THE MAKING OF: YOSHI’S ISLAND

adjustment to the difficulty of the game. “Unlike

the Mario series, we tried to give the gameplay a

more gentle and relaxed pacing, as opposed to

turning it into a platformer that requires players to

master tricky techniques,” explains Tezuka. “So,

for example, there’s no time limit on the stages,

and it’s a little easier to control Yoshi’s jumps as he

flutter jumps unlike Mario. As we were adding in

these little adjustments, we came up with the idea

of having some exploration elements as part of the

gameplay and slowly the game took shape.”

S

ometimes the desire to provide

exploration elements and a relaxed

game experience were conflicting

goals, as was the case when deciding

on a progression system. Super Mario Bros 3

and Super Mario World had both used maps that

allowed the player to select the next stage. Why

did the team choose to return to linear progression

for Yoshi’s Island? “We looked at many different

map styles for this game. Seeing as we had

already used a board game-style map system in

Super Mario World, we settled on a linear path

as a way of returning to our beginnings,” Tezuka

replies. “The map used in Super Mario World

and other titles gives users the option to choose

the level of difficulty when there’s a branch

We wanted to include egg-

throwing as throwing actions

weren’t something that had

appeared much in Mario games

Takashi Tezuka

How did Yoshi’s greatest adventure translate to the

small screen of the Game Boy Advance?

The Game Boy Advance

was oen seen as

a perfect handheld

home for SNES games,

and aer Super Mario

World was successfully

miniaturised, it felt like

Yoshi’s Island would be

a natural successor.

Nintendo delivered

on that expectation in

September 2002 with Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi’s Island, issuing

a conversion that received a broadly positive reception. Many purists

swear by the SNES original, but this version does have some unique

content worth investigating.

The game is mostly faithful, but some changes were made in

order to lower the difficulty level from the original SNES version.

The countdown to recover Baby Mario is noticeably slower in the

GBA game, and various minor level design changes were made such

as the addition of Middle Ring checkpoints and Shy Guy spawning

pipes. The original game’s Extra Levels have been modified, and a

set of six new Secret Levels were added. One aspect of the game

was made harder, though – red coins were made visually identical to

regular coins prior to collection.

Changes were also made to the game’s presentation. Colours

have been lightened throughout to compensate for the original Game

Boy Advance’s dark display, and the colouring of the Yoshis has been

made more consistent with later games. The game also received a

new translation. However, this version isn’t quite perfect. The music

and sound effects don’t quite match the original quality, there’s

occasional slowdown and some graphical effects were downgraded

too (most notably in stage 1-7, Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy).

» [GBA] Colours were lightened in this por table

version to account for the GBA’s dark screen.

YOSHI IN

MY POCKET

aaaaappppppppppppppppp

» [SNES] Fuzzy is probably a Class A

controlled substance in the Mushroom

K ing do m , ju dgi ng b y i t s e f f ec t on Yo s h i...

RETRO GAMER | 25

DEVELOPER

HIGHLIGHTS

SUPER MARIO

WORLD PICTURED

SYSTEM: SNES

YEAR: 19 9 0

SUPER MARIO KART

SYSTEM: SNES

YEAR: 19 92

SUPER MARIO 64

SYSTEM: N64

YEAR: 19 96