Game Info
Game Name: Yoshi’s New Island
Developer(s): Arzest
Publisher(s): Nintendo
Platform(s): 3DS
Genre(s): Platformer/Action/Adventure
Release Date(s): March 14, 2014 (US)/July 24, 2014 (Japan)
ESRB Rating: E
I have to find my loser brother…he always screws stuff up
Baby Mario and Baby Luigi have been delivered to the wrong home in a major mix-up by the storks. On their trip to right the problem, Baby Luigi and the stork are kidnapped by the sorcerer Kamek while Mario falls to Yoshi’s island where he’s befriended by Yoshi and his clan. Yoshi must get Baby Mario back to his brother and stop Kamek and his Baby Bowser once and for all!
Yoshi’s New Island (ヨッシー New アイランド or Yosshī Nyū Airando) is a side scrolling platformer released for the Nintendo 3DS. It is part of the Yoshi series and follows Yoshi’s Island DS from 2006. It was released in March 2014 in the United States with a Japan release of July 2014.
Yoshi’s New Island is a sequel to the original Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (taking place after the ending of that game) which I played when it was new. I remember thinking that Super Mario World 2 was a bit of a disappointment after the fun of Super Mario World, but overall thinking it was a solid game…the same can be said about Yoshi’s New Island…it is good, but not the best.
How can you hurt a smiling cactus? Maybe it’s you, Yoshi…not him.
In general, I like the graphic style of the Yoshi games and think they have a real nice texture to them by basing them around paintings. The 3DS aspect of the story does add some nice depth to the visuals, but really (like most 3DS games) doesn’t affect the game play…in fact there were portions of the game where I expected it to have an effect (like riding on the ski lifts in 5-3: Ski Lift Leap) but the visual depth didn’t affect the gameplay which seems like a waste of potential.
This is combined with one of Nintendo’s most obnoxious sounds to date. I realize that the sound of a crying baby is supposed to not be a pleasant thing, but I have always hated the “Mario Crying” sound of the Yoshi games…it isn’t just nerve-wracking but it is also annoying. The rest of the soundtrack is fine, but when you get to difficult levels, hearing that screaming is both frustrating and irritating.
Every time I throw stuff at me he just throws it back…I also get burned by lava a lot…maybe I should rethink my strategy…
For the most part, Yoshi’s New Island moves smooth, but there are two bad control factors. I find the actual “shooting” of eggs to be a bit difficult with the strange locking option or having to wait for the firing line to line up…this especially comes into play in levels where you are trying to run and gun. The secondary problem comes from the 3DS itself. The sensitivity of the controls had me ground-pounding when I was simply trying to run and led to multiple death or falls. You could use the standard cross control to try to prevent this but I find that control less responsive than the 3DS joystick.
Yoshi’s New Island doesn’t really provide much “new”, but it is a solid continuation of the series. If you are a fair weather Yoshi fan, you can probably skip it if you have his other adventures, but fans of Mario and the series will enjoy new levels and challenges though I found myself just “playing through” some levels without much interest. Yoshi’s New Island was followed by a stylistic change with Yoshi’s Woolly World for the Nintendo Wii U in 2015.
Related Links:
