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Yoshi's Touch and Go Review
Written by Modojo Staff on Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Colorful and a good amount of fun using the touch screen.
Could be considered fairly short compared to other games.
If a game developer is smart, they'll not only produce a game that's a pure blast to play, but they'll also build it around the technological advantages that the system possesses. With the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, developers tried to build games that took advantage of the Mode 7 graphics feature, allowing for quick rotation and scaling effects. With the Nintendo 64, frustrated developers tried to work around the limited cartridge format while still maintaining next-generation gameplay that utilized the analog control stick. Now we come to the Nintendo DS, and, as expected, there's a calvacade of games that are looking to take advantage of the touch screen. Some, like Wario Ware: Touched!, are working brilliantly. Others, like Retro Atari Classics, aren't.
Now we come to Nintendo's latest touch-screen opus, the platforming adventure Yoshi's Touch & Go, a slight variation off of the type of design originally featured in Yoshi's Island for the SNES and Game Boy Advance. However, perhaps the word "platformer" might confuse. You don't actually take control of Yoshi and Baby Mario anytime in the game, but rather manipulate the platforms in which they travel, while defeating enemies in a peculiar manner. Think of it as an interactive adventure, but not as limited as those other examples that might fall into such a category.
The game falls into two different types of stages. One takes place on the vertical plane, as you must guide a parachuting Baby Mario to safety by drawing him a path with clouds on the screen, while circling his enemies, turning them into bubbles and eventually popping them out of harm's way. The second is your basic side-scrolling stage, where Mario's riding on Yoshi's back and Yoshi's just bobbing along on the stage, as you draw out a path and set up enemies to be taken down with eggs lobbed by the happy little dinosaur (which can be launched with a simple tap of the screen).
It's simple, yes, but as the game progresses, you'll find that the dangers grow greater and the way to draw out to safety becomes trickier as a result. It's this kind of ramping challenge that keeps Yoshi's Touch & Go from being brushed off as just another showpiece, as it cares about giving the gamer so much to do and then rewards them by keeping them challenged as the journey continues. Granted, I'm sure some will be disappointed that the game's limited to essential draw actions instead of taking control of Yoshi himself (and are probably scorning Nintendo as to why a sequel to Yoshi's Island wasn't produced in the first place), but I still find the game to be fun.
Presentation-wise, it's pure, friendly Nintendo. The music is consisting of bouncy little tracks straight from the Mario universe, with Yoshi squealing happily and letting out some grunts along the way. The game's look is a simple, cartoonish one, but for a game like this, it suits just fine, with cute little animations and backgrounds. As far as gameplay, it still works pretty well, and there's a neat trick where, if you find you've drawn a bad path, you can simply blow into the microphone to clear it away. That's just awesome.
Yoshi's Touch & Go doesn't really possess anything in the long-term, aside from an interesting versus mode (that only uses one cartridge - nice) and the harder later stages, not to mention an Endurance mode that's fun to try for a few times. So those looking for a long adventure may just want to rent this first. Otherwise, if it's fun, unique touch-screen gaming you're looking for, Yoshi certainly has the touch.
