Mario’s pal Yoshi returns in Yoshi’s Island DS, follow-up to the SNES classic. Better than the original? Full review with screens and video

Yoshi's Island DS for Nintendo DSIn 1995 one of the greatest platformers of all time was released in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island.

The fantastic sequel pushed the graphics and sound capabilities of the Super Nintendo to the max, while offering gamers a unique and interesting platformer where the player controlled Yoshi, who was ridden by a brand new character, Baby Mario.

Using Yoshi’s tongue, the player could swallow enemies to create eggs which could then be thrown. This served as the basis for the gameplay in Yoshi’s Island. While the game didn’t contain puzzles per se, it was filled with sections that required precise throwing technique. It was as much a thinking platformer as it was an action one.

While Yoshi has been in many games since his introduction in the original Super Mario World, there have only been three real formal platformers starring the green dino as the main character: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (later released as Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi’s Island), Yoshi’s Story, and most recently Yoshi Topsy-Turvy for the Game Boy Advance.

Nintendo finally answered gamers requests for a new Yoshi’s Island with Yoshi’s Island DS, the first proper Yoshi game for Nintendo’s uber-popular portable (I don’t count games like Yoshi’s Cookie and Yoshi’s Touch & Go as proper Yoshi titles btw).

Rent Yoshi's Island DS at NumbThumb
As a brand-new game in the Yoshi’s Island series, gamers were obviously very excited to get their hands on the dual-screened, multiple-baby-switching platformer. I was too and thanks to the courtesy of the fine folks over at game-rental service NumbThumb, I got to check the game out myself and give it a full play-through.

So is this sequel as good as the original?

Yoshi's Island DS Logo

System: Nintendo DS
Also On: None
Genre: 2D side-scrolling platformer
Release Date: Nov. 13 ’06 (US), Dec. 1, ’06 (EU), Mar. 8, ’07 (JAP)
Save: Cart Save, three files.
Players: 1
Developer: Artoon
Publisher: Nintendo
Rated: E for Everyone

Yoshi’s Island DS is a wonderful game. However it’s difficult to review for one main reason . . . you’ll either be coming to the game from a nostalgic perspective, if you are one of the millions of gamers who loved the original Yoshi’s Island on SNES, or you’ll be coming to the game from a brand-new perspective, if you are one of the millions of people who never played the original. And then in-between are the people who don’t care about graphics or sound and will simply play anything that they deem fun . . . further complicating the reviewing process for someone like me.

But before I get into perspectives and then close-up with my personal opinion on the game, I’ll educate anyone that never played the original game on how this new sequel plays.

In Yoshi’s Island DS you control Yoshi. Or rather, you control “a” Yoshi (You know who he is, Mario’s dinosaur-like pal) as there are several Yoshi’s of various colors, although all of them control the same. Riding on the back of Yoshi will be one of several babies whom you can swap in and out at set points in the game (easily identified by a sign-post). But first, let’s go over Yoshi’s moves.

Sunflowers are tall!

Like in the original Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island and all subsequent Yoshi titles in the series, Yoshi’s main abilities are his tongue, flutter jump and his ability to throw eggs. Pressing the Y Button will make Yoshi lash out his tongue. Most enemies in the game as well as other objects can be taken into Yoshi’s mouth via his long tongue. Once an enemy or object is in Yoshi’s mouth, it can be spit back out again by pressing Y once more. This can be used to activate certain floating clouds or to destroy other enemies by spitting them out into each other. You can even take fire into Yoshi’s mouth and spit flames back out.

Pressing the down button with an enemy or object in Yoshi’s mouth will typically cause Yoshi to swallow it, which will create an egg. These eggs follow behind Yoshi (up to six of them).

Yoshi can jump by pressing the B Button. Pressing the B Button while in the air will cause Yoshi to flutter his feet (i.e. Flutter Jump) . . . this allows him to “float” for a brief period as well as pushes him up a short distance, allowing you to make it to platforms that you otherwise couldn’t reach.

Pressing the down button while Yoshi is in the air will cause him to Butt Stomp, sending him careening into the ground. This move can be used to destroy certain enemies that are otherwise indestructible, as well as to pound certain objects, like stakes, into the ground or destroy parts of the floor (depending on what’s below you).

