Tag Archives: Yoshi

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Review

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Mario has returned with another epic adventure. The first film was a great experience from cover to cover and I can safely say that is true of this one as well. Now I do have the first film over this one in virtually every area, however I want to emphasize that it’s very relative. This film keeps pace very well, it’s like comparing an 8.4 to an 8.2. The first wins but it’s not a landslide and so I have high hopes for the next installments here.

I feel like the trailers were intentionally vague about the plot so I’m going to do that as well. The general story introduces us to Rosalina, the most powerful princess in the cosmos and one of the strongest Mario characters in the lore. She can use the Power Cosmic to take most opponents down but a new threat has arrived to the universe, Bowser Jr. Mario and friends will have to keep him from rescuing Bowser because then the universe will truly be doomed. Mario and Luigi have their adventure while Peach and Toad tackle things from a different angle. Can they succeed?

Separating the main cast into two plots is a double edged blade because that does mean that we don’t get to see many interactions with Mario and Peach for a while. I get that this helps to prevent Peach from upstaging Mario in a combat sense but they tend to have a fun dynamic when side characters aren’t teasing Mario all the time. Unfortunately this doesn’t completely work because Peach’s plot ends up being much more interesting than Mario’s. The stakes are higher and we have some really good fight scenes in there.

Lets zoom out a bit to the film at large. The soundtrack is very good as you would expect. We have a number of Mario songs that show up from time to time. You may not have the emotionally powerful Hero song like in the first title but the film keeps you energized throughout. The pacing is very fast for this film which is always a good thing since it lets the title cover a whole lot of ground in a very short amount of time. I’ve seen 2 hour films that couldn’t cram in this much content.

The animation is really excellent just like you would expect. The characters are true to life and look like they just came out of a video game. Characters like Rosalina and Peach always have a lot of poise and elegance in their actions as well while someone like Bowser gets to look chaotic. So the film looks good and I’d also say the script is generally fun. The film is prioritizing a good time over any serious developments so I wouldn’t expect many scenes of depth compared to the first one. Mario and Peach certainly had more heartfelt moments in the first film like when Mario was worried that he couldn’t be the hero that they all needed. There is a bit of an emotional plot going on with Bowser Jr. and Bowser though. I dare say that’s probably the only plot that really hits home in that regard.

The film doesn’t delve into the horrors of crude humor either which is always good. Yes, the film can be rather silly but it’s in harmless ways. The only jokes that just didn’t work for me is the film’s obsession with messing with characters’ eyes. I dunno there’s a scene where a character’s eye gets stretched and another where one is licked and I dare say it might make you cringe just a little because of how uncomfortable it feels to see that. Not in a content warning kind of way but just in a “That was strange” kind of thing. Not to make a mountain out of a molehill but yeah sometimes the film needed to take a bit of a step back.

If the film has any issues it’s really just that it tends to run the jokes into the ground. You may find it funny for a second when Bowser is trying to play nice but ends up losing his temper. Then the joke happens again within a few seconds and you might let loose a nervous chuckle. Then it happens a third time and you’re completely over it. A similar issue happens within the first after credits scene where you have a decent gag but it just keeps going on and on. Sounds a bit odd when the film itself is so short but maybe they just wanted to really make sure that the kids understood the joke. Not a big deal, but that’s the kind of thing that separates a reasonably funny film from a hilarious one.

In general Bowser’s portrayal is on the weaker side here. They lean way too far on him just being absolutely wishy washy. He goes through too many character arcs here to the point where it weakens him. The film needed to either lean one way or the other and as you watch the film you’ll see what I mean. He’s just trying to be too many things at once and is a decent reason why the Peach plot was more interesting.

