Yoshi's Island DS is a direct sequel to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island released on November 13, 2006 for the Nintendo DS and part of the Yoshi's Island series.
Taking place after the original game, Kamek kidnaps all of the babies in the Mushroom Kingdom to take them to Bowser's Castle. Thankfully, the Stork attacks the Toadies and force them to drop two, who are revealed to be Mario and Princess Peach. The two babies land on Yoshi's Island and Yoshi and his friends decide to help Mario once again by rescuing all the babies.
Gameplay remains largely the same as the original Yoshi's Island, but has quite a bit more added features. In addition to the original Mario, there are several other babies that give Yoshis added abilities. Mario himself allows the Yoshis to run fast and see red M blocks. Peach allows the Yoshis to Flutter Jump higher and ride air currents. Baby Donkey Kong can climb vines and chains. Wario has a magnet that attracts coins and other magnetic objects. Finally, Baby Bowser can breathe fire, though at the cost of the Yoshis not being able to make eggs. The levels start out fairly easy, but later on become very hard.
The game was followed up in 2014 by Yoshi's New Island, an Interquel taking place between the original Yoshi's Island and this game.
This video game provides examples of:
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Similar to how his adult counterpart wears a red necktie with his initials on it, Baby Donkey Kong wears a red bib with a yellow DK on it.
- All the Worlds Are a Stage: The final regular level in World 5. Each section of Bowser's Castle is tailored for one of the Babies that are being escorted by Yoshi, so the path he'll choose will depend on whom he's escorting. By extension, this means each section will provide a callback to a previous world (the jungle-themed World 2 for Baby DK, the icy levels of World 4 for Baby Bowser, the Athletic levels of World 1 for Baby Mario, and so on).
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: In World 2-1, you are forced to use Baby DK to play through the entire level the first time you play it, and you could only use Mario and Peach upon replaying the level. While Baby Peach had a good reason (stolen off Yoshi's back by a Ukiki), Baby Mario gets no justification for why you can't use him. The same thing was done in both World 3-5 and World 4-5 with Baby Wario and Baby Bowser respectively. Again, no justification is given on why you can't use the other babies the first time around in World 4-5.
- Antlion Monster: The boss of the third world, Priscilla the Peckish. She lives in a massive sand pit and eats the Shy Guys that fall into it, spits out Needlenoses at you, and if you try to jump over her, she will leap up out of the sand pit and try to eat you, chewing on you for a few seconds then spitting you out if she does.
- Ascended Extra: The Stork was kidnapped along with Baby Luigi in the original game, note but in Yoshi's Island DS, it now helps Yoshi out via the Stork Stops.
- Attack the Mouth: Bessie Bass and Big Bungee Piranha only take damage when hit with eggs to their open mouths.
- Autosave: As with the original, the game saves after every level.
- Auto-Scrolling Level: The game has these in 2-6, 2-Secret, 3-1, 3-2, 4-1, 4-3, 5-1, 4-Secret and 5-5. Like in the game's predecessor, the scrolling screen will go in all sorts of different directions, crossing the same part of the level more than once in more than one direction, and there's no justification of any sort.
- Babies Make Everything Better: Yoshi ends up carrying babies other than Mario, all of whom have their own abilities.
- Background Boss: Bowser turns into this with Kamek's magic. But this time, he's right in front of you and just breathes fire and knocks boulders on you.
- Back for the Finale: After abandoning Yoshi earlier, Baby Wario and Baby Bowser return for the final level.
- Big Boo's Haunt: Hector the Reflector's Haunted House. It is overrun by Boo Guys and two new ghostly enemies: The Polterpiranha (an undead Piranha Plant with wings and no stem) and the Invisighoul (invisible ghosts that take flowerpots and furniture to throw them at Yoshi). Related to the latter one, Hector the Reflector is their King Mook.
- Blackout Basement: There are a few dark areas in the game, including the aptly-named Secret level "A Light in the Dark" and a section of "Yoshi's Island Easter Eggs" with light switches that go off only a few seconds after hitting them, appropriately noted as 'Panic in the Dark!'
