The Virtual Console is a service that is used to download games from previous systems, found on the Nintendo eShop, similar to the service found on the Nintendo 3DS and the original Wii. Systems included so far include the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64 Nintendo DS, and Wii titles, as well as titles from the Turbografx-16. The Virtual Console is a service that is used to download games from previous systems, found on the Nintendo eShop, similar to the service found on the Nintendo 3DS and the original Wii. Systems included so far include the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64 Nintendo DS, and Wii titles, as well as titles from the Turbografx-16. Jan 30, 2017 Virtual Console WIi U - Yoshi's Island Super Mario Advanced 3 - COLORED YOSHI Part 1 -Welcome to Tripolarz Channel!- Here you'll Find - Super Mario Minecraft - Nintendo Mario Gameplay - Plush.
| Yoshi's Island DS | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Artoon |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Director(s) | Hidetoshi Takeshita |
| Producer(s) | Toyokazu Nonaka |
| Artist(s) | Yasuhisa Nakagawa |
| Writer(s) | Soshi Kawasaki |
| Composer(s) | Yutaka Minobe Masayoshi Ishi |
| Series | Yoshi |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo DS |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Platforming |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Yoshi's Island DS, later released in Japan as Yoshi Island DS (ヨッシー アイランド DS, Yosshī Airando Dī Esu), is a platformingvideo game developed by Artoon for the Nintendo DS. Published by Nintendo, it was released in North America and Australasia in November 2006, in Europe in December 2006, and in Japan in March 2007.[1] It is the sequel to the 1995 SNES game, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. Announced at Nintendo's E3 press conference in May 2006,[2] the game was well received by critics, scoring an average of 81% on Metacritic's aggregate.[3] The game was originally to be titled Yoshi's Island 2, though its name was changed one month before its North American release. On April 1, 2015, the game was made available for the Wii U via the Virtual Console service shortly after a Nintendo Direct presentation.[4]
The game's story focuses on the Yoshi clan as they attempt to rescue newborn children who have been kidnapped by Kamek.[5]Yoshi's Island DS uses the same updated graphical style as Yoshi Touch & Go but retains the same core gameplay as its Super Nintendo Entertainment System predecessor;[2] but whereas the SNES game featured only Baby Mario and Baby Luigi, DS introduces Baby Peach, Baby Donkey Kong, and Baby Wario, while allowing the player to control Baby Bowser. Each baby bestows a different ability upon Yoshi.[5] The objective of the game is to use these abilities to progress through various themed worlds. An interquel, Yoshi's New Island, was released for the Nintendo 3DS in March 2014.
Gameplay[edit]
Yoshi's Island DS's gameplay is the same as the previous game, with some additions. Just like in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island the player guides various colored Yoshis through side scrolling stages.[6] Yoshi can jump and hover (flutter jump) for a short time, eat enemies and turn them into eggs (which can be used for things like hitting switches and defeating distant enemies) and pound the ground (to smash crates, for example).[5] Some stages offer Yoshi the ability to morph into vehicles for a short time.[6] Like the original Yoshi's Island, the DS game differs from many platforming series in that Yoshi does not have a life bar; when Yoshi is hit, the baby he is carrying falls off his back and Yoshi must retrieve him or her before a timer expires (unless Yoshi falls on something that torments him instantly, such as a lava pit or a spike field).[5]
What makes Yoshi's Island DS different is the addition of five babies for Yoshi to carry, each bestowing a different ability — Baby Mario allows Yoshi to dash and makes special 'M' blocks appear, and can grab Super Stars to become Super Baby Mario, and grants ricocheting eggs; Baby Peach allows Yoshi to float and fly on wind currents and grants a more forgiving timing to use Yoshi's flutter jumping abilities effectively; Baby Donkey Kong can grab and swing on vines and ropes, grants a special dash attack, allows Yoshi's eggs to explode as per Yoshi's Story (but they do so on impact) and allows Yoshi to push objects faster; Baby Wario uses his magnet to attract metal objects and allows Yoshi's eggs to bounce; and Baby Bowser spits fireballs, but the Yoshi carrying him cannot make eggs, though the eggs Yoshi already carries can bounce. The last three babies slow down Yoshi's movement and make the timing for his flutter jumping less forgiving.[5][7] The need to switch babies at key points adds a puzzle element to the game.[7]
