Yoshi's New Island

Yoshi's New Island is a 2.5D platform game developed by Arzest for the Nintendo 3DS and the third game in the Yoshi's Island series after Yoshi's Island DS. It is the retcon of the games that originally followed Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island; here, the stork attempts to find Baby Mario and Baby Luigi's real parents after he learns they were delivered to the wrong couple, only to be attacked mid-flight by Kamek, who captures him and Baby Luigi while Baby Mario is dropped on Egg Island, a location similar to Yoshi's Island. There, a group of Yoshis discover the baby and set out to carry him back to the stork.

The game retains many key elements from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, such as Yoshi's Flutter Jump, eating and egg-throwing abilities, and the time-based health mechanic. Many familiar objects, enemies and sceneries make a return. The highlighted features of Yoshi's New Island are two new types of eggs called Mega Eggdozers and Metal Eggdozers, which allow Yoshi to destroy rows of enemies, pipes and rocks in his path. Additionally, Yoshi's New Island introduces the Flutter Wing and Golden Flutter Wing items, which help struggling players beat levels they find too difficult, functioning similarly to the Invincibility Leaf from Super Mario 3D Land. This game is the first Yoshi's Island game to have characters and objects live-rendered with 3D models, and the game takes advantage of the Nintendo 3DS effects with gyroscopic control and stereoscopic 3D.

The game was eventually rereleased as a Nintendo Selects title in Europe, North America, Australia, and South Korea, being one of the best-selling titles on the Nintendo 3DS.

General
After the events of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and ignoring the events of Yoshi's Island DS, the couple to whom the stork delivered Baby Mario and Baby Luigi allege that the brothers are not their babies. The stork then flies away to search for the real parents, when he clashes with Kamek and his goons once more. Kamek proceeds to defeat the stork in a fight and kidnap Baby Luigi, but Baby Mario slips and falls on the nearby Egg Island. He is found by a group of Yoshis who decide to take him to his brother and defeat Baby Bowser, now that he is planning to turn Egg Island into his resort.

After Baby Bowser is defeated at his castle, Yoshi and Baby Mario head over to the stork and Baby Luigi to rescue them. However, an adult Bowser travels through space and time and disrupts the reunion, challenging Yoshi to another battle.

After Bowser loses to Yoshi once again, Baby Luigi and the stork are rescued, and peace is restored to Egg Island. The stork then leaves the island in a spectacle of fireworks to resume its job of delivering the brothers to the right parents. After a long journey, it eventually arrives at their house and leaves the babies at the doorstep, where the couple discovers them shortly after. The cutscene fades to black and another ensues, where Mr. Pipe is seen revealing his true identity in the shadows before warping back to his time.

In-game
From the game's first opening cinematic: Narrator: This is a story that takes place a long, long time ago... Way up in the sky is a magical, cuddly land where babies come from. Storks come here to pick up infants for delivery to their soon-to-be parents. The stork has plenty of memories from his time with these special babies... Now he's off to deliver Baby Mario and Baby Luigi to their new happy home... Parents: "Huh?!" Parent: "Excuse me, but... who are these babies?! We're not expecting any babies!" Narrator: The couple is surprised and confused by this unexpected delivery. It seems our silly stork has delivered the babies to the wrong house! Stork: "The wrong house?! OH NO..." Narrator: Oh my word! We must get Baby Mario and Baby Luigi to their rightful parents! The stork rushes off in search of their true home. But then... HUH?!? WHOA!!! It's...it's Kamek! He's back to steal those babies once and for all! The dastardly Kamek swiftly nabs the brothers from our frantic stork. Stork: "NOOO!!" Narrator: What terrible luck! Baby Mario has fallen down toward the big, blue sea... From the game's second opening cinematic: Narrator: Welcome to Egg Island. The floating paradise was once a peaceful second home for the Yoshi clan. Until one day... Baby Bowser took over deciding the island would be an epic vacation home. The Yoshi clan searched all over but couldn't find Baby Bowser's hideaway. Now they live in fear of the evil power terrorizing their once-peaceful home. These Yoshis are all abuzz about where Baby Bowser and his castle might be. WHAT'S THIS?!? Suddenly, a baby with a red hat floats down from the sky. Thank goodness! Little Mario seems to be unharmed by the fall. Without skipping a beat, Baby Mario begins to crawl with determination... Wow! Using some kind of brotherly telepathy, Mario can sense Luigi's location! The Yoshis agree the island is too dangerous for a little baby. They decide to help by taking turns carrying the little guy on their backs. With Mario settled, the first Yoshi takes off. And so their adventure begins... Can Mario and the Yoshi clan rescue poor Luigi? Let's find out!

