Yoshi's Island DS (Nintendo DS) Preview

First impressions look very positive. The colourful levels make a welcome return, and the style as a whole looks like it could be plonked right into the original title with little or no disagreement. This is a DS title though, and so the palette seems to be stronger than before

Rather than just carting about Mario this time, Yoshi appears to have become more like a walking nursery school, introducing a further two tykes to the concept of danger. Princess Peach and Donkey Kong baby editions are now present as well, with baby DK being all-new and baby Peach first appearing in Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time earlier this year. Each baby brings its own skill to help out Yoshi: Mario acts as a 'normal' character and seems to allow our green dino friend to leap higher; Peach carries her trademark parasol to allow safe floating to the bottom of long drops and to pick up upwards wind streams to go flying up to previously unreachable heights; Donkey Kong allows players to climb up and down vines and swing across monkey-bar style grips attached to the ceilings. In addition to Yoshi's already substantial moveset, which includes egg-hurling, butt-slamming, tongue-lashing and hover walking, the amount of movements possible is much more varied than before!

Not all babies can be carried at the same time, though (have you ever tried ferrying about a trio of children, all the while navigating around and away from enemies and hazards? Coming back from the weekly shop in rush hour doesn't count. Didn't think so. He might be a dinosaur, but he's still a living creature, dammit!). Players must use a bit of thought as to which baby would be most beneficial in each part of a level, with some sections impossible to pass without a certain infant. To swap your kid, Yoshi must pause at a 'bus stop' of sorts and wait for the stork to come and take your current baby away and replace it with one of the others. We're sure some parents would like this feature in real life, too...

Audio-wise, again, everything seems as it was, from the cheery, dreamy, wishy-washy tunes that play as you romp about, to Yoshi's trademark voices (Bdriiing! Yoshi! Badum! Blech!

Aside the presentation, something that has clearly been taken into consideration when developing Yoshi's Island 2, the fact that the game is on a DS has not been ignored. Rather than forcing the features of the DS into the game unnecessarily, it takes on a far more subtle, natural approach