Yoshi's Island DS

"Putting Crap on Yoshi's Back Doesn't Break His Fall...it only makes it worse."

I had low expectations for this game...and I was right. End of story.

STORYLINE

In Yoshi's Island, they stole two babies. Guess what? They're stealing MORE babies! And instead of saving Luigi, you get to save Luigi AND a bunch of other kids! Isn't that so much different than Yoshi's Island's plot? Well, actually, later on they explain why they're stealing babies, but I won't talk much about that, except for the fact that it involves seven stars. Wait, seven stars? Isn't that the number of stars used in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars? Is seven a legendary number!? The cutscenes are a bit annoying and interrupt your experience, especially because they have hardly any sound. Anyways, it's kind of the same as the old if you think about it. But, kudos to Nintendo for explaining that.

OVERALL: 6.5/10

Normally I give whole numbers as scores, but I was stuck between 6 and 7 this time around.

GRAPHICS

I must say, nearly everything looks great. Yoshi looks awesome and has more shading, objects look more colorful and still keep that Yoshi charm. Many enemies look the same, and new enemies almost always fit in. Best of all, that big red/blue thing that comes out of the water looks like a sock puppet. Nothing spectacular, but it's all very nice and welcoming. But looking at Shy Guys, true Yoshi fans will note that they're leaning over a little. Either that, or his head's a little too big. And Piranha Plants look unnatural this time around, or at least to me. Their mouths are too squished-in and they grow/shrink too slowly. The final final final final SECOND-TO-FINAL boss looks more like a Mario vs. Donkey Kong: March of the Minis sprite. Because this little change in the Shy Guys annoys me SO MUCH, I'll personally lower this game's grade.

OVERALL: 8/10

SOUND/MUSIC

As some people say, the music doesn't make the game, but it hurts if the music is particularly bad, such as in this game. It's COMPLETELY DEVOID OF SUSPENSE. Almost everything is done in xylophone, and I know they say "Yoshi's Island is a kid's game!", but that doesn't mean you need to baby-fy all music. The game's main tune can be heard in the practice level. I muted my DS. That's how bad it is. it's not the quality, but it's just how it is. They use their "signature tune" SO MUCH compared to in its prequel, but the only real changes done to it are use of the harmonica and some slowdown, and maybe a couple other thousand. Well, not that much, but it feels like it. The cave song can be grating in level 5-6, just because of how monotonous and boring it was. Among the worst is the boss music. It sounds like the kind of "rock" fed to babies. It repeats itself OVER and OVER again, which is especially annoying. Not even the final final final final final final boss' music oozes suspense or coolness, unlike the original's. Some songs, like the ones in 3-1 or 2-3 (whatever the "Don't Turn Back" ripoff level was) are actually enjoyable, but EVERY SONG just fades into the background. Thus, they add nothing to the gameplay. And by the way, don't count on any songs returning from Yoshi's Island. No music player? Darn.

Now, the SOUND. Finally! Luckily Yoshi's awesome sound effects are still intact, so he still "hup"s and "bao"s like he used to. Mario sounds the same, too. Sadly, not every sound effect stayed this way, though this is usually minor. One example is that cave Shy Guys don't spring out of pipes anymore, flowers now sound less like they're blooming but more like they have "flower power" or something, and bats make a VERY annoying sound, which is especially apparent in level 5-6. And you'll notice that the first boss (one that bears an incredibly striking resemblance to Burt the Bashful) doesn't make a very awesome exploding sound; it's very short and sudden. Yoshi's transformation time-out "ooh-woah-woah-woah" sound is laughable. Just hear it, and you'll chuckle, I promise you. That's not good. As for the new character sounds, the only real things are the cries of all of those additional babies Yoshi has to carry around, which are, surprisingly, very good. (Peach's is a bit annoying and bratty, but nothing they could do about that, was there?)

I have to give points off for the bad music...

OVERALL: 4/10

GAMEPLAY

Most of the gameplay in Yoshi's Island DS is the same as its predecessor's: you run, jump, eat, lay eggs, throw them, et cetera, and throw your baby through the goal. But now there's a NEW twist! Yoshi can now use any of *insert number here* babies, each with a SPECIAL ABILITY! Baby Mario can now make Yoshi run (when you hold the B button and walk) and hit M blocks! He can also turn into Super Baby Mario, but you don't really use him that much, so he's almost not there. Baby Peach can open her umbrella...and fly! Reminds me of Mary Poppins. Too bad you can only use this in a breeze. And the last of your mainstream babies, Baby Donkey Kong can climb vines and swing on ropes! Unfortunately, putting more babies on his back doesn't help Yoshi's fall. I much prefer the levels - which are few and far between - in which you only need Baby Mario. Level 5-7 does an excellent job of this, marking a surprisingly great end to the regular levels in Yoshi's Island DS before the final boss.