Last, but definitely not least, is Yoshi’s ability to throw eggs. Once eggs are following behind Yoshi, he (forgetting for a moment that Yoshi’s are generally asexual) can throw them by pressing the A Button. Pressing the A Button will cause Yoshi to aim the egg with a cursor that moves up and down. Depending on your control method, pressing the A Button again or letting go of the A Button will cause Yoshi to throw the egg in the direction of the cursor. This takes some skill as the cursor moves up and down automatically, requiring good timing to aim the egg where you want it to hit (Although holding the X Button will hold the cursor in that position). You can also use the R Button to aim and shoot eggs, and pressing the down button while the aiming cursor is up will cancel it (You can’t turn around while aiming btw, but you can move around and jump).

Careful Yoshi, lava baddy.

Egg tossing is one of the main fundamentals of gameplay in Yoshi’s Island DS (it WAS the main gameplay element in the original game). Throughout the game you will make use of egg tossing to do all kinds of stuff. You will use them to destroy enemies, activate switches (which sometimes take the form of floating clouds) and even to collect faraway coins or Flowers by throwing eggs into them.

Yoshi’s Island DS starts you out on a map screen from which you will see several boxes, these represent the various levels in the World. There are five worlds total with each world containing 8 initial levels. Six of the stages are standard levels, with the other two being boss battle stages, represented in the box by a castle icon silhouetted in the back and pictures of the boss overlaying it. There are also three unlockables per world. These boxes are shown to the right of the eighth stage and are not available initially.

To get to a different world on the map you can move the hand cursor to the numbered tabs at the top. Pressing the Score tab will show your Score for each level, and the last tab is the Museum, a place where you can view all the enemies in the game “in their natural habitat”, without being harmed. You need to destroy them first before they’ll be added to the museum, so good luck finding them all!

The last box is the Option menu where you can toggle between control methods and change the sound (Stereo, Headphones or Surround). Saving in Yoshi’s Island DS is done automatically whenever you beat a level (it does not tell you it’s saving, it simply does it). Pressing the B Button while on the map screen will back you out to the previous menus, while pressing the A Button confirms.

Each level in Yoshi’s Island DS has a unique name, such as: “Ba-da BUM”, “Catch the Breeze”, “Up the Creek”, or “Tap Tap’s Sunken Cave”. Generally the level name tells you a little something about what to expect in that level. Either a new enemy that is introduced or a new gameplay mechanic or such that you haven’t seen before.

Like most 2D platformer games, the levels scroll to the left or the right as you move Yoshi. One addition to Yoshi’s Island DS is the fact that the playfield is taken up by two screens, which form one gigantic picture. This widens your viewpoint considerably, as you can now see way into the sky or what’s above you. The game scrolls along with Yoshi wherever you move, so the screens are not static, the whole viewpoint moves along with you. You can even hold up or down and press the X Button to move the viewpoint up more to the top or bottom, so you can see even further below or above you.

The goal of each level in Yoshi’s Island DS is to reach the end of the stage and jump through the flower-laden “Goal Ring” (which will trigger a mini-game if the ball lands on a Flower, giving you a chance to earn extra lives).

Baby DK climbs the purdy green.

Of course, there’s a huge different between knowing the path and walking the path, and getting to the end of the level will not be easy. Getting there with a perfect score will be near impossible! Ok, not really, but suffice it to say that this is one very tough and very long game if you won’t to see and do all that it has to offer, which means completing each stage with a score of 100%. Not an easy feat.

Naturally for a game like this, the levels are strewn about with platforms, pitfalls, deadly spikes, soft ground that can be broken with a butt stomp or by being hit from above, platforms that move or spin, switches that activate bricks you can stand on or ladders you can walk up, rocks, walls, and every conceivable type of obstacle for Yoshi to maneuver his way through.