- Brutal Bonus Level: The Secret and Extra levels, which take the game's high average difficulty, as well as the game's tendency to border on a rare licensed example of Platform Hell, to the worst possible limit. The most notorious example is 3-Secret, "A Light in the Dark," which starts out in a castle filled to the brim with One-Hit Kill Spikes of Doom and then has a skiing segment clearly inspired by (and even harder than) that of Kamek's Revenge.
- Call-Forward: Before Babies Mario, Peach, and Donkey Kong infiltrate Bowser's Castle, they witness Baby Wario arguing with Baby Bowser about treasure, with the latter saying that he'll have that treasure when he grows up, though it's technically the former who gets the treasure, as well as his own castle when he grows up.
- Color-Coded Characters: Each different-colored Yoshi goes through the same numbered level in every world.
- First: green. Green Yoshi also does the final stage and boss.
- Second: pink
- Third: cyan
- Fourth (fortress): yellow
- Fifth: purple
- Sixth: brown (original) / orange (in DS and New)
- Seventh: red
- Eighth (castle): blue, except for the final castle.
- Black Yoshi in every Secret level and White Yoshi in every Extra level.
- Cutting the Knot: Secret 1, "Welcome to Yoshi Tower," gives you only 20 stars in the entire level, often in tricky places while the lava is constantly rising, and unlike the original game, there are no Point Star items. Getting a perfect 100 tests your dexterity and endurance, nabbing every star while avoiding getting hit... or you could you just bring a full stock of 6 Red Eggs which makes the level significantly easier, if not easy.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Defied, as there are two control schemes for people who have played either the SNES or GBA version of the first game.
- Deadly Dodging: Big Bungee Piranha attacks by dropping down from the ceiling and trying to eat Yoshi, but he has to aim first. A crosshairs centers on Yoshi's position a second or two before the attack. If you stand on the Chomp Rock that someone left in the room until the crosshairs form and then dodge the attack, he'll bite the rock and bounce back up agape and dazed, with his tongue dangling out. The tongue is his weak point.
- Defeat by Modesty: The Burt Bros., much like their fellow Burt the Bashful from the original game. Their pants descend slightly each time they're hit until left naked; as a result, they grow red with embarrassment, bounce around the arena, and explode.
- Delivery Stork: The stork helps deliver the babies home. And in this game, he can exchange babies.
- Distressed Damsel: Baby Peach at first, as she gets kidnapped by Ukikis in World 2-1. After you rescue her, she becomes a playable character.
- Distressed Dude: Baby Luigi, like in the original. This time, he's being rescued not only by Baby Mario, but also by Baby Peach, Baby DK and Baby Wario.
- Down the Drain: "Big Bungee Piranha's Lair". It's a waterlogged sewer with outdoors areas where Yoshi has to manipulate corridors whose positions can be toggled by pressing (or shooting at) color-coded switches, tackle an underground maze with ponds of water, and defeat a large Piranha Plant monster rooted in the ceiling.
- Easy Level Trick: The ending of World 3-7 has you outrunning a platform-destroying ball with a lot of timed jumps to avoid falling in the lava below or getting stuck (and thus killed) against the other platforms. The natural choice is to bring Baby Mario for his running ability, especially given the setpiece's similarity to World 1-3. However, it's far easier to do with Baby Peach. Her Parasol Parachute makes the precision jumps much easier, and while the ball will get extremely close it can't catch you as long as you keep moving. It also reduces the player's feeling of being rushed, which also helps with the jumping.
- Everyone Has a Special Move: All the different baby characters have one or more special attacks/abilities.
- Baby Mario can make Yoshi dash, cause M blocks to appear, and use the Super Star to become invincible and run on walls for a brief time.
- Baby Peach can use her parasol to hover in the air and glide with wind currents.
- Baby DK can climb vines, make Yoshi shoot eggs with greater strength (such that they explode on impact rather than ricochet), Ground Pound a limitless distance in one stroke, and use a lateral dash attack.
- Baby Wario can use his magnet to attract coins and metal platforms.
- Baby Bowser can shoot Fireballs, at the cost of Yoshi being unable to swallow enemies and make eggs.