Bowser Jr. is definitely a highlight here. This is easily one of his best portrayals and the guy can really fight. He’s shown to be considerably more powerful than Mario and Luigi. Based purely on this film he may be the most powerful character in the film series. Typically the heroes have to rely on him getting careless in order to really make a dent. There are some other villains like a snitch but for the most part this is Bowser Jr’s show with Bowser as more of a sidekick.
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For the heroes, well Mario is a solid lead as always. He’s your well rounded every man who is doing his best to save the day and be a hero. Mario is very confident at this point without being a braggart and gets the job done. In a way you sympathize with his just wanting to have good friends while everyone’s teasing him about getting a girlfriend. Mario isn’t in any rush no matter how much the other characters pester him.

Luigi is solid as well since his scaredy cat persona isn’t played up too much. Asid from a joke near the beginning of the film, it’s really not that relevant. He gets a good hit on Bowser Jr during the opening fight and in general gets a lot of great lines. He’s sort of portrayed as the witty bro in this dynamic with Mario and I like that approach.

Yoshi gets quite a lot of screentime and is a fun addition to the cast. I do wish he could talk though as it would open up a whole lot of other possibilities for the character. Regardless, I was satisfied here and he got a lot of good moments. My only nitpick would be how he is written out of the final fight. It would have made way more sense to let him get involved and even in a power level sense would have been good.

Power level issues don’t tend to hurt a film’s score and this one is no exception. However, it is certainly noticeable how the writers didn’t really care about power levels at all. Mario and Luigi consistently look very weak and out of their league in any encounters with the big villains and then suddenly in the climax they are looking way better than they should. If you always thought that Bowser was stronger than Mario, a decent amount would agree. Mario usually wins through his resourcefulness and agility. If you said Bowser Jr was stronger than Mario, well people would probably laugh, but perhaps not so much after this film.

I have to be honest though, Rosalina’s role is a little disappointing here. The character herself looks great. She has a lot of confidence and tremendous ability as you would expect. She has a ton of power and experience so I have absolutely no issues there. Unfortunately she just doesn’t get as much time to show off as she should and there is one scene that absolutely makes her look far weaker than she should be at this point in her career. From a plot perspective it makes sense to write her out but this was not the way to do it. There are two dicey instances for her, the first not being as bad as the second but they’re both rough.

Meanwhile Peach looks great but runs into a similar issue. She is simply too powerful. The films always have to find ways to avoid her being in the big rumbles so this one also has a reason to keep her out of the final climax. It’s a shame too because I feel like she would be able to dish out a whole lot of damage. In this film we see her take on a whole army and she has some of the best physical feats in the film. In terms of brute strength it’s almost like she is up there with Bowser. The film may be called Super Mario Galaxy but by the end you end up wanting a Peach film so we can really see her fight at length.

The film also has some guest stars and while Nintendo themselves spoiled this in a poster, I’m not going to do that. I’ll just say that the main guest star is a lot of fun. I was just a little disappointed that he did not get a single fight scene. That didn’t make sense. Yes, he’s far more powerful than any Mario character so you don’t want him to trivialize the whole thing but a single fight scene could have still worked. There are other quick easter eggs and fun characters running around so you should keep your eyes sharp. Each moment is a whole lot of fun.

The film has two after credit scenes here and as per usual you have the comedy one and the plot one. The comedy one’s okay, you might crack half a smile before the scene starts to drag on and you just shake your head. The second scene is excellent though. It gives me a lot of hope for the third film to the point where I dare say it will end up being the best one in the series. Unless the series really messes up, this will be tremendous!

If I had just one item on my wishlist for the next film, it would be for Nintendo to let the characters take more actual damage in the next film. While the fights look really good here, there does tend to be a bit of a floaty vibe throughout. You don’t really feel the damage half the time and the characters are more or less still at full power by the end of each engagement. Give us an emotional scene with Mario using the last bits of strength to deal the finishing blow to the opponent. I think you can do this in a way that’s not too scary for the kids while still being impactful. Just look at the Sonic films. They target a similar audience but are a million times more intense and have crazy good plot developments within them. I know it’s not realistic to try and pass the Sonic films but you can try to be on that track.

