Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Platforms: SNES, GBA
Players: 1
Original Release Date(s):Oct 4 1995(US), Oct 6 1995(Europe), Aug 5 1995(Jap)
It had been some time since a new Mario game had been released on the SNES, in fact a good five years since Super Mario World was released in Japan to the time it's sequel would arrive, and thanks to the success of Donkey Kong Country Nintendo wanted Shigeru Miyamoto to make a Mario game in the same style, at request he refused as he didn't like the look of the games as he didn't think they would hold up over time, so he went about creating a game powered by the Super FX 2 chip and the game to a radically different look and approach to any Mario game previously made.
As far as story goes the game doesn't feature you trying to rescue the Princess but instead baby Luigi who has been kidnapped, yes I said baby, this game goes back in time to when both Mario and Luigi were both babies, so are they twins now? I always thought Mario was older? Never mind that though so you do not control Mario directly but Rather the new stars of the game the Yoshies who made their debut in Super Mario World now take center stage.
Presentation
Right from the very start you can see the sheer amount of love just thrown into this game, from the moment it opens with the story book style into to the attention to detail on ever single level the whole game is just sewn together nicely and is a truly well put together piece of software.
Menus and maps are all simple affairs but even though they are they way the game looks makes them look nice and its all very simple to navigate, you can't really complain at a game that takes this approach.
Graphics
After the release of Donkey Kong Country and its success Nintendo really wanted Shigeru Miyamoto to make a Mario game in the same mould, but he pretty much point blank refused as he didn't like the graphical style and all I can say is thank go he did as what he help in vision as a result of that is probably the closest thing to a work of are you will find on the SNES. Right away you will just take in everything and it's beautiful hand drawn style and the paint brush style colouring it really is a thing of beauty to look at just from a style point of view as you can see it is all lovingly drawn, from the sketch backgrounds to the foregrounds each level looks like it is full of life because there is so much to see on screen but never seems over cramped.
That's not to say from a technical point of view the game doesn't excel too, far from it in order to push the SNES further to compete with newer technology they came up with the Super FX chip to push polygons about, Yoshi's Island uses the Super FX 2 chip and not for it's polygon pushing power but rather its superior sprite rotation and scaling doing things Mode 7 can't do having enemies twist and turn and rotate on screen and boss enemies so large things have to zoom in and out and the can be vary large indeed too. As well as adding some very nice special effect to some levels making the whole level appear hazy and moving back and forward.
So from both a artistic and technical stand point this game is pretty much a dream and near perfect in every way and has excellent animation all round to round it off, a true testament to the SNES hardware and using the Super FX chip in a way no one else would probably have thought to and in a way that doesn't make the game look dated when compared to newer technology.
Sound
If the graphics were ground breaking at the time Nintendo knew they had to match it with equally as good sound and they really did they tunes for each level are truly amazing and really do squeeze the most out of the sound chip, you go from some of the chirpiest and cheeriest of music that really populates the vast majority of the game to the dungeon levels which as still in there own way chirpy and cheery but still excellent through out.
Don't think that it's just the music that is impressive, no the sound effects are equally as good as in many enemies let out cries when they get hit and the over all sound of everything is really just turned up full pelt, overall you possibly have one of the best if not the best sounding games on the SNES.
Gameplay
Really this is the biggest change as it is no ordinary Mario game, since you don't control Mario himself but rather the Yoshies that carry him through each level, and doing such they control very differently to Mario himself, although not so differently to the Yoshies of Super Mario World, you still jump with B and and lash your tongue out with Y to swallow enemies, although those enemies now become eggs which the Yoshies use to throw as a projectile with the press of the A button to hit certain types of enemies or even to collect hard to reach items.
This slightly different control may take a little getting used to and I do mean a little because once you get used to it you will be running and jumping and throwing eggs like it is second nature, also the levels are now a much slower pace than Mario games of the past as collecting is now a main part of the game, which means you simply can't run and jump and plough through enemies just to beat the game any more, well you can but you will miss half of what each level has to offer if you do, as this game puts more emphasis on exploring than any Mario game before it.
Don't think you are just confined to a Yoshi though, no much like Mario the Yoshies have power ups too in order to reach and collect certain items, they range from becoming a a helicopter to fly to your destination to becoming a drill and burrowing underground to get what you need, although these last only for a limited time, then it is back to the regular game which breaks up the game nicely at certain points though but not enough to keep you guessing what style of game you are playing. Overall near perfect in every area from it's simple and effective controls to the gradual difficulty curve.
Lasting Appeal
Okay where to start, you have 72 massively jam packed levels, 8 of which are hidden, each one where you have to aim to get a score out of 100 with each level getting progressively harder, don't think the mini dungeon and dungeon levels are any less of a challenge as you still have to aim to get a high score as well as beating the boss. Those high scores aren't just for show either getting a certain total between all of the levels on each worlds will unlock a mini game on each one as well as 8 secret levels which are considerably hard than most of the regular ones, much like the Special World was in Super Mario World.
The main game as such is not overly challenging itself but the main challenge comes from trying to get all those levels beaten with a top score of 100 on each which will take some doing, and like all previous Mario games you will want to go back and replay your favourite levels a re fight the bosses as they are certainly very memorable just for the size and scale of them.
Overall
If you haven't guess by now I pretty much simply love every aspect of this game right from the very start it is a masterpiece of design and a true testament to what the SNES can do, as far as I am concerned this is possible the best most complete piece of SNES software you can get, if you have never played it you owe it to yourself to try it at least once, one of the best platform games ever made much like the last two Mario games Nintendo continues to set the standard for what a good Mario game and platform game in general should be like.
