Yoshi’s Story is an N64 side-scrolling platformer in which you play as one of many different-colored Yoshis in their attempt to… eat fruit? Yes, that’s pretty much the goal of the game. It’s about as “cute” as a game gets, with all its flowers and hearts and Yoshis singing. But don’t form a negative opinion on this game just because of its cuteness. The gameplay is what matters, and that’s what I’ll look at more than just visuals in this Review.

This Review is rated on a 0-4 star scale, with 0 being pathetic and 4 being excellent. Sure, it’s been a while since this game came out, but it took me a long time to get it, so that’s why I’m reviewing it now.

Graphics: *

The graphics aren’t horrible, really, they’re just not impressive. They look about as good as something you’d see on the Gameboy Advance. That’s not supposed to be a compliment to the system with the most disappointing graphics of all time, but more as an insult to this game’s graphics. It’s not like Kirby 64, which was quite an impressive-looking side-scroller. This one uses sprites and not many 3D effects. Maybe they aren’t sprites, but if they aren’t, they certainly look like them (I’m not too well-informed in the ways of graphic arts). But graphics don’t make a game, of course, as I say in almost every Review.

Sound: ***½

That Yoshi song, which I first heard in Super Smash Bros. on the N64, is excellent. It’s remade in several different ways in this game, always being enjoyable. There’s also the song that the Yoshis sing at the end of each page, which I actually found to be enjoyable. Why not four stars? There wasn’t enough variety in the music, unfortunately, but it was still really good.

Characters: ***

It’s always nice to see Shy Guys and Yoshis. Baby Bowser also is in this game (not Bowser Jr), and I actually like Baby Bowser, because he really is the Bowser we all know and love (or hate). Some characters are no-names, but they aren’t super-annoying like Jr. Troopa or Bowser Jr. or Fawful.

Difficulty: no stars

Considering it took me less than 24 hours to beat this game, I’m sure it doesn’t rank among the hardest games of all time. No, this may be one of the easiest ever. There are so many ways to gain extra energy, and with only two bosses, how hard can it get? And there are only six levels, which makes it even easier.

Controls: ***½

The controls are simple, except for the fact that it took me a while to get past Pak E. Derm in the first level because I didn’t know I had to jump and pound the ground to get by him (I figured that out by accident). Besides that, you shouldn’t have much trouble with the controls. (By the way, I have no instruction manual, which explains my confusion in that level.)

Gameplay: ***

The game plays very much like Yoshi’s Island for the SNES, so if you mastered that game, you should have no trouble with this much easier, much shorter game. The levels force you to try to eat enough fruits to “make the Yoshis grow happier”. This sounds silly, but that’s the way it is. It’s actually enough fruits to go around the screen, as the fruits you’ve eaten surround the screen. There are fruits floating around the levels, and of course bad guys lurking, but not incredibly difficult bad guys for the most part. By tossing eggs at them or making them into eggs, or sometimes ground-pounding, you can defeat them easily. The game has warps which let you go from one part of a level to another, if you have already “woke up” the guy who lets you warp by jumping on him or running into him. If your Yoshi dies, he gets taken away by Fly Guys to a castle, but you can get that Yoshi back later by finding a white Shy Guy. You have a certain number of Yoshis to start with, and believe me, it isn’t that hard to make it through the game without losing them all. There are also a couple of bosses, but they are not that hard either. Overall, it’s a fun game to play, but…

Replayability: no stars

… it’s over in no time! Come on, how quick can a game be to beat? It’s so short, which stops it from potentially being good. If this game were a lot longer, it might actually be a very good game, if some harder levels and bosses were put into it. Instead, it is a breeze.

Fun Factor!: ***

The game is actually pretty fun to play. Unfortunately, it’s not very long, which stops me from having enough chance to have a lot of fun. Obviously you can’t have very much fun with a game that is over in such a short amount of time, but it was pretty fun while it lasted.

OVERALL: **

This game is too short and too easy to be a good game. If it were longer and at least a little bit harder, maybe it would be better, but as it stands, that is not the case. Unfortunately, this game ended up being a wasted effort. If you’re going to buy this game, don’t spend very much on it, because you’re not going to get very much out of it.

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