Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (Japanese: スーパーマリオワールド2：ヨッシーアイランド Sūpāmariowārudo 2: Yosshīairando, Super Mario: Yoshi's Island) is a platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System console. It was released on August 5, 1995 in Japan, October 4, 1995 in North America and October 6, 1995 in Europe. Instead of playing as Mario as usual, you take control of various Yoshis rather than Mario himself who appears as a helpless infant in order to rescue Luigi who also appears as a helpless infant and is kidnaped by Kamek and Baby Bowser. Despite being a sequel to Super Mario World, the game is actually a prequel which takes place before the events in Super Mario Bros..
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was later released for the Game Boy Advance with the title Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3. Later on Nintendo made Yoshi's Island DS (Also called "Yoshi's Island 2") for the Nintendo DS.
Despite its name, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is not part of the Super Mario series nor a sequel to Super Mario World. It is actually the first title of the Yoshi's Island series and a major release of the Yoshi franchise.
==Story==
A Stork is delivering Baby Mario and Baby Luigi to their parents. Meanwhile, Kamek looks into the future and sees that the two brothers will grow up to destroy the Koopa family,Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island instruction booklet, page 5. so he goes out to capture them both. Kamek charges at the stork and steals the bag with Baby Luigi, although Baby Mario is accidentally dropped below. Meanwhile on Yoshi's Island, Green Yoshi is taking a walk until Baby Mario lands right onto Green's Yoshi's back. A map of Yoshi's Island, presumably used by the stork, conveniently drops down from the sky. Green Yoshi meets with the other Yoshis to decide what to do with Baby Mario, and they agree to go on an adventure to deliver him home. When Kamek finds that he only came back with Baby Luigi, he becomes furious, and commands the Toady army to search for Baby Mario.
==Gameplay==
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island introduces several unique mechanics not found in the Super Mario series. However, like Super Mario World, the first appearance of Yoshis, a Yoshi can jump and use his elongated tongue to eat enemies and certain objects. Every Yoshi has the same abilities, regardless of their color. Yoshis were given a lot more abilities, and their existing abilities were expanded upon. When jumping, a Yoshi can perform a Flutter Jump to gain extra height from his jump. Whenever a Yoshi uses their tongue on an enemy, he does not immediately swallow the enemy, but it is stored inside of his mouth. The Yoshi can either convert the enemy into a egg or spit it back out. A Yoshi can carry up to six eggs behind him at a time. With them, a Yoshi can perform the Egg Throw ability, in which they throw an egg at an enemy or other target. Yoshis were also given the ability to Ground Pound.
For every level, the player controls a different Yoshi. The order in which the Yoshis are played are consistent for each world (e.g. Green Yoshi is always played as in the first level of a world). Baby Mario sits on the back of a Yoshi for the entirety of the level up to the end goal, where the Yoshi transfers Baby Mario on to the back of the next Yoshi. If a Yoshi takes damage from an enemy or an obstacle, Baby Mario falls off his back and becomes trapped in a bubble. The Yoshi has ten seconds to rescue Baby Mario by popping the bubble. In doing so, the timer slowly counts back to ten. By himself, a Yoshi does not take damage or lose a life unless he either falls down a hole, gets burnt by lava, or touches spikes. If Yoshi does not rescue Baby Mario on time, a group of Toadies appear to kidnap Baby Mario, and the Yoshis lose an extra life and will have to restart the level from either the beginning or from the most recently activated Middle Ring, which serve as level checkpoints.
The game introduces its own transformations that turn a Yoshi into a type of vehicle, such as a submarine or a train, for a short period of time. There is also a Super Star power-up that temporarily grants Baby Mario his Powerful Mario form, allowing him to run on the ground while invincible.
There are three items that contribute to a level's completion score: Stars, Red Coins, and Flowers. By default, a Yoshi starts out with 10 Stars in a level, although they can carry up to 30 Stars by acquiring them through various means. Each Star represents a second on the countdown timer, so if Yoshi takes damage, the timer counts down from the number of Stars that he has. Even when the Yoshi rescues Baby Mario, the countdown timer does not exceed 10, so there are at least 20 Stars (if the countdown timer begins from 30 and ends at 10) do not recover automatically. Every level consists of twenty Red Coins and five Flowers. Each Star and Red Coin adds one percent to the level completion score, but each Flower adds ten percent.
