Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3

"A great game with an excellent style of playing. Definitely a collector's item."

"Yoshi's Island" was originally on the SNES. It was the sequel to Super Mario World (although, in a way, a prequel). This game had you taking control of Yoshi in an excellent platformer. Now, it has been updated onto the Game Boy Advance (and even a remake on the DS). Good thing, too; as a good game, lots of people should be able to experience it.

PLOT: 6/10. There are two reasons why the plot is incomplete: One, it's an old game, and two, it's a Mario game. Way back in the day, plots weren't thought much of. Back then, you just needed something to start the game off. After that, the story didn't matter. And Mario games with simplistic playing styles have never had great plots, and this is no exception. The story opens up with a stork carrying two bags with babies in them (Mario and Luigi). A Magikoopa named Kamek, who has predicted that the babies will bring disaster to the Koopas, swoops in and attempts to steal the babies. He snatches one--Luigi--but Mario falls down towards the sea. Lucky for Mario, his sack lands right on a Yoshi, and the map that the stork was using falls with him. The Yoshi takes Mario to his Yoshi friends, and they talk about what to do with him. Mario can sense where his brother is and desperately wants to get back to him. So, using a relay system, the Yoshies travel to reunite the babies. After that, the plot is meaningless. And while we all know that storks don't deliver babies, that makes it part of the fun. The "relay system" thing is also screwed up: If the Yoshies were honestly in a line that close to Baby Bowser's castle, one could just go in, get Luigi, and run back. As an old Mario game, what did you expect?

GRAPHICS: 9/10. For a Game Boy Advance game (technically SNES), the graphics are superb. There are eight Yoshies in the relay system that have different colors via palette swap. The graphics look like they were ripped right from a book with drawing on it, and everything is colored in by what looks like a crayon. This gives it a nice, artistic feel that blends in nicely with the games environments, whether it be field or jungle, cave or snowy mountain. Speaking of which, the worlds have different themes to them. World 1 is a peaceful, field-like place, while World 2 is kind of like a safari, World 3 is a jungle, World 4 is a mountain, World 5 is a snowy mountain, and World 6 is a haunted land full of Baby Bowser's minions. Animations are done well for a 2D game; when Yoshi turns his head to look behind him, it looks like it moves very fluidly. I'm not sure anyone can really complain about the graphics unless they're in a sour mood, because the pencil-and-crayon-like combination really suits the game.

SOUND AND MUSIC: 7/10. The sound and music is average. The music is reused again and again for different stages, and the sounds aren't wonderful masterpieces, either. There are several pieces of music that will be played at any time. One is for stages that have a placid, calm, easygoing feel to them. Another is fast-paced music for fast-paced stages that involve lots of running and hopping around. Still another is usually saved for areas with mud, rivers, or swamps and has a theme that's really hard to describe unless you hear it; it's kind of a slow, yet adventurous, tune. Another piece of music is saved for caves and dead, rocky areas. Slow, haunting music plays when you're in forts or castles (and one particular stage near the end of the game). And finally, we have a remix of the Mario-grabs-a-Starman-theme saved for special areas, mini-games, and when Baby Mario grabs a star. All-in-all, that's about six pieces of music. Still, they suit the game well, and while they are small in number and often repetitive, they are not annoying. The sounds are often reused for various things, as well; jumping on bouncy objects and bouncy enemies yield the same sound, as do enemies locking onto you, things slamming into the ground, collecting coins, Stars, and Flowers, and others. They do not get annoying either, but if you're looking for a variety of incredible sounds to blow you away, remind yourself that this is a simplistic game focused more on gameplay instead of music.

GAMEPLAY: 9/10. The gameplay is well-balanced. Not perfect, as it has a few irritating points, but balanced enough. I'm not entirely sure why they stuck the label of "Super Mario World 2" on this, because it does not relate to Super Mario World. At all. The gameplay is totally different, you control Yoshi and not Mario, and there are a few other small points. Maybe they labeled it that so that people would flock to it more. At any rate, the game is a platformer, meaning you will be hopping around a lot, going up stairs, and yes, even falling down pits when you make a stupid mistake. You can also enter doors to go deeper into the level or find secret areas. The goal of the game is to get from point A to point B. You start at the beginning of the stage, and you go to the end. Simple, but not always easy. Sometimes the path is clear and linear; just keep heading right until you see the finish line. However, sometimes, stages take a maze-like approach, and the place becomes more of a puzzle than a challenging fight to the finish. And while some stages are linear, they pull a Sonic the Hedgehog and have you speeding away from a hungry, giant Chain Chomp who decides that Yoshies look like tasty after-dinner snacks. And unlike Super Mario World, there is no time limit. I feel that this was an incredible bonus that was well-needed. It leaves you free to explore, develop strategies, and take your time instead of being careless because there are fifty seconds left on a clock that counts down quicker than it should. Enemies in the game range from being nearly-harmless to annoyingly deadly, and you'll continuously encounter new enemies throughout the game.

