Yoshi's Story Review

Summary:

A colorful but ultimately mediocre tale.

Pros:

+ Original art design and adorable presentation

+ Scoring system encourages replays

+ Charming game for younger/casual players

Cons:

- Physics and controls feel too imprecise and slippery

- Levels are loose and disjointed

- Art and graphics can be inconsistent

- Sniffing everywhere is tedious

Review:

[Originally written for Zentendo in July of 2008.]

Yoshi's Story is a title that has had a huge influence on the reputation of everyone's favorite video game dinosaur, and for its day was wildly different than most other titles that were hitting the N64. That's because the N64 was Nintendo's first 3D console and Yoshi's Story was deliberately 2D. It used 2D sprites and backgrounds and played as a non-traditional platformer. After Yoshi's stellar SNES title Yoshi's Island, Yoshi's Story felt like a step backward to many fans, but had a certain charm to it that solidified its place in the N64's history. Is it worth ten dollars? Let's open this book up and do some "literary analysis."

At its core, Yoshi's Story is a non-linear 2D platformer with vague resemblances to Yoshi's Island. The "non-linear" is dual-layered, as stages do not have any specific order they can be completed in: there are six pages which contain four levels apiece but one can only play one of these levels on each page during each play through. Furthermore, the levels themselves can be of a fair size and don't have any one specific way to "beat" them. This is because of the fact that a stage ends when players have consumed thirty pieces of fruit, which are scattered through each stage in various ways -- quite liberally, at that. There's probably more like fifty to sixty pieces of fruit in any given level.

To add to this fruit-munching business is the fact that there are different-colored Yoshies who have different tastes. Green likes Watermelon, Red likes Apple, Yellow like Banana, etc. These preferences also apply to different enemies (such as different colors of Shy Guys). Players man their Yoshies by running with the control stick, jumping, and slurping out their tongues to grab fruit, enemies, and even certain objects. There are also a couple of times when Yoshi will go swimming -- these sections actually control very well (unless you're trying to use your tongue, then they can become frustrating) and are as easy to play as the rest of the levels.

Yoshi's Story has a distinct graphical feel to it in that the entire game (or most of it, at least) is meant to feel like a story book -- a handmade one, at that. The environments appear to be made out of household materials like cardboard, cloth, wood, and paper. There are some stages where the sky, upon further examination, is actually made out of denim fabric with clouds sewn in, for example. There's a couple of dark jungle levels in which the plant-like platforms are composed of inflatable plastic tubes. There is a lot of creativity in many of the visuals, though other stages (like the snow, cave, or castle levels) don't quite have the same homemade feel to them. In any case, Yoshi's Story still looks pretty good, though the wear and tear of time (and the way the Wii changes resolution) has made the visuals somewhat more pixelated and somewhat less impressive than they were back in the 90's.

The music in Yoshi's Story features that now famous tune, but the main problem is that this is by and large one of only a short few melodies in the game. Most tracks are simply this main tune remixed in a number of different ways. This gives the whole game's soundtrack a cohesive feel but also lacks variety and comes off as slightly lazy. These aesthetic elements come together in the end to provide what is probably Yoshi's Story's greatest strength, however: its nostalgic charm.

That said, the gameplay in Yoshi's Story is riddled with holes that prevent it from achieving the level of respect that the main Mario series and Yoshi's Island have earned, mainly because it takes steps backward to appeal exclusively to a younger audience. Where the other titles have solid, cohesive level designs, Yoshi's Story has levels that are hit and miss but by and large are a too loose and disjointed. The "boss battles" are also a joke, with any given boss easily defeated in seconds by a player who knows what they're doing. The controls in Yoshi's Story also feel kind of sloppy -- running feels smooth most of the time, if a bit slick, with the Yoshi's darting as a fast pace and the control stick being used to walk slowly and tiptoe, mechanics that are taken into account on certain levels. However, once Yoshies are airborn, everything falls out of whack. The solid feeling of aerial movement in Yoshi's Island is nowhere to be seen here: the jumping feels imprecise, and the hovering mechanic is not as useful or smooth as it was in Yoshi's Island. Yoshi's jumps feel like they rise and fall too fast, and he also tends to slide after landing if not halted; this makes sense due to the momentum but ultimately doesn't feel good compared to higher caliber platformers. Jumping, moving in the air, landing, bouncing on enemies...it all just feels shoddy and hard to keep in check. As a whole, the controls just feel slippery and imprecise, which is simply not good when a game's focus is navigating the world from platform to platform. Think of it like this: remember picking up Super Mario Bros. for the first time and remembering how its controls felt "right?" Yoshi's Story is missing this hard-to-explain element of game design.

Yoshi's Story's level designs and basic gameplay mechanics are all right to mediocre depending on the circumstances, and its odd choice in main gameplay elements are both a hurt and a help. Collecting fruit is interesting and different, making it easy to complete levels by just eating everything in sight, but challenging for players to locate all thirty Melons and achieve high scores. The focus thus becomes more about sniffing about for each Melon or missing out on half of every level because you're eating everything in sight. Sniffing is how Yoshies can find secrets, but sniffing through an entire level to find everything is just daunting since it slows movement and zooms the camera in. Yoshi's Island had around fifty levels -- Yoshi's Story has twenty-four -- and that game's secrets never involved having to sniff an entire level over, not to mention that their designs were more clever and interesting. It's easy to see why fans were left disappointed, as Yoshi's Island was a stupendous game while this was one specifically designed to cater to the younger crowd. That said, younger players wanting a 2D platformer with a lot to do and see will probably find Yoshi's Story to be worth the money, as it does take a good chunk of time to find all thirty Melons in every level, and the way the scoring system is designed, players who are truly dedicated will find ways to squeeze extra points in many ways. Young players will likely delight in the sugary sweet atmosphere, as well.

Yoshi's Story tries to live up to its namesake -- quite a task after the amazing Yoshi's Island, considered by many (this reviewer included) to be one of Nintendo's crowning achievements in game design. The problem is that everything ultimately comes down to having the patience to seek out everything in shoddy, simplistic levels rather than carefully designed levels which require skill, and the occasions which ask for skill can be dulled by the simple lack of precise control.

Bottom Line:

Yoshi's Story has a child-like innocence and undeniable charm from its graphics and sound to its adorable animations and effects, but its level design, gameplay mechanics, and physics-based flaws are all surprisingly mediocre for a first party title. Nintendo fans who didn't experience this game back in the day will find some enjoyment out of it, but it's only "OK" compared to other platformers out there. Were it not for its Yoshi brand, unique art design, and nostalgic atmosphere, it would likely be just another title in the pile of forgotten platformers. While a good enough game in its own right and one that its target audience will slurp up like the lollipop it is, this was one of the first EAD-developed video games not produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, and it shows.