Quick Look: Yoshi's New Island

So this game is exactly like the original and it's boring as hell?

Who could have seen that coming? Surely not everyone.

This just looks uninspired in every way. The music is pretty bad (the amount of hate the OST for this game has gotten on sites like NeoGAF is kinda funny), it looks waaaaaaaaaaay worse than the original and just looks...boring. I was never a huge fan of the original, but it was a game with a ton of creativity - the amount of stuff Nintendo did that only applied to one single level of the game was absolutely Incredible. So this is dissapointing regardless of my personal feelings about the franchise.

It would be really cool if Patrick put up a Dumptruck of a conversation with Trihex about the game though. Seems like a cool guy from what I've seen of AGDQ.

Patrick is back and he's bringing the gold with him!

SHOUT OUTS TO PINOBEE!

It says quite a lot that they barely talked about what was happening on the screen; what a dull, slow looking experience. If this was Yoshi's Island there would be crazy things happening in every room.

I've had that feeling about a lot of Nintendo first party lately. Playing these franchises so safe goes against why people loved these fresh, original games in the first place; Yoshi's Island remains one of my most favorite Nintendo games for how daring and challenging it was.

It might have caught Patrick off guard

Yoshi's Island on the SNES is one of the best platformers of all time, and easily one of my favorite games ever. It's also the only really good Yoshi game. Looks like this isn't changing that one bit.

I hardly even want to watch this if it's just going to be Jeff taking a crap on all Yoshi and Patrick spewing nonsense about the history of DKC. Just a couple of morning shows ago Patrick was stating that the Rare Donkey Kong games were significantly inferior to the Retro ones, as if that was the general consensus and a clearly obvious truth. But then it seems like nobody in the industry has played DKC 2 or 3 and Jeff himself has admitted that his life was weird around the mid nineties so a lot of the games that came out then weren't exactly treated right in his mind, like Super Metroid or Yoshi's Island.

IDK what the technical answer is, but this game was NOT developed by Nintendo so is it not a first party game? Nintendo did publish it of course. Arzest/Artoon is very much a 3rd party who was contracted to do this game. They did the DS game too, which I know a lot of people did not like as much as the original. A shame I know, but EAD can't make everything like they used to.

Keeping the rotating cursor for aiming eggs is weird, since Yoshi Story had full analog aiming...

Once and for all Jeff is right. Yoshi's Island games is/are/always will be stupid.

Jeff is the fucking best when he has a grudge against some classic game.

Game is ugly as shit. Easter pastel shit.

This is weird.

If I just open up the video initially the page seems broken, the video player does not expand, there is no comment section visible and no game info on the right side.

It worked after I switched to the second comments page, the video expanded and enabled the player controls. But now if I try to see the first comments page the site errors out.

I think Yoshi's Island is a magnificent game and one of my favorites of all time, no qualifiers. I love every aspect of it and I think it's got such a personality and utilizes a variety of gameplay that very few platformers of the era even dared to. Maybe it was quirky but there are certainly hundreds of SNES games that are objectively worse.

I know Jeff is probably being hyperbolic for the sake of a running gag, but he's super negative and less jokey about it. As if the mere existence of the game is enough for him to feel less satisfied with the world. It's his opinion I know and at this point I don't think he would be Jeff if he operated any other way. I love this website and all the great guys and gals that make it possible, but this quick look bummed me out, and not only because this "sequel" is so massively uninspired and utterly lifeless.

The original Yoshi's Island put so many neat twists on the core mechanics. This is so disappointing in comparison.

But still fuck Jeff Gerstmann.

Edit: I don't think Nintendo has any idea why anyone plays their games anymore. Almost everything they do these days seems so fantastically out of touch with what fans actually want from them that I find it hard to believe they ever made it this far.

The only time they talk about DKC in this Quick Look is when Patrick is explaining what caused Nintendo to do the crayon-style look of the first Yoshi game, and Jeff explains very clearly why he dislikes these games in this very Quick Look - the auto-rotating reticule.

