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Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Super Nintendo (SNES)
Not Your Normal Mario.
3.5/5 stars
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is a solid platformer that flirts with being a little too casual and also requires patience to enjoy.
The inclusion of Yoshi in the first Super Mario World was fantastic. Almost everyone enjoyed using Yoshi whenever possible. It gave you the chance to get hit without losing a power up. You could also eat and spit out enemies. It was truly an innovation to the Mario franchise. So, the idea making the sequel all about Yoshi seemed logical. But, when implemented, it falls short of being a fantastic game.
The story is pretty simple. Baby Mario and Baby Luigi are being carried by a stork to their parents when Bowser's minions take out the stork and kidnap Luigi while Mario falls down to an Island of Yoshi's. The Yoshi's decide to help Baby Mario get back to his brother by carrying through all the stages.
Yoshi's abilities are about the same as in the first game with a few minor tweaks. He can stomp, do a jump flutter, and eat enemies. Most, not all, of the items Yoshi puts into his mouth can be converted (the kind way of saying it) into an egg. Yoshi can't eat all the enemies which is too bad. Yoshi can then carry up to six eggs with him and can throw them at any time. By hitting the 'A' button, a set of cross hairs appears and rotates on the screen. You can throw the egg at any desired time, or you can freeze the cross hairs by hitting 'L' or 'R'. This can be annoying at times because you can't turn around when trying to throw an egg and for the most part you can't aim and shoot eggs quickly at your enemies.
This leads to a theme I've noticed with this game. Things take time, and you need to be patient if you want to get done what you set out to do. Often you will have to backtrack and load up on eggs again and again to get through a stage, especially if you want to obtain all the red coins and flowers. Also, if you've done this a few times trying to get everything, only to find yourself dieing by falling down a hole or something before you hit a checkpoint, you will be quite annoyed. Not only will you have to do it again, but you will have to backtrack a few times again loading up on eggs.
Now, here's the other major criticism I have about this game. Baby Mario cries when Yoshi gets hit. It's a decent idea since Yoshi doesn't have or lose power ups when hit, but it can drive you nuts. When Yoshi gets hit, Baby Mario will fly up into a bubble. You then have 10 or more seconds (depending on how many mini-stars you pick up) to get Baby Mario back before enemies take him away. Whenever he's in this bubble, you hear the loud, annoying sound of a crying baby. It got so annoying to me that I started avoiding trouble so I didn't have to hear it.
There is no timer for levels, there is no score count. It can feel quite casual jumping around levels looking for things to pick up. These levels aren't quite as linear as the previous Mario games, and that's alright. This gives you the opportunity to explore more, and once again if you have the patience, you will be rewarded (as long as you don't die, of course).
The Bosses at the end of the six worlds are different. You don't just jump on them to kill them all the time which is nice. There are mini-games throughout giving you the chance to get extra items to use or more lives to gain. There's a whole new slew of enemies to take on, some of them who solely target Baby Mario. There are puzzles to solve at times, and you do interact more with the environment. There are wheels to ride, rocks to push, several different obstructions eggs can be thrown through. Overall, it's a new feeling taking on this Mario platformer which should be celebrated.
I did enjoy playing through this game, but the annoyances of constantly picking up eggs and having to listen to a crying baby will stop me from going back and trying to obtain all the items in every level. A solid platformer yes, but not great.
3.5/5
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