Gameplay
Yoshi's New Island is a platform game which plays the same in style as its predecessors, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and Yoshi's Island DS, though the game reverts to the more traditional approach seen in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island without the addition of extra babies from Yoshi's Island DS. In addition, the game does not take advantage of the Nintendo 3DS dual screen; only the top screen displays gameplay while the bottom screen is used purely for HUD elements such as keeping track of the level's collectibles, the amount of coins collected, and how many lives a Yoshi has left. The goal of the game is to best the obstacle course by running, jumping, and defeating enemies to reach the goal, represented by the Goal Ring. A Yoshi has the ability to stick its tongue to swallow enemies and turn them into eggs that Yoshis can carry up to six of. These eggs are the main projectiles Yoshis use to defeat enemies, collect items, and solve puzzles in a level. Eggs thrown bounce around, up to three times while changing color, before dropping. In addition, Yoshis can Flutter Jump to prolong their jump distance and Ground Pound posts and defeat certain enemies. Time-based health from the first two Yoshi's Island games also returns, where if a Yoshi gets hit by an enemy, Baby Mario flies off and gets encased in a bubble. A timer appears, signalling how much time left a Yoshi has to rescue Baby Mario before he gets taken away by Toadies and therefore causing the player to lose a life. The timer gets replenished up to 10 automatically, while Yoshis can extend the amount of time by collecting stars or going through Checkpoint Rings. In Yoshi's New Island, extra lives are earned from hitting certain obstacles with eggs, collecting five Smiley Flowers, collecting 100 coins, or when Egg Medals are collected. In addition to the player losing a life if Baby Mario is taken away, players can instantly lose lives if the Yoshi comes in contact with spikes, thorns, lava, gets crushed, or falls down a pit.

Returning to the game from prior entries of the Yoshi's Island franchise is the collectible system, where players need to collect thirty stars, twenty red coins, and five Smiley Flowers. However, unlike prior entries, the game records when all of one group of items are collected; players are not required to collect them again if they aim to collect the other items. At the Goal Ring, if the timer stops on a Smiley Flower, the player earns an Egg Medal, while the number of Egg Medals obtained is dependent on the amount of Smiley Flowers collected in the level. Whirly Gates serve as the replacement for morph bubbles from the previous entries, though they transport the Yoshi to an obstacle course rather than be integrated into the main course. The Yoshi Star additionally replaces the Super Star from the earlier Yoshi's Island entries, though it functions similarly: it turns the Yoshi into Super Yoshi, where the Yoshi gains invincibility, higher speed, and the ability to walk on walls. Introduced is the Red Yoshi Star, which allows a Yoshi to blast forward and destroy walls and enemies in the process. Poochy also returns and is able to walk on hazardous obstacles as before. The main addition to gameplay is the ability to swallow extremely large enemies and turn them into colossal eggs called Mega Eggdozers, which are bigger than Giant Eggs. When thrown, they function similarly to Mega Mushrooms, wrecking everything in their path, the accumulating damage filling a meter that can provide the Yoshi with up to three extra lives. Metal Eggdozers are smaller, metallic variants of Mega Eggdozers that can be rolled on the ground, though they weigh a Yoshi down, which disables its ability to Flutter Jump but allows it to walk underwater. Another new addition to the game is a player assistance mechanic similar to the Assist Block in Super Mario 3D Land; when a Yoshi fails a level three times, Mr. Pipe can give it Flutter Wings, which enable it to flutter-fly. If the Yoshi loses four lives under the effects of the Flutter Wings, Mr. Pipe gives the Yoshi Golden Flutter Wings, which grant it invincibility. However, if the game is completed without use of the Flutter Wings, a battle with Bowser at the end of the game is encountered before rescuing Baby Luigi.