As a guy who has played none of the Yoshi games and dislikes 2D platformers in general, I have zero personal opinion on it other than that this game looks visually bad, as well as looking boring to play. (Re: 2D platformers: I didn't grow up on them, never developed the skills for them. I was born in '91 as the oldest child, and by the time I was playing console games [my first games were PC strategy games. The Westwood games mostly], 3D platforming had taken over in the platformer space during the late N64, early PS2 era. Even on handhelds, I've only ever owned a GBC, of which I only owned two games: Pokemon Red, and Pokemon Silver).

My eyes glazed over, and I stopped listening around the 7 minute mark? When I did snap back to what I was watching, it sounded more like a documentary on Nintendo. I'm not sure when I started my out of body experience but, I had to just stop watching.

This was great, Patrick and Jeff going on tangents was far more interesting than a normal quick look dialog. First quick look I've seen that could have been appreciated as a podcast with almost no loss.

I'm with Jeff, Yoshi's Island is a Bad Game.

@jeff Yoshi's Island for the SNES is a better game than Super Mario Wold. I REGRET NOTHING

I don't get Jeff's hate for the first Yoshi's Island. That game was fantastic. And the egg-throwing mechanic is really satisfying when you get good at it. Kinda like the combat in another recently released game. Oh yeah, Dark Souls II. Fantastic controls. I'm sure Jeff would say they feel like shit though because things aren't instantaneous with your button presses like DMC. smh. Love ya Jeff, but sometimes it seems like all you care about are fighting games and shooters.

It wasn't that big of a thing actually, just an off hand mention of DKC to the effect of "The graphics of Yoshi's Island were a reaction to DKC" which they were but it must be noted if DKC hadn't existed Miyamoto wouldn't have his hand forced to improve the graphics. Mind you maybe I'm just salty and read far too much into the statement because Miyamoto was a sore loser and dissed DKC in a quote that became internet famous which he recanted only a few years ago. Jealousy because Yoshi's Island was shit was always the best way to counter the point. Still is really. Rare puts out DKC and Miyamoto is told by management he needs to up his game. That had never happened to Miyamoto before or, probably, since Rare was sold. Still Miyamoto has now made amends and has given blessing to Retro to revitalize it. So that's good. Hope Kremlings come back next game though.

Also yeah sadly the industry seems to have skipped DKC2 somehow. I figure it's due to age ranges. Some people in the industry/disposable income could've jumped to the PSOne immediately rather than holding to the SNES or Genesis and gotten caught up in that scene even though DKC1-3 looked better than anything of its day, true 3D included. Others might have simply forgotten it because it falls into the space between one's golden age (the games of their childhood) and the present (which continues to more and more dope). That space has a hard time being remembered as it's never going to compete on Nostalgia with older games and it's never going to compete on playability with modern games. It's similar with games older than one's golden age except they can't compete on playability or nostalgia with the games of one's childhood. Three the DKC games haven't been rereleased recently. They were on the GBA which was good and the VC which was pulled a year or two ago, but they're not on Wii VC anymore nor are they on Wii U VC. Probably something to do with Rare and Microsoft. Four not enough people are revisiting it. You ever notice that with all the SNES livestreams there's been over the years they've never slapped in any DKC game? Not even once? Terrible.

I miss Patrick and Jeff riffing off eachother more regularly :(

Also, this looks like proper shite.

It's so refreshing to see someone be able to play and talk at the same time.

It's kind of funny that this game does even less with the mechanics of the original Yoshi's Island than the DS version did. Yoshi's Island DS was made by Artoon, and this game was made by the same core group at their new studio Arzest. It's literally like they've taken a dozen steps back with their next game in the series :/

They are talking about Trihex's speedruns around minute 11, yes Jeff has seen some of them.
So much about ignorantly pontificating Internet people ;)

No offense, i'm also a fan of the original Yoshi's Island, but people have to keep in mind that Videogames are too a large degree a pretty subjective experience. What some people could never stand (MMO Gameplay, Big Rigs, Superman64) others consider "awesome gameplay" or "classics".

