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Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (JP) is a platformer game for the SNES released in 1995. It is a 2D platformer and is a sequel to Super Mario World. Despite being a sequel to Super Mario World, the game is actually a prequel, which takes place before the events in Super Mario Bros. and it features Mario, Luigi and Bowser as infants.
In 2006, a direct sequel to the game was released called Yoshi's Island DS for the Nintendo DS. There was also a midquel called Yoshi's New Island for the Nintendo 3DS released in 2014.
It stars Yoshi and Baby Mario on their quest to save the recently kidnapped Baby Luigi. The game takes a dramatic turn from the previous Mario platformers and has been considered one of the greatest games ever released on the console.
Yoshi's Story for the Nintendo 64 features similar gameplay, though whether Nintendo considers it a sequel or not isn't clear, considering that the initial name was Yoshi's Island 2 for Yoshi's Island DS.
Plot
Spoiler warning: The following information contains spoilers. Please read at your own risk.
A stork is bringing Baby Mario and Baby Luigi to their parents. Once Kamek looks into the future and sees that the two brothers will grow up to destroy Bowser, he goes straight out to capture them both. Once he finds the stork, he goes in for it and takes one baby, Luigi, and accidentally drops Mario. Right before the baby falls to the earth, Yoshi catches him. Mario seems to know where his brother is, and the Yoshis agree to help to reunite them and bring them to their parents. Once Kamek discovers where the baby is, he sends out Baby Bowser's army to catch him.
Game Playthrough
In the game, Yoshi will encounter many new foes such as Naval Piranha, Raphael the Raven and, of course Bowser. In the end, Kamek causes Baby bowser to become huge, and Yoshi must fight him. After Yoshi wins, Baby Bowser returns to normal. Then Yoshi rescues Baby Luigi and the stork. The stork takes Baby Mario and Baby Luigi to their parents, and the game ends.
Spoiler warning: Spoilers end here.
Gameplay
The mechanics implemented in the game, as previously stated, are in a completely different fashion than what was found in any other Mario game. The developers applied unique graphics to an equally innovative title that has Yoshi thrusting eggs at his opponents and gobbling them up through his elongated tongue. Baby Mario will sit on top of Yoshi throughout the entire game, until an enemy attacks Yoshi, where Baby Mario will fall of Yoshi, thus starting the countdown. If Yoshi doesn't manage to get Mario back in time, then you'll lose a life, though if he does, then the game will continue on.
The levels are accessed on a menu screen, and the worlds are found on a map of Yoshi's Island. Each world has eight levels with two of them being boss stages. After you beat the game, an extra one will appear in each world, rising the count to nine.
Yoshi is capable of performing many different attacks and moves in Yoshi's Island. His foremost moves include his flutter jump, his ability to eject his elongated tongues at enemies and gobble them up, his ground pound and probably his most popular - his ability to transform anything he eats into an egg, which he can in turn toss at enemies and switches to kill or flip respectively.
A screenshot from level 4-1.
In all there are 127 different enemy types that are contained within the 55 levels, most of which are quite massive is size and difficulty (depending on where you are in the game). In this title, Yoshi is seemingly invincible unless he falls down a hole, gets burnt by lava or gets touched by spikes. If any other obstacle happens to plow through him, Baby Mario will be thrust off of his back and will float in the air in a bubble, thus starting the countdown. If Yoshi hasn't gotten Baby Mario back in the time limit, then you'll loose the game and will have to start the level over, or at least go back to the check point. Once you've lost all of your lives, you'll have to start the level back over.
Often times, Yoshi and Baby Mario will be able to take over power-ups, which are much different than the series' previous installments. These power-ups consists of transformations, most of which will turn daring dino Yoshi into a type of vehicle, which includes a car, helicopter, submarine, mole car or train. Others were planned, though were eventually taken out. A Star man will give Baby Mario the ability to run on the ground for a short time, and will gain the ability to kill enemies just by touching them.
Other specific weapons that'll give Yoshi and Baby Mario added abilities include watermelons. The Blue Watermelon will allow Yoshi to shoot ice at his enemies, which will freeze them. The Green Watermelon will give Yoshi the ability to shoot out Watermelon seeds, and finally the Red Watermelon will allow Yoshi to spew fire from his mouth.
Collectibles
There are many different collectibles that can be found in the game that rise the replay value. If you find a certain amount of these collectibles, then you'll be offered new levels which dramatically outweigh the challenge of the other levels found in the game.