Scores
Players: 1
Original Release Date(s):Oct 4 1995(US), Oct 6 1995(Europe), Aug 5 1995(Jap)
It had been some time since a new Mario game had been released on the SNES, in fact a good five years since Super Mario World was released in Japan to the time it's sequel would arrive, and thanks to the success of Donkey Kong Country Nintendo wanted Shigeru Miyamoto to make a Mario game in the same style, at request he refused as he didn't like the look of the games as he didn't think they would hold up over time, so he went about creating a game powered by the Super FX 2 chip and the game to a radically different look and approach to any Mario game previously made.
As far as story goes the game doesn't feature you trying to rescue the Princess but instead baby Luigi who has been kidnapped, yes I said baby, this game goes back in time to when both Mario and Luigi were both babies, so are they twins now? I always thought Mario was older? Never mind that though so you do not control Mario directly but Rather the new stars of the game the Yoshies who made their debut in Super Mario World now take center stage.
Presentation
Right from the very start you can see the sheer amount of love just thrown into this game, from the moment it opens with the story book style into to the attention to detail on ever single level the whole game is just sewn together nicely and is a truly well put together piece of software.
Menus and maps are all simple affairs but even though they are they way the game looks makes them look nice and its all very simple to navigate, you can't really complain at a game that takes this approach.
Graphics
After the release of Donkey Kong Country and its success Nintendo really wanted Shigeru Miyamoto to make a Mario game in the same mould, but he pretty much point blank refused as he didn't like the graphical style and all I can say is thank go he did as what he help in vision as a result of that is probably the closest thing to a work of are you will find on the SNES. Right away you will just take in everything and it's beautiful hand drawn style and the paint brush style colouring it really is a thing of beauty to look at just from a style point of view as you can see it is all lovingly drawn, from the sketch backgrounds to the foregrounds each level looks like it is full of life because there is so much to see on screen but never seems over cramped.
That's not to say from a technical point of view the game doesn't excel too, far from it in order to push the SNES further to compete with newer technology they came up with the Super FX chip to push polygons about, Yoshi's Island uses the Super FX 2 chip and not for it's polygon pushing power but rather its superior sprite rotation and scaling doing things Mode 7 can't do having enemies twist and turn and rotate on screen and boss enemies so large things have to zoom in and out and the can be vary large indeed too. As well as adding some very nice special effect to some levels making the whole level appear hazy and moving back and forward.
So from both a artistic and technical stand point this game is pretty much a dream and near perfect in every way and has excellent animation all round to round it off, a true testament to the SNES hardware and using the Super FX chip in a way no one else would probably have thought to and in a way that doesn't make the game look dated when compared to newer technology.
Sound
If the graphics were ground breaking at the time Nintendo knew they had to match it with equally as good sound and they really did they tunes for each level are truly amazing and really do squeeze the most out of the sound chip, you go from some of the chirpiest and cheeriest of music that really populates the vast majority of the game to the dungeon levels which as still in there own way chirpy and cheery but still excellent through out.
Don't think that it's just the music that is impressive, no the sound effects are equally as good as in many enemies let out cries when they get hit and the over all sound of everything is really just turned up full pelt, overall you possibly have one of the best if not the best sounding games on the SNES.
Gameplay
Really this is the biggest change as it is no ordinary Mario game, since you don't control Mario himself but rather the Yoshies that carry him through each level, and doing such they control very differently to Mario himself, although not so differently to the Yoshies of Super Mario World, you still jump with B and and lash your tongue out with Y to swallow enemies, although those enemies now become eggs which the Yoshies use to throw as a projectile with the press of the A button to hit certain types of enemies or even to collect hard to reach items.
This slightly different control may take a little getting used to and I do mean a little because once you get used to it you will be running and jumping and throwing eggs like it is second nature, also the levels are now a much slower pace than Mario games of the past as collecting is now a main part of the game, which means you simply can't run and jump and plough through enemies just to beat the game any more, well you can but you will miss half of what each level has to offer if you do, as this game puts more emphasis on exploring than any Mario game before it.
Don't think you are just confined to a Yoshi though, no much like Mario the Yoshies have power ups too in order to reach and collect certain items, they range from becoming a a helicopter to fly to your destination to becoming a drill and burrowing underground to get what you need, although these last only for a limited time, then it is back to the regular game which breaks up the game nicely at certain points though but not enough to keep you guessing what style of game you are playing. Overall near perfect in every area from it's simple and effective controls to the gradual difficulty curve.
Lasting Appeal
Okay where to start, you have 72 massively jam packed levels, 8 of which are hidden, each one where you have to aim to get a score out of 100 with each level getting progressively harder, don't think the mini dungeon and dungeon levels are any less of a challenge as you still have to aim to get a high score as well as beating the boss. Those high scores aren't just for show either getting a certain total between all of the levels on each worlds will unlock a mini game on each one as well as 8 secret levels which are considerably hard than most of the regular ones, much like the Special World was in Super Mario World.
The main game as such is not overly challenging itself but the main challenge comes from trying to get all those levels beaten with a top score of 100 on each which will take some doing, and like all previous Mario games you will want to go back and replay your favourite levels a re fight the bosses as they are certainly very memorable just for the size and scale of them.
Overall
If you haven't guess by now I pretty much simply love every aspect of this game right from the very start it is a masterpiece of design and a true testament to what the SNES can do, as far as I am concerned this is possible the best most complete piece of SNES software you can get, if you have never played it you owe it to yourself to try it at least once, one of the best platform games ever made much like the last two Mario games Nintendo continues to set the standard for what a good Mario game and platform game in general should be like.
Scores
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