Yoshi's New Island

Yoshi's New Island is the third game in the Yoshi's Island series. Released for the Nintendo 3DS in North America and Europe on March 14, 2014, Australia on March 15, 2014, and Japan on July 24, 2014, it is a direct sequel to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, making it an interquel to Yoshi's Island DS. The title sets out a new revival of the Yoshi's Island games following seven years of hiatus in the Yoshi video game series.

General
The story of this game takes place right after the events of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, making it set before the events of Yoshi's Island DS. The couple to whom the Stork gave Baby Mario and Baby Luigi allege that the brothers are not their babies. It goes on searching for the real parents, when it finds Kamek wanting to steal the babies once more. Again, he proceeds to take only Baby Luigi away, and Baby Mario 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 defeating both Baby Bowser and his older self, Egg Island is saved, and Baby Luigi is rescued. The Stork proceeds to take the brothers to fulfill his job of sending them to the correct parents. After the Stork gets there, this couple confirm that Mario and Luigi are indeed their children. After this, Mr. Pipe is seen; it reveals its true identity and vanishes.

In-game
From the first cinematic of Yoshi's New Island: 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 com 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 deleivered 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 second cinematic of Yoshi's New Island: 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. Much of the scenery and moves from the game are similar, as well.

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 Yoshi with up to three extra lives. Poochy is also present and is able to walk on hazardous obstacles as before.

Minigames

 * Ground-Pound Pop
 * Tulip Toss
 * Flutter Fortune
 * Enemy Eat-Off
 * Eggy Pop
 * Flutter Finish

Characters

 * Yoshi (species)
 * Green Yoshi
 * Pink Yoshi
 * Light Blue Yoshi
 * Yellow Yoshi
 * Purple Yoshi
 * Orange Yoshi
 * Red Yoshi
 * Blue Yoshi
 * Super Yoshi
 * Baby Mario
 * Baby Luigi
 * Kamek
 * Baby Bowser
 * Bowser
 * The Stork
 * Poochy
 * Mr. Pipe

Transformations
Upon entering a Whirly Gate, the Yoshi is led to a course and transforms into different things. Once he is transformed, he must go through a small course that uses the new ability, while watching out for the timer and collecting clocks to replenish it. At the end of the section, there is one or more rings that, if touched, Yoshi turns back to normal and leaves the place. The following are the forms Yoshi can take in the game:

World 1

 * Little Eggs, Big Eggs
 * Chomp Rock 'n' Roll
 * Cave of the Nipper Plants
 * Fort Bucket Booby Trap
 * Heads Up, Hop Up
 * Bouncy Beanstalk Walk
 * Ground Pound Rebound
 * Big Beanie's Castle
 * Diagonal Valley Rally (Special)

World 2

 * Koopa Canyon
 * Inside the Outside
 * Seesaw Scramble
 * Beware the Boo Brigade
 * Lantern Ghost Grotto
 * Gusty Glory
 * Hidey-Hole Hooligans
 * Count Fang's Castle
 * All Aboard the Terrain Train (Special)

World 3

 * Rise of the Nasty Nep-Enuts
 * Ukiki Jammin'
 * Harry Hedgehog's Labyrinth
 * Slime Drop Drama
 * Don't Fear the Spear
 * Ukiki Trouble in Clawdaddy Cove
 * Lose the Lunge Fish
 * King Clawdaddy's Sewer Castle
 * Ride the Blarggwich (Special)

World 4

 * Hop 'n' Pop Till You Drop
 * Underground Pokey Patrol
 * Spin-Lift Drift
 * Fort Key Calamity
 * Metal Eggdozers on a Roll
 * Chomp Shark Chase
 * Flatbed Ferry Freefall
 * Furious Fred de Fillet's Castle
 * See Poochy Run! (Special)

World 5

 * Brave the Bumpty Blizzard
 * Fine Feathered Friends or Foes?
 * Ski Lift Leap
 * Ready, Steady, Go!
 * Cruise the Clouds
 * Fire Watermelon Wonderland
 * Eggstraordinary Terrain
 * Punkey the Pokey Prince's Castle
 * Snow Go Mountain (Special)

World 6

 * Chomp Rock Challenge
 * Bandit Valley
 * Gargantua Blargg Attacks!
 * Spray Day Mayday
 * Hotfoot Hurdle
 * Pyro Guy Peak
 * Crumble Rock Rumble
 * Baby Bowser's Castle Break-In
 * Make Way for King Bowser!
 * Leapin' Lava Meltdown (Special)

New

 * Fake Yoshi
 * Beanies
 * Flaming Chomps
 * Giant Raven
 * Metal Guys
 * Big Lantern Ghost
 * Metal Lantern Ghost
 * Pokeys
 * Purple Fang
 * White Pokeys that move along the ceiling

Mid-Boss

 * Kamek (All Towers)

Bosses

 * Big Beanie (World 1)
 * Count Fang (World 2)
 * King Clawdaddy (World 3)
 * Fred (World 4)
 * Punkey the Pokey Prince (World 5)
 * Baby Bowser (World 6)
 * Bowser (World 6)

Reception
As of March 13, 2014, Yoshi's New Island has garnered mixed or average reception, having a 64 average based on 32 reviews in Metacritic and a 66.88% based on 25 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.

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".

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.

Trivia

 * This is so far the only Yoshi's Island game whose setting takes place in the titular character's second home.