First and foremost are the flowers that you can find in each level. They all seem to be relatively happy, and you can find five in each level. Finding them will reap you many benefits, such as am improved chance to play the game's mini-games and the extra levels that are included. Finding every flower in each level will add fifty percent to the level's completion stats.
The next notable collectible are the red coins. There are twenty red coins in each level, and if you find them all, it'll add twenty percent to the completion of each level.
Super stars are the final items that you need in order to get one hundred percent on the level completion chart. There are a copious amount of these in the levels, though you can only have a maximum of thirty. Each star represents how many seconds Baby Mario can stay away from Yoshi. If it goes below ten and Yoshi ends up catching him, the count will shortly rise back up to ten, but no farther. If you have thirty stars by the end of the level, then it'll add 30% to the level completion chart.
Characters
A load of characters from the game. From top to bottom - Toady, Lakitu, Goonie, Ukiki, Boo, Gusty, Paratroopa, Yoshi and Baby Mario, Naval Piranha, Raphael the Raven, Needle Nose, Cactus, Shy Guy, Amazee Dayzee, Little Mouser, and Goomba.
The following is a list of major characters found in the game, which includes Yoshi, Baby Mario (Mario), Baby Bowser (Bowser), Kamek, and Baby Luigi (Luigi).
Yoshi
Yoshis are the species that roam Yoshi's Island. They come in a variety of colors, with none of them actually surpassing one another. They all contain the same abilities, which can be seen above under the gameplay segment. They are super friendly and intelligent, and are more than happy to help Baby Mario save his twin brother.
Baby Mario
Baby Mario is Mario as a baby. In this game, the Yoshis will help him find his brother and bring the two to their parents. In the game, if Yoshi gets harmed, Baby Mario will fly off his back and into a bubble, Yoshi will then have a certain amount of time to get him back before the Toadies catch him. If Yoshi gets a Super Star, Baby Mario will turn into Super Baby Mario. While Super Mario, Yoshi will go inside an egg, and will follow the invincible Baby Mario who can run up walls, and will be super fast. If Mario is Super Baby Mario he can also use his cape to glide.
Baby Bowser
Baby Bowser is a baby version of the King Koopa known simply as Bowser. He's an antagonistic brat who sends out Kamek to do most of his bidding, and will only appear as the final boss of the game. When Yoshi and Baby Mario first encounter Bowser, he'll look at the dinosaur and falsely assume that he's a green donkey and will attempt to ride him. This will start the battle, which concludes with Kamek super-sizing him into a raging behemoth.
Kamek
Other than Baby Bowser, Kamek is the main antagonist. Kamek plays an important role in all of the boss battles, either Super-Sizing them, Super-Powering them, or by altering Yoshi to the boss's advantage. Kamek is a species of Koopa known as a Magikoopa, using a mixture of a triangle, square and circle looking projectile to attack Yoshi. Kamek, although he is Baby Bowser's minion, and perhaps right hand man, has his own minions known as Toadies. Toadies are bird-like creatures with propellers on their heads, like Fly-Guys. Toadies swoop down and steal away baby Mario if the Timer hits zero, and also appear one at a time as uncommon enemies.
Kamek attacks Yoshi only in the last boss, King Bowser's Castle, and Extra 5, either by flying into him or casting shape-looking spells as projectiles. Yoshi can counter Kamek by either jumping near him, into him, or by throwing eggs near him or into him.
Baby Luigi
Baby Luigi is Luigi as a baby. In this game, he is kidnapped by Kamek and Baby Bowser. He needs to be rescued along with the Stork.
Graphics and sound
The graphics of Yoshi's Island have been considered some of the SNES's best. It looks as if the designers had drawn the levels and sprites using crayons. Peppy colors add to the excitement. Nintendo originally wanted the game's graphics to resemble that of Donkey Kong Country, which sported a sort of 3D looking graphics in a sidescrolling world. Shigeru Miyamoto apparently didn't care too much for Donkey Kong Country, and thus went in an entirely different direction, thus making it into the game it is today.
The sound and music is also popular among gamers, and it contributes greatly to the already fun-filled video game.
