Yoshi's New Island

is a 2014 platform game developed by Arzest and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. The third installment in the ''Yoshi's Island'' series, it serves as a direct sequel to ''Yoshi's Island'', though it is set prior to the events of ''Yoshi's Island DS''. Like its predecessors, ''Yoshi's New Island''s gameplay revolves around controlling dinosaurs known as Yoshis to safely transport the infant Mario to his brother Luigi by completing a series of levels across the island.

In addition to returning mechanics such as hovering, as well as laying and throwing eggs, Yoshi is occasionally able to create massive eggs known as Eggdozers, which can be used to clear paths and explore underwater areas. Moreover, certain levels feature a segment in which Yoshi is briefly transformed into an object or vehicle controlled with the console's gyroscope.

A sequel to ''Yoshi's Island'' was chosen rather than a follow-up to ''Yoshi's Story'' due to the former's simplicity in gameplay and construction. The game shared some level design staff with '' Yoshi's Woolly World'', which was developed concurrently at Good-Feel. The game features a hand-drawn art style, with level designs and backgrounds stylized as oil paintings, watercolors, and crayon drawings.

''Yoshi's New Island'' received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its gameplay and sense of nostalgia, divided opinions on its art style and level design, and criticism for its soundtrack and lack of originality. The game has sold more than two million copies worldwide as of 2020 and became a Nintendo Selects title in 2016.

Gameplay

''Yoshi's New Island'' is a platform game similar to previous ''Yoshi's Island'' games. The player characters are dinosaurs known as Yoshis, who must protect an infant named Mario from enemies, overcome obstacles, and reach each level's goal. The game features six areas on the island known as worlds, each comprising eight mandatory levels and two optional levels, for a total of 60 levels. The fourth level of each world is a castle level that ends with a battle against the wizard Kamek, while the eighth level concludes with a battle against a boss, an enemy enhanced and enlarged by Kamek's magic. Each boss is defeated in three hits.

Yoshi's returning abilities include hovering in midair briefly (known as "flutter jumping"), swallowing and spitting out enemies, and throwing eggs to attack foes and solve puzzles. If damage is taken, Yoshi has 10–30 seconds to retrieve Baby Mario from a moving bubble before the infant is taken away by Kamek's underlings, which results in the loss of a life. The amount of time Yoshi has to rescue Baby Mario can be increased by collecting stars. If all lives are lost, the player receives a game over and must start from the beginning of the level with five lives. Certain obstacles—such as spikes, bottomless pits, and poisonous water—cause Yoshi to lose a life instantly. If the player loses several lives in a row while attempting to complete a level, Yoshi can obtain the Flutter Wings, a power-up that enables indefinite hovering. Losing a life with the Flutter Wings unlocks a golden variant of the power-up, which provides both flight and invincibility.

Each level can be finished with several collectible items: up to five flowers, twenty red coins, and thirty stars. One of the optional levels in each world is unlocked by obtaining every collectible and finishing with full health in each level of that world, while the other is unlocked after 30 medals are collected by jumping through a roulette ring. This ring functions as the goal of most levels and replaces post-level minigames from the previous ''Yoshi's Island'' installments. For each flower collected in a level, one is added to the ring; if the ring's meter lands on a flower, the player receives medals, which can also earn extra lives.

Certain levels feature a section in which Yoshi transforms into one of six objects: a bobsled, a helicopter, a hot air balloon, a jackhammer, a mine cart, or a submarine. All of Yoshi's transformations are controlled with the console's gyroscope. Other sections revolve around the use of a power-up known as the Yoshi Star, which briefly transforms Yoshi into Super Yoshi. In this form, Yoshi has invincibility, can travel at high speeds, and can run up walls and across ceilings for a short period of time.

Mega Eggdozers, a feature introduced in ''Yoshi's New Island'', are massive eggs that can be thrown to destroy normally indestructible terrain and obstacles in the way, providing access to previously obstructed areas as well as potentially earning the player extra lives. A metal variant of the Mega Eggdozer, known as the Metal Eggdozer, clears paths in addition to weighing Yoshi down, diminishing jumps but allowing for exploration of underwater areas. Both Mega Eggdozers and Metal Eggdozers can be obtained by eating giant Shy Guy enemies or hitting certain blocks.

In addition to the game's story mode, there are six cooperative two-player minigames centered around Yoshi's platforming skillset; for instance, one minigame tasks the player with using eggs to pop as many balloons as possible within a time limit, while another challenges the player to use Yoshi's hovering ability to travel as far as possible while collecting coins. A new minigame is unlocked every time a world is cleared. ''Yoshi's New Island'' supports local multiplayer via Download Play.