I also feel in this QL Jeff voiced his reasons, for disliking Yohi's Island, well enough.
People have to keep in mind that Jeff has been around for quite a while, so it sounds like he simply burned out on the "Nintendo Platformer rereleases" a couple of years earlier, compared to a lot of other people.

Today i certainly can see his point, back when i played Yoshi's Island as a kid, without having played a ton of other Mario games before that, i probably wouldn't even been able to understand what he's talking about.

I mean I liked DKC2, but by the time they got to the 3rd game it just got out of control. Even my friend who grew up on those games doesn't like 3 very much. It was always a series that looked grungy and rough, very thrown together and muddy. Yoshi's Island though, has always looked beautiful. It is unfortunate this game is dull and looks so muddy and inconsistent.

I mean, Goemon for the DS had a lovely Okami-esque art style, so it is totally possible for even a DS game to look really stylized and nice.

But at least it looks better than Yoshi's Story, ugh what an ugly, tedious game.

Yeah I don't know what Jeff's talking about with the throwing mechanic stuff. You can execute some complex stuff in the original game all while jumping/fluttering around, and to compare that to drawing a path on a touchscreen? That kind of stuff was novel for a second on the DS.

I wouldn't say that Yoshi's island is flawless but probably the variety in the level design and mechanics is one of it's strongest features. I can see why this one is a shell of it's predecessor.

He decided he disliked Yoshi's Island in the 90's, around the time it was released. And he watched the speed runs AFTER he had already ignorantly pontificated, in response to this arguement.

His main arguement is the aiming, but he's said a similar thing about RE4 GC. I think the problem is more that Jeff takes issue with games which don't have aiming like Halo/ CoD; it's his problem, not the games', not every game has to be dumbed down for his tastes.

No thanks at the end? Where are your manners!

Goddamn that title screen music is terrible. And I think the description of the graphics poorly emulating the original Yoshi's Island is pretty apt. It looks so awful.

This seems pretty boring and middling all around, which is a shame.

Holy shit that conversation about giving Nintendo franchises to "American indie developers" was perhaps the stupidest thing I have ever heard on this site, and not in a good way.

I like that you are keeping an open mind about it, but I am in my mid-thirties and think Jeff is wrong about Yoshi's Island. I accept his opinion of the game though, because why shouldn't I? I trust Jeff and think he's one of the best in the business, and I almost always agree with him. Not here though.

What you consider might be Jeff's reason for disliking Yoshi's Island doesn't apply to me, somebody who is of similar age and background, so I wouldn't too readily put a ton of trust in that notion.

Jeff maybe focuses on the negative parts of Yoshi's Island, and remembers the game that way. What seems to me like most people (which is everyone I've known personally who has played the game) focus on the good parts--which greatly outnumber the bad as far as I'm concerned. We remember the game fondly.

Have you ever noticed how sometimes a game doesn't strike you initially, but somewhere, eventually, you somewhat get it in a way that you didn't before? I think Yoshi's Island has a bit of that to it, so people who gave it a little more time were probably more appreciative of what it did well than someone who dismissed it too quickly.

I don't know that this applies to Jeff, but I think it is one considerable reason somebody might not like Yoshi's Island.

Good conversation guys! I forgot how much Patrick added to the group.

Love to hear Patrick and Jeff riffing on this stuff. Mediocre game, great video!

I dunno, the background reminds me of the cool Van Gogue level in NSMB Wii U. I kind of like it.

Sometimes games just don't need sequels that hew so closely to the original. They will almost always lack the charm, spirit, and originality of the first game.

Yoshi's Island was a complete game. It never has nor never will need a sequel. It perfectly encapsulated all that the game design offered.

People also seem to forget that Yoshi's Island was the subtitle. The first part was Super Mario World 2. As in, the sequel to Super Mario World. One of the finest platformers ever made. And I think part of what makes Yoshi's Island so great is that it wasn't just more Mario World. Because, again, Mario World is a complete game. So the sequel comes out and it's a crazy departure from the original. It's still a compelling and great game but a sequel in name only.

