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YOSHI'S ISLAND SUPER MARIO WORLD 2 Company: Nintendo Released: October 1995 Genre: Side-Scroller Graphics: 9.5 Control: 8.0 Sound/Music: 8.0 Storyline: 8.0 Review by: Corbie Dillard ©2008 SUPER-NES.COM

Super NES fans waited a long time for a sequel to the original Super Mario World game that debuted with the Super Nintendo system. What we got, however, wasn't quite what we expected. That's not to say that Yoshi's Island isn't a good game. It is. It was just not quite what fans had in mind when they envisioned a sequel. But if ever there was a game that fully showed off the Super Nintendo's Mode-7 scaling and rotation features, it's this one. Although I still stand by my statement saying that Super Mario RPG is the best looking SNES game of all time, there are still some that consider Yoshi's Island to be the best. Like Super Mario RPG, Yoshi's Island also uses rendered graphics, this time going for a "coloring book" look. All of the levels in this game look like an 8 year old colored them with crayons. While that may sound strange, it does make for some very distinctive visuals and has a very "story-book" look and feel to it. But if there is one glaring feature of Yoshi's Island that sets it apart from every other game in the Super NES library, it's the heavy use of Mode-7 effects. Yoshi's Island introduced the Super Nintendo world to the Super FX2 chip, which allowed the Super NES to perform even more advanced scaling, rotation, and morphing effects than it already could. Nintendo obviously wanted to show this off because you can't make a move in this game without something scaling or morphing in some form or another. Although it's not nearly as impressive today as it was 9 years ago, at the time of this game's release it was a pretty impressive feat. I'm not gonna get into the argument again regarding Yoshi's Island vs. Super Mario RPG, but it goes without saying, Yoshi's Island is one of the most advanced games, visually, the Super Nintendo system has to offer. Decide for yourself which of the two games looks better. The music and sound effects in Yoshi's Island sound very much like those found in Super Mario World. So although these two games look very different, they sound very much alike. The music is very upbeat and Super Mario-like, but I do have to mention a gripe. The crying sound that baby Mario makes when he falls off of Yoshi's back has to be the most annoying video game sound effect I've ever heard. In fact, after a few hours of playing this game you'll most likely catch yourself turning the volume down just to avoid hearing it again. Other than this minor annoyance, the music and sound effects are fine. But they're nowhere nearly as groundbreaking as the visuals. The gameplay in Yoshi's Island is not that much different from that found in Super Mario World. You control Yoshi carrying baby Mario on his back. As you gulp down enemies they will be turned into eggs that will drag behind Yoshi. With these eggs you can shoot objects and enemies. This becomes very important as some switches and areas in the game can't be reached without some careful aiming and shooting of these eggs. You're also gonna have to have them in order to defeat most of the enormous bosses in the game. If you take a hit, baby Mario is knocked off of your back. You have a timer counting down in which you only have a certain amount of time in order to pick baby Mario up before the Magikoopas swoop in and knab him. This, of course, is when you get punished even further by having to listen to baby Mario screaming. You'll catch yourself scrambling to pick up baby Mario not because you don't want to lose the game, but more because of the annoying crying. You will also encounter the ability to change Yoshi into different vehicles including a car, a helicopter, and even a submarine. While this might sound a little gimmicky, it does add a nice change of pace to the game and adds more playability as well. Bottom line is Yoshi's Island is a great playing game and a worthy successor to Super Mario World. Let's face it, Super Mario World set the bar pretty high for any type of sequel. And given the fact that Yoshi's Island is a pretty big departure from Super Mario World, it had even more pressure on it to succeed. In the end, though, Yoshi's Island comes together to form a very playable and challenging side-scroller that will keep you busy for hours at a time. And if you're one that likes to see flashy graphical effects, you're really gonna be in for a treat. Gigantic bosses, beautiful "coloring-book" style graphics, and a very imaginitive gameplay system all come together to form one of the more enjoyable side-scrollers available for the Super NES. If you liked Super Mario World, you're gonna love this one. Just take my advice and do yourself a favor and turn the volume down or baby Mario isn't going to be the only one crying.