Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
05 Aug 1995
All releases
05 Aug 1995 - Super Famicom
31 Dec 1995 - Super Nintendo Entertainment System
01 Oct 1995 - Super Nintendo Entertainment System
05 Oct 1995 - Super Nintendo Entertainment System
04 Oct 1995 - Super Nintendo Entertainment System
31 Dec 1996 - Super Nintendo Entertainment System
01 Jan 1970 - Satellaview
Tags
Time to beat
Main story
Main story + extras
100% completion
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is a platform video game acting as a prequel to 1990's Super Mario World. The game casts players as Yoshi as he escorts Baby Mario through 48 levels in order to reunite him with his brother Luigi, who had been kidnapped by Baby Bowser's minions. As a Super Mario series platformer, Yoshi runs and jumps to reach the end of the level while solving puzzles and collecting items. In a style new to the series, the game has a hand-drawn aesthetic and is the first to have Yoshi as its main character. The game introduces his signature abilities to flutter jump, produce eggs from swallowed enemies, and transform into vehicles.
A stork carrying the infant Mario Brothers is attacked by Kamek the Magikoopa, who steals Baby Luigi and knocks Baby Mario out of the sky. Baby Mario lands on Yoshi's Island on the back of Yoshi himself. With the help of his seven other Yoshi friends, Yoshi must traverse the island to safely reunite Baby Mario with his brother and get the babies to their parents.
| Audio | Subtitles | Interface | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ✓ | ||
| English | ✓ | ||
| German | ✓ | ||
| French | ✓ |
I always found it weird that this was deemed as a sequel to Super Mario World, because despite both games having Mario and being a platformer, this really is nothing like Super Mario World.
In this game you control Yoshi instead of Mario, with baby Mario riding your back. This is pretty much a prequel. Mario kind of acts like Sonic's rings, where if you get hit, in order to survive you need to grab him again as he floats around the screen. This makes the game much easier than the previous Mario Platformers. This is done to accommodate foe the levels which are more exploration based than a typical point A to B Mario level.
To me, these exploration based levels aren't as strong as well thought out linear Mario levels. And despite this probably being the best feeling 2D platformer to play, the level design pushes it down a whole point for me. I widely prefer the level designs of the original Super Mario World. To make matters worse, to unlock the extra hidden levels you need to 100% collect every item in every level without trying to take any damage. This makes trying to 100% much more of a chore than previous games where the only requirement is to find a hidden door in a level to unlock hidden levels.
Other than that, I only have endless praise for this game. The graphics are beautiful and hold up till today. The controls are so tight and fun to use. Platforming through levels is extremely fun. The bosses are really creative and some of the best in the series. The music is very good. The aesthetics and atmosphere are top notch. This is a game made with the utmost love and care, and Nintendo put their entire soul into this.