Yoshi's Island DS (ヨッシー アイランド DS, Yosshī Airando Dī Esu?) is a
platforming video game developed by
Artoon for the
Nintendo DS. Published by
Nintendo, it was released in North America and
Australasia in November 2006, in Europe in December 2006, and in Japan in March 2007.
[1] It is the sequel to the 1995
SNES game,
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. Announced at Nintendo's
E3 press conference in May 2006,
[2] the game was well received by critics, scoring an average of 83% on
Metacritic's aggregate.
[3] The game was originally going to be titled
Yoshi's Island 2; its name was changed two weeks before its U.S. release.
The game's story focuses on the
Yoshi clan as they attempt to rescue newborn children that have been kidnapped by
Kamek.
[4] Yoshi's Island DS uses the updated graphical style from
Yoshi Touch & Go but retains the same core gameplay as its
Super Nintendo Entertainment System predecessor,
[2] but whereas the SNES game featured only
Baby Mario,
DS introduces
Baby Peach,
Baby DK and
Baby Wario and lets the player control
Baby Bowser (who was a boss in SMW2), who each give Yoshi a different ability.
[4] The aim of the game is to use these abilities to progress through various themed worlds.
[edit] Gameplay
A screenshot showing
Yoshi's Island DS's distinctive graphical style. The
Nintendo DS's two screens function as one tall screen.
Yoshi's Island DS's gameplay is the same as the previous game, with some additions. The player guides various different colored
Yoshis through
side scrolling stages.
[5] Yoshi can jump and hover (flutter jump) for a short time, eat enemies and turn them into eggs (which can be used for things like hitting switches and defeating distant enemies) and pound the ground (to smash crates, for example).
[4] Some stages offer Yoshi the ability to morph into vehicles for a short time.
[5] DS, like the original
Yoshi's Island, differs from many platforming games in that Yoshi does not have a
life bar; when Yoshi is hit, the baby he is carrying falls off his back and Yoshi must retrieve him/her before a timer runs out. (Unless yoshi falls on something that kills him instantly, such as a lava pit or spike field)
[4]
DS differs from the previous game in that five babies are available for Yoshi to carry, each bestowing a different ability. Baby Mario allows Yoshi to dash and makes special 'M' blocks appear. He can also grab Super Stars to become Super Baby Mario. Baby Peach allows Yoshi to float and fly on wind currents; Baby DK can grab and swing on vines and ropes; Baby Wario uses his magnet to attract metal objects; and Baby Bowser spits fireballs, but the Yoshi carrying him cannot make eggs.
[4][6] The need to switch babies at key points adds a
puzzle element to the game.
[6]
The
Nintendo DS's two screens act as one tall screen.
[5] However, in practice, this essentially just gives the player a better view of the surroundings and, save for one
boss battle (Hector the Reflector, where the bottom screen acts as a mirror through which to see Hector during the battle), only provides the benefit of being able to see more (above) and, when the player is on the top screen, below.
[4] The game does not make use of the bottom screen's touch sensitivity for basic gameplay, though it is an option for selecting levels and in some mini-games.
[4] Each of
DS's five worlds has two bosses, each with a weakness that must be identified and exploited. Most of the time, these are simply giant-sized versions of normal enemies, though some are more inventive.
[6]
Flowers and coins, as well as stars, are scattered about the game's stages. These are totalled at the end of each stage and a score is given depending how many of each were collected
[4] (a maximum of 30 stars, 20 red coins and 5 flowers). Sufficiently high scores are required to unlock one of the two sets of secret levels
[4] (the other set being unlocked upon completing the game). Special character coins are also introduced. Missing from the game are the power-ups of sorts, like the ability to spit seeds by eating watermelons, which were present in the original.
[6] Keys found in the stages unlock minigames and doors that would be closed otherwise.
[4][5]
As in
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Baby Mario and the Yoshi clan must rescue Baby Luigi, who was snatched by
Bowser's minion, Kamek. However, this time the Yoshi's have the combined assistance of both Baby Peach and Baby DK, who escaped the botched capture by the
Magikoopa. They later join with Baby Wario and Baby Bowser, who offer their specialized abilities so that the group may proceed.
[4] Baby Wario's lust for treasure leads him to abandon his duties while Baby Bowser betrays the group upon arrival at Bowser's castle. Despite this, the babies and Yoshis prevail, in both defeating Bowser—who had traveled to the past to capture the "Star Babies"—and retrieving Baby Luigi.
[edit] Development
Yoshi's Island DS was announced at E3 2006 under the name
Yoshi's Island 2,
[2] originally featuring only baby versions of Mario, Peach, and DK.
[2] The developer, Artoon, has made one other Yoshi game:
Yoshi's Universal Gravitation for the GBA.
Universal Gravitation veered away from the "Nintendo" design, but for
DS Artoon stuck close to the original concept.
[6]
The game retains the "classic" pastel/crayon visuals from its predecessor.
[5] Small changes are noticeable—water animation is better, the black outlines around objects are not as thick and the backgrounds are less cluttered
[4]—but the visuals are still "tightly centered" on those of the Super NES game.
[6]
[edit] Reception
Yoshi's Island DS's reception was positive, being given high scores by some of the most prominent video game critics. These include gaming websites
IGN and
GameSpot, who gave it 8/10 and 9.1/10 respectively.
[4][6] GameSpot's review commented that the developers have "produced a sequel that seems fresh and new while remaining every bit as awesome as the original".
[4] Multimedia website IGN called it "a solid recreation of the Yoshi's Island elements in a two-screen-high format,"
[6] and
GamePro in their review said that "it's fun and light-hearted play".
[5] Reviewers were particularly pleased with how the core gameplay elements are the same as in the previous game.
GamePro hails it as having "the classical 2D side-scrolling action and colorful pastel artwork that brought Nintendo to prominence",
[5] while IGN, although impressed with the game in general, wonders whether the developers "stuck too close to the established design in this new game", because having played the previous game "ruins a lot of the surprises".
[6] Other critics regard this as the best portable
Yoshi's Island game (with the exception of the
Super Mario Advance remake of the original
Yoshi's Island) because in their context, "(Yoshi) Topsy-Turvy was not there and (Yoshi) Touch & Go was incomplete."
One problem critics identified is the
blind spot created by the gap between the Nintendo DS's two screens. IGN accepts that this blind spot is necessary for aiming eggs properly but still describe it as "bothersome".
[6] GameSpy's reviewer calls it "a pain" and expresses frustration at being hit by an enemy hiding in this gap.
[7] On the whole, reviewers were pleased with the way the extra babies have been implemented,
[4] but IGN felt that Baby Wario was "a last minute addition that wasn't tested properly".
[6] They call his magnet "wonky", and says it "misses items that are right next to him".
[6]
Yoshi's Island DS was given GameSpot's "Editor's Choice" rating,
[4] and reached the final round for "Best Nintendo DS game".
[8] The game sold more than 300,000 copies in its first week of release in Japan.
[9] As of March 31, 2008,
Yoshi's Island DS has sold 2.91 million copies worldwide.
[10]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
