Yoshi's Island
| Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island | |
|---|---|
| box of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island | |
| Developer(s) | Nintendo |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Director(s) |
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| Designer(s) | Takashi Tezuka (director) |
| Artist(s) | |
| Platform(s) | Super Famicom / Super NES |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Platform game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (スーパーマリオ ヨッシーアイランド, Sūpā Mario Yosshī Airando, released as Super Mario: Yoshi Island in Japan) is a platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super NES console. It was released on August 5, 1995 in Japan, October 4, 1995 in North America and October 6, 1995 in Europe, exactly 2 days after the North American release. While featuring Nintendo's trademark Mario character, the game's innovative graphics and gameplay differed from all previous 'Mario' platformers in that players control various Yoshi dinosaurs rather than Mario himself, who appears as a helpless infant.
Story
A stork carries two babies across the sea, but the evil Magikoopa Kamek emerges, (with a quite comical cry of "The babies are mine!") and steals one of the babies (Baby Luigi), and Baby Mario falls into an island in the middle of the sea called "Yoshi's Island", home to all Yoshis. He lands on a green Yoshi, and Mario and the rest of the Yoshi clan attempt to successfully rescue Baby Luigi and the stork back from Baby Bowser and Kamek.
Graphics
The game uses the Super FX 2 microchip to create sprite scaling and polygon effects that are relatively advanced for a Super Famicom/SNES game (a preliminary version of the boxart featured the Super FX 2 logo). The game also used the SNES' capability of parallax scrolling.
The game's unique graphical style is said to have resulted from a conflict with Nintendo's internal evaluation committee; impressed by the recently released Donkey Kong Country, which sported pre-rendered graphics, they ordered the game's producer, Shigeru Miyamoto, to move the visuals in this direction. Miyamoto, who did not particularly like Donkey Kong Country, instead altered the graphics to look as if they had been drawn with crayons and felt-pens and resubmitted it to the evaluation committee, who admitted their mistake and passed the game. Some of the cut scenes do, however, show pre-rendered graphics, done in a rather different form that looks more like the gameplay graphics.
Gameplay
Yoshi's Island made Yoshi the main playable character for the first time in a Mario game. At the end of each level, Baby Mario is passed between different-colored Yoshis. All the Yoshis have the same range of moves, such as stomps and tongue-licks. If the player holds down the jump button the Yoshis pedal their feet furiously in the air to achieve a floating effect; this allows them to stay airborne for a couple of seconds and gain a little extra height. This floating maneuver may be performed multiple times if necessary.
Yoshis can collect eggs during their travels across the levels by utilising their unique metabolism to instantaneously digest enemies that they had swallowed. These eggs follow Yoshi along until they were thrown. Many of the game's puzzles involve bouncing eggs around the levels or skimming them over water to hit distant enemies or objects. In addition to eggs, Yoshi may also collect keys to open locked doors. Finally, duck-like creatures (called Huffin' Puffins) exist in a few levels; these travel a short distance then return to you. Up to six objects can follow Yoshi at a time, whether they are eggs, keys, or Puffins.
Unlike other platform games in the Mario series, the player's character can be attacked an unlimited number of times by most enemies without harm. Whenever Yoshi is hit by an enemy, Baby Mario flies off his back, floating around the level in a bubble and wailing loudly as a countdown timer begins. If the countdown reaches zero before Yoshi tags the bubble, Kamek's servants capture Mario and the player loses a life. At the beginning of each level, the countdown timer begins at ten; the player can add time to the countdown to a maximum of thirty by collecting stars in each stage. If Yoshi rescues Baby Mario by touching the bubble when the countdown is less than ten, the timer is slowly replenished back to ten as long as Mario remains on Yoshi's back. Some traps, however, can kill Yoshi instantly, such as pits, spikes, and lava.
Yoshi also has the ability, at various points in the game, to transform into different vehicles. At these points, a bubble containing a graphical representation of the vehicle floats and upon bursting it, Yoshi becomes that vehicle. Vehicles include a helicopter, which enables him to fly. A racing car which has stilts for suspension (allowing for avoidance of the enemies up ahead in those sections). A submarine, which can fire homing torpedoes at the aquatic enemies which are there. A Train, which has to be navigated along tracks on the wall whilst avoiding the drawn on enemies who can move while the train is active. And finally, a 'Mole-Tank', which allows Yoshi to cling onto and navigate walls and tunnel through certain coloured obstacles. Whilst in these forms Yoshi has limited time to reach a block at the end of the section, and leaves baby Mario behind. If he runs out of time before getting where he needs to, he will be transported back and the bubble with the vehicle reappears. If he reaches the block at the end of the section, baby Mario is the one transported, Yoshi transforms back and the game carries on. These sections usually include several of the more fiendishly hidden items. And in one of the more secret sections of the game Yoshi becomes a Yellow Submarine, which is surely as good a Beatles tribute as any other.