Controls
Returning from the previous Yoshi's Island installments is the two control schemes: patient and hasty, with patient being the default control style. When throwing an egg, patient requires the player to push the egg throwing button again to throw the egg while hasty control schemes allow the Yoshi to throw an egg when the button is released. A third control scheme, Gyro, is introduced, which takes advantage of Nintendo 3DS gyro capabilities to line up the cursor rather than the cursor moving being automatic back and forth; in this control scheme, players need to tap the button again as in patient to throw the egg.

There are two control styles, A style and B style. A style is the default style used for the game and in the game manuals.

Worlds and levels
There are six worlds with eight regular levels each, the same amount as in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. Special levels are unlocked when a player collects all items in every level of each respective world; these levels tend to be much shorter and more difficult than the other levels. When players collect thirty Egg Medals, they unlock an extra level based on a transformation where a Yoshi can partake in to obtain extra lives. Each world has a theme to theme as indicated by the setting in the world map, such as World 3 taking place in a jungle while World 5 has snow. As the player progresses through Worlds, extra instruments get layered on top of the theme piece that plays. This game additionally is the first game in the Yoshi's Island series to not use designated level icons to represent its levels, though the general layout, animation effects, and sound effects used when a level is selected mirrors that of the preceding installments.

Many of the levels' and worlds' theming heavily alludes to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. For example, Koopa Canyon alludes to Visit Koopa And Para-Koopa as both are the first levels of World 2, while World 5 in both games are snow-themed and feature Bumpties, riding ski lifts, riding Goonies, levels that take place in the clouds, and encountering Ravens. In addition, the settings in the game follow a drawing and painting aesthetic, such as Ukiki Jammin' and Ukiki Trouble in Clawdaddy Cove using a Japanese oil painting art style while Hidey-Hole Hooligans has its sky with visible brush strokes to denote gradients. While the characters and some items are live-rendered with 3D graphics and use shaders to imitate the hand-crafted art style, the environments remain as 2D assets.

If the player is in World 6 and waits there for five minutes, Totaka's Song plays. If they are in any other world, the music does not play though players hear a pause in music.

Characters
The Yoshi species are the primary playable characters in Yoshi's New Island, where they relay Baby Mario to each other every time a level is completed, and they all play identically. The game's use of Yoshis primarily reverts to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island where Green Yoshi is used for the special levels, omitting Black and White Yoshi in Yoshi's Island DS, though Brown Yoshi has been replaced by Orange Yoshi as of Yoshi's Island DS. In the game's multiplayer mode, the host uses a Green Yoshi while the second player or the downloaded play player uses a Pink Yoshi. The Stork and Baby Luigi are seen only in the game's opening and ending, where both require assistance from the Yoshis. Unlike Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Baby Mario's role is entirely passive, as Superstar Mario, being the only time players directly control him in the preceding installments, is replaced with Super Yoshi.

Mr. Pipe is the only introduced helper character in Yoshi's New Island, where he can give a Yoshi Flutter Wings if they are struggling with a level, as well as giving out helpful items prior to boss fights. The only helper characters and species to have returned are Poochy and Blarggwich, both which reprise their role from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, and both make limited appearances in specific levels designed after their abilities.

Enemies
Much of the enemies from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island have returned to this title, while none of the introduced enemies from Yoshi's Island DS make an appearance. All the introduced enemies with the exception of Mame-san are variations of older enemies, though Mega Guys have been repurposed to give a Yoshi a source of Mega Eggdozers. Enemies are primarily introduced in a few levels designated after them; the only appearance of Boo varieties in the game are found in Beware the Boo Brigade, alongside some other themed ghost enemies such as Boo Blahs and Grim Leechers also being in the level. All enemies in the game are live-rendered with 3D models, with many of the Yoshi's Island series exclusive enemies having their debut as live-rendered 3D models.