Your health bar is a very strange variation. Instead of getting beaten to a pulp to lower your health, you have Stars. You start with 10 of these, and when you get hurt, Mario gets knocked off your back. Kamek's Toadies are trying to kidnap Mario again, so the Stars protect Mario in a bubble. The Stars go down each second, and when you run out, the Toadies appear and kidnap Mario unless you miraculously save him right as they come. If, however, you touch Mario's bubble (Yoshi's long tongue helps), Mario reappears safe on your back, and the Stars slowly count back up to 10. You can have up to 30 Stars at one time, but they only count back up if they're below 10. Such a health bar may make the game sound easy, but that's not counting fatal falls, lava plunges, touching giant thorns, or impaling yourself on a spike. Later on, you'll be seeing many of those.

Stars help a point system. You are scored after clearing a stage (you can redo stages and attempt to get a higher score) on how many Stars you have, how many of the 20 Red Coins you found (each one worth 1 point), and how many of the 5 Flowers you found (each worth 10 points). Getting lots of points in a world will open up "Extra Stages" and "Bonus Stages." Extra Stages are extremely difficult stages unlocked after getting 800 points--a perfect score unless you get more points from a Secret Stage, which I'll explain later--and put your skills (and sometimes luck) to the test. After getting 700 points, you unlock an item mini-game, so you can get items and extra lives as you please. Since you can lose Stars by being hurt, this puts a serious emphasis on avoiding damage.

And speaking of items, you can get items by playing mini-games. Items range from destroying all on-screen enemies to giving yourself 10 or 20 Stars. They are very handy and will help you when there are too many enemies for comfort or you need to refill your Stars at the end of the stage. You can get items in one of three ways. The first is to play a "Bandit Mini-Game." By finding keys and unlocking doors to a Bandit's house, you can compete against a Bandit to get certain items and extra lives. (You can also enter a code at the stage selection screen to play Bandit Mini-Games.) The second way is to play them at the end of levels. Depending on how many Flowers you got during the level, a little roulette will activate when you jump through the Goal Ring, and if it lands on an open Flower, you'll play a mini-game. And, like I mentioned before, you can unlock Bonus Stages by getting 700 points in a world.

Multiple checkpoints have been added in stages. These are called Middle Rings. Not only do you have the option of starting there again at your status if you die, but they refill your Stars by 10. Sometimes Middle Rings appear in maze-like stages in limited supply, so planning and strategizing plays a big part then.

Okay, we're at the end of the Gameplay section, I swear. Yoshi can throw eggs in this game by eating enemies or certain objects and turning them into eggs, then launching them as projectile weapons, switch-hitters, and thing-bashers. You can have up to 6 eggs, and it's important that you have a good supply of them.

REPLAY VALUE: 7/10. After beating Baby Bowser, six "Secret Stages" open up, one for each world. These are like Extra Stages, as they must be unlocked and they are exceedingly challenging. Other than that, you can redo stages and try and get perfect scores, but there's not much else to do.

CONTROL EASE: 9/10. The controls run smoothly and are well placed. There is no run button for Yoshi; just hold Left or Right, and Yoshi will go in that direction, going faster the longer you hold it. A jumps and B slurps Yoshi's tongue to eat enemies and either spit them out or turn them into eggs. R throws eggs, and L locks the cursor when throwing an egg. There are two styles of egg-throwing: Patient and Hasty. With Patient, you press R once to bring up the cursor moving up and down and press R again to throw. With Hasty, you hold R to have the cursor come up, and when you release R, you immediately throw it. The controls are well-placed and easy to use.

GAME LENGTH: 6/10. Well, I'm not going to kid you, the game length is sappy. You should be able to beat it in ten hours, tops, if you take an extremely long time about doing it. This is made up for by the short hours being hours of fun and the innovative level designs. (You will also have favorite and hated stages.)

TOTAL SCORE: 53/70. It's still a good score, and the flaws don't outnumber the great gameplay.

FLAWS: The length. The length is very short, so you have to accept that it's not going to last a long time if you're going to play it. Also, the 100-point thing was a good idea, but messed up by the Stars. It STINKS to get a perfect score, then fight a boss, get hit, and lose a few points (and you're not allowed to use items during boss fights, either). I think a basic find-the-items system would have worked perfectly.

CONCLUSION: Yoshi's Island has its perks and downfalls, greatness and badness. I personally think that the greatness outdoes the badness, and the gameplay is worth it. If you're thinking about buying it, know that it is definitely worth the money.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/31/08

Game Release: Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 (US, 09/24/02)