Overall, This is definitely a great film. Yes, it may be less ambitious than the first film in terms of adding in really emotional moments and serious stakes but it makes up for that with fun. Someone once said that the film has amusement park pacing and while that is usually seen as an insult, I take it as a complement. The movie is always moving forward and is not interested in taking any breaks. It will just keep on going full speed and you’ve gotta respect that. I’ll be here week 1 for the next film as soon as it’s ready and I definitely recommend watching this one right away.

Overall 8/10

Yoshi vs Steel Massimo

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Suggested by Destroyer Yoshi may be a tough dinosaur with a lot of heavy hitting eggs but at the end of the day he won’t be doing a whole lot to someone like Steel Massimo. Steel Massimo can fire off powerful energy blasts at will and his axe deals immense destructive damage. There’s no way for Yoshi to tank any direct hits and I have my doubts that he would be fast enough to dodge them for long either. Steel Massimo wins.

Pidgey vs Yoshi

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Suggested by Sonic Yoshi is fairly quick on his feet which is why he is often listed as a speed character in the Mario games. That won’t be enough here though especially now that Pidgey has mega evolution on the table. With this technique at the ready Yoshi will be forced to play defense for most of the match. There just isn’t a whole lot that he can hope to do in order to claim the combat advantage and Pidgey can spam energy blasts at him from afar. Pidgey wins.

Yoshi’s New Island Review

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It’s time to look at a game that I conquered really quickly. The whole game was over in one day which makes sense because the game is only about 3-4 hours. It’s also extremely easy to the point where you won’t lose much at all. Even if you do lose you can get back to where you were at within a minute or two tops. The levels are short and since you have endless health as long as you get to the baby in time there’s not a whole lot for you to worry about. There are no big gimmicks to worry about either so half the time you can keep running and jumping.

The plot of the game is that the stork actually delivered Mario and Luigi to the wrong house. Yoshi and his clan must now get them to the right place. If I were the Yoshis I would definitely be a little upset at this. Seriously they have to do this again? Well, at least they have a lot of experience in doing so. They will have to get past Kamaek and all of his minions in order to do this though. The heroes can’t lower their guard and must press on at all costs!

The gameplay is your classic 2D platformer. You jump past enemies and obstacles to get to the goal. Along the way you will see a lot of collectibles and may even solve a few puzzles. You can eat enemies and turn them into eggs. The eggs you shoot are used to activate controls and things like that. I guess the game’s main gimmick would be that Yoshi can turn into several vehicles. This doesn’t happen a whole lot though and even seems to be optional at times. Those controls were a bit weaker so I’m definitely cool with this not being a regular occurrence. I feel like that would not have been a good idea for the game long term. Part of why this game succeeds is because it’s going back to basics. It’s basically a Mario game just with the ability to throw eggs. It is fun to throw the large ones as well and it’s all well thought out. I had no issue with the gameplay.

The bosses also have a lot of variety. The Kamek bosses tend to be similar but even those switch up the background elements which is nice. Changing up the bosses so much is what separates Nintendo platformers from others. The final boss is also intense with quite a lot of forms and even a plot twist I didn’t see coming. It’s probably the most impressive part of the game because it feels like this is a moment when the game decided to go further than expected. It also had more difficulty than the rest of the game since falling into the lava would instantly cause you to lose a life. I imagine you would have to restart all of the phases again but fortunately I didn’t lose during the climax.

The level designs are on point as well. The levels are pretty short and you’re still given a checkpoint during the game so it never feels like you’re going to lose a lot of progress. It may feel unnecessary since the game is pretty easy but it’s the kind of quality of life enhancement that I always like to see. It’s important to have this kind of thing because it’s just a lot more convenient for the player. Who actually wants to have to replay a large chunk of a game that they have already cleared? It helps you improve but since this game is going for a relaxing feel then it works out quite nicely I’d say. You can play a few levels before bed or just blast through the whole thing at once.

