Yoshi's Island DS: Review

[kirbychu]

Mario Sunshine is a sequel to a game made six years beforehand, but it doesn't stop people comparing it to it. Hell, Twilight Princess is compared to Ocarina of Time. That's nearly ten years difference.

If Artoon had made it their own game with their own original characters, Then we wouldn't be comparing it to Yoshi's Island. The fact that they made a game originally titled "Yoshi's Island 2" means we're comparing it to Yoshi's Island. Just as people compared Yoshi's Island to Super Mario World, Super Mario World to Super Mario Bros. 3, and so on.The difference is, those games saw a steady increase in quality, while YI-YIDS apparently shows a sharp decrease.

EDIT: I'm worried that my post making a new page might cause Fry's last post to get overlooked, so Smashchu! Go back a page!

Damn you for posting while I was typing, Fry.

[Fryguy64]

Me? I think sun imploded and the big crunch occurred in the time it took me to write that rebuttal

[Manspeed]

Hey! I liked Donkey Kong Land! Kremlantis, Monkey Mountain and Big Ape City were da bomb!

[Fryguy64]

There were four colours. You couldn't see the snakes. You could barely see DK.

It was probably about as good as one might expect from the Game Boy, but I think if they'd ditched the pre-rendered idea then it would have been a better game.

[kirbychu]

I had DKL when I was a kid. Back then I'd happily play some of the world's most awful games. But I couldn't play DKL. Why? It was near impossible to see what was going on.

DKL was, in my opinion, the worst of Rare's games.

[Smashchu]

kirbychu said:

Mario Sunshine is a sequel to a game made six years beforehand, but it doesn't stop people comparing it to it. Hell, Twilight Princess is compared to Ocarina of Time. That's nearly ten years difference.

If Artoon had made it their own game with their own original characters, Then we wouldn't be comparing it to Yoshi's Island. The fact that they made a game originally titled "Yoshi's Island 2" means we're comparing it to Yoshi's Island. Just as people compared Yoshi's Island to Super Mario World, Super Mario World to Super Mario Bros. 3, and so on.The difference is, those games saw a steady increase in quality, while YI-YIDS apparently shows a sharp decrease.

EDIT: I'm worried that my post making a new page might cause Fry's last post to get overlooked, so Smashchu! Go back a page!

Damn you for posting while I was typing, Fry.

No, No. I saw his post. I even quoted it.

I'm just saying that it deserves a bit more credit then it deserves. I heard one in a discussion about the game(between haters and likers) that your comparing a good game to a masterpeice. If we look at it that way, then everything in YIDS is worse then in YI.

However, you can say that about any game. You could always say Twilight Princess was worse then Ocarina of Time in almost every way. You couls say Mario Sunshine is worse in every way.

As I said, it's 80% gameplay. Forget this style and what not. Most old games used 8 bits and we loved them all the same becuase the fun was there. YIDS is fun. It plays just like YI with a few added, and welcome twist.

I can try and ramble on over and over again, but it would be futial. In the end, if you hated the game you wasted 50$ and can complain about the past. If you liked it, then you can play it or remanis and feel you made a good perchase.

[kirbychu]

smashchu2 said:

However, you can say that about any game. You could always say Twilight Princess was worse then Ocarina of Time in almost every way. You couls say Mario Sunshine is worse in every way.

You could say that about those games, but it wouldn't be true. With YIDS, however, it is.

Everything Fry said about it was valid, but you seem to be ignoring his points about the game. You say it plays like YI with a welcome twist, but to me it sounds like a heavily bastardized version of it.

[iggyk]

I liked YIDS, personally, I found it better than NSMB, but that's just me. Though I found it really hard and frustrating in some levels.

[Fryguy64]

Smashchu, when have I ever let my feelings for one game get in the way of my judgement of another before now? I love Super Mario Sunshine - sure it's not as good as Super Mario 64, but as far as games go, it is a fantastic and enjoyable experience.

