Mon, 17 Sep 2007 by Marcel Van Duyn
Baby Bowser has snatched the Super Happy Tree and cast a spell on Yoshi’s Island, turning it into a picture book!
Remember Yoshi’s Island on the SNES (Super Mario World 2)? That awesome platformer that swapped the roles and made Yoshi the main hero with (Baby) Mario being the sidekick? Yeah. This is the first "real" Yoshi game (Mario isn't in the name and he's barely seen in the game) and it does things a bit differently.
The first thing you'll notice is that Nintendo decided to take a very different approach graphics-wise. Instead of opting for a "crayon-drawn" style like Yoshi’s Island they decided to take a weird "pop-up book" style, which looks quite odd (Look at the pictures and video!). Characters are quite big compared to Yoshi’s Island as well. Nintendo fans often get defensive when people call games "kiddy", which is usually totally baseless - But this game is the very definition of the word, with ridiculously childish and "cute" graphics. Even some of the biggest Nintendo fans can't stand this game's graphical style!
The main gameplay is quite similar to Yoshi’s Island. Yoshi can extend his tongue, throw eggs, do flutter jumps, ground pound and more. This time though, Yoshi's got life - Instead of being able to simply retrieve Baby Mario, he will just take damage, and if he loses all his life, he's a goner. If you die, you've got a bunch of "reserve" Yoshis (All differently coloured) which fancy eating different types of Shy Guys and fruit. Lost Yoshis can be retrieved, but I'll leave it up to you to discover how. If you lose all Yoshis, it's game over.
Beating levels is a bit different - They basically go on endlessly. It's not until you fill all of the dots around the screen with fruit (Just eat them) before you end the stage. There are 6 worlds - Each of them has four stages, although in all but the first, three of them must be unlocked first. You can only choose one of the levels in each world in a playthrough, so altogether you will only play six stages! Not every level has a boss - You will most likely hardly fight any before you reach the final boss. None of the bosses are particularly challenging, one can actually be defeated by just using Yoshi's tongue move over and over!
The sound department is another factor where the game fails. This is the game that introduced the annoying voice Yoshi has today. Yes - those awful "yaaaaaay" and "whoooooa" noises originated here. The music has some nice beats to it, but for the most part, it's just a bunch of remixes of the exact same theme. There are also some songs that actually have Yoshi voices singing - You can imagine how annoying those sound.
Yoshi's Story is usually not mentioned when people talk about Mario platformers, and for a good reason - The game is insultingly easy, collecting fruit to progress serves as a lame excuse to keep you in levels longer, the game's incredibly short (An hour for one playthrough tops) and once you've seen all the levels the game has to offer by locating all the big hearts, there is absolutely no need to replay it ever again.
1. Roo
22 Feb 2009, 22:02 GMT
I find the review interesting, yet unconvincing. It's a different (enough) game to warrant a download, and has some really impressive touches - though a subjective matter, I feel the music and sound both enhance the Yoshi's Story experience. In conjunction, the claim that it is unchallenging is hallow; a substantial challange lies underneath the suface.
I'll wrap this up: your review is misguiding.
2. Digiki
22 Feb 2009, 23:35 GMT
The score is also only a little over half of what it should be.
3. Bass X0
23 Feb 2009, 09:48 GMT
Yeah. Its better than a 4/10. Its not a great game but its still somewhat fun and playable even if you'll see the whole game quite quickly. There's some really bad N64 games in its library and this isn't one of them. But we'll never see those on VC anyway.
4. slangman
23 Feb 2009, 12:18 GMT
Wow 4/10. This is one of the most unfair reviews I ever read. Sure this game is easy and it ends too quick but this is a fun little gem. The music is quite good too. This deserves something like 7/10. 4/10 makes it sound like a bad game when it's not.
5. Mickeymac
25 Feb 2009, 23:14 GMT
This actually looks like a lot of fun! Certainly better than that deplorable Yoshi's Island game! No stupid baby to carry around!
Just from watching the video, I already disagree with the review. For one thing, I actually find the pop-up book look to be incredibly charming. I also don't mind any of the new music and sound effects at all. I never liked the look or the music of the previous Yoshi game, and this is honestly an improvement. Other than that, I simply can't seem to figure out what was actually "bad" about this game. Music and graphics alone don't make a game good or bad, and I would've appreciated it if the reviewer had made things more clear.
6. Shinnok
26 Feb 2009, 06:35 GMT
This game is fun Mickeymac, and the pop-up book aspect is very charming. Excellently worded! And yeah Slangman, a 7/10 is appropriate. Because, if you're like me, you like a game to have a good story. And, like most (not all) Nintendo titles, this game can't deliver.
7. Jogurt the Yogurt
28 Feb 2009, 06:17 GMT
Wait, the music is "nothing special" and the only real downside is Yoshi's annoying voice, and that drops the score to a 4/10? OK... This review actually makes the game sound pretty fun.
