Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES, Nintendo, 1995)
Absolute gem of a game, and quite possibly second only to Super Metroid amongst platformers of any sort on the system in my view. (Front Mission: Gun Hazard is also close.)
For a start, the play control is more or less flawless. I like how they added the hover feature so that a misstep isn't necessarily a lost life like it was in the first SMW, but it can also be used to get to hard-to-reach items and secrets. Yoshi's swallowing enemies is more useful to - he creates eggs to throw at enemies - but there are also the watermelon weapons, whether the machine-gun-like normal watermelon, or an ice watermelon to freeze and smash enemies, or a fire watermelon to roast baddies.
The graphical style is unique, looking practically hand-drawn, and in keeping with the theme of the plot centring around baby Mario and baby Bowser, some of the graphics (typically clouds or doodles on the background walls) are deliberately made as if a young child drew them - if not deliberate, this is always a bad thing, but in this case it adds a certain charm to the game. And some of the bosses are massive, heck, so are some of the non-bosses! There is also a broad range of musical genre, much more so than the original, ranging from the lullaby-like opening theme to the whimsical intro stage theme, all the way to the intimidating, hard-rocking final boss theme! Maybe not as epic as Super Metroid, Final Fantasy VI, or Super Castlevania IV, but still great.
Sound effects are generally very good, but I'm still going to ding them two points for probably the most annoying sound effect in the SNES' run - crying Baby Mario! Still, the range of good sound effects in this game needs to be experienced to be believed.
Level design is mostly good, even in the deliberately harder extra stages garnered by getting perfect scores on every "regular" stage. The one drawback I see is that some of the secrets are a little too well-hidden and nearly impossible to see, so you have to spend extra time combing every nook, crag, and cranny of a stage to find them if you notice something is missing. Completionists (like me) might find this frustrating. If a stage is overly hard, it's because, quite frankly, it is supposed to be, and is generally an extra stage.
The balance of challenge was actually a point of praise from more professional reviewers, which speaks volumes. It is an almost perfect curve, starting off quite easy (extra stage notwithstanding) in Level 1 and ending up quite challenging by the time you get to Level 6. There are seldom spikes in challenge aside from the extra stages, although there are a couple of dips in challenge in random spots. The added challenge of keeping Baby Mario from being kidnapped keeps you on your toes.
The story... pretty cutesy even by Mario standards, but I like it nonetheless. It introduces us to Baby Mario, whose stork is attacked by goons of Baby Bowser's main Magikoopa, Kamek, and is dropped into a group of Yoshis, while his twin brother Baby Luigi is actually kidnapped. So the Yoshis decide to deliver Mario back to his parents and rescue Luigi. This of course involves clashes with Kamek's horde of goons, with bosses being these enhanced by magic. While Mario is the title character, the Yoshis are really the star of this one. The integration is solid, especially for a platformer - you get snippets of it every time you encounter Kamek, which is twice a level.
As for fun factor, the number of cool things you can do in this game is pretty large. Not only are there the watermelon weapons, but Yoshi can also transform into several vehicles, including a helicopter, a car, a mole-like mining machine, and a submarine. (I don't think this is exhaustive but it might be ) Collecting the flowers in this game is similar to the dragon coins in the first SMW, but there are two additions. The more of the five flowers per stage you collect, the greater chance you have at a bonus game, with the max being 50% on the ring at the end of the level. And the bonus levels themselves can vary from a scratch-ticket for extra lives to a card-matching game for items that can make your game a bit easier, such as a magnifying glass to reveal red coins, secret item bubbles, and other fun stuff, to star items that add to your Baby Mario timer, to watermelon weapons and more!
In short, this game is killer! (Would be an A+ if not for that bloody crying )
Play control: 20/20
Graphics: 15/15
Music: 14/15
Sound effects: 8/10
Level design: 9/10
Balance of challenge: 10/10
Story: 8/10
Fun factor: 10/10
Final score: 94/100 A
Absolute gem of a game, and quite possibly second only to Super Metroid amongst platformers of any sort on the system in my view. (Front Mission: Gun Hazard is also close.)