Levels
| Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 | Level 5 | Level 6 | Level 7 | Level 8 | Secret* | Extra | |
| World 1 | Make Eggs, Throw Eggs | Watch Out Below! | The Cave of Chomp Rock | Burt the Bashful's Fort | Hop! Hop! Donut Lifts | Shy Guys on Stilts | Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy | Salvo the Slime's Castle | Exercise in the Skies | Poochy Ain't Stupid |
| World 2 | Visit Koopa and Para-Koopa | The Baseball Boys | What's Gusty Taste Like? | The Bigger Boo's Fort | Watch Out for Lakitu | The Cave of the Mystery Maze | Lakitu's Wall | The Potted Ghost's Castle | Mystery of the Castle? | Hit That Switch!! |
| World 3 | Welcome to Monkey World! | Jungle Rhythm! | Nep-Enut's Domain | Prince Froggy's Fort | Jammin' Through the Trees | The Cave of Harry Hedgehog | Monkeys' Favorite Lake | Naval Piranha's Castle | Go! Go! Morphing! | More Monkey Madness |
| World 4 | GO! GO! MARIO!! | The Cave of the Lakitus | Don't Look Back! | Marching Milde's Fort | Chomp Rock Zone | Lake Shore Paradise | Ride Like the Wind | Hookbill the Koopa's Castle | Fight Toadies w/ Toadies | The Impossible Maze |
| World 5 | BLIZZARD!!! | Ride the Ski Lifts | Danger - Icy Conditions Ahead | Sluggy the Unshaven's Fort | Goonie Rides! | Welcome to Cloud World | Shifting Platforms Ahead | Raphael the Raven's Castle | Items are Fun! | Kamek's Revenge |
| World 6 | Scary Skeleton Goonies! | The Cave of the Bandits | Beware the Spinning Logs | Tap-Tap the Red Nose's Fort | The Very Loooooong Cave | The Deep, Underground Maze | KEEP MOVING!!!! | King Bowser's Castle | Endless World of Yoshis | Castles - Masterpiece Set (known as Ultimate Castle Challenge in SMA3) |
- The Secret levels can only be found in the 2002 Game Boy Advance remake "Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island".
Legacy
The team behind the game.
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is often considered the beginning of the Yoshi series. While there were games before it whose primary protagonist was Yoshi, they were merely puzzle titles and didn't debut what is considered the pinnacle element of the franchise - which is basically a sidescrolling title that has the player gobbling up enemies, producing eggs and tossing them, among other features. The game inspired a host of other titles, albeit most of which were featured in the same series (i.e. Yoshi's Story, Yoshi Touch & Go and Yoshi's Island DS).
The video game has been mentioned in one way or another in various other Nintendo titles, most notably the Super Smash Bros. series (specifically in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, in which an entire stage is based around the title). Yoshi appears as a character, while many of his maneuvers originated from the title. In Super Mario Sunshine, a minor cameo (which may not even be a cameo) appears in one of th secret courses - in the background there are train tracks plastered on the walls that looks similar to the ones featured in the classic SNES video game. It should also be noted that in Super Mario Sunshine, Yoshi, who appears as a steed once more, can perform a flutter jump, similar to the one in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.
In the Nintendo DS video game WarioWare D.I.Y., a stage titled Yoshi was based on this video game. In it, players were required to touch Yoshi with Baby Mario on his back to jump, and shortly thereafter touch him again to make him groundpound, thus killing the Shy Guys around him. The background, music and graphics were all based on Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.
The game was also featured on the cover of Nintendo Power V77 upon it's release in 1995. It later won 4 awards in the 1995 Nintendo Power Awards: Best Play Control, Most Innovative Game, Best Hero/Heroine (Yoshi), and Most Annoying Feature (Crybaby Mario).
Sequels, spin-offs and ports
Yoshi's Story and Yoshi's Island DS can arguably be considered sequels to Super Mario World 2, more so the latter than the former. Yoshi Touch & Go is a sort of remake, and a remake was released on the Game Boy Advance in 2002 named Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 that also included the arcade classic Mario Bros. as an extra. The Game Boy Advance remake was titled Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, and some critics claim, despite the downgraded graphics that it is better than the original because of the following -
- New voice samples that resemble those from Yoshi's Story.
- New cry sound effect for Baby Mario and the original cry sound effect is used for Baby Luigi on the map.
- Six new secret levels.
- A new ending if you got every secret in the game.
- Shoes for the Yoshis that resemble the shoes from Yoshi's Story.
Yoshi's Story could also be considered a spin-off rather than a direct sequel, though as aforementioned this could be debated. Yoshi Topsy Turvy is a quirky and unpopular spinoff that makes use of the gyro sensing mechanic used in WarioWare: Twisted. Tetris Attack on the SNES features all of the popular characters and themes from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island as playable characters or antagonists.
Trivia
- Some of Yoshi's sound effects in this game were later recycled in Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Mario Golf and in the first three Mario Party games.