==Characters==
===Main===
*Baby Mario
*Baby Luigi
*Baby Bowser (early Bowser)
*Yoshi
*Kamek
*Stork
===Enemies===
*Aqua Lakitu
*Bandit
*Baron Von Zeppelin
*Barney Bubble
*Beach Koopa
*Big Boo
*Biting Bullet Bill (Exclusive to the Game Boy Advance version)
*Blargg
*Blow Hard
*Boo Balloon
*Boo Blah
*Boo
*Boo Guy
*Boo Man Bluff
*Bouncing Bullet Bill
*Bowling Goonie
*Bubble Dayzee
*Bullet Bill
*Bumpty
*Burt
*Cactus Jack
*Caged Ghost
*Chain Chomp
*Chomp
*Chomp Shark
*Clawdaddy
*Cloud Drop
*Coin Bandit
*Crazee Dayzee
*Dancing Spear Guy
*Dangling Ghost
*Dizzy Dandy
*Dr. Freezegood
*Eggo-Dil
*Fang
*Fat Guy
*Pyro Guy
*Flightless Skeleton Goonie
*Flightless Goonie
*Flopsy Fish
*Flutter
*Fly Guy
*Frog Pirate
*Fuzzy
*Gargantua Blargg
*Georgette Jelly
*Goomba
*Goonie
*Green Glove
*Grim Leecher
*Grinder
*Grunt
*Gusty
*Harry Hedgehog
*Hootie the Blue Fish
*Hot Lips
*Jean de Fillet
*Kaboomba
*Kamek
*Koopa Troopa
*Lakitu
*Lantern Ghost
*Large Milde
*Lava Drop
*Lemon Drop
*Little Mouser
*Little Skull Mouser
*Loch Nestor
*Lunge Fish
*Mace Guy
*Melon Bug
*Milde
*Mini-Raven
*Mock Up
*Mufti Guy
*Naval Bud
*Needlenose
*Nep-Enut
*Nipper Plant
*Nipper Spore
*Paratroopa
*Piranha Plant
*Piro Dangle
*Piscatory Pete
*Podoboo
*Potted Spiked Fun Guy
*Preying Mantas
*Pyro Guy
*Raven
*Rip Van Fish
*Seedy Sally
*Short Fuse
*Skeleton Goonie
*Slugger
*Sluggy
*Solo Toady
*Spear Guy
*Spike
*Spiked Fun Guy
*Spooky
*Spray Fish
*Stilt Guy
*Stretch
*Tap-Tap
*Tap-Tap the Golden
*Thunder Lakitu
*Toady
*Train Bandit
*Wall Lakitu
*Whirly Fly Guy
*Wild Ptooie Piranha
*Woozy Guy
*Zeus Guy
===Bosses===
===Fort===
*Burt the Bashful
*Bigger Boo
*Prince Froggy
*Marching Milde
*Sluggy the Unshaven
*Tap-Tap the Red Nose
===Castle===
*Salvo the Slime
*Roger the Potted Ghost
*Naval Piranha
*Hookbill the Koopa
*Raphael the Raven (Castle)
*Tap-Tap the Golden (Castle, Door 3)
*Baby Bowser (Castle)
==Worlds and Levels==
Secret levels are only in the Game Boy Advance version, and do not appear in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. Every word in a level's title, except the secret levels, are formatted uppercase.
===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
*Secret: Exercise in the Skies
*Extra: 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
*Secret: Mystery of the Castle?
*Extra: 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
*Secret: Go! Go! Morphing!
*Extra: 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
*Secret: Fight Toadies w/ Toadies or Fight Baddies w/ Baddies
*Extra: 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
*Secret: Items are fun!
*Extra: 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
*Secret: Endless World of Yoshis
*Extra: Castles - Masterpiece Set (titled Ultimate Castle Challenge in Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3)
== Reception ==
Upon release in Japan, Yoshi's Island sold over 1 million copies by late 1995,"Virtual Boy in the Red?". Game Players. Vol. 8, no. 12. December 1995. p. 21. and went on to sell 1.77 million units in Japan."Japan Platinum Chart Games". The Magic Box. Archived from the original on August 1, 2019. Retrieved February 21, 2021. Internationally, the game has sold over four million copies worldwide,"The Nintendo Years". Edge. Future. June 25, 2007. Archived from the original on July 5, 2009. Retrieved April 2, 2015. selling 4.12 million units for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.Guinness World Records 2016: Gamer's Edition. Vancouver, British Columbia: Jim Pattison Group. September 10, 2015. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-9105610-8-9. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
Yoshi's Island received critical acclaim. At the time of its 1995 release, Matt Taylor of Diehard GameFan thought Yoshi's Island could be "possibly the best platform game of all time"."Viewpoint: Yoshi's Island". Diehard GameFan. No. 34. October 1995. p. 18. ISSN 1092-7212. Nintendo Power also said that the game was "one of the biggest, most beautiful games ever made"."Now Playing". Nintendo Power. No. 77. Nintendo of America. October 1995. p. 80. Next Generation was also most impressed by the game's "size and playability"."Mario'd with Children". Next Generation. Imagine Media. February 1996. p. 176. Retrieved April 2, 2015. Diehard GameFan's three reviewers gave the game a near-perfect score. To wit, Nicholas Dean Des Barres said it was "one of the handful of truly perfect games ever produced", and lamented that the magazine had given Donkey Kong Country, which he felt was a lackluster game in comparison, the extra single point for a perfect score. Casey Loe removed that one point for Baby Mario's "annoying screech". Nintendo Power and Nintendo Life also found Baby Mario's crying sounds annoying.Delgrego, Kaes (July 23, 2009). "Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (Super Nintendo) Review". Nintendo Life. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on April 13, 2012. Retrieved April 2, 2015. Reviewing the SNES release over a decade later, Kaes Delgrego of Nintendo Life said the crying and some easy boss battles, while both minor, were the only shortcomings. Delgrego credited Yoshi's Island with perfecting the genre, calling it "perhaps the greatest platformer of all time".