And of course, the levels are strewn about with many enemies to stop Yoshi in his tracks. Some will be familiar faces: Bullet Bill, Koopa & Para Troopas, Piranha Plants, etc. and others will be all new enemies. Most enemies can be destroyed with a single bop to the head, as in any typical Mario platformer. But of course it’s not always so easy, some enemies have spikes, others have shields and spears with which to thrust you with! Some are made of lava or for some other reason cannot be destroyed normally. As stated in the intro, Yoshi’s Island DS is every bit a thinking man’s platformer.

Making the game even more complex are several things to collect along the way (naturally). These come in different forms all taken from the original Yoshi’s Island.

You’ll find 20 Red Coins hidden amongst the regular gold coins that you will see scattered about like in any good Mario game. When you touch these coins you’ll see them flash red to indicate that they are Red Coins and not gold.

There are five total Flowers you can find. These are generally a little more deviously hidden than the Red Coins, given that there are only five of them, and many of them will require you go out of your way or through a more difficult path to retrieve them. Collect all 5 to get a 1-up.

Shy Guy . . . On stilts!

You will also come across special Character Coins. These will only be collectible if you are controlling a particular baby (otherwise you will simply see an outline where the coin should be) and are large gold colored coins with an engraving of the baby on the surface. Collecting these coins isn’t necessary to complete the level 100%, but collecting all of them in every level (quite the challenge! They are sometimes very deviously hidden) will unlock hard versions of the mini-games that you can play in the main menu. While the mini-games aren’t special, you will want to collect them all if you are to prove to be a master of Yoshi!

Last but not least are Stars. At the end of each level you will get a certain number of points depending on how many Stars, Red Coins and Flowers you collected. You have to have 30 Stars, 20 Red Coins and all 5 Flowers in order to get 100 points, and 100%, on that level. Getting 100% on each level however is not required to unlock everything in the game. Naturally, levels you have beaten can be played again to improve your score.

Stars actually aren’t a collectible per se, but rather Stars act as your health.

You see, when Yoshi gets hit by an enemy, the baby on his back (more on the babies in a bit) will get knocked off Yoshi’s saddle. He’ll then start floating away in a little bubble, crying his little lungs out (and yes it’s just as annoying as it was in the original game). You then have a certain number of seconds to retrieve the baby. You can do this by touching him in any way you can (Thankfully Yoshi’s horrendously long tongue counts). Throwing eggs at the floating baby will cause him to drop, and if you get too far away generally he will be pushed (by the edges of the screen I suppose) towards your general direction, although not if the baby is somehow boxed in or blocked by a wall or such.

The Stars come into play because they act as your timer for baby retrieval. If you have collected 30 Stars, then you will have 30 seconds to grab that baby. Stars are generally found floating in little clouds, shooting them with an egg will cause Stars to come bursting out of the cloud. You will also gain Stars by going through Checkpoint rings (a nice bonus). Hitting the checkpoint ring will allow you to start from that part of the stage if you die.

Spinning platforms.

Yoshi can die by either hitting spikes, which kill him in one hit, touching lava (ditto), falling off a cliff to the endless depths below (naturally killing him immediately) or by being a horrible babysitter and allowing the Star Timer to run out . . . at which point Kamek’s evil minions will fly in and swoop out with your baby! Bad uncle Yoshi, BAD!

You will die a lot in Yoshi’s Island DS, no matter how good your platform skills are, but it’s not much of a setback since you will usually find more than one checkpoint in any given level, and the game is also EXTREMELY generous with bonus lives . . . Too much so. I had over 170 at one point! Thankfully though, having lives does not make it any easier to get through a level. You’re on you’re own there.

Actually you’re not . . . You have a bunch of lovely little babies to join you!

As you can tell by looking at the cover of the box, Yoshi’s Island DS introduces a brand new feature for the Yoshi’s Island series . . . different swappable babies!

There are five babies in total, although only three of them will stay with you the entire time. The babies are: Baby Mario, Baby Peach, Baby Donkey Kong, Baby Wario and Baby Bowser. Each baby has unique abilities that set it apart from others, including a few differences in the way a thrown egg hits.