Twilight Princess, to me, was even more beautiful and amazing than Ocarina. Ocarina deserves to be loved more because it broke new ground, but TP is surely one of the largest and greatest action-adventure titles ever released!

And I even enjoyed Mario Kart Double Dash, even though it is generally considered the worst Mario Kart title. I enjoyed playing it - what more does a game need to do to be a good game?

So, when a game may be sub-standard to a previous entry in the series, I am still quite capable of looking beyond that at the game's positive inner-qualities (if it has them) - to see it as a great game in itself.

Yoshi's Island DS does not fall into this category. Even after I knew it was by Artoon, and knew it wasn't going to live up to my expectations of a true YI sequel, I still went and bought it because I thought I would give it a fighting chance. I did not enjoy the game. As a platformer it felt awkward and broken, as a piece of game design it felt haphazardly assembled and the new enemies are abysmal, and as a Nintendo-published platform game it is definitely a very poor performer.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. So far you haven't justified your points very well though. You keep telling me my points are wrong without really telling me why yours are right. I've already told you that one - the lack of glitches - is factually inaccurate, but what about your other points? What do YOU think the babies add to the game, how do YOU think the challenge adds to the playability of the game, how do YOU think the gameplay is good!?

Answer me this, and maybe I'll stop arguing with you

[Smashchu]

admin said:

I'm glad you enjoyed it. So far you haven't justified your points very well though. You keep telling me my points are wrong without really telling me why yours are right. I've already told you that one - the lack of glitches - is factually inaccurate, but what about your other points? What do YOU think the babies add to the game, how do YOU think the challenge adds to the playability of the game, how do YOU think the gameplay is good!?

Answer me this, and maybe I'll stop arguing with you

Well, first, I haven't seen a single glitch in the game. Maybe a graphical one slipped from my nose but never a technical one. And it's far from a problem as one has never killed me. I guess, thee only thing that might be a glitch, is getting hit, and if you hit deadly objects you die, but I beleive it was like that in the original.

Actually, I did say my point, but it probobly got lost. It's that gameplay is where it's at, and the game works well.

Yoshi controls just like we remembers. The tounge, the eggs, the ground pound. You get the idea. It's what we played back in the day. It's Yoshi. Controls handel well,a dn all is well. The major things I found wrong was not becuase of faulty design, but are typical flaws in almost all DS platroms. The 2 screen have that gap. It's almost unavoidable. The other though is control layout, again, more of the DS. It's hard to run and hover, but I found it's due to the buttons.

Also, it's hard. Thats not nessisarly a good thing, but if wwe look at the other three succesful DS Platformers. They're all easy. Not YIDS. While, it still sufferes from the typical "Heres a bunch of lives" it seems evident as the game will kill you, expecially youngr players. It brings on the challange. And it never tries some cheap annoying tactic, like Red Steel. Theres are a few instances, but when the difficulty level really ramps up it is tense, and fun. You feel the edge come as you try to dodge everthing coming at you, and making the perfect jump. It is great in that category. It feels fresh, it feels fast, it feels like how you want your challenge to be. Sure, sometimes just beating a game is cool, but with three easyb platformers, the challeange is a nice change of pace.

The baby system is deffinatly the best addition. This adds(as I have said) a lot more style. Each baby has it's strengths and weaknesses. DK can bring the hurt with exploding eggs and his ram attack. Peach allows you to be graceful in the air(which makes the loose hover controlls fun for her) and Mario gives you speed. Wario and Bowser Jr, are cool and do act as nice distractions in the levels, but it's mostly those three. It allows players to pick the best Yoshi. To play howw they feel is best suitee for the challenges ahead. Plus, it eliviates boardum of playing with the same moves and attacks.

Now, everything else is 75-25. While the graphics and scenery are not as stylized as YI, the game boost some good graphics, and probobly the best in terms of 2D sprites. And the backgrounds are't bad. The real killer is the music. It just feels akward. Sometimes it's OK, but mostly, it's bad.

