So, I'm really excited for Yoshi's Crafted World on the Switch. I played the demo and loved just about everything about it. It looks great, plays great, and strikes the perfect balance between cute and chill.
In anticipation of it's release, I've been thinking of the Yoshi series on the whole. I never played any of the other games. I specifically remembered not bothering with Yoshi's Island back in the day because 15 year old me thought Yoshi was stupid, and that the aesthetic of the game looked ugly. Present day, 39 year old me knows that 15 year old me was a dumb ass, so I decided to do a little research.
So, first, I simply read the Wikipedia article about the game. Learned some interesting things about Miyamoto's distaste for DKC, saw that Yoshi's Island was universally acclaimed and considered one of the best platformers of all time.
Huh.
So, I decided to watch some Twitch streams. Trihex is currently re-learning the game for speedrunning purposes. It looks amazing.
Huh.
So, I decided to boot it up on the SNES Classic my buddy got me a while ago.
The game is a damn masterpiece. I didn't make it very far - level 1-4 kicked my ass, but that's likely due to my old man reflexes - but it's just a masterclass of design. Not just aesthetics, which it oozes, but in every aspect. No timer. Countdown health. Crayon everything. Almost every level feels like a self-contained Metroidvania. Stomping and shooting.
I'm simply blown away. It's amazing, and I hope to get better at it.
Now you see why all the other Yoshi games have had an uphill battle. They're all being compared to the best one and come up wanting.
SteevLWhat can I do for you?Registered Userregular
I just got a wifi adapter that I am using with my SNES Classic. With these powers combined, I am now getting Retro Achievements in these old games. What a world.
Wow, Solaris looks really good for a 2600 game. Although from the Copyright it looks like it was made nearly a decade into the console's life, so the developer must have known some really good tricks for maxing out the hardware.
Holy hell, Starmaster looks like a total seizurefest.
Atari sound/music sucked in general, but one thing it sure could do well was make pretty convincing explosion and rocket engine sound effects.
So, first, I simply read the Wikipedia article about the game. Learned some interesting things about Miyamoto's distaste for DKC, saw that Yoshi's Island was universally acclaimed and considered one of the best platformers of all time.
I've heard this was overblown-- Miyamoto helped on the game, after all, even designing the new DK...
“IGN: I was interviewing them earlier, and even though you weren't directly involved you were definitely very inspirational in making sure certain things were done in that game correctly. I'm wondering, which parts of Donkey Kong Country did you like versus not like? And what did you address with them?
Miyamoto: The first point that I want to make is that I actually worked very closely with Rare on the original Donkey Kong Country. And apparently recently some rumor got out that I didn't really like that game? I just want to clarify that that's not the case, because I was very involved in that. And even emailing almost daily with Tim Stamper right up until the end”
So, I'm really excited for Yoshi's Crafted World on the Switch. I played the demo and loved just about everything about it. It looks great, plays great, and strikes the perfect balance between cute and chill.
In anticipation of it's release, I've been thinking of the Yoshi series on the whole. I never played any of the other games. I specifically remembered not bothering with Yoshi's Island back in the day because 15 year old me thought Yoshi was stupid, and that the aesthetic of the game looked ugly. Present day, 39 year old me knows that 15 year old me was a dumb ass, so I decided to do a little research.
So, first, I simply read the Wikipedia article about the game. Learned some interesting things about Miyamoto's distaste for DKC, saw that Yoshi's Island was universally acclaimed and considered one of the best platformers of all time.
Huh.
So, I decided to watch some Twitch streams. Trihex is currently re-learning the game for speedrunning purposes. It looks amazing.
Huh.
So, I decided to boot it up on the SNES Classic my buddy got me a while ago.
The game is a damn masterpiece. I didn't make it very far - level 1-4 kicked my ass, but that's likely due to my old man reflexes - but it's just a masterclass of design. Not just aesthetics, which it oozes, but in every aspect. No timer. Countdown health. Crayon everything. Almost every level feels like a self-contained Metroidvania. Stomping and shooting.
I'm simply blown away. It's amazing, and I hope to get better at it.
Now you see why all the other Yoshi games have had an uphill battle. They're all being compared to the best one and come up wanting.
In fairness, I think Wooly World was the first to approach a truly worthy successor to the original.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
Do people actually compare the NSMB games to SMW? I rarely hear that take.
Yeah, sometimes. Though I think the reason we compare new Yoshi's Island games to the first game more is because the first game struck gold on the first go and they've failed to recapture the magic multiple times across 20+ years.
Yeah, Mario has a formula that they've pretty much got down to an art, and they just refine it with each game.
Yoshi keeps making changes, but none of the changes really feel like an improvement over the original.