Most enemies can be defeated when a Yoshi grabs them with their tongue, with a few exceptions; the exceptions tend to be spiked, ghosts, fiery, and large enemies. Yoshis cannot eat underwater enemies, requiring them to either stomp on them or hit them with the Metal Eggdozer. Another common way of dealing with enemies that cannot be eaten are throwing eggs at them, though some enemies are additionally impervious to eggs. Ground pounding most stompable enemies instantly defeats them, such as Bandits and Zeus Guys. Some enemies get defeated when Yoshi spits them out with their tongue, used as projectiles, while other enemies continue their behavior. Only a few enemies drop items when they are defeated, such as Bandits dropping coins or being able to use Lakitu's Cloud after defeating the Lakitu riding it. Some enemies cannot be defeated, though they can be thrown with eggs to either stun them or retract to allow a Yoshi to pass.

Bosses in this game use the same concept from the game's predecessors; the bosses tend to be large variants of enemies powered up by Kamek's magical hammer, and their levels primarily feature the regular variants of them. Unlike the game's predecessors, however, Kamek is the mid-boss of the forts; all bosses are found in castles at the end of each world. Bosses typically require eggs being thrown at them three times while they are vulnerable, and all bosses, when hit, have an invincible phase where they attempt to hit a Yoshi, usually attacking more times the more times it has been struck. When a boss is defeated, it leaves a large key behind, allowing access to the next world.

Whirly Gate
Whirly Gates replace Morph Bubbles from previous entries. Upon entering a Whirly Gate, the Yoshi is led to a course and transforms into vehicles indicated by the icon on the Whirly Gate. Unlike previous entries, all vehicle entries are sectioned into a mini course separate from the main level, and some are used to progress through the level while others take a Yoshi back to the same room. In the course, the Yoshi needs to navigate through enemies and obstacles within a timer, where a Yoshi can collect clocks to replenish time. Enemies and obstacles stop a Yoshi when collided with. All vehicles use the Nintendo 3DS gyroscope capabilities to navigate. At the end of the section, there are rainbow rings a Yoshi must reach; when reached, the Yoshi turns back to normal and leaves the place. These rings replace the Yoshi Blocks from prior entries. If a Yoshi does not make it to the goal in time, it is taken back to the entrance of the Whirly Gate, though a Yoshi keeps all items that are collected in these segments.

Items and objects
Much of the items, objects, and obstacles from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island return in Yoshi's New Island, behaving as they did, with some items that have not been in Yoshi's Island DS making a return, such as the watermelons. The only new objects that are introduced in the game are the Binoculars, Conveyor Belts, Flutter Wings, and Tatami Block, while the Whirly Gate and Yoshi Star replace objects from prior installments. The objects are a blend of 2D and 3D graphics, though most of the objects that use 3D graphics are modeled only from one side, and much of these objects are modeled and animated in 3D to imitate the predecessor game's reliance on sprite transformations. Examples of objects that use 2D graphics are the Yoshi Eggs and keys, while examples of objects that use 3D models are Countdown Platforms and Chomp Rocks.

Minigames
Minigames are competitive, two-player games, featuring Green Yoshi as player one and Pink Yoshi as player two. They replace the Mini Battles from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and appear only in the main menu of the game. They can be played with either local wireless or Download Play. More minigames are unlocked as the single-player adventure is played through.

Message Block hints
Various Message Blocks can be struck in the game to reveal tips and hints instructing players about features and various obstacles. Some tips change depending on the control settings used, whether players opt to use traditional button and control stick for aiming their eggs or if they opt to use gyro to aim.

Staff
Yoshi's New Island was developed by Arzest, the successor company of Artoon, along with some of staff for Nintendo. The game was directed by Masahide Kobayashi and programmed leading by Yuki Hatakeyama, music composed by CHAMY.Ishi and sound directed by Kazumi Totaka, and was produced by Naoto Oshima and Takashi Tezuka.

Pre-release and unused content
In the announcement of the game during the Nintendo Direct of April 17th, 2013, coins and red coins were slightly bigger and had a different design. A level that is designed similarly to Make Eggs, Throw Eggs appeared in the footage. In the E3 2013 trailer build, the logo and the title screen were much simpler, as the final logo features a texture pattern as opposed to the simple gradient of the first logo.

Glitches
NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, all names are conjectural.

