Getting Dizzy: Let's Play Yoshi's Island

But Marching Milde is so much fun! Its like the game's equivalent of a breather boss: The fortress is kind of long and might wear on you, so they give you a giant marshmallow stress ball to work it out.

The guys with the red spike caps were the coolest, and I wish they showed up later in the game.

I guess with all of the bosses skewing toward the easy side, Milde didn't have enough going on to interest me. But I'm glad that other people still find it fun!



For most of the game, Purple Yoshi's stages (the x-5s) tend to be a difficulty spike in their respective worlds. Here, you have an escort mission. Normally, that's cause for much groaning and gnashing of teeth, but when the subject that you're escorting is invincible and a brutal killing machine when in motion (but harmless to your character), the concept is a lot easier to swallow.




We immediately run into the Chomp Rock (with a message block letting us know the object of this stage if you couldn't figure it out yourself: roll it as far as you can and see what happens).

Something I just noticed recently: Chomp Rocks come in brown and gray-blue. If you let the latter get just a bit offscreen, it will reset to its original position. The game retains a much sharper memory (I know nothing about programming terms!) of the brown ones, however, and it will always be where you left it.




With the rock temporarily stuck, we can explore this hole really fast. There are a couple red coins to get here, and an opportunity to bowl for a 1Up. The setup here is subtly clever. You'll probably want to just kick the Koopa shell out of reflex, which would clear a path through the dirt, but also bounce off, and would have to rebound off the far wall before it could enter the passageway with the other Koopas (unless you have the reflexes and presence of mind to snag it and send it to the right). That means it has to get past that Tap Tap twice (if it connects, the shell will be destroyed and, to rub salt in the wound, the Tap Tap will only be briefly stunned, since they basically exist to ruin fun). The way the dirt is positioned (a vertical line extending up past the gap) hints at an easier way to take care of this.



We may not be able to flatten posts with one stomp, but at least we can save time by pounding adjacent posts. The rock will reveal a cloud containing stars.



More running and playing and slaughtering with our best friend!



Again we have to free our companion circle to move on, and again we're encouraged to size up the situation before rushing ahead. If we roll onward without triggering the cloud, this wonderful partnership will come to an end.



We're immediately rewarded for circumventing the first real danger to Chomp Rock, as it helps us reach a flower.



It can break through dirt itself, so it's downward and onward! Just in case you were wondering, if you don't drop through the dirt and continue to the right, you come to a dead end with a Shy Guy-generating pipe. So in the extremely unlikely event you get to the previous winged cloud with no eggs, no Full or watermelon items, and you killed every single enemy up to this point, you still have a fair chance to proceed with the rock.

There seems to be a recurring theme of conflicting reflexes in this stage. When we see dynamite being dropped, we'll want to run (plus, we're pushing the rock, so we're already moving along nicely). But then we glimpse the red coin being carried up there, so we have to come to halt, let the dynamite blast a hole for us, then climb up and get it.



Another destruction break.



We can line up the rock to climb up to another flower.




I love this. We can't pound the stakes all the way in; we need to make it so they're even with the outline of the ! blocks. Once we do so, we can take the rock to the far right and reach a hidden door. With this final act, we part ways...



Or so it seems! This door actually gives us access to this additional screen in the home stretch, which is the only way we can have a Chomp Rock in the final area. The cloud contains a flower, so this is necessary for 100 percent. The flower enemy above means we have to use some caution in digging through this dirt. You'll probably need to ground pound at some point (the rock won't fall through it all on its own), but ground pounding when those flowers are active will cause it to drop all of its petals straight down (as opposed to firing them slowly in all directions).



Wreaking more havoc! The roly-poly guys from Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy return, so we can use them to do even more damage.

In a section reminiscent of the ghost house, triggering a stairway will seal off the most desirable path. The Chomp Rock also gives us one last boost before we say our final farewells.




Okay, I have to give Marching Milde some credit, since it kind of sets up what to about this thing. Again, I love the many ways you can manipulate your environment in this game. Wario Land gets a lot of props for this kind of thing, but it's present here a lot too. Also, I'm mildly amused by the fact that it's only long enough to cover all of the spikes because of the weird effect of depicting a 3D rectangular prism in a 2D space.




The whole "stay with the Chomp Rock" gimmick was enough to carry the stage, but we're getting a variety of concepts up to the very end. First the malleable jello cube, and now a refresher on Baseball Boys. Here's to manipulating enemies for your own benefit (though by all rights, that flower should belong to him).

This stage is just so much fun from beginning to end, and it's definitely one of my favorites. The symbiosis between lizard and rock is truly a beautiful thing. It also winds up being the easiest World 4 stage. Enjoy it while you can, Purple, because your two toughest challenges are still to come (including the hardest non-unlockable stage in the game).