The soundtrack is definitely very different compared to most of the big Nintendo titles. It uses the Kazoo a lot and most of the tunes sound like they’re just complete parodies of the normal themes. I suppose they would all technically be considered remixes but it had to be a little self aware. The soundtrack is just very unique. It works well enough I suppose but does make the game feel like it’s aiming even younger than usual. It does support the game’s low difficulty level though. The graphics look fine. It’s not exactly Nintendo’s A game but I think it’s going for a retro look so it succeeds in that approach. I’d rather they go with traditional graphics though because Nintendo games can look really amazing when they try.

There is a decent amount of replay value to be found here though. Each level has a number of collectibles. You can grab the red coins, flowers, and even medals. The medals are RNG though which sounds annoying to me. Fortunately the game made it so that you don’t need to grab these to complete the game which I thought was a really good move. Things like that should always be optional if you ask me. That way you don’t feel like you were penalized for trying to pay the game your way. It is part of why I cleared the game so quickly because I didn’t need to worry about stopping. If you want to explore then that’s fine but it shouldn’t be mandatory. So the main game is about 3 hours and if you try for all collectibles you can probably stretch this to about 7 I’d say.

Overall, Yoshi’s New Island is a pretty fun game. It feels like a standard platformer. It’s true that this game doesn’t really do anything new nor does it try to shatter its own limits, but that’s fine. I still would feel like i got my money’s worth on this one. It’s not the kind of game that I can find a lot of fault with. The level designs are on point and while the story is the bare minimum, I’ll give the title props for the final boss and actually having dialogue between each world. They’re little touches but things that add up. This feels like more of a complete experience than the Squeak Squad game I played for example because of this. The game may be short but it feels fleshed out. I’d recommend this one if you like platformers.

Overall 7/10

Yoshi vs Predator

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Suggested by Sonic The Predator is a pretty tough hunter. They’ve gone up against actual Xenomorphs after all and you have to have a certain amount of ability to do that. That being said, Yoshi’s definitely got this win in the bag. I don’t really see him having a lot of trouble with the Predator, if any at all. The two of these guys are just in completely different leagues so there’s not much that could be done to stop this dino. Yoshi can spit out some fireballs and move too quickly for Predator to try and land a finishing blow. At the end of the day Predator has no defense against the unrelenting egg attacks. Yoshi wins.

Axl vs Yoshi

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Suggested by Anonymous Yoshi is one of Mario’s most loyal companions. He’s always ready to help out and isn’t a half bad fighter when necessary. That being said, he isn’t quite ready to deal with Axl quite yet. Axl is an excellent shot and has super strength and speed by virtue of being a reploid. Yoshi can throw eggs but Axl would shoot them all down. Yoshi’s attack options would be very limited here and they just wouldn’t be enough to win. Axl wins.

Yoshi’s Woolly World Review

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I have conquered my first game from the Christmas batch! Of course it had to be Yoshi because this game was supposed to be quite solid. I may not be a fan of the yarn aesthetic but that has no real bearing on the actual gameplay so either way this was going to be a blast. It’s definitely a pretty good game and delivers on everything you could want here. My only gripe is that some of the level designs aren’t great with invisible blocks everywhere which I find to be a bit tiresome. The final level in the game is also the worst one which is a bit ironic, but these issues are fairly minor and ultimately do not prevent the game from reaching its potential.

The story starts with Kamek showing up and stealing most of the Yoshi’s. Since they are made of yarn this isn’t really a difficult thing to do. Fortunately the main Yoshi escaped and now he wants to save all of his friends. To do that he will have to travel to all of the worlds and stop Kamek at every turn. This magic koopa may not be all that powerful, but he is fast and always manages to scamper off. You’ll quickly be able to see what the formula is here so you’ve always got a good idea of how long the game is. It should last you a good 6-7 hours I’d say.

