After many years, we’re finally ready to visit Yoshi’s Island once again in one of the best platformers you’ll find on the dual screened handheld. Nintendo and infamous developer Artoon (of Blinx fame) have been hard at work with Yoshi’s Island DS, a pseudo-sequel to one of the best platformers in history: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island. It’s true that Yoshi’s Island DS may just be a pseudo-extension of the original -- in the sense that it doesn’t feel that much different from the Super Nintendo game -- but that doesn’t take away the fact that it’s brilliantly designed, sports some of the best graphics to grace the system, and has some of the largest levels in platforming history. But is it the Nintendo DS game to own this year? Arm yourself with some eggs and get ready to read.

Facts and Features:

• This time, Baby Mario™, Baby DK™, Baby Wario™ and Baby Peach are along for the ride. Each one gives Yoshi access to unique powers: While they cling to his back, Baby Mario gives Yoshi speed, Baby DK gives him strength, Baby Peach gives him the ability to fly and Baby Wario gives him magnetism.
  
  
• All of Yoshi's classic abilities are on full display. Players gobble enemies and either spit them out immediately, or turn them into eggs that they can throw at items and enemies. Pound the ground to flatten whatever's underneath, and flutter jump to traverse precarious heights. In certain areas, Yoshi can even morph into special vehicles.
  
  
• Thanks to the power of the Nintendo DS, all of the lush vistas and perilous paths of Yoshi's Island span two screens. Players hit objects on the top screen while using the touch screen, and tackle super-tall enemies that fill both screens.
  
  
• Hidden in every level are flowers, stars, red coins and character coins, so even after players finish the game, the challenge continues.

Get Your Eggs Ready
After getting his butt handed by the Yoshis in the previous game, Kamek -- the evil-but-oh-so-hilariously-stupid wizard -- has decided to execute another evil plan to steal the babies in the world, including Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, and Baby Peach! Luckily for our favorite baby heroes, the “Stork” (we never know her name! -- so unfair for the real hero of the story) blocks the path of Kamek’s minions and frees some of the babies, including Baby Mario and Baby Peach. Baby Luigi? Not so lucky. So after a long talk with the Yoshis, they decide to take matters into their own hands, and free the captive babies! A thoughtful tale? Hardly. But it’s Yoshi, it’s cute, and it works within the context of the gameplay.

If you’ve played the original Yoshi’s Island, then there’s really not much to write here. It’s basically a Mario-esque platformer where you jump, open blocks, and rescue a princess. Okay, so maybe there’s more to it. But you do jump (and flutter by pressing and holding the “A” button), you do open blocks (either by jumping, or hitting them with an egg), and you do rescue the princess (at one point, baby Peach get stolen, heh). Other abilities include ground pounding (by jumping and pressing down while on the air), swallowing your enemies (with “B”), and pressing down on the control pad to turn them into eggs. And of course, you throw eggs by pressing the “R” button, and release when you’ve decided where to shoot. Like we said, if you played the original SNES game, you’ll understand the basic Yoshi formula.

Oh but there’s more. One of the new additions to the Yoshi recipe is the fact that you now have to babysit different babies instead of just Baby Mario. What’s the fun in that? Well, the babies have different abilities, and that opens a whole new world of possibilities in each one of the already vast levels. Thanks to that, the replay value is increased simply because you’ll keep bumping into areas that cannot be accessed unless you’re carrying a specific baby. No, it doesn’t get annoying or irritating –- you’ll gladly return to any level (the level design is that good), trying to get everything there is. Another interesting feature in the game is that Yoshi itself can change into different vehicles, like a helicopter or a submarine. It’s very cool stuff, and it doesn’t feel like it’s there just because they wanted something else to fill up the game. It’s well connected into the main gameplay formula, and we love it.

Specifically talking about the babies and their different abilities, each of the levels will present you with a series of challenges that will have to be completed with a specific baby. For instance, sometimes you will see a bunch of leaves floating in the air, so what will you do? You will call for Baby Princess Peach and her trusty Parasol so you can float above the air! Do you see a bunch of vines? Who better to climb them than everyone’s favorite gorilla, Baby Donkey Kong? Baby Mario can fly and open red blocks, and Wario can use a magnet to pull coins! These abilities may sound like basic stuff (and really, they are), but how they are implemented in the game is what makes them so special.

The “baby influence” doesn’t stop there. Carrying each one of the different babies will also affect your egg-tossing abilities. For instance, if you play with Baby Peach, the eggs will be light and fast, but if you use Baby Donkey Kong, they will explode upon contact! Little details like these will make you stop and think about what to do in each one of the game’s massive levels (really, they’re huge!), and even remind you of other places that you weren’t able to access before (a la Metroid), enticing you to return and try the different abilities in levels you already finished.

Each time you complete a level, there will be a recount of how many stars, red coins (special coins that are hidden amongst the normal gold coins), and flowers you found in the level. After that, you will be graded on a 100% scale based on the level completion. It’s probably a minor detail, but it will be incentive for re-taking the “test” with a new goal in mind. A little warning, though: this will be no easy task. Actually, this is the part where the real difficulty of Yoshi’s Island DS kicks in. If you’re like us, you’ll love completing the game in every sense of the word, and with Yoshi’s Island DS, it might take you a while to do it, simply because getting every single red coin in the level will be quite an undertaking. But it is absolutely necessary for you to do it if you want to see the “real ending.”


The levels are not just cute, they're enormous!

Every four levels (levels “4” and “8” of each world, specifically), there will be a boss fight. The “middle” dungeon will have a smaller enemy, while the “big” castle will have the big boss. They’re fairly easy bosses in the first worlds, but not so much in the latter levels. After you complete the entire game (not necessarily by finding every coin or/and flower in the game), you will get access to a new world; you will be able to play your complete collection of minigames, and you will complete -- what is in our opinion -- one of the quirkiest features in the game: the museum. Here, you will find every single one of the creatures you’ve fought (or seen), in a little level that you can visit anytime you want. It’s a fun addition that isn’t really necessary, but it adds more to an already awesome title.