I just wrapped up a playthrough of the original Yoshi's Island and dipped into its two direct sequels: Island DS and New Island. Of course these games don't have the best reputation but the quality in level design isn't their lone issue, these games are just Yoshi's Island - again.
Perhaps more than any other iterative franchise, the Yoshi's Island games just feel like remakes of each other. Same mechanics, same enemies, same locations, same level gimmicks...same everything. Island DS mixed it up a tiny bit with multiple babies each with their own ability but they feel like road blocks to progression that don't really add anything substantial. New Island just straight up doesn't do anything new. Its main gimmick is giant eggs which were actually in a single stage of the original Yoshi's Island, only not quite as destructive.
The New Super Mario Bros. titles may be iterative but they at least all have distinct levels that don't just feel like remakes of one another. Yoshi's Island, Yoshi's Island DS and Yoshi's New Island are so boring as a series that it makes my mind numb. Even when copying the exact ideas of the original game, the sequels still hardly come close to matching its quality. The original Yoshi's Island was extremely clever with its pacing and spacing of ideas, practically every single level introduces a new enemy and with that a new way to move around a level. The sequels are a lot more sparadic in that sense.
My main issue is neither of these games attempt to be better than the original, they just want to replicate it and they even fail at doing that. Nostalgia is a powerful tool but only when used sparingly. There's nothing sparing about these two.
On the other hand, Woolly World simply borrows the foundation of the original rather than taking all its level themes and it worked out extremely well. It's purely the titles with the "Yoshi's Island" moniker that are so depressingly dull.
Perhaps more than any other iterative franchise, the Yoshi's Island games just feel like remakes of each other. Same mechanics, same enemies, same locations, same level gimmicks...same everything. Island DS mixed it up a tiny bit with multiple babies each with their own ability but they feel like road blocks to progression that don't really add anything substantial. New Island just straight up doesn't do anything new. Its main gimmick is giant eggs which were actually in a single stage of the original Yoshi's Island, only not quite as destructive.
The New Super Mario Bros. titles may be iterative but they at least all have distinct levels that don't just feel like remakes of one another. Yoshi's Island, Yoshi's Island DS and Yoshi's New Island are so boring as a series that it makes my mind numb. Even when copying the exact ideas of the original game, the sequels still hardly come close to matching its quality. The original Yoshi's Island was extremely clever with its pacing and spacing of ideas, practically every single level introduces a new enemy and with that a new way to move around a level. The sequels are a lot more sparadic in that sense.
My main issue is neither of these games attempt to be better than the original, they just want to replicate it and they even fail at doing that. Nostalgia is a powerful tool but only when used sparingly. There's nothing sparing about these two.
On the other hand, Woolly World simply borrows the foundation of the original rather than taking all its level themes and it worked out extremely well. It's purely the titles with the "Yoshi's Island" moniker that are so depressingly dull.