Baby Mario is the first baby and the one you will have initially, and his special ability is running. By holding down the Y Button Yoshi will sprint off at a faster pace. Naturally this is used in many parts of the game to get passed certain moving obstacles where timing is of the essence or to avoid being smashed by falling platforms or outrunning timed switches. There are even a few chase sequences where a giant enemy will come crashing through everything in it’s path, and you’ll have to run off ahead of it, at which point Baby Mario is a good candidate to get you out of harms way quicker.

While carrying Baby Mario you’ll also be able to utilize special Red blocks, which only appear if you are in control of Baby Mario, and these usually allow you to access a part of the level that you couldn’t otherwise, and sometimes contain special vines that will grow, allowing you to reach a higher platform. And most will give you bonus coins if you hit them from below.

Baby Mario can also grab Super Stars, which allow you to control Baby Mario without his dinosaur babysitter (who will be in a giant egg of his own through the whole Super Star sequence). Holding the Y Button allows Super Baby Mario to sprint off at a quick pace. Being small he can fit into places you can’t while riding Yoshi, and he’s also invincible, meaning he can run across spikes.

But the coolest ability of Super Baby Mario is his wall-running. Simply run towards a wall (or off a platform . . . at which point he’ll continue running around it) and Baby Mario will dash up it, even running across the ceiling. And lastly, Baby Mario is the only Baby that allows eggs to be ricocheted off walls. A very big deal. As ricocheting eggs in the direction you need them to go to hit something is a fundamental element of the game.

Baby Peach’s special ability is floating via her umbrella. She can only do this however if there is wind blowing, at which point Yoshi will fly off in that direction. She cannot float without wind, which is a bit disappointing, although naturally the levels are designed around the fact that you can only float with blowing wind. To use her umbrella Yoshi has to do a Flutter Jump, at which point she’ll whip the Umbrella out in a hurry. Peach does not have any special Egg Throwing ability.


Baby Donkey Kong is one of the most useful characters as he has more abilities than anyone else. Donkey Kong can climb up and down, as well as across (hand to hand) vines, ropes and such. He can also do a Dash Attack by holding the down button and pressing Y. Baby Donkey Kong also has one of the most useful Egg Throwing attacks as the egg explodes upon impact, taking out anything in the vicinity of the yellow-colored blast (such as a group of coins).

The latter two babies are special in that they are only selectable on certain stages on a certain World.

Baby Wario carries a gigantic (in relation to him anyway) magnet. The magnet attracts anything metallic. This is great for collecting coins that are far away, and it’s also used to pull certain items, such as metal platforms or metal boxes, to you. The pulling can be somewhat spotty, particularly when trying to get a platform to move back up (you have to keep jumping to “pull” it up), which can be annoying. Like Peach, Baby Wario has no special Egg Throwing ability.

Lastly is the younger version of the Koopa King himself, Baby Bowser. Not to be confused with “Bowser Jr.”, who is a different character entirely. Baby Bowser has the very unique ability of shooting fire, which can be shot in any direction (except downward) by pressing the Y Button. Which means you can’t use Yoshi’s tongue while controlling Bowser, a big drawback, although the fire is powerful, and kills any enemy it touches in one hit. Baby Bowser’s fire can melt ice, as well as create light to brighten up your path. Since you can’t eat and swallow enemies, the only way to get eggs while carrying Baby Bowser is via an Egg Spitting Flower or an Egg Block, which spits out eggs when you jump into it from below (both of which you will come across a lot in the game).

So now that you know how the game plays . . . how is it?

As stated above, your opinion is really going to come from your past experience, or lack thereof, of Yoshi experience.

If you have never played a Yoshi’s Island game before, then boy you are in for a treat! Yoshi’s Island DS is a fun game that’s not too difficult to get through and beat, but extremely challenging to master and finish 100%. There are tons of levels, tons of collectibles and a lot to unlock, it will keep you busy for dozens and dozens of hours if you choose to fully complete it.

The level design is very clever as well and each and every level has hidden Red Coins, Flower, and Character Coins that you are almost guaranteed not to spot on your first time through a level. Most likely it will take you two or three times through, especially if you want to finish with all 30 Stars in tact.

And for those that have played a previous Yoshi’s Island game?

Yoshi’s Island DS is fun, no doubt. It’s challenging, definitely. There’s lots to do and the level design is great . . . . But . . .