Both contemporary and retrospective reviewers praised the art,East, Tom (February 24, 2009). "100 Best Nintendo Games - Part Four". Official Nintendo Magazine. Archived from the original on August 31, 2009. Retrieved April 2, 2015. level design, and gameplay,Harris, Craig (September 24, 2002). "Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3". IGN. Ziff Davis. p. 1. Archived from the original on February 20, 2014. Retrieved April 1, 2015."Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island Review". Edge. No. 26. Future. November 1995. Archived from the original on April 4, 2013. Retrieved April 18, 2015. which became legacies of the game."The Top 125 Nintendo Games of All Time". IGN. September 24, 2014. p. 8. Archived from the original on September 26, 2014. Retrieved April 1, 2015.Thomas, Lucas M. (May 24, 2010). "Yoshi: Evolution of a Dinosaur". IGN. p. 4. Archived from the original on March 19, 2016. Retrieved April 2, 2015.Buchanan, Levi (February 13, 2009). "Is There a Bad Mario Game?". IGN. p. 2. Archived from the original on April 12, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2015. Some called it "charm". Delgrego of Nintendo Life would stop mid-game just to watch what enemies would do. Martin Watts of the same publication called it "an absolute pleasure on the eyes and unlike any other SNES game".Watts, Martin (May 2, 2014). "Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island (Wii U eShop / Game Boy Advance) Review". Nintendo Life. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on May 4, 2014. Retrieved April 2, 2015. Others praised the control scheme, technical effects, and sound design."Play Back: Revisiting the Classics". Nintendo Power. No. 263. Nintendo of America. November 2011. p. 66. Nintendo Life's Delgrego felt "goosebumps and tingles" during the ending theme, and marked the soundtrack's range from the lighthearted intro to the "epic grandeur of the final boss battle". GamePro writer Major Mike noted, "[Yoshi's Island] doesn't rely on flashy graphics or jazzy effects to cover an empty game. This is one of the last of a dying breed: a 16-bit game that shows real heart and creativity."Mike, Major (November 1995). "Issue 76 ProReview: Super Mario 2: Yoshi's Island". GamePro. IDG.
Edge praised the game's balance of challenge and accessibility. The magazine thought that the new power-ups of Yoshi's Island gave its gameplay and level design great range, and that the powers were significant additions to the series on par with the suits of Super Mario Bros. 3 or Yoshi's own debut in Super Mario World. Diehard GameFan's Taylor wrote that there was enough gameplay innovation to make him cry and listed his favorites as the Baby Mario cape invincibility power-up, the machine gun-style seed spitting, and the snowball hill level. Nintendo Life's Watts called the egg stockpiling system "clever" for the way it encourages experimentation with the environment. Edge thought of Yoshi's Island as a "fusion of technology and creativity, each enhancing the other". The magazine considered the game's special effects expertly integrated into the gameplay, and described the developer's handicraft as having an "attention to detail that few games can match".
=== Fan Reception ===
Despite it being a Yoshi game, WatchMojo ranked it as the seventh best Super Mario game in their "Top 10 Mario Games of All Time" list countdown,Richardson, T. (2019, May 21). Top 10 Mario Games of All Time. WatchMojo. and they also ranked it as the sixth most hardest game in the series in their "10 HARDEST Super Mario Games" list countdown over on MojoPlays.Kline, A. (2023, Feb 5). The 10 HARDEST Super Mario Games. MojoPlays (WatchMojo) MojoPlays also placed it at the #4 spot in their "10 BEST Mario Character Spin-Off Games" list countdown in 2024; following behind Luigi's Mansion 3 (#3), Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (#2), & Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (#1).Reynolds, J. (2024, July 29). The 10 BEST Mario Character Spin-Off Games. WatchMojo.
==Gallery==
== Trivia ==
* Red Coins make their debut in this game.
* Yoshi's Flutter Jump was introduced in this game.
==External links==
*Title at MobyGames
*Title at GameFAQs
==References==
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Category:Games in Yoshi franchise
Category:Super Nintendo Entertainment System games
Category:1995 games
Category:Platforming games