- Excited Title! Two-Part Episode Name!: There are a lot of levels with this sort of naming, including "At Last, Bowser's Castle!", "Quit It Already, Tap Tap!", "Yikes! Boiling Hot!". And the final level's excited title is the same as the equally excited title used for the final level in the first game's Japanese version.
- Excuse Plot: The story involving Bowser and the star children is put into action in the opening, but after that it's only brought up in the second-to-last world and is in a Meanwhile Scene that has no direct effect on the actual adventure, and in the ending after preventing it from happening.
- Flipping Helpless: Similar to Hookbill in the original, adult Bowser is defeated by flipping him over, then ground pounding his weak point.
- Flunky Boss:
- After his first hit, Hector the Reflector has Invisighouls resembling himself throw furniture at Yoshi.
- Big Bungee Piranha spawns Nipper Spores from the ceiling.
- Shy Guys periodically jump out of Big Guy the Stilted.
- Free-Fall Fight: Moltz the Very Goonie. This can be tricky because the only way to damage it is a Ground Pound, but the move takes some time to execute during which it can still move. If you miss, Yoshi falls to its death.
- Galactic Conqueror: Bowser aims to be this by gathering the seven Star Children.
- Gangplank Galleon: "The Goonie Coast Isn't Clear!", the second level of World 3, starts on a coastline before moving across a series of ships, where the decks and yards form stacked platforms that Yoshi can move between and the enemies chiefly consist of Pirate Guys, cannons, and Goonies, interspersed with water-filled gaps home to giant fish and squid.
- Giant Enemy Crab: The Crabbles are large, sturdy hermit crabs that can walk on the ground, walls and ceilings; their color changes when Yoshi hits them with eggs (they cannot be stomped on): Blue by default, green after the first hit and red after the second. They're defeated with three hits, but they have Mercy Invincibility upon each hit, so they won't go down so quickly.
- Guest-Star Party Member: Baby Wario and Baby Bowser are only usable for very specific sets of levels, after which they leave the 'party' until the final level.
- Heel–Face Turn: Baby Bowser in Yoshi's Island DS. And he Face-Heel Turns RIGHT BACK when you reach the Final Boss.
- High-Altitude Battle: Moltz the Very Goonie, literally battled in free fall.
- Human Snowball: Like in the original, this happens to Yoshi if he hits a rock while skiing. It's ill-advised to let this happen, due to the nearby bottomless pits.
- Instakill Mook: In addition to featuring Lunge Fish and Hot Lips from the original game, the game brings back Boss Bass note from the mainline Mario series.
- Invasion of the Baby Snatchers: There's a worldwide baby-snatching spree led by the Koopa Troop. It turns out that a time-traveling Bowser and Kamek are doing this to harness the power of the Star Children, whose power could allow Bowser to conquer the universe.
- Journey to the Sky: At the start of the final regular level, Yoshi has to use a rocket to fly up to King Bowser's Castle, which is suspended in the skies. During the flight, Yoshi has to avoid colliding with asteroids (some colored green, others orange) and Rocket Guys. Striking either will destroy Yoshi's Rocket and kill him instantly. Interestingly, this gameplay is also present in a preceding level, but in that case Yoshi was piloting the rocket to go back up for a Free-Fall Fight against the fortress's boss after having extensively descended through the fortress.
- Jungle Japes: World 2, and some levels from World 3. The Yoshis have to traverse sylvan landscapes with dense foliage and climb vines with the help of Baby DK. There's a level where a Yoshi has to use a raft to cross a rapid river while stalked by a Lunge Fish, then climb an auto-scrolling waterfall. World 5-3 brings back the theme with "Spear Guys' Village Found!", which features numerous Shy Guys bearing shields, painted masks, and spears and several huts inhabited by them.
- Kangaroo Pouch Ride: In certain bonus Coin areas, friendly Kangaroos allow Yoshis to ride them to gather all the coins.
- Kill It with Fire: Scorchits, a walking flamethrower version of the usual Snifitsnote make their debut.
- Last Episode, New Character: Baby Yoshi in The Stinger.
- Lava Pit: Almost every castle has lava pits, which can kill Yoshi instantly if he falls in. A lava pit also plays a part in the battles against Big Guy the Stilted, where he must be pushed into one so Yoshi can damage him.