Plot

''Yoshi's New Island'' is a direct sequel to ''Yoshi's Island'', taking place immediately after the original game. A stork delivers twin brothers Baby Mario and Baby Luigi to a couple in the Mushroom Kingdom incorrectly believed to be their parents. Upon realizing this, the stork reclaims the babies and sets off to locate their real parents, but is ambushed by the wizard Kamek, who captures the stork and Baby Luigi. Baby Mario falls on Egg Island, a floating island that was taken over by Baby Bowser, and reunites with the Yoshi clan, who transported Baby Mario to his brother in the original game. It is discovered that Baby Mario can telepathically sense Baby Luigi's location, and the Yoshis agree to help him rescue his brother by taking turns escorting him across the island.

Yoshi and Baby Mario travel to Baby Bowser's castle, where Kamek attempts to stop them. Baby Bowser is awoken and attempts to ride Yoshi, but is defeated. Kamek uses his magic to enlarge Baby Bowser, who reverts to his original size after being defeated again. Yoshi then rescues the stork and Baby Luigi, and the infants are returned home. At this point, if the player has used the Flutter Wings or the Golden Flutter Wings to finish a level, the adult Bowser abruptly appears and challenges the player to complete every level without the power-ups in order to face him in battle.

If the player completes every level without these power-ups, after Baby Bowser is defeated, the adult Bowser suddenly appears after "warping through space and time" to avenge his younger self. After the adult Bowser is defeated, Kamek uses his magic to make Bowser huge. Once Bowser is defeated a second time, Yoshi reunites with the stork and Baby Luigi, and the brothers are brought back to their true home and parents.

Development and release

The third entry in the ''Yoshi's Island'' series, ''Yoshi's New Island'' had its development outsourced to Arzest, with some members having previously been involved in the development of the original ''Yoshi's Island'' and ''Yoshi's Island DS''. From Arzest, Masahide Kobayashi directed, founder Naoto Ohshima produced, Masamichi Harada was art director, and Masayoshi Ishi composed the soundtrack. Arzest was assisted by several Nintendo developers, including level designers, who had worked on games in the ''New Super Mario Bros.'' series. Nintendo producer Takashi Tezuka had previously directed both ''Super Mario World'' and the original ''Yoshi's Island''. Tezuka stated that in an interview that a ''Yoshi's Island'' sequel was chosen over a ''Yoshi's Story'' successor due to being simpler in gameplay and construction, as well as the former's art style being better suited for the Nintendo 3DS. Oil paintings, watercolors, and crayon drawings in graphics helped retain what Tezuka described as the "warm and friendly vibe" of the original ''Yoshi's Island'' and the "handicraft feel" for which the series had become known.

''Yoshi's New Island'' was developed alongside '' Yoshi's Woolly World'', sharing some level design staff despite the latter title being developed by Good-Feel. The Eggdozer concept originated from the development team being interested in "creating something big and impactful", levels were made easier than those in previous ''Yoshi's Island'' games, and gathering collectibles would provide "a nice challenge for more experienced players".

First announced by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata during a Nintendo Direct presentation in April 2013, the game's name, a trailer, and a demo were revealed in June 2013 at E3 2013, a video game trade show. Nintendo announced the game's release date in January 2014. In early March of that year, Nintendo revealed a special edition Yoshi-themed Nintendo 3DS XL. In a March 9 promotional event, three young actors in California ( Benjamin Stockham of '' About a Boy'', Garrett Clayton of ''Teen Beach Movie'', and Bella Thorne of '' Shake It Up'') posed with the special edition 3DS XL system and threw balloons containing green paint at a large egg. ''Yoshi's New Island'' was published by Nintendo in 2014, and was released in North America and Europe on March 14, in Australia the following day, and in Japan on July 24.

Reception

Critical response

''Yoshi's New Island'' received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, four critics from ''Famitsu'' gave the game a total score of 33 out of 40, praising its art style and new Eggdozer mechanic. ''Yoshi's New Island'' was later inducted into ''Famitsu''s Gold Hall of Fame in the magazine's July 31, 2014, issue.

''Destructoid''s Chris Carter praised the game's sense of charm, which ''GameSpot''s Tom Mc Shea and ''The Observer''s Chris Dring attributed to its aesthetics. Additionally, Alex Culafi of ''Nintendo World Report'' and Kathryn Bailey of ''GamesRadar+'' noted nostalgia in the game's sound effects and level design. However, ''Edge'' magazine attributed this feeling to the game's storyline being nearly identical to that of the original ''Yoshi's Island'', and Culafi wrote that "a successor can only lean so much on previous works before a game starts to feel a bit like a rehash". Mc Shea added that "every element of this game panders to nostalgic memories rather than forging new paths", noting that whereas ''Yoshi's Island DS'' established an identity via its unique system of swapping babies with different abilities, ''Yoshi's New Island'' recycled most of its best elements from the original game, making it forgettable.