The imagination that's gone into the art style with Wooly/Crafted is the closest they've come, though.
Yeah, Mario has a formula that they've pretty much got down to an art, and they just refine it with each game.
Yoshi keeps making changes, but none of the changes really feel like an improvement over the original.
The imagination that's gone into the art style with Wooly/Crafted is the closest they've come, though.
You seem to be suggesting that some version of NSMB is *better* than SMW.
That isn't a take I see often.
This is why the comparisons seem strange. Does it really have to be as good/better than SMW2 to be a "good enough" Yoshi game? Maybe just getting in the ballpark would be enough?
I don't wanna waste time and try to rank them or anything. I'll just say that all of the 2D Mario games are good, they're all worth playing, and they all mostly play the same way, with tweaks here and there. More importantly, I've never felt I was playing an inferior version of a previous game, nor ever thought "I'd rather just be playing *insert previous game here*.
Which is the pitfall that the Yoshi games unfortunately fell in. Because with most of them, I have felt like I was playing an inferior version of Yoshi's Island, and have said "I'd rather just be playing Yoshi's Island". Yoshi's Island DS really had this problem, probably because it was directly aping the original the most. But all throughout playing it, I just kept having those same two thoughts.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
The NSMB games are boring compared to Mario 3 or World, but they are competently made games.
Yoshi’s Island DS and New Island aren’t just “not as good as the original”, they are unplayable trash
I wouldn't go that far.
DS was interesting, but when it wasn't adhering too close to the original, certain things like the screen gap hindered it. I did like the baby-swapping mechanic, though.
New Island just tried too hard to be Yoshi's Island, period, to the point of effectively retconning and retelling the original. No amount of Eggdozers is going to overcome that.
It's playable, and is probably better if you never played the first. Otherwise, it feels like a serious retread from top to bottom.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
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Nor I. But the movie is awesome.
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Now you see why all the other Yoshi games have had an uphill battle. They're all being compared to the best one and come up wanting.
Rare is skilled enough to not care.
My Backloggery
was
Holy hell, Starmaster looks like a total seizurefest.
Atari sound/music sucked in general, but one thing it sure could do well was make pretty convincing explosion and rocket engine sound effects.
I've heard this was overblown-- Miyamoto helped on the game, after all, even designing the new DK...
...but that might just be Miyamoto/Nintendo trying to cover themselves, so I don't know.
In fairness, I think Wooly World was the first to approach a truly worthy successor to the original.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
Yeah, sometimes. Though I think the reason we compare new Yoshi's Island games to the first game more is because the first game struck gold on the first go and they've failed to recapture the magic multiple times across 20+ years.
Yoshi keeps making changes, but none of the changes really feel like an improvement over the original.
The imagination that's gone into the art style with Wooly/Crafted is the closest they've come, though.
You seem to be suggesting that some version of NSMB is *better* than SMW.
That isn't a take I see often.
This is why the comparisons seem strange. Does it really have to be as good/better than SMW2 to be a "good enough" Yoshi game? Maybe just getting in the ballpark would be enough?
Fight me?
Yoshi’s Island DS and New Island aren’t just “not as good as the original”, they are unplayable trash
Which is the pitfall that the Yoshi games unfortunately fell in. Because with most of them, I have felt like I was playing an inferior version of Yoshi's Island, and have said "I'd rather just be playing Yoshi's Island". Yoshi's Island DS really had this problem, probably because it was directly aping the original the most. But all throughout playing it, I just kept having those same two thoughts.
Bushido Blade 2 is great game guys
Yeah. The console is better than people let on. I will eventually try that trick to force everything to NTSC speed.
Rayman was more amazing than I remembered.
I'm curious how it handles the games vs the nes/snes classic via hakchi.
I wouldn't go that far.
DS was interesting, but when it wasn't adhering too close to the original, certain things like the screen gap hindered it. I did like the baby-swapping mechanic, though.
New Island just tried too hard to be Yoshi's Island, period, to the point of effectively retconning and retelling the original. No amount of Eggdozers is going to overcome that.
It's playable, and is probably better if you never played the first. Otherwise, it feels like a serious retread from top to bottom.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
@Local H Jay, who is your favorite character?
Is it Tsubame?
You can tell me if it's Tsubame.
Sorry but Red Shadow is right there...
And yeah, I don't really disagree here.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
Ohhhhhhhhhh nooooooooooooooo...
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
Oh I see you don't have the sheer audacity to, in a game about dueling melee weapons, choose the character with an M-16 rifle???
The best part was, she was a normal character in Bushido Blade 1. They just put her in a random sexy outfit and gave her a gun for like, no reason.
What a great era for video games