- Leaning Tower of Mooks: Shy Stacks are stacks of two to five Shy Guys all in a tower. The game's beach levels also adds pirate Shy Stacks.
- Legacy Character: The Baby Green Yoshi born at the end of Yoshi's Island DS is implied to be the modern day Yoshi, which would mean that the playable (Green) Yoshi in these games is a different one.
- Level in the Clouds: "In the Clouds", a level in World 4, has Yoshi navigate a series of small cloud platforms, while being menaced by an assortment of Lakitus, Fly Guys, and land-bound Mooks standing on the platforms. "Superhard Acrobatics!", the last level before the Final Boss, is another, even more difficult cloud-themed platform hopping level.
- Living MacGuffin: The time-traveling adult Bowser searches for the seven Star Children that will allegedly allow him to conquer the universe. They turn out to be Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Baby Peach, Baby DK, Baby Wario, Baby Bowser, and Baby Yoshi.
- Long Song, Short Scene:
- The full title screen loop is two minutes long, but you can pass through it by just clicking A three times. Most players probably don't realize there's actually music, since the first thirty seconds of the song are ambient wave noises.
- The 'Boss Room' music is a minute long before looping, but once the boss encounter starts the music changes. This usually takes fifteen seconds, and even then you'll hear Kamek's little leitmotif play over the top of it when his dialogue box appears.
- Make My Monster Grow: Every boss is enlarged by Kamek prior to battle, with the exception of Hector the Reflector, Priscilla the Peckish, Six-Faced Sal (all of whom don't belong to any enemy species), Moltz the Very Goonie, Big Guy the Stilted (who are both natural King Mooks in that they were already giant when Kamek brings them in) and Bowser.
- Marathon Level: "A Light in the Dark". Other levels like Yoshi's Island Easter Eggs at least have short rooms, but this place has something akin to a four story gauntlet before you reach the halfway point, at which point it becomes a two-or-three-section skiing level and yet more platforming after that.
- Meaningless Lives: It is very easy to rack up over 100 lives in the first half of the game. In the second half of the game,
you WILL need them. - Mecha: In-universe. Big Guy the Stilted is a giant mechanical effigy of a Stilt Guy piloted by several Shy Guys. At the end of the boss fight, it breaks apart and the Shy Guys inside burn to death in the lava.
- Mighty Glacier: Every baby who isn't Mario is this. They all have very useful abilities otherwise, but they disallow Yoshi from running as fast as he did in the original game. Baby DK will even make your regular non-dash running slower.
- Minecart Madness: "High-Speed Cart Race".
- Mini-Boss: Like the previous game, this one gives every fortress its own miniboss, serving as the big halfway test for the Yoshis in their travel across the island. Later games in the Yoshi series drop this.
- Mission-Pack Sequel: Other than the addition of new babies with different abilities to use, various new vehicles and level features, and additional minigames and Time Trial modes; the gameplay is fundamentally unchanged from its predecessor.
- A Molten Date with Death: Like in the original, lava pits are numerous in cave levels, fortresses, castles, and the final worlds, resulting in instant death and the loss of a life if fallen into. One of the bosses is also defeated this way, namely Big Guy The Stilted (throw eggs to make him stumble into the surrounding lava pit and then ground pound on top of him to push him further down into it).
- Monster Compendium: There's a museum of every enemy struck with an egg.
- Museum Level: One is accessible from the level select screen: there, Yoshi can tour a number of rooms exhibiting the game's various regular enemies. Hitting an enemy with an egg in the main game automatically adds it to its appropriate Museum exhibit.
- Nerf: Red eggs will not bounce off surfaces. Though it nerfs the egg projectile in general, the primary effect is that it makes exploiting the fact that eggs change colour as they bounce to gain red eggs harder than in the original.
- No-Damage Run: Like in the original game, this is required to get a perfect score on fortress and castle levels, since even one hit from a boss will rob you of at least 1 point off the baby's timer and there's no way to refill the timer in them. (It is possible in some cases to retrieve the baby before the timer begins counting down, but it requires lightning quick reflexes and a bit of luck, so it generally isn't going to happen.)
