Yoshi's Island DS (Nintendo DS) Review

This time round, poor Luigi has been baby-napped by the pesky magician Kamek. In fact, it is not only baby Luigi that is lifted away to the mysterious floating castle in the sky, but lots of other young tots as well. Thankfully, Mario, Peach, Donkey Kong and even baby Wario manage to escape his wicked clutches. With the multi-coloured Yoshi family on-hand to offer transportation, the four set about their rescue mission in this new, colourful adventure.

And when I say 'colourful' it is no lie, as Yoshi's Island DS is bursting with over-exuberant flair, bright shades and wonderful charisma. The SNES had to rely on its Super FX2 chip to help squeeze out the gorgeous graphics it had, with its tasty hand-drawn style, but the DS being far more powerful deals with large sprites, multiple on-screen enemies and hordes of flying eggs with the greatest of ease. In fact, because you can tell this is not really pushing the DS, the visual appeal is somewhat negated. Everything also has a far more 'clean' appearance, thus detracting from the original's character to some degree. But the game still succeeds in dazzling gamers in many places; something most Third Party games fail to do.

Artoon has also done a splendid job recreating the soundtrack's feel as well, re-using snippets of tunes from the 16-bit game, but re-mastering the entire score to give this DS outing its own sense of identity. There are a couple of tracks that seem out of place, such as one country-and-western style, but even these are pleasing enough to not ruin the atmosphere. Other than the peaceful, mellow music, with a few more upbeat tracks mixed in, Yoshi's Island DS does a fantastic job in the sound effects department. Be it the grunting of Yoshi, the cries of the babies when the green dinosaur is hit and loses hold of them, or the various other noises, like eggs being fired, beanstalks growing and the difference between gold and red coins being collected, everything is perfectly fitting for the adventure.

And what an adventure it is! For those thinking that this would merely be New Super Mario Bros. in disguise or a poor man’s Yoshi’s Island, think again. Whereas NSMB struggled at times in terms of variety throughout, YI DS is jam-packed with substance – so much so that newcomers to the platform scene may be overcome with awe. This is definitely not for people who struggled to beat NSMB or even Super Princess Peach. Artoon has crafted a superb entry into the genre, mixing classic gameplay with some extremely nice new elements. The game will prove tough, but not because it is unfair, instead it is due to your lack of finesse in the field!

For those that missed out on the first game, or its GBA port, you take control of Yoshi and can run, jump, slam into the ground as usual, along with the ability to use his trademark moves – the float-in-the-air and trick of swallowing enemies, turning them into eggs and then being able to fire them off at anything you so desire. The floating comes in very handy when trying to prevent falling off ledges or getting across longer distances. And as for the egg shooting, it can be used in so many ways, for example killing enemies or collecting items that would otherwise be out of reach. He controls just like he did in the past, with no problems at all.

The twist this time round, though, is that depending on the baby a Yoshi is carrying, the extent of his abilities is prone to change. You start off with baby Mario and that is all and when the first change-over takes place and has you in control of baby Peach, you probably will think there is nothing different other than her fetching pink umbrella. That is until you are chased by a large boulder and you fail to out-run it. Yes, it turns out that with Mario, Yoshi can run faster than ever. In turn, though, Peach has her plus points in the form of that lovely accessory – the umbrella. Whenever there is a breeze around, simply hold down the jump button to access Yoshi’s usual float-in-the-air manoeuvre and watch in amazement as you fly in whichever direction the wind is blowing.

Of course, this means that certain aspects of a level can be only reached using Peach as your baby of choice. And so begins the heart of the gameplay, with each baby adding something different to the adventure. For instance, once Donkey Kong is unlocked you will have the ability to do a strong forward charge that breaks through strong blocks, plus he can climbs vines dotted around stages or swing around whenever possible. As for Wario, well, we all know how much he loves money...and sure enough his specialty is bringing a magnetic ability to the fold. Devious, even as a child child – not surprising in the slightest!

But the fun does not stop there, as Artoon has dragged the classic morph ability back for the ride, meaning that Yoshi can magically transform into such things as a helicopter or digging machine for a short period of time. However, you are never left stuck as if the timer runs out, you merely have to hit the morph box once more and transform again for another attempt at reaching your goal. There has been talk about the gap between screens being a problem – but gamers can scale the screen up or down to see what is going on in most cases. As for those moments where things are ‘lost’ in the gap, it actually adds to the fun, meaning you must simply hone your aiming skills before letting loose with a vital egg. With open levels that let you roam around to your heart’s content, as well as some that are on rails, meaning that should you not progress quick enough, poor Yoshi will fall to his death, as well as numerous mini-games available, this DS outing is miles better than Artoon’s previous Yoshi platform game, Universal Gravitation, and not too far from the original gem.

And, thankfully, it is not an experience that will be over all too soon. Each of the levels in the game is much longer than those found in NSMB, and they all make you work extremely hard to collect all five special flowers, twenty red coins, thirty health stars and the hidden character coin contained within each one – having to use each baby’s abilities throughout a level to gain that 100% score. And there is actually motivation to bother getting a perfect on each stage, since they open up extras as well. The game is not one for putting down quickly, one because it is so much fun and two due to it having so much to offer. Also, as if all of that was not enough, there may well be another baby I have not mentioned that becomes available later in the game…!