We should jump right into the gameplay which is naturally pretty good. You have to get to the end of the level by jumping and running through various obstacles. You can eat just about anything and then you can turn them into eggs which you throw into switches and use to attack enemies. While there is a little bit of motion controls thrown into this equation it’s not nearly as intrusive as you would expect. While I am of the opinion that motion controls almost never help a game, this one didn’t particularly hurt it either. Half the time you won’t even remember that it’s here.

One area where the game really excels is in the boss battles. True, they do re-use quite a few of them, but it’s nice to have some bosses with actual moves and creative ways to defeat them. I think this is the main area where Nintendo tends to soar above the competitors. Their 2D platformers have way more strategic elements in play to keep things interesting while the others tend to be rather basic. Some of these will actually take you a few moments to determine how to injure them and each boss typically has 2 different points at which they are vulnerable. For the first instance you can take advantage of it if you are ready and quick. Then they have a second opportunity for players who may not be at that level yet. It’s all good boss design.

As expected the graphics are nice and pleasant even if they are some of the worst that I’ve ever seen in a Yoshi game. I’m sorry to say that the yarn aesthetic just doesn’t work for me. It reminds me of Kirby’s Epic Yarn where it just doesn’t hold up as well because the graphics were trying to be so experimental. Sometimes being experimental just isn’t a good thing and it’s something that can be hard for video game companies to wrap their heads around. I think this phase of Nintendo is over though and if you like this style there’s no problem. It just struck out for me.

The soundtrack is solid though. You’ll recognize a lot of the classic Yoshi themes, but then you’ve also got a new one for the lava level that is surprisingly epic. It feels like something you’d hear in a Sonic game, not a fun Yoshi game where you’re weaving yarn. Part of its effectiveness is in the fact that it comes out of nowhere like that. I was certainly impressed and have to give the game high marks for this showing.

Meanwhile there is a lot of replay value as you would expect. Each level has a lot of collectibles and it’ll actually take a good amount of time to grab them all. This will allow you to access extra levels and content which is always nice. Completing the game 100% will take you a very long time so expect to be here for quite a while. As I mentioned, this is just a very complete game and one I expect you’ll have a lot of fun with. It’s like one last hurrah for the Wii U.

Now lets talk about some of the weaker aspects of the game. There really isn’t much to talk about here. There isn’t really much of a plot but that’s to be expected. No, what I’m talking about here are the core level designs. One personal gripe is in the fact that the level designs have a lot of invisible areas. You can’t actually see things unless you shoot an egg wildly and hope it hits something. I didn’t think this was a good thing to do. Sure, it requires you to spend more egg shots and grab more enemies, but it’s not something you would find out otherwise. A good puzzle needs to give you a shot to solve it from the jump. Then you’ve also got the fact that the game will soft lock you in some sections. Sometimes you need to have an egg to throw but there are no enemies around so you’ll have to back-track quite a bit to get them. You should have the ability to always summon at least 1 egg to prevent this.

Then there’s the final level where you have to light up the statues. This level was pretty dreadful because it’s incredibly hard to find the enemies. I was probably on that level for a good 30 minutes or so. We never had anyone hidden under the water before so it comes out of left field. Most of the levels were quite good, it’s just that these things stick out and ultimately prevent the game from being higher up on Nintendo’s impressive list of platformers. Not every game can rise to the top though.

Overall, Yoshi’s Woolly World is a game that I would recommend buying. I was definitely pretty late to the party here with how many years it took for me to get to this one, but it was worth the wait. It really sticks to the Nintendo formula of high quality games and it’s hard to imagine playing this one and not having fun. I’m definitely ready to play the next Nintendo game, but I admit there probably will be another long gap before I play the next Yoshi title. There are a lot of other games to play in the meanwhile and you can certainly expect a Wario title soon enough.

Overall 7/10