MadCap's Game Reviews - "Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island"

I've spoken fondly of games from my past that shaped me into becoming a gamer in the past right here on this very blog. For me, it's been games like Pokemon or Banjo-Kazooie or the Super Mario series that were some of the first I ever played as a child.  But some of my earliest memories were in playing two particular games.  You see, I came into gaming at a time after the Super Nintendo, but before the Playstation, and my parents actually had a NES and got me a SNES, so I got the chance to play many different games from that era.  Like the original Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt.

...and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game.  Let me be frank - me screaming obscenities for nine paragraphs is not a review, so no, I won't review this.

Then came the SNES where I played games like Jurassic Park, Scooby-Doo Mystery, and Super Castlevania IV, among others...like Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.  If you've read my review of Yoshi's New Island on the DS, then you know all about my lavishly described backstory in which my mother would play the game and I'd observe for some time until I developed the fine motor skills necessary (give me a break, I was four) to master the big, green dinosaur with a bizarre digestive tract.  After all, even then, I could play Super Mario and pretty well, but this was just something else. Yoshi could do so much more than just the running and jumping that Mario could do.

I can't even tell you how many hours of my life I gave to this game once I was playing myself. It has pretty much all you'd expect from a Mario title. Fun, addictive, and with fair challenge.  At least, that's how it was to me when I was in my...younger youth.  So does the game still hold up to what the rose-colored glasses say it is? Or have I allowed myself to think something is good for all this time only to return to it and find it isn't remotely what I thought?

The Yoshis learned from the Muppets how to travel by map, you see...

Let's begin with the story.  This is the earliest story in the Mario series chronology (no, seriously), beginning with a stork trying to deliver the adorable babies Luigi and Mario to their family in the Mushroom Kingdom when it gets attacked by Kamek, a "Magikoopa" who has foreseen the great trouble that Mario and Luigi will cause for Bowser in the future.  While his attack manages to net him Luigi, the stork drops Mario and the little bundle of joy falls all the way to the eponymous Yoshi's Island.  There he is taken in by the natives, taught their ways, and grows up to be a fine young man who is a great warrior and friend to all animals as the Beastmas-

...oh, wait.  That's that other guy.

Instead, the Yoshis decide to reunite Mario with his brother and go on an epic, multi-colored quest to do just that. With Mario on their back, each Yoshi will take on one level as they move through six worlds of madness in order to reunite the brothers. On the way, Yoshi gets the standard Mario powers - that is to say, running and jumping (along with a flutter jump to give a few more seconds in the air). However, each Yoshi can swallow most enemies whole and...err...eject them as an egg that can then be thrown as a projectile to either interact with the environment or as a weapon.

Crashing all those hopes (of getting an extra life) down the drain...

More than that, the Yoshis can use the power of Morph Bubbles that allow them to transform into various vehicles so they can traverse the environment in different ways for a limited time, as well as being nigh-invincible in this state. The trade off is, again, the limited time. If the player doesn't reach a "Yoshi Block" in time, they're sent right back to the area with the original morph bubble after the aforementioned limited time. There's also the Super Watermelons that come in red, green, and blue varieties that cause Yoshi to spit fire, seeds, or ice in addition to the eggs that can be thrown.

The Yoshis can also collect stars (not the Invincibility Stars of previous and later games) that play into the time-based health system. Yes, time-based as would be used in later games. Yoshi himself is virtually unkillable barring some of the more obvious deathtraps (e.g. giant spikes or falling down a pit) but when a Yoshi is hit, it causes him/her to buck, sending baby Mario flying into the air in a protective bubble.

From there, Baby Mario begins to wail in the most annoying noise ever.

More annoying than the Guild Leader telling you your health is low...more annoying than Sumter claiming that "Green Knight needs food badly!"...more annoying than the sound of Link's heart meter when he's about to die...actually, it's amazing how many really annoying sounds in video games are related to health, isn't it?

So Yoshi either has to catch him within a pre-allotted time or Mario will be captured and the player will be dealt a "Game Over". How do you up the time? By collecting stars, of course. The stars can be collected from Winged Clouds, from defeating certain enemies, and from completing some challenges found in the levels. However, the timer won't go above thirty seconds.  And after thirty seconds of hearing the incessant wailing of Baby Mario, you'll definitely want Kamek to take him...if not just hand him over yourself...

Little known fact, Kamek's mentor was Rita Repulsa

On the plus side, if you get a Super Star, then Baby Mario becomes Super Baby Mario, donning the cape from Super Mario World (the first one) as Yoshi regresses into a giant Yoshi egg and then is able to run through the level with invincibility and reckless abandon...for a limited time, anyway. Still, used properly, a limited time is all you need.

As far as collectibles go, there are also five Flowers in each level. On their own, they do nothing except grant points. On each level, there are thirty stars, twenty Red Coins, and five Flowers that all contribute to your final score. The highest score you can get, as you can imagine, is 100. If you manage to get all five stars in a level, then the end of the level's roulette wheel may land on one, which gets you better odds at trying a mini-game.

Needless to say - unless you're incredibly dedicated - you aren't going to get a perfect score on your first time every time, particularly in the later levels, where it's near-impossible unless you have the mad platforming skills.  Needless to say, I don't.

And the sidekick is recovered. All is well...

However, I will say that I find this game just as enjoyable as when it came out twenty years ago.  Going back to it now, it's nothing but fond memories brought back to life before my very eyes once again. It's one of the first games that brought me towards wanting to play games as a regular form of recreation, one of the first games I ever really played, and so I think it was the perfect choice for my ninety-ninth review.

...wait...ninety-ninth?! I've done ninety-nine reviews?! Really?! Holy moly!  I can't believe it! Ninety-nine reviews?! That means next is the Big One! The one double oh! Stay tuned, Madmen! For next time I come back with a review of a game, we're going to hit the one hundredth review! Stick around!!!

...oh, and Mom? Thanks.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is brought to us by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System/Super Famicon.

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...many falls, but one remains...