It’s all been done before.

If you have played through the first game, especially if you played it recently, you may actually get bored and/or be disappointed by Yoshi’s Island DS. It is somewhat puzzling because the fundamental gameplay that made the original game so great is still here. And the new baby abilities add even more moves and ways to get across the levels than before.

Run Yoshi Run!

But the funny thing to me is that it felt as if the baby abilities didn’t do enough . . . they really don’t change the fundamental way the game plays. Climbing, floating, breathing fire and magnet pulling . . . except for those last two (which only come into play at certain points), Donkey Kong Country did all of the above way back in 1994.

Now I don’t really have a problem with the gameplay. It is sound. The design, as stated before is excellent, and the levels are challenging. You will hardly ever complete a level 100% on your first try, that I can guarantee.

But my main gripe with the game comes in two areas. The music, and the boss fights.

The Boss Fights are quite simply some of the biggest pushovers I’ve ever seen in a game. They are extremely easy and all of them die in exactly three hits (except for the final, final boss). And most of them are extremely underwhelming. You’ll be left saying, “That’s it? This is the boss of the world? . . .”

The biggest drawback to Yoshi’s Island DS however in my opinion comes from the music. The music is understated and simplistic . . . Too much so. And whoever says that music isn’t a big part of the overall gameplay experience is dead wrong. None of the tunes here are memorable . . . in fact they are all forgetful (even if the main tune is charming). But the worst part is the fact that most of the tunes have been made WORSE here. Why they didn’t just keep the music from the original Yoshi’s Island is beyond me, it would’ve made the game feel that much cooler and nostalgic as those tunes are WAY better than what you get here.

Leaves indicate wind . . . Fly Peach fly!

Take the awesome cave theme from the original game for example. Can’t you just hear the music in your head right now? It was such a cool tune. This cave/underworld theme is . . . what was it again? I don’t even remember. Same deal with the castle theme. I was not a big fan of the original castle theme, but it sounds like an orchestra compared to theme in this game. I can’t even remember how the castle theme (what there is of one) sounds like in Yoshi’s Island DS.

And there-in lies the problem. Yoshi’s Island DS is so fundamentally similar to the original (except in the music department, where it’s a downward spiral for much of the game. The coolest music is probably for the final boss. But even that simply pales in comparison to the original boss theme . . .) that the game becomes monotonous and forgettable.

Key word is forgettable. The original game was the opposite. It was so memorable, such a classic. I haven’t played or seen it be played (the original Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island) in probably over 5 years, and yet I can specifically remember some of the bosses, the music, and even a few levels (such as the one where the world warped when you touched the floating furry things). And what’s here in Yoshi’s Island DS, while good, doesn’t push any kind of envelope whatsoever. Matter of fact a lot of stuff is recycled from the original game. And it goes beyond enemies to gameplay mechanics and whole parts of levels (such as the aforementioned chase sequences. As well as Shy Guy’s on stilts, giant Chain Chomps that fall from above, etc.).

What surprised me the most though is that I love platformers. I’m a big platformer fan and an even bigger fan of the original game, which I highly regard as one of the best games ever made, easily in my top 20 games of all time list. And yet somehow Yoshi’s Island DS managed to actually, literally BORE me. I could only play so much of it before I’d have to give it a rest out of boredom . . . How is that possible?

The only way I can explain it is disappointment. I was expecting some new, cool Yoshi goodness. Instead, I got more of the same. Literally.

If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Right? Well I’d have to disagree on this one. Is it as big a disappointment as Yosh’s Story was? CLEARLY not. This game, despite all it’s similarities to the original, is extremely good. Like I said, the gameplay is excellent. So is the level design. It’s challenging, and it’s as long if not longer than the original game, with just as many if not more levels than the original, and all of them are great.

But I can’t remember them. And I’m serious. And that, my fellow reader, is disappointing. I believe it’s because of Artoon handling the development duties instead of Nintendo.

So what’s the final verdict? If you have never played a Yoshi’s Island game or if you have and don’t remember it well, or if you have and are the type of person who doesn’t give a fig about the game’s music or all this “memorable” and “forgetful” nonsense, then by all means, buy Yoshi’s Island DS. I doubt you’ll be disappointed, especially if you enjoy platformers and are up for a collectible challenge.