- Nostalgia Level: World 1-1 is a recreation of 1-1 from the original game, 1-4 is a recreation of 1-4 (complete with almost the same boss, except in Dual Boss form) while 4-1, "Rock 'n' Fall", is more or less a combination of "Visit Koopa And Para-Koopa" and "Lakitu's Wall" from the original game.
- Ominous Floating Castle: Bowser's Castle in this game. It must be reached by space rocket (although it's shown in the clouds in the intro). Like most Mario examples, it crashes to the ground after the Final Boss is defeated.
- Other Me Annoys Me: Baby Bowser and adult Bowser in Yoshi's Island DS do not get along well until they team up for the final boss fight.
- Palmtree Panic: "Island of Peril", the third level of World 3, begins during afternoon in a rocky coast with palm trees occupied by Pirate Guys, and is followed by a pirate ship like that from the preceding level, a rocky island with vines that can be climbed with Baby DK, and ends with another pirate ship during nighttime.
- Plot Tailored to the Party: DS is structured so that you have to use all of the babies at some point or another by setting up obstacles which require a particular baby's unique ability to get past.
- Power-Up Magnet: When Baby Wario is hitching a ride, he carries a magnet. One of its functions is to draw all coins (including red coins) to you. Since some coins are completely blocked by walls, this is the only way to get some of them.
- Retaliation Mode:
- Hector the Reflector throws an object at the mirror on the bottom screen every time he takes damage, making it harder for you to see him by breaking it.
- Six-Face Sal uses only the faces immune to damage after being hit, then pulls at least one vulnerable face out for the next cycle.
- Moltz the Very Goonie sends a bunch of Rocket Guys after Yoshi once he's hit.
- Ring-Out Boss: Big Guy the Stilted is fought this way.
- Rise to the Challenge: "Welcome to Yoshi Tower!" has Yoshi escort the current baby across a large warehouse, where they must reach the top quickly to avoid being roasted by the rising lava.
- Rotoscoping: Bowser's sprites
actually come from Yoshi Topsy-Turvy, redrawn to fit the graphical style of the former. - Shifting Sand Land: Averted. The desert levels (2-3, 2-5, 4-2, 5-2, 5-Extra) more resemble a cross between the Grand Canyon and the Australian Outback, with red ground and rocks, dinosaur fossils, plateaus aplenty in the background, charging bull enemies, and a country-style version of the main theme.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Levels 4-5, 4-6, and 4-7 are set within a cold tundra. In these levels, clear ice blocks can be melted with Baby Bowser's fire breath. 4-7 contains a skiing section.
- The Smurfette Principle: The only prominent female character in this game is Baby Peach.
- Space Zone: The fortress and the castle in World 5 have each a space rocket piloting section where Yoshi has to dodge green and orange asteroids, as well as Rocket Guys.
- Spikes of Doom: Far more plentiful in this game than they already were in the original, and equally lethal as always due to them being an instant-kill hazard for Yoshi. The secret levels become Nintendo Hard because of them, with entire levels having nearly all the areas having either instant death spikes or instant death lava, especially the bonus Yoshi's Island Easter Eggs.
- The Spiny: Harry Hedgehog returns, having once again the ability to extend its spines to hurt Yoshi if he tries to stomp it.
- Stepping Stones in the Sky: World 4-1 ends with a long autoscrolling vertical climb segment where Yoshi has to dodge and jump through an avalanche of stone blocks. Being crushed between them or trapped in a pocket and left behind by the scrolling screen means instant death - and there's only one way through.
- Super Title 64 Advance: Yoshi's Island DS.
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Baby Wario's only advantage over the other babies is the magnet he carries. This only comes in handy for obstacles that are specifically designed to make use of it.
- Time Keeps On Ticking: The Trope Namer. The game mocks the player with this in Time Trial mode, with the message boxes replaced by taunts saying things like "Lost time!"
- Tongue Trauma: Big Bungee Piranha's weak point is his tongue.
- Trial-and-Error Gameplay: A lot of the obstacles toward the end of the game are downright unfair, and even go so far as to kill you if you don't notice them.
- Underground Level: There are numerous cave levels, which have underground waterfalls (or lava in the case of a cave level from the last world).
- Unique Enemy: Gargantua Blargg only appears once in the entire game.