Now, if you look at Gamerankings.com, this game got a 82%. Not bad. I assum they think like I do. It's all in the gameplay. It's fun. Sure, it's not as great in design, but when it comes dowwn to it, it's still Yoshi.

Now, what I want to hear is what you think is akward about the game. I might have missed it or forgot, but you said that there were glitchs when I see none, and felt akward when I found it to be just fine.

[kirbychu]

smashchu2 said:

Well, first, I haven't seen a single glitch in the game. Maybe a graphical one slipped from my nose but never a technical one. And it's far from a problem as one has never killed me. I guess, thee only thing that might be a glitch, is getting hit, and if you hit deadly objects you die, but I beleive it was like that in the original.

Fry described a fairly severe glitch a few posts back. One that is apparently quite well known.

[Smashchu]

UI went back and read those glitches and it sounds like to me that it's a corrupted game. Most likely either some weird OMGWTFBBQ random thing left in the game(doubtful) or, there was some mess upo in production. Never had the game freeze on me.

I have already stated my issues with the game. I can tell you they do not fall in the middle. They push it below the middle. It is sub-par as a game. If I had NEVER played a platform game before, then it would be too bizarre and messy to grasp. If I had played any good platformer before (eg. any Mario game, including the two much better 2D Mario platformers on DS - NSMB and SPP) then it absolutely pales in comparison to their clean, considered gameplay.

The only way it could be considered good, is if you'd only ever played really crappy movie-license platformers up until that point. Or only ever played Artoon's OTHER games. This would then definitely be an improvement

First, I'm not sure yo knew I was talking about other elemtns of the game or not. Also, not sure WHY they go below middle. I guess it goes back to your other post, but it seems like your just being a playa hata
(Also, sorry to quote an older post, but I missed it)

[Fryguy64]

The glitch doesn't happen when you jump on every Shy Guy, but from what I can tell from personal experience and the emails I've received, the glitch happens when jumping on enemies. The only advice I've been able to offer these people is "next time, don't jump on those enemies".

The game feels awkward. Right. How to describe. The most noticable difference is the way the rotating platforms move - the ones that shift with your weight. In the original game, they shifted with weight, as you would expect. In YIDS they seem to move in a constant speed, as if they have no weight at all.

Now, sure, this was annoying for me because I was used to the way these platforms worked in the original (and I can't believe they managed to mess up something perfected 12 years ago) but it was annoying anyway - they didn't move like something should move.

Now, this is JUST an example, the first one that pops into my head (while innebriated, no less). If you want, I'll fire up the game again and give you a running commentary of everything that feels wrong.

I'm not hating it for the sake of hating it. I swear on my life, EVEN after I found out Artoon was making it, I absolutely wanted to love this game. I hoped beyond hope that it would be great, despite Artoon's track record. I had hoped Nintendo had kept a tight reign on proceedings and it would be something I could enjoy.

But no... as far as DS platformers go, it is the worst one I own. Super Princess Peach and New Super Mario Bros. each set the bar quite high (despite problems of their own) and even Kirby: Power Paintbrush and Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 have these beat by a wide margin.

In terms of being enjoyable, in terms of being something I WANT to play for entertainment, YIDS is a failure. And that makes me sad.

[Smashchu]

I can see what your talking about with the platforms. I'll have to go back and try one. I remember it took a lot more force to move.

I was kind of kinding with the hater thing, but you may have just been nit picky. It makes scence. If your someone who gets mad over little problems in a game(not to be mean), then I can see where your coming from. But in the grand sceme of things I think it's fine.

Of course, it's no YIDS. And I do agree Artoon needs to go away from Nintendo. This was fine, but I think it may also becuase they source material was good and it's hard to make a crappy platformer.

[mrmolecule]

The text in the game was not the fancily styled chalkwriting on YI, it seemed to be the stock default font.

Boring.