Fall Through Platform
If Yoshi goes to Bouncy Beanstalk Walk and enters a pipe that infinite Shy Guys come out of, they have to jump to the right side or the left side along while touching the ceiling, Yoshi will fall through the platform.

Inside Smiley Blocks
This glitch is only found on Beware the Boo Brigade. If the player jumps when a smiley block is about to crush him, Yoshi will go inside the smiley blocks.

Fall Out of the Stage
The player must do the glitch and jump while they're in. Yoshi will fall out of the stage.

In the Wall
If Yoshi goes to Beware the Boo Brigade and stands on an edge of a smiley block, sometimes he might go through the wall.

Reception
Yoshi's New Island has garnered mixed or average reception. Critics praised the visual style, but were heavily divided on whether the overreliance on its predecessor's gameplay aspect made the game itself successful or unoriginal and outdated. It currently holds a 64 average based on 72 reviews in Metacritic and a 65.80% based on 49 reviews on GameRankings.

Jose Otero of IGN praised the solid gameplay, but criticized the game for reusing ideas from the original and its soundtrack, while its new ideas do not stand out. He ended with, "Yoshi's New Island ' s inconsistent art and tacked-on new ideas are all layered on top of the same strong platforming and level design that made the original great.", giving the game a 7.9 out of 10. Edge lambasted the game, giving it a 4 out of 10, heavily criticizing the game's reliance on throwback to the original Yoshi's Island. Susan Arendt of Joystiq gave the game a 4 out of 5 stars, praising the solid gameplay. Jim Sterling of The Escapist says the game "boasts some charm and is certainly inoffensive, it's just not all that exciting." He praised the solid gameplay but criticized the tedium and difficulty. He gave the game 3 out of 5 stars. Dave Letcavage of Nintendo Life gave the game a 5 out of 10. He also criticized the game for being not being necessarily bad, but being "dull" and "unimpressive". He stated that the game is playable but is mostly filler. GameXplain gave it 4 out of 5 stars, saying it was more of the same but that that was a good thing while stating that the soundtrack was often subpar.

Play Nintendo
The game led to the release of a Play Nintendo game in 2014 called Yoshi's New Island Match-Up. The game is a match-up web-browser game where players are required to match up artwork of various characters and objects from the game with each other in varying difficulty levels. A trivia challenge themed after the game called Are you an expert Yoshi-ologist? asks players themed questions from the game.

References in later games

 * Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS - A trophy based upon Yoshi and Baby Mario's appearance in this game alongside a Mega Eggdozer appears, titled "Yoshi's New Island".
 * Super Smash Bros. for Wii U - The main theme and the music for Bandit Valley appear as songs for the Woolly World stage.
 * Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - An arrangement of the main theme appears as a new song for Yoshi series stages.

Nintendo eShop description
''Yoshi™ is back and he's bustin' out the big eggs. Crush your surroundings and create paths with his new Mega and Metal Eggdozers in a brand-new platforming adventure! It'll take more than egg tosses and flutter jumps to lead fledgling Mario™ through a dangerous new island littered with inventive power-ups. Can you save poor Luigi™?''
 * NA Version

''Guide Yoshi and a young Mario through all-new stages, from slippery slopes to watery wonderlands. New transformations turn Yoshi into Helicopters, Mine Carts, Jackhammers, and more—all steerable with gyro controls. There's even a special multiplayer mode where you face off with friends in six fast, fun competitions.''

''But as Yoshi fans know, it's all about the collectibles and they're more enticing than ever to find. You'll need the new Metal and Mega Eggdozers to beat puzzling platforming moments and locate every collectible and surprise. They're hiding—are you seeking?'' Yoshi's New Island is the first instalment in this series since Yoshi's Island DS was created in 2006.
 * EU Version

''Yoshi's good old Flutter Jump, Ground Pound and egg-throwing return, along with new abilities and challenges that take advantage of the features of the Nintendo 3DS. You can use massive eggs called Mega-Eggs to destroy blocks and pipes, revealing secrets such as coins and hidden keys. The more things you destroy, the higher the Mega-Egg gauge goes, netting you extra lives in the process!''

The beautiful art is based on many classic styles, such as oil painting, watercolours and crayon drawings.