoshi can also now walk on stilts to cross lengthy chasms of lava and hitch a ride on a runaway mine cart. Other more familiar objects such as Chomp Rocks, arrow wheels, and rotating platforms make their return in full glory.

The original Yoshi's Island, while one of the most innovative and enjoyable platform titles ever developed, was not a very difficult game to complete. The sequel, however, changes this immensely. Unlike many of Nintendo's recent platform attempts such as New Super Mario Bros. and the like, Yoshi's Island DS can be one cruel beast under its childish exterior. The boss battles have a tendency to be relatively simple, but thanks to some twisted and ingenious stage design, many challenges in the game will drain your extra lives like candy. Enemies plague every corner of the island's worlds, with bottomless pits and spike hazards booby-trapping each landmark. The upside is that the game also gives out extra lives generously, but every one of them is necessary. New stage twists such as speeding mine carts, collectible Number Balls, and oversized Tap-Taps add a sense of challenge that is often missing in many Mario titles and spin-offs. And that's just covering reaching the goal in the standard stages. Secret stages can be unlocked by obtaining a certain amount of points in each world, which contain some of the cruelest, most dire challenges and obstacles present in a platform title. In turn, completing these stages in their entirety gives the player an incredibly rewarding sense of accomplishment.

The artsy visual style found in the original title retains its colorful appearance in Yoshi's Island DS, albeit slightly more detailed and saturated. For the most part, the sequel's visuals remain true to the original's sprites and backgrounds, updating existing models while retaining the crayon-drawn style. However, some of the newer character sprites actually conflict with the existing style, such as the kangaroo and a hideously deformed Bowser, both of which do not match the rest of the game's artistic style. Still, most is pleasant to look at and absorb. Unfortunately, the soundtrack is incredibly mediocre, especially in comparison to the incredibly catchy tunes of the original title. Most tracks are simply forgettable, while a few run on borderline obnoxious with an overly childish beat. The castle theme in the Super Nintendo title had creepy and daunting vibe, and it has been replaced by a slow, calm, unfitting piece of what qualifies as ambiance more than music. In regards to sound effects, Yoshi sports his voice from the console titles, which is a love-hate relationship with many players, though while the random squeals and grunts emitted by enemy drones are charming, the crying of the babies is absolutely unbearable. But hey, all the more incentive to avoid getting hit.

Yoshi's Island DS succeeds where its Yoshi spin-off brethren like Yoshi's Story and Yoshi Touch & Go failed – living up to its original inspiration. Over one decade later, a true sequel has finally been realized. The DS title takes most of the elements that made the original such a treasure in so many gamers' hearts and adds a few unique innovations of its own. When factoring in the clever stage design and the increased extreme level of challenge the game presents, fans of the original title will crave this sequel's platform goodness. The new playable babies give the game a fresh coat of paint, the characters are as delightful as ever, and the game's longevity is fairly respectable due to the incentives to complete each stage with perfect scores. The removal of a few successful elements from the original is disappointing, as is the soundtrack in general, but there is enough positive innovation and design to keep platform fanatics more than pleased. It is quite unfortunate that this stellar sequel was lost among the hype for both the Wii and a certain other DS Mario platform title that was far less deserving of its superb sales. Watch out, kiddies – this game takes babies and turns them into real manly men (or women).

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/12/08

Game Release: Yoshi's Island DS (US, 11/13/06)