So let me get this strait: Mario is a baby and YOSHI must take him through colorful worlds in order to reunite him with his brother, Luigi? Some might say that this doesn’t sound like a typical Mario game; well it isn’t. That may shatter your hopes, but don’t worry, Yoshi’s Island happens to be a great game with so a lot of wonderful platforming elements.

The story begins with a stork that is carrying Baby Mario and Luigi. When Baby Bowser’s minion wizard known as Kameku snatches Luigi from the Stork’s bill. Baby Mario drops to the ground where he was later found by a group of Yoshi’s who travel through the amazing world’s with Baby Mario on their backs. With every stage in one of the five worlds, comes a Yoshi with a different color. Although that doesn’t affect the gameplay, it is a nice inventive twist. Every stage in one world is slightly different than the last, and every world is exceptionally different than the previous world. Don’t worry, you wont have any “re-runs” in Yoshi’s Island, every stage has its own cool twist.

Although I thought the controls would be more difficult on the GBA due to less buttons then the SNES version, the controls are very smooth and easy. Yoshi does not handle like Mario from his games, he handles a more stiff, but it is comfortable. Yoshi can glide temporarily when the A button is held, much like Luigi from “Super Mario Brothers 2”. The damage system is handled differently in Yoshi’s Island than in previous Mario games. Mario cant be hurt when he is on Yoshi’s back, instead when Yoshi gets hurt Mario falls off of Yoshi and floats in a bubble until Yoshi gets back to Mario. A time limit of 10 seconds (or more depending on how many stars you have) begins when Mario falls off of Yoshi’s back. Mario makes an annoying scream when he falls off, so you will know when it happens. When Yoshi’s Island came out on SNES back in 1995, the graphics were ahead of its time, and they still hold up on the GBA. The beautiful scrolling backgrounds are done absolutely wonderfully. The characters were done with an animation look in mind, and it works out just fine. When some small sprites get enlarged it does look a little blocky, but it is very scarce that they get enlarged. I find that this game has very detailed and colorful worlds that are just beautiful.

The music in Yoshi’s Island is pretty standard for a Mario game. This is a good thing because most Mario titles have you humming the MIDI music and in Yoshi’s Island, this is the same case. The first time you hear the background music on the first stage, you know you’re in for a real treat. The in-game sounds aren’t that bad either. All of the sounds that Yoshi made back in the SNES original have been replaced by Yoshi’s “new” voice. Everything else though, is pretty much untouched.

The game records how well you perform in a level, and scores you based on how many stars, flowers, and red coins you receive in the level. If you complete every level in a world with 100 points, a special level opens up that only appears on the GBA version of Yoshi’s Island. You will want to go back and finish the levels with 100 points too; it’s just that much fun. Nintendo has brought back multiplayer once again to the Super Mario Advance series. Multiplayer consists of “Mario Bros”, a classic arcade game in which you try to collect more coins than your opponent. It is nice that Nintendo decided to include this multiplayer option, but I find it kind of tiring and dull that something new wasn’t added.
Closing Comments
Overall, Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3 is the best in the Mario Advance series yet. With its inventive platforming quirks, it’s sure to captivate audiences of all ages. You’ll grow to love Yoshi’s antics and hate Mario’s whining. Everything is done nicely despite the fact that the game is 7 years old. For my money, this is the best 2D Mario game ever created, but that’s just me; you will have to try it out for yourself.