The Nintendo DS's two screens act as one tall screen;[6] however, in practice, this essentially just gives the player a better view of the surroundings and, save for one boss battle, (Hector the Reflector, where the bottom screen acts as a mirror through which to see Hector during the battle) only provides the benefit of being able to see more (above) and, when the player is on the top screen, below.[5] The game does not make use of the bottom screen's touch sensitivity for basic gameplay, though it is an option for selecting levels and in some mini-games.[5] Each of DS's five worlds has two bosses, each with a weakness that must be identified and exploited. Most of the time, these are simply giant-sized versions of normal enemies, though some are more inventive.[7]
Flowers and coins, as well as stars, are scattered around the game's stages. These are totaled at the end of each stage and a score is given depending how many of each were collected[5] (a maximum of 30 stars, 20 red coins and 5 flowers). Sufficiently high scores are required to unlock one of the two sets of secret levels[5] (the other set being unlocked upon completing the game, similar to the GBA remake of the original game). Special character coins are also introduced. Missing from the game are the power-ups of sorts — like the ability to spit seeds by eating watermelons — which were present in the original.[7] The fire breathing ability is retained though: Yoshi can use it when he snags a torch or fireball with his tongue. This allows him to shoot streams of fire up to three times. Keys found in the stages unlock mini-games and doors that would be closed otherwise.[5][6]
Plot[edit]
As in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Baby Mario and the Yoshi clan must rescue Baby Luigi, who was snatched by Bowser's minion, Kamek, who also wants to kidnap every baby around the world. However, this time the Yoshis have the combined assistance of both Baby Peach and Baby Donkey Kong, as well as the stork, who escaped Kamek's botched capture. They later join with Baby Wario and Baby Bowser, who offer their specialized abilities so that the group may proceed.[5] However, Baby Wario's lust for treasure leads him to abandon the group, while Baby Bowser is captured by Kamek (who is actually the future Kamek that appears throughout the forts and castles), and later kicked out by the Adult Bowser, who came from the future, because of his baby counterpart insulting him. Baby Bowser then joins the group until he notices Kamek is after him, leaving Yoshi and the other babies to continue their journey.
Much later in the game, Kamek's sinister plan for kidnapping the babies around the world is revealed. He and Bowser traveled back in time in search of the 'star children' - seven babies whose hearts possess unimaginable power necessary for him to conquer the universe. Despite kidnapping all of the babies, they could not find a single star child. Yoshi's group later arrives at Bowser's castle and find Baby Wario and Baby Bowser, arguing over the treasure from Bowser's castle. They later join the group and as they arrive at the final room, Baby Bowser betrays them, claiming that Yoshi and the other babies wanted Bowser's treasure in his castle. Yoshi easily defeats him and Kamek arrives, along with Bowser, angered at what Yoshi did to his infant self.
Despite this, the babies and Yoshis prevail in both defeating Bowser, and forcing Kamek and Bowser to retreat to their present time. Yoshi and the babies then retrieve Baby Luigi and the other babies. Bowser's castle then self-destructs, but Yoshi and the other babies (with the help of the other storks carrying all of the babies) escape unharmed. The storks continue to bring all the babies back to their respective homes.
In a post-credits scene, six of the star children are revealed to be Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Baby Peach, Baby Donkey Kong, Baby Wario and Baby Bowser. Immediately thereafter, the seventh and final star child is revealed to be a newly hatched Baby Yoshi, who is also strongly implied to be the very same Yoshi that the grown up Mario Bros. would go on to rescue and ally with in Super Mario World and subsequent Mario games.
