Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Reviewed by Slimu
Long-awaited by Mario fans everywhere, the sequel to
Super Mario World must at least be rented by anyone who
claims to be a follower of Mario or Yoshi. Many would
dispute the title; "Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island",
simply because the game has virtually nothing to do with
the original Super Mario World save for the fact that Mario
and Yoshi are both in it. Describe it in a word? Cute.
Think the cutest game that ever was or ever will be made.
Think even the bad guys are so adorable you don't even want
to kill them. Think BABY BOWSER! Awwwww. Anyway, the plot
is a bit weak: A stork (Oohhh, PLEASE!) is delivering twin
babies Mario and Luigi (who are not twins, by the way) to
their parents in the Mushroom World (actually, their
parents are from Brooklyn and so are the bros...), when it
is attacked by Kamek (Magikoopa), who grabs Luigi and flies
off "the darkness from whence it came", leaving the stork
in shock and Mario plummeting at speeds upwards of 100 MPH
towards the open sea. Let's choose this opportunity moment
to cut away to Yoshi (who would not even be alive when
Mario was a baby, because Yoshi is a baby himself!!!), who
is taking a walk because it's a nice day. Well, put
yourself in Yoshi's boots. You're walking through the
forest, enjoying the fresh air, when what do you know...a
baby lands on your back, pokes his head out, and stares at
you. Then, you get beaned on the head by a strange map. But
you can't figure it out. What do you do? Well, Yoshi headed
back to his friends. Meanwhile, Kamek has discovered that
he missed the other kid and immediately dispatches his
impossibly stupid assistant dudes, known as 'Toadies' for
some strange reason. Anyway, after conferring with the ten
thousand different colored Yoshi's, Mario seems "to know
where he wants to go." This is because "the bond between
the twins informs each of them where the other one is." GAG
ME!!! Oops, am I sounding overly critical here? Don't get
me wrong. This is SUCH a good game!! I love this game! I
just think the plot is... well, a little....hokey, if you
will. Anyway, I am so off the subject. Let's see, where was
I? Oh yes. Describe it in a word. Well, if I were to
describe it in ANOTHER word, it'd be 'easy'. Why? Well, I
had it for 4 days and had already ruthlessly defeated poor
baby Bowser, who only wanted to ride on the "green donkey",
and got the ending an' all that.
You know, rescued the stork an' Luigi and all that junk.
However, there are still....ehem...secret areas...that can
be reached by getting 100% in each of the
levels....unfortunately, they don't change the ending at
all if you access them, beat them, and get 100% on them.
Yoshi's Island brought back a number of enemies that we
hadn't seen in a while, such as Shyguys (SMB2) and Spike
(remember SMB3??). Plus, many things you may have thought
were invented for SM64 were actually signature moves and
stuff in Yoshi's Island, such as Pound the Ground. The way Pirahna
plants grow when you get near them and the sound they make
when they die were also Yoshi's Island trademarks.
Collecting red coins, giant chomps....all Yoshi's Island.
The worlds were a ton of fun! World 1 was, as usual, a
grassland type place, but World 2 was mostly mountainous
and pine forested, and World 3 was a jungle. I believe
that's probably the most memorable world; after spending a
few hours there, you will rue the day you ever set eyes on
one of those cute monkeys. Also, the slicky slimy river mud
got annoying. My favorite part of the game is in World 5,
which is a climb up a mountain. Of course, you gotta have
snow and penguins. The favorite part in question is the
skiing!!! :) It's so FUN!!
The bosses were also groovy. Cute boss names like Bashful Burt,
Marching Milde, Salvo the Slime....*teehee*...All the bosses were
regular enemies that were enlarged considerably by Kamek, who
did his thing after yelling at Yoshi for a bit. (That goes for all the
enemies except the frog, who was probably the single most
disgusting boss.)
Yoshi's...er...unique way of making weapons consisted of
eating an enemy and...um...pooping out an egg. Sorry, I
just can't think of a more graceful way to say it.
Well, anyway, the music on this game was top-notch. The
beginning theme was childish and lullaby-like, but still
lovely. The soothing, yet triumphant and hauntingly
beautiful ending theme was breathtaking! The graphics,
which were hand-drawn, were also cute and pretty.
I think I've gone on for long enough about Yoshi's
Island. ;) But anyway, it's a great game! I would suggest
going out and renting it or buying it RIGHT NOW! So what
are you doing, sitting here still? Go rent it!
Graphics 10
Sound 10
Controls 10
Challenge 4
Replay 10