From the Nostalgia Network – Yoshi’s Island

March 5, 2011

MvG viewer and JTV caster Chatia is doing reviews for each game she completes on her cast. This review is for the SNES title, Yoshi’s Island (also known as GQ’s personal hell ^_^). Enjoy the review, and be sure to watch Chatia’s casts Tuesdays & Thursdays at 6 PM EST! -Duff

Yoshi's Island was released on October 5, 1994 in North America. A port of the game was also released on the GBA in September of 2002.

Yoshi’s Island

Played on: ZSNES Emulator

Defeated: February 2011

Yoshi’s Island is made by the guys at Nintendo (of course), and they did a great job of this game as a whole! This is a classic game, and one of my favorites from the SNES.

Story

For anyone who hasn’t played the game before, here is a quick story description: Baby Bowser tries to stop the Mario brothers from growing up by attacking the stork carrying the twins to their parents. In the attack, Baby Mario falls out and is discovered by a Yoshi! The Yoshi’s decide to help reunite Baby Mario with his twin, and defeat the evil Baby Bowser.

With Bowser at that size, you might need a whole army of Yoshi to protect Mario.

Gameplay

The gameplay in this game is quite fun. It’s a basic run and jump platformer, with some added mechanics thrown in. For example, take Yoshi eating his enemies and pooping them out as eggs. Or how about taking those eggs and throwing them at other things? Eh, sounds kind of gross when I put it like that—a green dinosaur throwing his poop…eww.

Anyway, as I pointed out numerous times during the cast, Kirby’s Epic Yarn took a lot of ideas from Yoshi’s Island. All of the vehicles that Kirby changes into make an appearance in Yoshi’s Story (helicopter, car submarine etc). Also, at the end of the level, there is a roulette that gives you more chances to win based on how many flowers you collected throughout the level. Overall, the gameplay is fun and interesting.

If only Kirby could manage to transform like this, eh?

Visuals

I personally really like the visuals of Yoshi’s Island. The whole game has the look of a kid’s coloring book, which I really enjoyed. The colors are very pastel like, yet you still feel like you’re in a living breathing world. Most of the game has a very relaxed feeling—I almost never felt rushed while playing this game. Each level has a different color Yoshi, but these different colors don’t correspond to a difference in playstyle.

Ah, the lovely mountains in the background. Ever wonder how a forest like that could grow in the clouds?

Sound

Three words: Baby. Mario. Crying. By the time you defeat this game, you will be hearing his screams in your nightmares. I’m sure this is what the developers intended, but it is honestly very very annoying, and it only served to irritate me further when I got hit and lost Baby Mario off Yoshi’s back. The music in the game is very well done, again with a very relaxed, playful attitude about it. All the sound effects are crisp and fit, and served to make the game more enjoyable.

Three words: Baby. Mario. Crying. By the time you defeat this game, you will be hearing his screams in your nightmares.

Difficulty

Let’s be honest, this is an easy game. I was able to one shot most of the levels, including the end boss, and it’s been years since I’ve played it last. The challenge in this game is to 100% all of the levels, which can prove to be challenging at times. All in all, this is a great game for the casual gamer, but you Meat Boy fanatics might find it a bit easy.

CNN Cast Highlight: Final Boss Kill: Yoshi’s Island

Overall Rating- 4/5

Overall, this is a very fun game, but is quite easy. It was the first game I beat on my cast, and was a good one to start with as I didn’t have toooo much fail happening in it. Overall, I recommend this game for playing!

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You can watch Chatia’s Nostalgia Network each Tuesday & Thursday at 6 PM EST / 3 PM PST, plus on select weekend days. Watch JTV’s own “CNN” at www.justin.tv/chatia12, and be sure to follow Chatia on twitter at twitter.com/chatia12.

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