Here's a level where a giant chain chomp chases Yoshi down a series of floating platforms. Here are those overly flappy goonie birds that you can ride like a floating platform. And here's one with those floating penguins that Yoshi can bounce off harmlessly. Oh look, here's a few levels with those annoying monkeys jumping among the trees, just like in Yoshi's Island. The game does nearly the opposite of reinventing the wheel, instead seeming to take familiar pieces of the first game and reassembling them into new patterns, to the point where an attentive player can start picking out the tropes and design elements they expect to resurface. Oh look, here's the part where you jump on happy balloons, just like in Yoshi's Island.This means, of course, that those looking for something completely new won't find much of what they're looking for in Yoshi's New Island. Familiar without being overly familiar and faithful without being a mere carbon copy, Yoshi's New Island doesn't quite live up to its namesake, but it doesn't really mess too much with what isn't broken, either. Yoshi's New Island is Nintendo's latest attempt to recapture lightning in a bottle, and it does a solid if imperfect job of doing just that. The best follow-up so far may actually be Super Mario Advance 3, a Game Boy Advance port which added six excellent new secret levels on top of those already hidden in the original game. Yoshi's Island DS was a bit better at capturing the essence of the original, but it felt a bit gimmicky in its use of new character powers and just a bit off in the control department. I had high hopes for Yoshi's Story on the Nintendo 64, but that spiritual sequel took a hard turn toward overly simplistic level designs, sloppy controls, and a presentation that turned the cuteness dial well past cloying (oh god, that level-ending music). Nintendo has tried to follow up on the perfection of Yoshi's Island a few times in the past. 3 or Super Mario World, but for my money, Yoshi's Island is the pinnacle of the 2D Mario games (and I have spent a fair bit of time thinking and writing about Mario games to reach that conclusion). Some might be more partial to Super Mario Bros. When the original game came out in 1995, it both redefined what a Mario game could be and set a new definition for inventive, original, and entertaining platform games. Links: Official website | Nintendo eShopTrying to improve on the original Yoshi's Island is, in some ways, a fool's errand.
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