Overview
The many Yoshis playable in the game, alongside the baby Mario.Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (known in Japan as Super Mario: Yoshi Island) is a 2D side-scrolling platformer developed by Nintendo EAD and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System on August 1995 (in Japan) and October 1995 (worldwide).
A spin-off of the Super Mario series (although its international name refers it to a numbered sequel to Super Mario World), Yoshi's Island diverts from the standard Super Mario platformer formula and puts players in control of one of multiple Yoshies (previously a rideable sidekick in Super Mario World) as they escort the infant Mario to the goal. Along with a new distinct storybook art style and numerous special effects (some of which makes use of the integrated Super FX2 microchip), the game introduces new abilities for the Yoshies (including flutter jumping for extra distance, a mid-air "ground pound" technique, and the ability to quickly turn swallowed enemies into eggs for use as ranged weapons).
Set on the titular island long before the main Super Mario games, the game's story involves a tribe of Yoshies finding the baby Mario, who fell from the sky from a delivery stork (playing on the childhood fable that storks deliver babies to their parents) after an attempted kidnapping by the evil Magikoopa Kamek. With use of a map that fell with the infant, the Yoshies must navigate their way through the island's 48 levels and the forces of Kamek to deliver Mario to his parents (and, along the way, find his kidnapped twin).
Along with multiple follow-ups, the game received a port to the Game Boy Advance in Japan (on September 20, 2002), North America (on September 24, 2002), and Europe (on October 11, 2002). Titled Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island (or, in Japan, Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi Island + Mario Brothers), this version includes some minor changes and additions, as well as the Mario Bros. bonus game from the previous two Super Mario Advance games (with four-player cross-game compatible multiplayer support via link cable).
While the game one of the few Nintendo games to not be digitally re-released as a Virtual Console title, it was made available for the Nintendo Switch on September 2019 as a Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Switch Online title. It was also included in the Super NES Classic Edition 2017 mini-console.
Gameplay
Yoshi scrambling to get baby Mario back.Yoshi's Island introduces a plethora of new moves for Yoshi now that he has become the main character. Many of the moves that he has since become known for were first developed in this title, including his ability to hover by kicking his feet furiously for a few seconds. Yoshi's ability to create eggs from enemies and then use them as weapons was also introduced in this title. Throughout his adventures, Yoshi can accumulate up to six eggs that can be used to reach far off switches and collectibles or to simply eliminate enemies. Occasionally, players will have to get keys or other objects that will replace an egg in the line up following Yoshi
Shooting eggs.to unlock or advance in a level. Unlike other Mario titles, Yoshi does not have a finite amount of health (he can be killed instantly by pits, lava, spikes and other such hazards though). Instead, players will have to rescue Baby Mario within a certain time-limit whenever Yoshi is hit. Throughout a level, the timer will refill back to the default 10 seconds, but a player can collect objects, such as bouncing starmen (not to be confused with ones from other Super Mario titles that provide invulnerability), that will increase the limit up to 30 seconds.
Hidden throughout each level are a number of extras which players can collect. Part of the challenge of each level includes collecting these items, which are red coins and flowers. Each level has 20 red coins and 5 flowers. Tthe red coins simply serve as a collectible, but the flowers give the player an increased chance of playing a mini-game once they complete the level. If a player collects all of the items in a level and finishes with 30 seconds on their timer, they receive a perfect score of 100 for that level.
Some levels require Yoshi to collect a transformation power-up that transforms Yoshi into a vehicle for a limited amount of time. Yoshi can become a helicopter, letting him fly; a car, which increases his speed, but he must avoid enemies; a submarine, which lets him shoot torpedoes that home onto enemies; a train, which rides on rails, but must avoid other enemies also on the tracks; and a mole vehicle that can dig through certain obstacles. During any vehicle segment, players don't have to worry about losing Baby Mario, but still must complete the segment before the transformation wears off. When a player successfully reaches the end of the segment, Yoshi and Baby Mario are reunited and the level continues.
On a few rare occasions, Yoshi has a chance to nab a "super star," altering Baby Mario into the 'Super Baby Mario' form, also causing Mario to don a cape. This marks a turn of events for the game where the player controls Baby Mario rather then his scaly chauffer. Baby Mario can run at the speed of light up walls and across ceilings and has an improved ability to jump and glide. Many times, Mario can nab hard-to-reach items and plenty of coins. This power up is seldom seen, and only lasts for a very short period of time, so make good use of it.