To the comments about Nintendo giving their franchises to other developers... I think the idea is good.... but lets not forget the time Nintendo gave a franchise to Team Ninja....

R.I.P Metroid

I understand why Jeff doesn't like Yoshi's Island, but like many other games, there are people who find the mechanics endearing and enjoyable. I enjoy Yoshi's Island's mechanics, but Yoshi's New Island doesn't seem like anything new. I'll probly pass on this one.

The discussion about Yoshi's Island was more interesting than Yoshi's Island.

I want to shoot my poop eggs at clouds.....that looks quite spiritual.

@matoyak: Weird, I was born in late '92 and love 2D platformers. While I recall playing SM64, I adored controlling Mario, that part played well and is still super fun and fast today, the most of the actual level seemed to be set up really blandly, and a lot of them felt aimless at times (similar feelings when I have gone back to it in the past couple years.) As well they weren't really too fun to explore because they were also quite limited, and the camera in that game is very bad. Obviously the later 3D Mario games fixed these technical issues, though aren't quite as fast as 64 gameplay wise (SMS is closest though.)

I always liked 2D platformers for their fun and precision, as well as being easy to pick up and play. First playing games like Super Mario Bros., Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, Kirby Super Star, and Donkey Kong Country 2 I loved having a grasp on the mechanics in order to discover everything the game had to offer and playing it very quickly. Going through Kirby and seeing all the powers, seeing how I could use them to get secret stuff - or just playing with the stone ability to see all of its different forms. Obviously 3D games had/have precision, but something like Super Meat Boy isn't really possible in 3D. In addition, there haven't been as many good 3D platformers as 2D for this very reason, they are harder to make.

I feel like Jeff just isn't very excepting of things that are different to what he knows. Jeff loves the original Mario games and because Yoshi Island was different, he didn't like it. Dark Souls controls different to most action games, guess what, Jeff doesn't like it.

Which is fine, he's allowed to like what he likes. But I just don't appreciate how he'll say games are bad just because HE doesn't like them.

Yes, but I think it goes without saying that, when he says a game is bad, he usually means that it's bad in his opinion. Usually Jeff hyperbolizes for the sake of comedy or entertainment, and there have definitely been times when he has adopted his Calm, Rational Voice and said that a game that he hates is just not for him. I don't remember whether he ever did that in regards to Yoshi's Island, but it demonstrates that he's not some irrational asshole who thinks his word is law.

I'm frustrated by how narrow-minded Jeff can be with video games, but everyone has their preferences. If Jeff wants to play a soldier/warrior in every RPG ever, that's fine. I think it's so fucking dumb, but it's fine. Likewise, if he hates Yoshi's Island because... well, for whatever reason, that's fine too. Patrick thinks it's good. Jeff thinks it's bad. Whatevs.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is fantastic. I'm stunned by how much disdain that people have for it on the Internet. Yoshi's New Island, on the other hand, looks like a bland new game in the series with bad graphics.

I love Yoshi's Island for the same reason I love Kirby's Dreamland. It's laid back, fun, and I just love to look at it. It's not really a great game, but I don't care.

Now if Jeff hates Kirby's Dreamland he truly is a soulless monster.

I do think his "it's a bad game for bad people" joke got old years ago, but it's true they all put on a public persona. Jeff is a very smart guy and his Jar time videos really show a more real portrayal of him. I guess I just prefer the more fun lovin Vinny persona to Jeff's. That said, Jeff can be incredibly funny and he is great at what he does.

I understand what Patrick means by ironically championing a game he genuinely enjoys, but the act of creating and vocalizing the concept made my brain grind to a complete halt momentarily.

Maybe you should look up the definition of "infant", I said infantile, not juvenile or immature. This game looks and sounds like an early childhood cartoon, the ones for 5 years old. Not that it is wrong, but if this game appeals to you, you are a child, a baby, a toddler, a kindergartner, simple as that, and that's why Jeff never liked the original, and doesn't like this one, because he's not a baby anymore.

it bums me out that i haven't found any nintendo games interesting since mario galaxy 2. c'mon guys, you have so much potential