WTF!?!? 5-7 is the last level before the final boss!?!?

Yes, there are only five worlds in this game. Five? Are you kidding me!?!? They stuff a bunch of extra crap into the special features (more on this in a few paragraphs) but only have FIVE worlds!?!?!?!?!? As a result, there is no Tap-Tap the Red Nosed equivalent. That's a shame; he was an awesome boss, and I would have liked to fight Tap-Tap the Golden in a real boss fight, not just a scrolling cave scene. And because of this, the worlds often have combined themes, many spanning four levels. I'd prefer to see six - or even more - worlds with central themes around them.

The bosses are actually partially inspired, but not their names. SPOILER ALERT! Skip to the next paragraph before reading on if you do not wish to see!
Big Bessie? At least it's not Bessie the Big. Shy Guy the Stilted? Six-Faced...Sal? There's also a boss or two that's TOTALLY uninspired. For example, the first boss DOES bear a striking resemblance to Burt the Bashful. In fact, it's just two of him! The only boss who's at least kind of cool is Hector the Deflector. Even though his name rhymes, he looks cool, and he acts cool, too. The final final final boss (yes, that's three) battle suffers from kind of bad hit detection, too. Bet you can't guess where you're supposed to hit him.

The difficulty doesn't go quite as high, quite as fast as the original. In fact, without trying to 100% all levels, you may find that your first REAL challenge is at the beginning of world four! Wasn't Yoshi's Island challenging from world two or three, and sometimes four?

Yoshi also has new transformations! As well as being a helicopter and mole - his only returning transformations, unfortunately - he can be, well, nothing else. Since you hardly use them, they don't contribute much, anyway.

This brings me to the Special Features. Special CRAP! The first one is the minigames, which you'll run into in those straw-roofed shacks along the way. Don't bother. They suck. I opened my first one hoping to find Bandit standing there, holding a balloon or something. Instead, they all say something like "How Far Can You Hover?" and "Throw As Many Guys Into the Flower As You Can!" I wish these required some skill, and were actually fun. they're just button-jamming, usually, and some losing-your-baby along the way.

Which brings me to items. Were you hoping to spit watermelon seeds at a Bully, or whatever that bull's called? Too bad. There's no watermelons, stars +10, or anything else. In fact, the Select button doesn't do anything! Not even the Start button brings you to that menu! And they were so fun, too.

Back to special crap. There's a museum, which lets you revisit every enemy you've defeated, but how do you get them in there? Hop on them? Throw an egg? I've squashed and eaten countless Shy Guys and flower guys, but still I see none here. Is this some kind of trick...?

There's also a Time Trial. Here's hoping you'll actually want to go through that whole thing again. Just seeing "You have to play the whole game over again to complete the game" on a title like this makes me say "Oh, man".

That's basically it, that long string of paragraphs. I hope you're persuaded not to buy this game, as I did.

OVERALL: 3/10

REPLAY VALUE

Surprisingly, Yoshi's Island DS has enough charm for me to want to complete all of the challenging Secret levels after beating the game once. Though it has its many, many, many flaws, it beckons you to pick it up and play again. But I'm not sure I'd like to go through the time trial, complete all hard minigames and fill the museum. Come on! This is going overboard!

OVERALL: 7/10

Pros:

+ Some levels are filled with original Yoshi splendor...
+ Most everything looks great...
+ Oh! Look! A cool boss...
+ Hey! A slightly good storyline!

Cons:

+ ...but most aren't.
+ ...MOST.
+ ...and several other bad, easy ones.
+ Slightly.
+ Music is all baby-fied and fades into background.
+ Special features = Special crap

BOTTOM LINE:

Storyline: 6.5/10
Graphics: 8/10
Sound/Music: 4/10
Gameplay: 3/10
Replay Value: 7/10

Total: 35%

I highly reccomend you not buy this game. Unless you REALLY wanna fight Bowser again, unless you REALLY hate Bandits, and unless you REALLY like xylophones, this game is not for you.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 01/28/09

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