I never would have admitted this at the time, but during the sixteen bit generation I was always a little jealous of Sega fans. I was a huge fan of platforming games back then, and while Mario met the launch of the Super Nintendo he was missing in action for a significant amount of the generation. I guess he was too busy teaching kids how to type, kart racing, and participating in an all out RPG. Meanwhile there were four main Sonic titles released on the Genesis. I wanted more platforming action in Mario’s shoes, and that’s why my hopes were pretty high when my friend rented Super Mario World 2 while I was staying at his house. This title turned out to be a stark contrast to a typical Mario title. Yoshi and his various abilities took the spotlight, and despite initial hesitation I soon fully embraced the new play style. One of the more interesting aspects of this game is the fact that Mario creator Miyamoto was tasked with creating a title with graphics on par with the original Donkey Kong Country due to its popularity. Instead of re-creating the computer generated look he instead went the opposite route with a kid friendly crayon drawn world. The latter release hasn’t aged well, but Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island is still heralded as one of the single best platforming games of all time. I’m certainly not one to disagree with this sentiment.
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island is a prequel to even the earliest Mario title. A stork is accosted while delivering baby Mario and Luigi, and the latter falls into the hands of the evil koopa clan while the infant Mario lands on Yoshi’s Island. The multi-colored dinos decide to help out the baby plumber by defeating baby bowser and re-uniting him with his twin brother. Let’s get this out of the way right from the start; this is not your typical Mario game. The famous mascot takes a secondary role with Yoshi taking the spotlight here. Baby Mario rides atop his back, and serves as a life bar of sorts. Upon being damaged by a foe Mario is lifted and encased in a floating bubble with a timer on-screen. You have to touch the bubble to release and bring him back, and failure to do so before the timer runs out will cause you to lose a life. The game itself is a side scrolling platform adventure. You move left and right but there’s a big focus on making intricate jumps and whatnot. There are several very innovative elements in play here. For starters, the various Yoshis have enhanced jumping abilities in that they can flutter in the air when you hold the jump button. You also have the ability to eat enemies and convert them into eggs which can be thrown using a rotating aiming reticule that comes up when you press the A button. The fact that combat focuses mostly on projectile attacks makes this different from most Mario titles, but the change is actually quite refreshing.
What I always found interesting about this game is the fact that Nintendo included a mix of old and new enemies. Instead of battling goombas the primary opponent here is the shy guy from Doki Doki Panic. This was such an obscure enemy, and you can even ride atop their heads. Then you have piranha plants, bullet bills, boos, and more iconic foes. The mix was unprecedented at the time, and I’ve always been impressed with how far Nintendo reached back into the franchise. Then you also have the new characters. They perfectly fit the franchise, and introduce some great new mechanics. For example one obstacle will blur and morph the scenery upon being touched. Your primary method of attack is throwing the eggs created by eating specific enemies. You can also perform a ground stomp by pressing down while in the middle of a jump. On top of the new enemies this game also introduces some never before seen allies to the mix. Poochy is by far the most iconic and you can ride on his back to get past certain obstacles.
The level design here is just phenomenal. This is Nintendo at their most creative. Some stages are focused on the action with some very intricate egg throwing required, and other times you’ll find yourself lost in some cleverly designed mazes. Few levels are similar to each other and the experience remains fresh throughout. That alone would make a fantastic game, but to mix things up even further the developers included various brand new power-ups for Yoshi. By touching a morph bubble our prehistoric hero transforms into various vehicles that allow him to more easily traverse specific areas. Yoshi can transform into a car, helicopter (by far the most interesting one), a mole tank, submarine, and even a train. These are rare, but are by far some of the greatest power-ups in the Mario universe. There’s nothing quite like it across the entire franchise. The boss encounters are also extremely well done. These are standard monsters morphed into giants ala Kamek magikoopa’s wand, and they require differing strategies. Each one is refreshing and in my opinion represent some of the most interesting bosses in the entire genre.
Now we come to the graphics. Miyamoto was tasked with using computer generated images like Donkey Kong Country, and in defiance he went with a super kid friendly crayon style. He also had the benefit of the most advanced form of the Super FX chip which pushed this title far above any other SNES release. For me this game made the 32-bit generation significantly less impressive at first. The rotation and scaling effects and sprite detail matched similar titles on the Saturn and Playstation. It’s no wonder Nintendo’s next console was 64-bits because they were already matching Rayman on next gen systems. What’s more is that because this is a two dimensional title the graphics hold up in a pretty significant way. Yoshi’s Island is one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever laid eyes on with detailed animations, fantastic effects, and stylistic backgrounds. The soundtrack is also extremely impressive and is almost on par with the more advanced CD format next generation systems were using at the time. It’s not particularly true to other Mario titles, but the music is extremely lighthearted and enjoyable. This also started the trend of Yoshi having a high pitched voice which I’ve since grown to dislike, but at the time I was impressed with how clear the voice samples are. These compare quite favorable even to the higher quality systems at the time.
I was a little hesitant on this title when it was first released. I was expecting a traditional Mario adventure, and when Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island proved to not be that I was disappointed. When I actually dove in I was extremely happy with the direction Nintendo took with this one. The gameplay is inspired, and the level design is top class. It’s amazing that Nintendo was able to push the Super Nintendo so far even with the included chips. This is hands down the most impressive 16-bit title in terms of graphics, and one of the greatest platforming titles of all time. It was hard to be upset that this isn’t a traditional Mario title when it’s so incredible.
