Yoshi's Island DS

I have a question for all those Yoshi fans out there; did the name Artoon scare you away when it was announced by Nintendo who would be the developer for Yoshi’s Island DS? You must have heard about about Artoon’s brilliant history somewhere in the past few years. The wondrous Blinx series that created a legendary series for Microsoft is their biggest claim to fame so far. All sarcasm aside, Nintendo chose Artoon to take a hold of the DS sequel to one of the best platform games on the SNES and many doubted the production that would be delivered.  

The storyline of Yoshi’s Island DS is that Baby Luigi has been kidnapped by Kamek. Kamek, a reoccurring character has been receiving a lot of limelight in Mario games as of late, is an evil Koopa wizard. So, it is in the cards for Baby Mario to set out to save Baby Luigi with his loyal Yoshis at his side. The storyline isn’t revolutionary or groundbreaking, but Mario has never tested the limits in terms of a cunning storyline.

Like usual, the gameplay is simply based around the fact that Yoshi is able to eat bad guys and then turn them into an egg. After turning them into an egg, you are able to toss them at other enemies. Once again, not a whole lot changing from the original, the formula worked before and Artoon stuck with following it as close as they could.

Within Yoshi’s Island on the DS, Artoon introduces new infant versions of Wario, Bowser, Donkey Kong and Princess Peach. I am very happy to see Wario and Donkey Kong found within the title; they are interesting characters that don’t see too many storylines about them to flesh the characters out. Each character provides new powers to Yoshi. The first, Peach, is able to help Yoshi float and ride on wind currents. Meanwhile, Donkey Kong is able to climb tree vines and provides Yoshi a powerful attack. Then with Wario, he carries a magnet that will attract coins towards Yoshi. Lastly, Baby Bowser breathes fire; like if that was out of the ordinary.

The level design is coordinated with the babies you have tagging along for the ride. You’ll have to drop by the Stork Stops to change your infant of choice. Wario is basically useless since his magnet barely works when you need it to. I suggest avoiding the use of Wario outside of a few sole selections to tinker around with his abilities. The levels are designed for players to revisit them when you have all the babies unlocked; portions of the levels will be found when you are able to explore with all the infants in your selection.

The difficulty of Yoshi’s Island is on the easy side because of one reason – extra lives. As you progress throughout the game, you’ll be gaining new lives quickly that you’ll never be in danger of a 'game over' screen ever. The last few levels of the game will showcase more difficulty, but it’s rather on the easy side for 70% of the game. Collecting everything in the levels will prove to be slightly more difficult. Escaping with all stars cluttered around the levels will be tough since the levels are gigantic for a platformer. 

The dual-screen format of the game does provide a much larger view of the huge levels. The dual screen also factors in a few boss battles but for the majority, the dual screen use is wasted. There’s even a blind spot between the two screens and it makes playing the game a tad awkward. If you are one of those item collectors, you’ll be upset to hear that the items will be lost in the area of the blind spot. It’s disappointing that Artoon couldn’t put forth a better camera into the game. 

The controls of Yoshi’s Island aren’t as perfected as the level design. It’s not nearly as responsive as I remember from the beloved SNES original. Launching eggs isn’t as fast or precise as it had been in the past. Maybe it’s just me and fans won’t even find the same little problems, but they were evident from the get go. Overall on the controls, they are decent and aren’t broken – it’s just the timing has been changed and it caught me off guard.

I am glad that Nintendo had a tighter leash on Artoon for the creation of Yoshi’s Island DS. I was scared that this would be butchered and the nostalgic memories of yesteryear would be tortured into depression of another bad Yoshi game from Artoon. Beyond the introduction of new infants to get your dirty mittens on, Yoshi’s Island doesn’t introduce a whole lot of innovation or originality on the DS. It follows suit and doesn’t try to raise the ante – which necessarily isn’t a bad thing. Yoshi’s Island DS is great on its own merits, but if you were to compare it to the SNES original, there’s not much comparison on which one has the greater fun factor.

Gameplay: 8.2
If you have played the SNES original, I know for sure that this will leap out as an accessible platformer to fall in love with. There are only a few problems but they lie within the controls.

Graphics: 8.1
2D graphics are still superb and I won’t ever become annoyed with them. I am not the biggest fan of the old hand-drawn art converting to computer animation, so I appreciate the vintage 2D sprites still to this day.

Sound: 8.0
It’s what you come to expect from Mario games. Nothing here to brag about, but the game is able to get the job done.

Difficulty: Easy
Outside of the blind spot, Yoshi’s Island is relatively easy to play through. With the chance to rack up extra lives at the drop of the dime, the difficulty is meant for quick sessions of 15 minutes playtime.

Concept: 7.5
New characters to use help the game feel fresh, but it wears off quickly. Believe me; changing babies is not as fun as it sounds, especially when they have a diaper full of surprises for you.

Overall: 7.8
I’d recommend this to anyone who is looking for their next fix on the DS. It may not be the most original platformer, but as the old saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”