For a start, the play control is more or less flawless. I like how they added the hover feature so that a misstep isn't necessarily a lost life like it was in the first SMW, but it can also be used to get to hard-to-reach items and secrets. Yoshi's swallowing enemies is more useful to - he creates eggs to throw at enemies - but there are also the watermelon weapons, whether the machine-gun-like normal watermelon, or an ice watermelon to freeze and smash enemies, or a fire watermelon to roast baddies.
The graphical style is unique, looking practically hand-drawn, and in keeping with the theme of the plot centring around baby Mario and baby Bowser, some of the graphics (typically clouds or doodles on the background walls) are deliberately made as if a young child drew them - if not deliberate, this is always a bad thing, but in this case it adds a certain charm to the game. And some of the bosses are massive, heck, so are some of the non-bosses! There is also a broad range of musical genre, much more so than the original, ranging from the lullaby-like opening theme to the whimsical intro stage theme, all the way to the intimidating, hard-rocking final boss theme! Maybe not as epic as Super Metroid, Final Fantasy VI, or Super Castlevania IV, but still great.
Sound effects are generally very good, but I'm still going to ding them two points for probably the most annoying sound effect in the SNES' run - crying Baby Mario! Still, the range of good sound effects in this game needs to be experienced to be believed.
Level design is mostly good, even in the deliberately harder extra stages garnered by getting perfect scores on every "regular" stage. The one drawback I see is that some of the secrets are a little too well-hidden and nearly impossible to see, so you have to spend extra time combing every nook, crag, and cranny of a stage to find them if you notice something is missing. Completionists (like me) might find this frustrating. If a stage is overly hard, it's because, quite frankly, it is supposed to be, and is generally an extra stage.
The balance of challenge was actually a point of praise from more professional reviewers, which speaks volumes. It is an almost perfect curve, starting off quite easy (extra stage notwithstanding) in Level 1 and ending up quite challenging by the time you get to Level 6. There are seldom spikes in challenge aside from the extra stages, although there are a couple of dips in challenge in random spots. The added challenge of keeping Baby Mario from being kidnapped keeps you on your toes.
The story... pretty cutesy even by Mario standards, but I like it nonetheless. It introduces us to Baby Mario, whose stork is attacked by goons of Baby Bowser's main Magikoopa, Kamek, and is dropped into a group of Yoshis, while his twin brother Baby Luigi is actually kidnapped. So the Yoshis decide to deliver Mario back to his parents and rescue Luigi. This of course involves clashes with Kamek's horde of goons, with bosses being these enhanced by magic. While Mario is the title character, the Yoshis are really the star of this one. The integration is solid, especially for a platformer - you get snippets of it every time you encounter Kamek, which is twice a level.
As for fun factor, the number of cool things you can do in this game is pretty large. Not only are there the watermelon weapons, but Yoshi can also transform into several vehicles, including a helicopter, a car, a mole-like mining machine, and a submarine. (I don't think this is exhaustive but it might be ) Collecting the flowers in this game is similar to the dragon coins in the first SMW, but there are two additions. The more of the five flowers per stage you collect, the greater chance you have at a bonus game, with the max being 50% on the ring at the end of the level. And the bonus levels themselves can vary from a scratch-ticket for extra lives to a card-matching game for items that can make your game a bit easier, such as a magnifying glass to reveal red coins, secret item bubbles, and other fun stuff, to star items that add to your Baby Mario timer, to watermelon weapons and more!
In short, this game is killer! (Would be an A+ if not for that bloody crying )
Play control: 20/20
Graphics: 15/15
Music: 14/15
Sound effects: 8/10
Level design: 9/10
Balance of challenge: 10/10
Story: 8/10
Fun factor: 10/10
Final score: 94/100 A
Spammers Beware! I will destroy you by the POWAH of the JARK SIDE! ALL SPAMMERS WILL BE EXTERMINATED ON SIGHT.
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(06-11-2022, 10:13 PM)Kyng Wrote: I love how [Abacab] has a track with a section named "Lurker", when the album title itself looks like Lurker's attempt to spell "Abacus" or something .
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