I remember playing Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island at my local Wal-Mart around the time of its release and wondering "what the heck is this?" I actually didn't own a Super Nintendo at the time, but I had played a decent amount of Super Mario World and had completed the game at least once. Super Mario World 2 was so strikingly different and I could never quite figure it out in my short bursts. It seemed destined to languish forever on the "I'll get around to it one of these days..." pile.
And for many, many years, that's exactly where it stayed. I tried playing it a couple of times after picking up the Game Boy Advance port at some point, but I could never get into it. Finally, as 2022 came to a close, I decided to give Nintendo Switch Online a try and opted to give Super Mario World 2 one more go.
I'm not sure if it's because I now had a couple of Yoshi games under my belt or if I came in with a more open mind, but this time the game hooked me right from the start. The first thing that jumped out to me was how incredible the graphics are in this game. This might very well be the best looking SNES game I've ever played. The colorful, hand-drawn art style is gorgeous and has aged wonderfully.
As I alluded to before, Super Mario World 2 features some drastically different gameplay from its predecessor. Sure, it's still a platformer and all, but this time you control Yoshi and must protect Baby Mario. The game introduces the ability to collect eggs and use them to attack enemies or hit objects to interact with the level. It also works as a way to create some really cool boss battles along the way. Not only is this game incredible to look at, Nintendo really outdid themselves with some creative level designs that keep things fresh for the entire runtime.
Speaking of which, this is a lengthy game, especially compared to other contemporary Super Mario games. I ended up spending nearly 9 hours on this game and I didn't really replay any levels or anything. I did try to explore things a bit, but still...this game felt a lot bigger than the first Super Mario World. It was high quality all the way through, but I will admit I wish it were a few levels shorter. I think maybe I was a bit fatigued since I'm not used to 2D platformers running that long.
If you enjoy platformers and haven't tried this one out yet, I would definitely encourage you do to so. If you're like me, it might take a few tries before it really clicks, but stick with it....Baby Mario is counting on you!
Played On: Nintendo Switch Online (SNES version)
Completion Date: 1/3/23
Time: 8 hours 47 minutes
Rating: 9/10