Development[edit]
Yoshi's Island DS was announced at E3 2006 under the name Yoshi's Island 2,[2] originally featuring only baby versions of Mario, Peach, Donkey Kong and Wario.[2] The developer, Artoon, has made one other Yoshi game — Yoshi's Universal Gravitation — for the Game Boy Advance. Universal Gravitation veered away from the 'Nintendo' design; but for DS, Artoon stuck close to the original concept.[7]
The game retains the classic pastel/crayon visuals from its predecessor.[6] Small changes are noticeable: water animation has been improved, the black outlines around objects are not as thick, and the backgrounds are less cluttered.[5] However, the visuals are still tightly centered on those of its predecessor.[7]
Reception[edit]
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Yoshi's Island DS received positive reviews, being given high scores by some of the most prominent video game critics. These include gaming websites IGN and GameSpot, who gave it 8/10 and 9.1/10 respectively.[5][7] GameSpot's review commented that the developers have 'produced a sequel that seems fresh and new while remaining every bit as awesome as the original.'[5] Multimedia website IGN called it 'a solid recreation of the Yoshi's Island elements in a two-screen-high format,'[7] and GamePro in their review said that 'it's fun and light-hearted play.'[6] Reviewers were particularly pleased with how the core gameplay elements are the same as in the previous game. GamePro hails it as having 'the classical 2D side-scrolling action and colorful pastel artwork that brought Nintendo to prominence,'[6] while IGN — although impressed with the game in general — wonders whether or not the developers 'stuck too close to the established design in this new game,' because having played the previous game 'ruins a lot of the surprises.'[7] Other critics regard this as the best portable Yoshi's game, with the exception of the Super Mario Advance remake of the original Yoshi's Island because, in their context, '(Yoshi) Topsy-Turvy was not there and (Yoshi) Touch & Go was incomplete.'
One problem critics identified is the blind spot created by the gap between the Nintendo DS's two screens. IGN accepts that this blind spot is necessary for aiming eggs properly but still describe it as 'bothersome.'[7]GameSpy's reviewer calls it 'a pain' and expresses frustration at being hit by an enemy hiding in this gap.[10] On the whole, reviewers were pleased with the way the extra babies have been implemented,[5] but IGN felt that Baby Wario was 'a last minute addition that wasn't tested properly.'[7] They call his magnet 'wonky,' and says it 'misses items that are right next to him.'[7]
Yoshi's Island DS was given GameSpot's 'Editor's Choice' rating,[5] and reached the final round for 'Best Nintendo DS game.'[13] The game sold more than 300,000 copies in its first week of release in Japan.[14] As of March 31, 2008, Yoshi's Island DS has sold 2.91 million copies worldwide.[15]
References[edit]
- ^'Yoshi's Island DS'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
- ^ abcdHarris, Craig (2006-05-09). 'Return to Yoshi's Island'. IGN. Retrieved 2006-11-25.
- ^ ab'Yoshi's Island DS Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved September 1, 2013.
- ^'Nintendo - Yoshi's Island DS'. 2015-04-01. Retrieved 2015-04-01.
- ^ abcdefghijklmnopqProvo, Frank (2006-11-14). 'Yoshi's Island DS Review'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on September 7, 2013. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
- ^ abcdefgh'Review: Yoshi's Island DS'. GamePro. 2006-11-14. Archived from the original on 2007-02-24. Retrieved 2006-11-25.
- ^ abcdefghijklmHarris, Craig (2006-11-13). 'Yoshi's Island DS Review'. IGN. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
- ^'Yoshi's Island DS'. GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved September 1, 2013.
- ^McNamara, Andy (December 1, 2006). 'Baby's Got Back'. Game Informer. GameStop Corporation. Archived from the original on November 21, 2008.
- ^ abTheoBald, Phil (2006-11-14). 'Yoshi's Island DS Review'. GameSpy. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
- ^East, Tom (January 9, 2008). 'More of the Same, but We're Not Complaining'. Official Nintendo Magazine. Future Publishing. Archived from the original on October 27, 2014. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
- ^'Yoshi's Island DS review'. Nintendo World Report. Retrieved November 26, 2006.
- ^'Best Nintendo DS game'. GameSpot. 2006. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-10.
- ^'Charts: Latest Japanese Software & Hardware Sales'. N-Europe. 2007-03-19. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-03-19.
- ^'Financial Results Briefing for the Fiscal Year Ended March 2008: Supplementary Information'(PDF). Nintendo. 2008-04-25. p. 6. Retrieved 2008-08-03.