A stage map where players pick the level they wish to play.At the end of each level, players jump through a goal hoop that will randomly reward the player with a mini-game. After that, players are scored out of 100 points depending on how many red coins they collected, how many of the five hidden flowers they found throughout the stage (which will also improve the chance of entering a mini-game) and how much time is left on the countdown timer. After the player receives their score, the Yoshi carrying Baby Mario hands him off to the next Yoshi that will carry Baby Mario through the next level. There six worlds altogether, each of which consists of eight levels that players must clear in order. Players can also unlock hidden bonus stages that add an extra challenge. Players can pick any stage they've previously beaten, in an attempt to get a better score or find any other hidden secrets. Each world has two castle areas where players have to face off against a boss which all have different weaknesses players must discover and are not necessarily as "generic" as the bosses seen in other Mario titles that all have similar weaknesses.
Yoshi's Island was the first major Mario title that did not contain any form of a warp zone, allowing players to transport themselves further into the game. To complete Yoshi's Island, players were required to complete all of the game's 48 regular stages, though getting 100% completion was a much more daunting task with the many bonus levels featured in the title.
Extra Stages
The extra stages are a series of optional stages that can be accessed if the player reaches a standard of points in specific worlds. Perfect scores are not required, however, the standards are not easy, and so a high score is required for most levels in a world. The extra stages prove to be much more challenging then the main stages throughout the game, only the elite could conquer a few of these stages.
These stages are:
- Extra 1: Poochy aint Stupid
- Extra 2: Hit that switch!!
- Extra 3: More Monkey Madness
- Extra 4: The Impossible? Maze
- Extra 5: Kamek's Revenge
- Extra 6: Castles - Masterpiece set
Mini Games
On every level, the player has a chance to play one of many mini-games. Some stages only allow access to mini-games through the end of stage roulette, however, there are special doors on some levels that give access
A bonus challengeto games. Certain levels will have small hut like buildings with locked doors. If the player can locate the key to the door, they can go inside and participate in a mini-game. These mini-games can provide the player with bonuses if they are successful.
Throwing Balloons: In this mini-game, Yoshi and the bandit will toss a balloon to each other across the screen. As they toss the balloon, it will continue to grow larger and larger. Once it gets so big that it pops, the character holding it loses.
Popping Balloons: popping balloons has Yoshi competing against the bandit to see who can pop the right balloon. The characters run across the small level, ground-pounding all of the balloons. Whoever pops the correct balloon is the winner.
Gather Coins: Once again, Yosih is pitted against the bandit. This game has a cannon which moves across the screen, and shooting out coins into the air as it moves. The player must try and collect as many coins as possible. Once the game is over, the character with the most coins wins.
Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest: This game puts Yoshi in combat against the bandit, both wielding watermelon seeds. Pots are scattered across the screen, each one with a watermelon in it. The characters collect the watermelons and eat them, then, as if they were a machine gun, spit out the seeds at eachother. Both characters have life, and whoever loses all of their life first is the loser.
Game Boy Advance version
On September 22, 2002, Nintendo released the GBA port of Yoshi's island, titled Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island. Essentially, the games were identical aside from the obvious change in resolution. Nintendo added voice samples from the Nintendo 64 game Yoshi's Story, and changed the music in the GBA version of the game.
One major change to the game was the addition of six new "secret levels" that a player could unlock once they had completed the game. These secret levels are completely seperate from the extra levels found in the SNES version, though those levels are also present in the port. In order to get these levels, players were required to obtain a score of 100 on all of the games 60 levels by collecting all that can be found on each level. Once they have these scores and have completed the game, a yellow box will appear on the level select menu with the word "secret" in it.
The secret levels are as follows:
- Secret Level 1: Exercise in the Skies
- Secret Level 2: Mystery of the Castle?
- Secret Level 3: Go! Go! Morphing
- Secret Level 4: Fight Toadies with Toadies
- Secret Level 5: Items are fun!
- Secret Level 6: Endless world of Yoshis
The GBA version of the gameThere were also a few changes to the GBA version. In Extra level 3, 'More Monkey Madness,' a single red coin was removed taking the total on the level from 21 to 20.
The GBA version of Yoshi's Island also featured a remake of the classic arcade game Mario Bros., as did other game boy advance Mario ports. Yoshi's Island was the first of the Mario advance series to allow players to put the game boy into a 'sleep' mode, which allowed them to put the game boy into powersave at any time without losing progress.
Game Credits
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