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jp's Yoshi's Island:Super Mario Advance 3 (GBA)
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| [March 24, 2004 07:12:14 PM]
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Ah. It is finished. Yes, it was hard. (especially 6-7) However, it was soooo worth it. I don't mean like there is some super secret that I'm now privvy to or anything like that, its just the fact that this game deserves being played in its entirety. It is a beautiful piece of game design. If anyone would like to take a look at platform games and what they can be all about this should be on the list. Definitely! It takes the genre conventions, re-invents them, applies them sometimes and is constantly trying to surprise and entertain the player. I wouldn't call it an easy game, but I don't think its an impossible one either. (I'm no master of hand-eye coordination BTW) Does anyone know if the original had save-game functionality? I sure hope so... I would never have finished it if it weren't for that. :-)
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| [March 19, 2004 11:20:34 AM]
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I went back to trying to finish this game. I've actually cleared two more levels (now I'm up to 6-5) which was a bit of a surprise. (6-4 wasn't that painful).Level 6-3 was REALLY painful. However, when I played it yesterday something really cool happened. I like to call these "magical gaming moments". I'm sure you've had them all the time, though they are increasingly rare as you play more and more games (and become, to an extent, jaded).
I was at the last checkpoint of the level in which you are standing on some ground before leaping into trying to land on spinning logs (you have to time your jumps so as to avoid the spinning which knocks you away). I got knocked back by one of the logs and was thrown up..very far. In fact, Yoshi disappeared from view. All of a sudden, the screen changed and a secret area loaded in! Wow! That was so amazing. Here I was in a secret area where I could gather a whole bunch of coins. There where two doors and I randomly picked one that took me to another secret area!! This goes on for at least three more secret areas! (eventually you drop back into the original level, a bit further on). Since I kept on dying later on I discovered that the 4 secret areas weren't automatically available (you had to choose the right door to exit from).
It is moments like these that totally restore my faith in many games. It really makes so much difference to the gameplaying experience when something unexpected happens, that is positive and filled with wonder. I felt so elated, this was so cool! (it also made it easier to clear the level... not in gameplay terms, but in willingness to keep trying).
Yoshi's Island is one of the best console platformers ever!!
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| [March 18, 2004 03:38:59 PM]
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Ok. I cheated. Sort of... I was getting really bored with the newest level so I decided to revisit some of the earlier ones (this would, in theory, allow me to restock on lives and stuff). A more legitimate reason is that I wanted to improve my scores so that I could see the bonus level that each world has. (I suppose that it's appearance is tied to the score..and not to some other factor, though I could be wrong).
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| [March 17, 2004 10:28:45 AM]
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I'v ejust cleared world 6-2. This is good. What is not so good is that I'm definitely in a negative-feedback loop. Let me explain. For the past 6 levels or so, I've been losing more lives than earning. (this includes a 5 live bonus I got for clearing world 5). Even though I still have some 20 lives...they are running out quite fast...and I'm not sure I'll have enough to get to the end.
I don't think that that is that terrible since I think that if I do run out of lives I can "continue". However, it does make these lasat levels feel more frustrating than usual. I'm toying with the idea of playing until I run out of lives and then moving on to the next game.
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| [March 15, 2004 11:24:51 AM]
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Am I the best, or what? I'm very proud to say that I'm currently at world 5-7. This game is getting a lot harder/frustrating by the way...but there is hope yet that I'll finish it and move on to another GBA platformer!
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| [March 12, 2004 02:17:06 PM]
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I'm trying, with much frustration, to clear world 5-5. The previous two where really fun...especially one with snow and skis!! Wow! That really surprised me. The level I'm currently on is really annoying simply because you have to advance really slowly. There are these birds who fly around (at times literally covering the screen) and are bothersome (as opposed to challenging) to the extreme. Grr...
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| [March 8, 2004 04:15:35 PM]
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I've reached world 5-2. This is good.
My last entry mentioned how I enjoyed how different game elements where used in novel ways. Once again, this is true. As an example, in this game there are boulders that you can push. They roll along and generally obey gravity (they have momentum, accelerate going downhill, etc.). Up until this point in the game you always found boulders that helped you. I would stand behind one and push it forward. This would squish all the enemies in front. Another way in which they where useful was in levels where you had to roll a boulder along and use it as a "stepping stone". Well, in 5-1 boulders have been used against me! In this case I have been subject to boulders rolling down a slope I'm trying to climb up! Cool! This totally reinforces my reasons for liking this game.
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| [March 5, 2004 02:58:10 PM]
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I'm currently at world 4-8 (the boss). Things have changed in a way with these past few levels. I'm under the impression that they aren't harder and longer but that they are less direct (non-linear) and require a lot more precision. Overall they are still very enjoyable. In particular I like how the game keeps revisiting things you had seen before but changing them a little bit. Its the variation of the well-known that keeps me playing this more than anything else. I'm actually quite curious to see what else the game can come up with! (after all, I'm still 2 whole worlds away from the ending).
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| [February 27, 2004 11:01:15 PM]
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I've spent a couple of days on world 4-3. I started this world with 50 lives. (I think that is a lot...) It took me 20 lives to finish the level. I think that was too much...if I wasn't a stubborn guy I would have quit (in disgust). I mean, 20 lives!!!?!?! That is a lot. Especially since I lost them all in one part. Thankfully, the checkpoint was just before this section...
I then started wold 4-4, and I've promptly lost 5 more lives. Maybe it is just that my skill level isn't up to the game at this point. I might have to bow down, tuck my tail between my legs and move on. It really is a shame since this game has some wonderful mechanics I'll talk about later.
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| [February 25, 2004 12:23:43 PM]
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It's rant time again. I had a hard time finishing world 3-6 because of what I consider ill-placed checkpoints. I hate it when you have to try something over and over again and it takes you ages to get there. The repeat and repeat isn't so bad if it didn't take me almost a minute to get to the place where I always screwed up. Grrrr. I got really frustrated and almost decided to quit on the game (half-way through ain't that bad) but the truth is that the game is great. It's just that the little details...
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| [February 21, 2004 11:11:32 AM]
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Yay. I'm on to World 3-4 now.... that is not as hard as it sounds, but it wsa still a lot of work. (I'm not that good at platform games, though I do enjoy them if they're not too frustrating).
Yoshi's has an awesome feature I made use of yesterday. The game comes with a "sleep" mode in which the GBA is on, but it turns the screen off and saves battery-life. Since I usually play on the move it really comes in handy at times. Of course, maybe an instant-save feature would be nicer, but sleep-mode works just fine and it is greatly appreciated by the likes of me.
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| [February 18, 2004 11:30:26 AM]
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Yoshi's Island has 6 worlds and I suppose each of them has 8 levels. (I'm pretty sure there are a bunch of secret/hidden ones as well). Up until 5 minutes ago I had cleared level 6 of world 1. (using Mario notation that would be 1-6). I really like the graphic design on this game. Everything is so kiddie-like without being horribly sugary. It's cute and tranquil as opposed so sickeningly sweet.
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| [February 17, 2004 11:45:30 AM]
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I never played the original (SNES) version of this game so it came to me as quite a pleasant surprise when I borrowed this from a friend last year. I enjoyed it so much that I actually returned it quite soon. I didn't want to keep on playing since I wanted to get a copy for myself and finish that.
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