The game's art style proved controversial. Alex Culafi of ''Nintendo World Report'' wrote that the 3D visuals were "among the best 3DS has to offer", with ''GameSpot''s Tom Mc Shea adding that the game had an "enchanting artistic design". Conversely, ''Giant Bomb''s Patrick Klepek stated that the aesthetic style felt half-hearted, while ''Slant Magazine''s Mike LeChevallier described the visuals as "mostly vapid and stiff". Similarly, ''PCMag''s Will Greenwald panned the watercolor effect as generic, odd, and "jarringly artificial", and Kyle Orland of ''Ars Technica'' noted that the art style and animation appeared "a little overdone and lifeless". All four reviewers agreed that the visual style lacked the flair or charm of the original ''Yoshi's Island'', with Jose Otero of ''IGN'' and Chris Schilling of ''Eurogamer'' adding that the art style was inconsistent.

Critics were divided on the game's level design. ''IGN''s Jose Otera, ''Ars Technica''s Kyle Orland, and ''Giant Bomb''s Patrick Klepek praised this aspect, particularly enjoying the variety and placement of collectibles; Klepek stated that " at 'Yoshi's New Island''does nail is the satisfaction of exploration". However, ''Nintendo Life''s Dave Letcavage wrote that the level design "overall evokes little wonder and is often average at best", ''Eurogamer''s Chris Schilling stated that it had "sedative qualities", and Kathryn Bailey of ''GamesRadar+'' criticized some of the levels for their perceived linearity, simplicity, and repetitiveness. All three critics felt that the platforming was rarely difficult. Furthermore, ''Edge'' described the levels as bland and characterless, while ''The Observer''s Chris Dring deemed the level design sloppy.

The game's soundtrack received heavy criticism, with the music being described as clunky, lackluster, and "bewilderingly poor". Both of ''Nintendo World Report''s reviewers noted that many songs were variations of the same theme, while ''Ars Technica''s Kyle Orland criticized the use of kazoos in several songs. Multiple reviewers also criticized the game for a perceived lack of difficulty in its boss fights, pointing out that most battles relied on simply striking the boss three times; ''Nintendo World Report''s Alex Culafi considered these encounters to be " e of the game's biggest weaknesses", while ''Nintendo Life''s Dave Letcavage summarized the fights as "shallow, simple, and uninspired, often ending before they really begin". The use of motion controls in the transformation sections also received criticism, being referred to as imprecise as well as "clunky and awkward"; ''Polygon''s Danielle Riendeau and ''Nintendo World Report''s Dan Koopman singled out the submarine segments as being tedious. Although Kyle Orland found the Eggdozer mechanic promising, he stated that it was "used exclusively in extremely contrived situations"; similarly, ''Eurogamer''s Chris Schilling wrote that it was "used prescriptively and predictably", while ''IGN''s Jose Otero felt that the "level designs never really commit to the idea". A handful of critics also noted a brief delay with throwing eggs, particularly while stationary.

Retrospectively, ''Nintendo Life'' placed ''Yoshi's New Island'' eighth in its ranking of 13 ''Yoshi'' titles, criticizing its failure to introduce new elements and enhance the mechanics established in its predecessors. ''Destructoid'' listed ''Yoshi's New Island'' eighth in its ranking of the "10 best ''Yoshi'' Games of all time", stating that the game offered "some genuinely fun new levels, particularly near the end", though ultimately "played it too safe for its own good". ''Yoshi's New Island'' was the lowest-ranking ''Yoshi's Island'' game on each list.

Sales

''Yoshi's New Island'' debuted at #2 on the Japanese sales charts behind '' Yo-kai Watch 2'', selling 58,000 copies. By October 2014, the game had sold 197,000 copies in Japan. As of December 31, 2020, worldwide sales had reached 2.06 million copies, making ''Yoshi's New Island'' the 33rd-best-selling game for the Nintendo 3DS. The game was added to the Nintendo Selects label in Europe on October 16, 2015, and in North America on March 11, 2016.

Notes

References

Booklets

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External links

Official website for EuropeOfficial website for Australia

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2014 video games
Arzest games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Nintendo 3DS eShop games
Nintendo 3DS games
Nintendo 3DS-only games
Nintendo Network games
Side-scrolling platformers
Video game sequels
Video games about children
Video games about time travel
Video games developed in Japan
Video games produced by Takashi Tezuka
Video games set on fictional islands
Yoshi video games