External links[edit]
- Official website(in Japanese)
- Yoshi's Island DS at IGN
The upcoming Super NES mini console is more than just a SNES emulator. Like its predecessor, it harkens back to a time where physical cartridges allowed for the integration of custom hardware on a per-game basis that would evolve the capabilities of the base hardware. The Super NES - or Super Famicom, if you like - took that to the next level, not least with the introduction of the SuperFX chip, bringing hardware-based 3D to the 16-bit era. The SNES mini features Nintendo's first ever official emulation of that chip, but SuperFX is just one example of custom hardware that improved the console's capabilities.
For starters, the SNES mini features emulation of two different SuperFX processors - as evidenced by the retro console's support for Star Fox, its sequel and Yoshi's Island. But it's not just the integration of the hardware that is fascinating - it's the implementation of it, and how Nintendo utilised the extra power alongside the console's native capabilities.
At the most basic level, the SuperFX chip is a 16-bit RISC processor with DSP functions. The original version ran at 10.74Mhz and enabled the system to perform the necessary calculations required for 3D. The chip does not feature any special hardware for rendering polygons, however, and instead relies on the programmer to write their own software rasteriser. Judged by today's standards, Star Fox runs at a very low frame-rate (we regularly encounter sub-10fps areas) but the game is designed well enough that it's still remarkably fun to play. The FX chip is used for most functions in the game.
We have full 3D objects with rotation and animation as well as point rendering, for stars and dots along the playfield, line segments for wire-frame objects and more. Filled, flat shaded polygons are used for most of the game's visuals while scaled sprites are used for objects such as asteroids. There's even light point-sampled texture mapping in spots. The primary limitations here are, of course, the low performance and the small display window.
Regarding the SNES Mini, this brings up the question of accuracy. It's very likely that the emulator will run the game at the correct speed and duplicate the experience as it was on real Super NES hardware. That's certainly the correct default way to play but is it the best way? Well-known console modder Drakon modified Star Fox to run overclocked at a much higher clock-speed. While the game is still capped at 20fps, the fluidity is massively improved resulting in a more playable game all around. Perhaps an option on the SNES mini for such an experience would be welcome? Unlikely, but you never know.
Then we have Star Fox 2. Near finished builds exist on the internet but developer Dylan Cuthbert has noted that these samples are not up to the level of quality present in later unreleased ROMs. This game uses the SuperFX 2 chip and displays more complex visuals and scenarios than the original game, thanks in no small part to a clock-speed bump to 21MHz. The chip was also tweaked to support higher capacity cartridges. It'll be fascinating to see how the final game shapes up, but the SNES mini also plays host to Yoshi's Island - another SuperFX 2 title, but one that used the additional horsepower in unique ways.
The faster RISC hardware was capable of so many different types of operations, and while Yoshi's Island does make use of polygons in select scenes, its usage is focused more on sprite scaling and rotation, among other things. The game is extremely heavy on special effects and animation. It's the kind of stuff that a stock SNES has no business pulling off and even compared to the consoles that would follow in its wake, Yoshi's Island looked and played beautifully. It also marks another first - until the SNES mini, Nintendo had never re-released the original Yoshi's Island on any other platform. If you wanted to play it, you were stuck with the Game Boy Advance conversion which, while not terrible, is a downgrade from the original in many ways.
While the SuperFX is the most well-known and heavily marketed additional processor, the practice was widespread on SNES and per-game hardware enhancements began very early in the console's lifecycle. Super Mario Kart, for instance, uses an NEC DSP chip referred to as the DSP-1 for its enhanced math coprocessor functions designed to speed up scaling and rotation operations. This title rightfully takes its place in the SNES mini line-up, meaning Nintendo has integrated DSP-1 emulation - but it's just a shame that Pilotwings (also using the same accelerator hardware) doesn't make the grade.
Other titles in the SNES mini line-up - Kirby Super Star and Super Mario RPG - also include the SA1 chip, a hardware upgrade designed to address one of the key limitations of the core console hardware: it's depressingly slow CPU. The SA1 contains a processor core based on the 65C816 16-bit microprocessor. Improvements include faster memory, a higher clock speed, and new arithmetic functions such as multiplication - yes, astonishingly the stock SNES CPU had no native multiplication function. Other included features concern upgraded memory mapping functions and new direct memory access modes such as bitmap to plane transfer.