At the end of each level, the player jumps through a 'roulette' ring and the level is scored. The player earns points based on three criteria:
- Every star, remaining on the countdown timer is worth one point. Up to thirty stars can be collected.
- Scattered among the coins in each level are twenty special red coins; each one collected is worth one point.
- Hidden throughout each stage are five flowers; each one collected is worth ten points, and for every flower collected you have another flower displayed on the roulette ring.
100 points is therefore a perfect score in each level.
There are 10 places on the roulette wheel. If the roulette stops on a flower, the player plays a game to earn lives or items. So, 5 flowers collected in the level gives a 50% chance of getting a bonus game. Five different games are available, ranging from a scratch-card-type game to a memory-matching-type game.
Template:Spoilers There are 6 worlds in Yoshi's Island. Worlds 1 and 2 have no particular theme. World 3 has a jungle theme, World 4 has a mountain theme, World 5 opens with a snow theme before taking to the mountain peaks and the skies, and World 6 has a dark cave-like theme. In both the SNES and the Game Boy Advance versions, there is a short stage before the player starts World 1 that the player must get through (and will never be played again unless a new game is started, but in the GBA version, it appears as the last area of a secret level). In the Game Boy Advance version, if the player presses select, at the top of the screen it will say "World 0-0".
Unlike other games in the Super Mario Bros. series (that allows a player to "warp" ahead to higher levels), Yoshi's Island was the first game in the series that requires the player to play and complete all 48 regular stages (including the intro stage), in order to finish the game. While the six special stages are unlockable by getting a perfect score on all eight stages in a world, it is not required to complete the six secret stages, in order to finish the game.
In the SNES version, there are nine stages in every world: eight regular stages and one unlockable extra stage,accessed by scoring a perfect 100 points in each of the world's regular stages. Also, upon getting that elusive perfect score on each of the 7 levels, one of the 'roulette' games becomes available to play indefinitely. In the Game Boy Advance version, however, a new "secret" stage was added to each of the six worlds for a total of ten stages per world and 61 stages in the entire game (including stage 0-0).
This game marks the debut of Poochy, a happy dog-like character who will let Yoshi ride him — in effect making Baby Mario riding Yoshi riding Poochy. Poochy shows up in later games, such as this game's sequel Yoshi's Story, as well.
In a secret room in 5-4, accessed by defeating a Chain Chomp with the item 'POW block', there is a ChatterBox (a talking face box that, when hit, provides a message) containing a "top secret" hint that the player must "hold the "select" button while pressing X twice, Y, B, and A". This was to be done only on the level/world selection map. For Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 Gameboy Advance version, the code was changed to "Hold the "select" button while pressing L twice, B, A, and R". Inputting this code allows you to play various mid-level bonus games from a menu, some of them even having a versus mode with the second player. Template:Endspoilers
Reception
Upon release, Electronic Gaming Monthly hailed the game to be one of the best games of that year and others considered the game to be an instant classic.[citation needed] GamePro gave the game a 4.5/5 rating.[citation needed] In Japan, the game sold well and numerous merchandise such as a soundtrack CD and t-shirts were sold. However, in North America, the game was less successful than hoped. The most likely reason for its low sales figures was the introduction of the 32-bit generation along with the shift of focus away from the Super Nintendo towards the Nintendo 64.[citation needed]
Yoshi's Island proved to be a critical and commercial hit in its Game Boy Advance version, Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, which was released in 2002, at the peak of the handheld's success.[citation needed]
Spin-offs
Aside from the critically panned semi-sequel Yoshi's Story and the recently released Yoshi's Island DS, the game has seen two other spin-offs: Yoshi Touch & Go for the Nintendo DS and Yoshi Topsy-Turvy for Game Boy Advance. While unrelated in basic gameplay, the characters and graphic style are heavily based on Yoshi's Island.
Yoshi's Island - the physical location of Super Mario World 2 's action - is also used as the backdrop for the popular Super Nintendo and Game Boy puzzle game Tetris Attack.
Several of Yoshi's moves that debuted in Super Mario World 2, such as the Ground Pound and Egg Throw, have been used by him in the Super Smash Bros. series. In a recent trailer for the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a stage heavily based on the version of Yoshi's Island portrayed in Super Mario World 2 was shown.
Remakes
Yoshi's Island DS was released on November 13, 2006 for the Nintendo DS. Unlike Yoshi's Island, it now features also Princess Peach, Donkey Kong, Bowser, and Wario joining Mario as babies. Also, before Yoshi's Island DS, a sort of "pseudo-sequel" to Super Mario World 2 called Yoshi's Story was released. Yoshi's Story featured similar gameplay, but 2.5D graphics. Yoshi's Island is also notable for being ported to the Game Boy Advance Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island.
External links
- Template:GameFAQs
- Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island at MobyGames
- Speed Demos Archive - Speedruns (Another speedrun)
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