A long, long time ago…
This is a story about one of my favorite games. One Christmas, I received a Super Nintendo and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island. This was not my first experience with a video game, but this was my first console (excluding an old ColecoVision on which I only ever played Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel’s Castle). As I was a beginner, my first cracks at the game were somewhat unsuccessful, but I quickly picked it up and really came to love it then, as I still do now.
In Yoshi’s Island, the player controls different colored Yoshies through the eponymous island in the pursuit of returning Baby Mario, who rides on Yoshi’s back, to his parents. The island is host to a diverse assortment of environments, all of which the Yoshies must run, jump, hover, trudge, swim, fly, and dig through on their way across the map that accompanied the plumber in swaddling clothes. Obstacles along the way include puzzles, mazes, and minions sent by the bad guys to steal Baby Mario. Their advances at Yoshi are really aimed at removing Mario from Yoshi’s back in order to snatch the child away to Bowser.
What surprises me is that playing Yoshi’s Island now, I can enjoy the game, even the beginning levels, as I did long ago. Perhaps this is due to the game’s optional nature that, while maintaining a strictly linear progression, provides the player choice based on skill or interest. This choice is evident on both ends of the scale. For example, an optional element on the less skilled side is an information box, which can give instruction, if needed, to the player. On the more skill-intensive side are flowers, which when claimed increase one’s odds at entering a bonus challenge at the end of the stage and reward the player with a 1up when all five are found in any level. Both of these things are cute crayon drawings in yellow and white that smile at Yoshi as he runs right by them; but, more importantly, both are optional. And, whether the player goes through the game in the pursuit of goodies like flowers and red coins or simply the completion of the game or somewhere in between, this player will benefit from at least the fun of the story, the puzzles, the basic interaction, and the crayon design and at most the fun of secret levels, minigames, and bonus challenges. Yoshi’s Island is a rewarding game to all, from those who simply try it to those who delve into all the ancillary that it has to offer.
