5/5 ★ – RawMetal's review of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.

System: Super Nintendo Started: March 16, 2025 Ended: April 13, 2025 Redemption Playthrough First Attempt: 1997/1998 Yoshi’s Island is the last game in my backlog from the first wave of video games that got me interested in the hobby. The special thing about this game was the reason I never finished it. It was because the game refused to boot up and would rarely do so out of sheer luck. I would try booting up the game, but it never worked. Usually, it did if I was lucky. If only I had known back then that a simple fix was a Q-Tip and rubbing alcohol, since the cartridge was possibly dirty. I was worried that adding any liquid to the pins would destroy the cartridge for good. This was back in the late '90s when YouTube did not exist and the Internet was primitive. Now, you can quickly find solutions in no time. But once that game worked after blowing on the cartridge, when it was the norm for everybody else, luck was on our side, and we were rewarded with playing one of the best Super Nintendo games of its time. Regardless of the title, Super Mario World, you don’t really play as Mario in this one; you mostly play as Yoshi, who has to take Baby Mario to rescue the kidnapped Baby Luigi. Yoshi has new tricks now. He can eat enemies, turn them into eggs, and then throw the eggs at enemies or objects. This concept is unique and has never been done before in a Mario game. In every level, you play as a different-colored Yoshi, forming a relay system that passes Baby Mario to another, which is neat. However, we know that Yellow and Navy-Blue Yoshi tend to get the short end of the stick since they face giant bosses throughout the entire game. Yoshi’s Island has incredible graphics and technology. The animations in the intro cutscenes are fluid, with their Claymation-style art; even the pause menu logo showcases impressive 3D animation effects. The platforming mechanics also highlight the game’s 3D performance. It turns out that the graphics chip used for this game was the same one used for Star Fox, so Nintendo upgraded the Super FX graphics chip to create it. Another awesome feature is that Yoshi’s Island has a battery save feature, so every time you beat a level, the game automatically saves, eliminating the need to input any passwords or find a spot to save your game. Regardless of its childlike art style, which features crayons, markers, and a preschool aesthetic, Yoshi’s Island has charisma and style, even with its animations of enemies like the dancing tribe of Shy Guys. There are even fat Shy Guys in this game. The boss fights are also memorable; although they are easy, they are highly memorable, like Raphael the Raven. That made me wonder if Nintendo took notes from that boss fight for Super Mario Galaxy. The soundtrack is also memorable, and Koji Kondo still got it in the 90's. I'm still humming most of the song tracks as I'm writing this review, like Flower Garden and the Athletic theme. Even the Final Boss theme remains one of the most shredded tracks in the entire Super Mario franchise. As a nitpick, but it’s reasonable: Aside from Baby Mario’s loud cries blasting through my TV speakers, my slight problem was the tedious challenge of getting 100% on every level, which can be frustrating at times. Some stages can be challenging, but eventually, when you reach the bonus stages in pursuit of that 100%, the difficulty curve increases. I lost count of how many lives I lost in the bonus levels. I still say the most challenging one I faced was the extra level, where you have to control Poochy across the lava-filled stage, with no checkpoints. I had to learn how to control Poochy; otherwise, I’d end up leaving the screen or accidentally touching the lava, resulting in instant death. The reward for completing them all is just a star on the flags of the worlds you have beaten in the title menu—completely underwhelming. At least completing 100% of the mandatory levels for every world lets you play the bonus stages anytime, and you get extra lives and items after finishing them. I also noted that they really give you lives like candy in this game. Before I knew it, I had over 100 lives during my play session. This is a must-play for every gamer under the sun. It’s a bonafide 16-bit masterpiece from the last stretch of the Super Nintendo era before the Nintendo 64 arrived the following year. Even after almost 30 years since this game came out, it has aged like fine wine. Don’t let its preschool/crayon art style deter you from playing this game. It was unique for its gameplay and platforming, which birthed a new spin-off in the Super Mario universe under the main hero, Yoshi, and spawned new games like Yoshi’s Story because of it.