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      Screens: Yoshi's Island DS

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Text Box:     Yoshi's Island DS (DS)   As most SNES enthusiasts will know, Yoshi’s Island was one of the most well-loved platform games in the history of gaming. Giving Mario a back seat in favour of Yoshi proved to be a masterstroke, as Yoshi’s starring debut was chock-full of innovation, originality and clever secrets, all wrapped up in a unique visual style with excellent music. It confirmed the character’s status as a permanent fixture within the Mario universe overnight.  With this kind of pedigree, it was only natural that Yoshi’s Island DS (the character’s second starring role on the DS, his first being the stylus-based ‘Yoshi Touch and Go’) would generate a lot of hype and unease amongst fans, as is always the case with big-name sequels. The game has been available for quite a long time now, and while it does not have the same ‘wow’ factor as the original, it is still a very good platformer, possibly one of the best on DS.  Firstly, the graphics have retained the same visual style as the original. The cartoony, crayon-scribbled backgrounds and colourful sprites have been retained, while Yoshi has been given a facelift with brand new sprites and animations. Anyone who played the original will feel right at home here.  The sound is unfortunately not so good. While the original had tons of upbeat, catchy tunes that people will still be humming today, Yoshi’s Island DS only has about two or three tunes, and they’re really dull. They don’t even seem to match their respective environments, rather, they seem to be thrown in all over the place so that there’s some sort of ambient music playing. On the other hand, the sound effects are very good, but they are the ‘cutesy’ sound effects from more recent Yoshi games, so those expecting the original sound effects may be let down here.  Fortunately, the gameplay makes up for any other shortcomings. As I mentioned before, it is not as good as the original, but it is still extremely solid. For those unfamiliar with the original, it basically involves Yoshi swallowing enemies, converting them into eggs, and using those eggs as weapons or a means of puzzle solving. Baby Mario rides on his back and if you get hit, Baby Mario will float away and will have to be retrieved within a time limit. It’s quite simple and it is wrapped up in some solid platforming action with a nice sense of quirkiness. Also, getting 100% for every stage in a world will open up bonus stages for that world, which adds incentive to keep playing the game. After all, playing through Yoshi’s Island DS is fun in itself, but trying to 100% it is way more challenging and, depending on your taste, more fun.  The touchscreen is not used in the traditional sense, with the game opting instead to have the game action occurring over both screens with all controls being done by the buttons. This layout works better than you might think, and the stages have been designed to take advantage of it. During the game you can switch the view so that Yoshi is either on the top screen or the bottom screen, and while this may sound useless at first, it proves surprisingly useful during gameplay. It’s quite frustrating when things sometimes get caught between the two screens so that you can’t see them, but this problem isn’t severe enough to ruin the game. The level design is generally well-done, and the double-screen boss fights range from very good to pure genius. Also, some of the secrets are so well hidden that searching for them is actually fun, and the levels look utterly gorgeous so you won’t mind looking at them over and over again. Definitely the biggest new addition to the gameplay is the ability to switch babies. Mario, Peach and Donkey Kong are all available to use after being unlocked, with Wario and Bowser available on certain stages. This provides some good variation to the gameplay, and as well as having exclusive skills that are required to solve certain puzzles, the babies affect general aspects of the gameplay such as the amount of time you can hover in mid-air and the abilities of your throwing eggs. One thing gamers will notice is that Yoshi’s Island DS is considerably tougher than the original. Getting 100% on all the stages is tough enough, but some of the later stages make it really difficult just to reach the end! This may not be good for a supposed kids game, but older gamers who have been crying about Nintendo games being ‘too easy’ will most likely welcome this change of pace. Overall, Yoshi’s Island DS is a very good platformer for the DS. Admittedly it is not as good as the original, but there was really no chance of that happening because the original set the bar too high. As it stands, YI DS is still a very enjoyable platformer and a great purchase for the DS. It’s got great graphics, great gameplay, longevity, and a unique use for the dual screens. If you love 2D platformers, you should definitely give it a go.  By Mr_M  

Text Box:     Graphics: A+ Retains the brilliant visual style of the original. Great looking cartoon sprites, smooth animation, and two-storey bosses!   Sound: D- The sound effects are serviceable but the music is shockingly bad. No headphones required for this one!   Gameplay: A- Not as revolutionary as the original, but still a fun platformer with responsive controls, great stages and great boss fights. Switching babies adds new abilities, and there are unlockable stages for extra gameplay.   Overall: B+   Another excellent 2D platformer for the DS.   What have you got to say? Say it in the forum, and get feedback direct from the reviewer!    
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