8. Doogle
02 Mar 2009, 15:17 GMT
@Jogurt - I dunno, in reading this review I think it's pretty clear the reviewer is not recommending this!
I remember playing it as a kid, it bored me to tears. There is no challenge and the levels just cycle around in a loop. Compared to the sublime Yoshi's Island on the SNES this is a real turd!
9. Sauronmx
04 Mar 2009, 16:08 GMT
Well as a "cranky kong" on nintendo gaming, and aslo as a proud parent, this game left me with two diferent point of views.
a) as gamer.- really will hate myself for the rest of my life, i really cant find a good point that saves this game from the 4/10 score. Too easy, the same routine every level.... well a lot of bad points that were already pointed in the review. I miss those 1000 wii points to date.
b) as parent.- I have two kids, a 6 year old girl and a 4 years old boy, and when trying to find them a game that they could play without my help, also that doenst serves that big amount of violence, blood and bad language to them, i find myself in front of Yoshi's story. You have no idea how many smiles and good time this 1000 wii points bring to the family time in front of the wii.
10. MrLopez
15 Mar 2009, 18:02 GMT
Wow only a 4
That makes me a sad Yoshi.. lol
Anyways it deserves at least a 7 I think.
11. CharlieACCF
21 Mar 2009, 04:02 GMT
This is my absolute favorite Yoshi game! Cheerful graphics, fun objectives and silly sounds. An enjoyable N64 classic!
12. rayword45
13 Apr 2009, 23:47 BST
Seriously, this is an 8 in my book! It's quite fun and it was MADE for children so saying that lowers the score makes you sound like a Microsoft fan, Drake (You need a game with blood and gore). No offense!
13. pie4prez
14 Apr 2009, 02:13 BST
I actually liked this game a lot, 7/10 is the right score. The only thing that I didn't like was that you could only play one level in a world and then you got boosted to the next world. A nice addition to your VC library if you ask me.
14. Goomba2996
20 Apr 2009, 20:18 BST
Wow I agree with what everybody's saying 4/10 is too low for this game 7/10 is more like it.
15. hobbes
26 Apr 2009, 07:51 BST
I have fond memories of this game as a kid when playing it at friends houses. Granted, I was around 10 or so when N64 came out so... But a 4/10 does seem low. And as someone who isn't good at platformers, I remember dying quite a few times when playing this.
16. Apocalypse
06 May 2009, 09:57 BST
Lol, where did that 4/10 come from? As someone else said, this game is made for the younger crowd. I rented this game as a kid for a week and couldn't even beat it, so that you need only 1 hour to beat this game is absolutely ridiculous.
17. SergeOfArniVillage
21 May 2009, 22:00 BST
This is a depressing game
Think about it. Yoshi's have to go on an eating spree in order to stay alive. When they eat enough, they go into a drug-induced trippy-like state and pass out, only to wake up in another world. Poor Yoshi, so depressed he's turned to drugs. Anyway, this game is pretty good, about 7/10.
18. Marioman64
29 May 2009, 10:49 BST
geez your review makes the game sound bad, I would've given it like 7 stars. each level has a challenge to find all 30 melons. there's tons of replayability in trying to unlock all the stages.
And your last paragraph. I love the music in this game, it's really rewarding. The graphics are brilliant and really make you feel the world has turned into a pop-up book (which is the plot). The game is easy if you just look for any fruit, challenging if you go for all melons, and it's just fun all over. It's rated E for everyone for a reason.
19. MetalMario
23 Jul 2009, 05:30 BST
This review was just awful, I have to say. True, the game is easy if you just eat everything. If you are picky and try to get the best score (which the scoring wasn't even mentioned in this review), the game gets much more difficult. And I like the graphical style. It accurately portrays the story and it's bright and colorful. And it's not like there's only 6 stages. There's 24, really. You should be encouraged to try and unlock all the levels by playing it more than once. And there's only two bosses. One after stage 3 and one after 6. That was intentional. And the thing about how the music is the same but remixed? Try playing Super Mario World. It's that there, too. The main theme is remixed to fit the level's theme. This game should have been at least an 8.
And Yoshi's voice is NOT annoying. If it lost stars for that that's pretty stupid.
20. Zinjak
25 Jul 2009, 20:28 BST
ive always found the songs where the yoshi's sang to be charming and cute.
21. MattL
28 Oct 2009, 20:04 GMT
N64 classic indeed!! Can't understand the direction this amateurish review is going in. The graphics are beautiful, and way ahead of their time. There is also a good level of challenge and exploration if you take the time to play it. I'd say a 7 or 8 too.
I'd really love to meet one of those "biggest Nintendo fans" who whinge about the graphics. Are they exremely tall people or really obese?
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