If you are someone like me, then simply go into the game knowing that the music sucks (yes I said it), the graphics look the same (although I do dig the bigger playfield) and the gameplay doesn’t offer anything new . . . even with five babies to choose from. The story is completely forgettable, and is an utter retread of the first game’s story (except now he’s stealing random babies, and something about Star Power hidden in certain babies . . . namely the ones you control). It’s so ridiculous, it even copies down to the whole Baby Luigi being kidnapped business. Not that you expect a great story from a Mario game, but come on. They could’ve at least altered it a bit more.

But again, if you want good gameplay, you will find it here. And the challenge is there, which is great.

Bullet Bills! YAY! ^_^

The game even contains a few good extras. The unlockable bonus levels for example are extremely difficult. Remember the difficulty of the extra levels in the original game? Same deal here. They are just as hard. Which isn’t a bad thing. You will need to beat the game to unlock the first set of levels, and get a certain high score on each level to unlock the second set.

There are also a myriad of mini-games, from the ones you play when you jump through the goal at the end (which are exactly the same as the first game . . . Come on guys, you could’ve at least updated that) to a different set that you can choose from in the main menu after you select your file. Collecting all the Character Coins in a world will give you harder versions of these mini-games. The mini-games are fun for a bit but they are nothing special and can’t be played multi-player, which is retarded and makes them pointless.

The museum is a cool feature, and you actually have to work to find all the creatures because they are only added to the museum once you destroy them. So to really complete the game 100% you gotta find all the enemies and kill them too, so that adds even more replay value. I only wish you could read descriptions of the enemies. Just viewing them makes it feel pointless.

So once again, like with Super Mario Sunshine, Starfox Assault, Pikmin 2 and others, Nintendo has chosen to give us a sequel that is extremely similar to the first game . . . although IMO it would be stretch to even call Yoshi’s Island 2 an evolution from the first game (which is what I’d deem Super Mario Sunshine), this game is simply more of the same for those that loved the original. Is it great? Sure. Is it a must-have? You make the call. IMO, it’s not. But the Fun Factor is high enough to make it a great rental.

FUN FACTOR – 8.0
Yoshi’s Island DS is a fun game. If you like platformers you will enjoy it. And if you liked the first game you will enjoy it. But it only goes so far. There is nothing new here even with the added baby abilities. But what’s here is good, although not memorable in any way, shape or form.

Graphics – 8.0
The graphical style is the same as the first game, however it lacks some of the cool effects that were brought out now and then in the original game, such as the fuzzies that warped the world, and the boss fight that had you moving around a spherical world. It even seems to lack as many “pop-up book” styled fore-ground graphics. The graphics are good, but lack any kind of wow factor.

Sounds & Music – 6.5
The sound effects are good. Yoshi has all his signature sounds. But the music, as mentioned in the text, is simplistic, understated, and horrible when compared to the original. The themes in this game are entirely forgettable when all is said and done, and as a result the memorable-ness of the game is lacking. They should have just included all the original tunes (there are a few, but not enough).

Ingenuity – 7.0
The game doesn’t make any use of the DS’ unique abilities outside of the dual-screen use to create a large playing field (mini-games that use the touch-screen don’t count). And while that’s cool, it doesn’t change the gameplay any. All the mechanics and all the level hazards, enemies, collectibles, and puzzle type elements are pretty much ripped straight from the first game. Technically sound but if you’ve played any Yoshi’s Island you’ve seen it before. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily, but it’s hardly original.

Replay Value – 9.0
Yoshi’s Island DS has lots of replay value. The game is extremely challenging even if you’ll likely have over 100 lives throughout the entire game. But each and every stage is challenging if you try to collect everything, which surprised me. The bonus stages are even more difficult, and the hidden Character Coins and the Museum Mode add something more even beyond getting 100%. The mini-games are nothing special and the Time Trail mode is useless. The game is also only single-player, even in mini-games. But regardless, you’ll spend a lot of hours if you plan to finish it 100%.