Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

Rating: 3 out of 3 Stars (why only 3 possible stars?)

Genre: Side Scrolling Platformer

ESRB: K-A (This is now an E rating)

Estimated hours of gameplay (thorough play/quick play): 10/4

Developer: Nintendo

Wiki page

I talk about this game frequently. While I'm definitely not the type who thinks video games were better "back then" than now, this is one of the ones I find is worthy of the nostalgia. I've played it through a few times, each time maybe 5 or more years apart, and it still holds up. This might even be considered a game that helped push us to where games are now; easier but with more content and shinies to make up the gameplay hours. Although it isn't THAT easy. Either that or I'm somehow getting worse at this game. I made liberal use of my emulator's freeze state capability. By the way, I would have played this on Wii's Virtual Console but apparently Nintendo doesn't want my money because they never put it there.

I could still make this jump. But... wow, man. Platforming!

While this is a platformer, much of the game doesn't simply revolve around managing jump arcs from place to place. There's considerably less death pits than previous games as this one does not rely wholly on that one concept. Furthermore, not everything is to be jumped on. Unlike earlier Mario games where Mario has to find a flower or a leaf or something to be able to do anything interesting, Yoshi has a whole arsenal available to him from level one. He can eat things, throw eggs, butt stomp, and he also has other power-ups that afford him zany godlike qualities. For example, he can MORPH into a freaking helicopter! Arguably, these transformations make no sense but- back then- these things were a technological wonder. And when has Mario ever made sense? One of the best things about Super Mario World was the introduction of Yoshi. This game throws him into the spotlight and never feels forced or repetitive. Almost every single level has something new for the player, and the difficulty curve- while slow- peaks neatly towards the end. The boss fights are generally too easy, but level to level everything just looks and feels so well designed.

This fight reminds me of Super Mario Galaxy. A lot of this game is the foundation for later stuff.

With older games, it's not necessary to comment on the story. But this game actually has a little bit of one! Or... maybe it has as much as others, it just has room on the cartridge for some text screens. One at the beginning and one at the end. A wizard guy yells at you from time to time, and because of this and the clear setting (an island full of Yoshi's, duh) it feels more like a proper work of fiction rather than some insane acid trip. But it is based on a series of games that look like acid trips, so some of that is inescapable.

Pre-rendered CG stork looking like the cover of a Rush album. Oh yeah.

Conclusion:

If you've got an SNES emulator and are looking for a new game to try and you haven't played this, this should DEFINITELY be on your list. If you're a PC gamer and you don't have any emulators: why are you a PC gamer? C'mon, man. Get an emulator!