In a sense, the SNES mini is much more than a console emulator then - it has to provide accurate representations of at least four other processors not found in the original console (SuperFX, SuperFX1, DSP-1 and SA1). If the console turns out to be as hackable and as expandable as its predecessor, support for these chips plus base emulation should cover off the vast majority of the system's library but for those interested in the full range of bespoke per-game hardware enhancements used in the SNES library, this article has you covered. It fascinating to see the range of functions - including very basic AI - that custom hardware was used for, often very sparingly. Hardware like the S-DD1 processor only manifested in two games (Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Star Ocean) and carried out real-time decompression of sprite data. It was an effort to break the hard limits of cartridge memory.
Of course, while additional hardware was widely utilised, the reality is that most games were released using support for the SNES's core capabilities - and there are a few titles in the SNES mini line-up that could have benefited from the enhanced CPU power of the SA1 at least. Games like Super Ghouls 'n' Ghosts deserve their classic status, but they are blighted by obvious slowdown - a factor of the slow CPU. That said, the visually lush Donkey Kong Country worked just fine using base hardware, albeit bolstered with the use of an extravagant 32-megabit cartridge.
The innovation here came exclusively from Rare's talented developers making the most of what they could. Yes, the introduction of sprites and tiles rendered on an SGI workstation was impressive at the time, but it's the other ways in which Rare used the hardware that really stand out. For one thing, there's copious amounts of line scrolling in many of the stages with a rich parallax effect that wasn't always common on the Super NES. Lighting and transparency effects are also used often creating a unique atmosphere, with colour palette shifts beautifully representing a shift in the time of day.
The water segments were also impressive: the subtle ripples, rich parallax backgrounds and great colour usage really gave the impression of swimming deep below the water. The mine stage is another triumph - swinging lights use the transparency function to create atmosphere while the light cones themselves use rotation to gently swing back and forth. There are all sorts of great tricks like this. Even without the use of custom hardware, Donkey Kong Country would stand as Super NES technical showcase - and that's before we've even factored in the stunning David Wise soundtrack.
And that leads us onto an aspect of the Super NES's core capabilities that was remarkable without any need for additional hardware - its sound module. Which brings us to one of the more unique aspects of the Super NES - the sound module. Composed of the Sony SPC700 8-bit CPU alongside a DSP unit with associated memory, SNES titles were capable of some remarkable results. Until this point, games consoles typically relied on chips with digital noise generators, FM synthesis or a mix of the two often with an additional PCM channel or two. The programmer could use this hardware to produce unique and interesting sounds. This could result in some amazing sounding games when done right.
The Super SNES, however, relied on sampled audio - basically pre-recorded digital samples along with basic noise generation. The SPC700 and DSP could then add basic echo and reverb and generally modulate these samples into what you would hear during the game. The system could play back eight channels simultaneously and was limited to just 64KB of memory. As a result, composers and programmers often battled with memory trying to cram as much sample and program data in there as possible. Samples were often stored at a very high pitch, which required less memory, then pitched down and filtered by the hardware. Sound effects were often created by using pitched instrument samples. All of this was played back at 32khz.
An awful lot of space for a very small amount of effort.
What does this all mean then? A very different style of audio compared to other gaming machines of this era. Contra 3 - included on SNES mini - showcases just how strange it can get. The tunes are catchy enough but not in the traditional NES style: these are complex, layered tracks, while Castlevania 4, another Konami effort, featured a more ambient score than previous games in the series. Other examples of awesome audio on the SNES include Earthbound, with its super strange Hirokazu 'Hip' Tanaka soundtrack.
All of which returns us to the hope that emulation accuracy on the SNES mini is improved over its NES sibling, which wasn't quite on the ball in some areas, particularly in terms of audio reproduction. We also hope to see improved scaling for modern displays on the new unit, and hopefully support for 1080p video output, to eliminate what could potentially be two sets of scaling before the image hits your display. But overall, we just can't wait to see the return of some classic console software in an irresistible form-factor - while there are some glaring omissions from the title line-up, the overall roster is strong overall, tapping into quality and nostalgia in equal measure. The response to the announcement has been overwhelmingly positive - let's just hope that Nintendo has learned lessons in terms of delivering enough stock to satisfy demand. Suffice to say, when the finished units are available, Digital Foundry Retro will be there with a full, detailed review.