Now that there's an Anatomy of Games board here on Talking Time, I can't help but wonder if this topic would be better-suited there. Oh well, T.T. readers will be reading it either way.



Sounds pretty nice!




Right off the bat, we have to pull the "dive under an obstruction" twice, or leave a red coin behind. The rock wall elevated slightly above the water's surface should tip us off to that.



Koopas from the side and fish from below. We've been encouraged to bowl with Koopa shells all world long, so we're certainly not going to stop now.



You're meant to create bridges between these pipes, but the jumps are easy to make and the consequences for falling are minimal, so just jumping along saves time.



More shell shenanigans.



This time, creating a bridge forces us to find a detour to this spring ball, which grants us access to a mini-game hut, but we have no key!




Here's a quick reminder that we need to consider everything about our surroundings. Yes, we can easily pound that crate, but it almost guarantees the key will sink into the water and be lost.



I get a rather easy +10 for my efforts!



We're at a lake shore paradise, so let's go inside as soon as we can.

Here's a devious twist: our trusty Egg Plants are spewing dangerous spiky projectiles (that bounce a few times before falling offscreen; the haphazard arrangement of platforms and the different angles they can launch makes them very unpredictable). And of course, red coins and flowers are positioned in ways that would make us an easy target. There's a checkpoint right before the first one, so we can at least get a reprieve (though it will only wipe out current projectiles and enemies, not the Egg Plant). The trick is, as with an ordinary Egg Plant, to simply possess a full six eggs. At that point, it will no longer shoot.

Also, I like how the deep blue water out in the sun gives way to a calmer, murkier, greenish water in the cave.



This is a pretty pointless sequence, but it does establish a sense of "place" for us.



Things continue to be hectic in the cave. There isn't really a safe spot until we do some killing.



Hopefully you're not so distracted by the enemies that you miss this passage. Again, the slight gap above the water's surface is the key.




Most games would be content to give you one type of floating arrow platform/ball and call it a day, MAYBE providing a ghostly variant. Yoshi's Island is not most games! Here's another arrow platform/ball thing, that works completely differently than the one we've seen before! They'll move either horizontally or vertically, continuing in one direction until they hit a surface or you jump. If you want to change their axis, hit them with an egg.

This is a large, complex room, with a couple stories, a lot of spike beds, and several red coins littered throughout. The game still hasn't explicitly mentioned it, but knowing you can carry these things in your mouth will make this section a LOT easier and more flexible.



Free shots at the next Clawdaddy, then plow through the dirt and we're back outside! I don't believe I've mentioned that if you ground pound, the plants will cough up all the eggs you need at once.

Back outside, we can go left or right, but neither way gives us access to the red coin and flower we see in between.




Here we go! Of course, triggering this bridge also adds a slight complication when we come back to the right: The Tap Taps would ordinarily be hopping down in their pit, easily jumpable. The two bridges allow them to climb to the top platforms, where they're easy to run under. Except with the way the game's enemy placement works, they'll revert to their original position when they're offscreen, so when we come back, they'll initially be out of sight. Then they'll quickly pop up, climbing up the platforms. It's hardly a terrifying obstacle, but we will have to put on the brakes for a moment.



We're done with collecting and on the home stretch, but that won't stop a couple Piranhas from trying to snipe us and leave us frustratingly short on stars. The Stilt Guys are well utilized here: with the water and the slopes, they're not always easy to jump over, and they can provide an obstruction for us, shielding the Piranha just long for it to get off a shot.



There's also this one, that we have to either waste an egg on or jab into the water.

This stage is slower paced, but I do like its emphasis of always keeping an eye on your surroundings.

Gah, I still haven't read this thread!

I'm replaying this at the moment so I'll try my damndest to remember to come back.

Hey, if you want to talk about something from the first world or whatever, feel free. I just try to keep up the posting when I have the time.

I have good news! They do!



Okay, let's do that.



True to the world's emphasis on more advanced jumping, we begin by dropping in to grab a flower.



We've only seen a little of these high-speed red platforms, but we'll get our fill of them in this stage.




We launch off the platform and on our way.



Alright, more baby birds to kidnap and weaponize!



Some telltale dirt in the sky (that's weird to type) lets us know that there's another balloon segment in the air.




THAT transitions directly into a helicopter segment. Of course, the net gain of all this aerial action is a bunch of ordinary coins and a cloud containing some stars.



It actually causes us to fly over a handful of 100-percent-relevant items (and a 1Up). We can easily backtrack for them, though.

This makes good use of the "tunnels that are only visible when you're in them" mechanic. It takes a bit of good timing to bounce off the Bullet Bill since we both lose sight of it as soon as we go for the jump and there's a slight delay when entering/exiting a tunnel.



We get a ton of red coins just handed to us for fun.



We have to check our momentum here or blow past the stuff above.




It's time for some wind riding! This isn't very difficult, but it's a fun, high-speed section to end the stage with.

4-7's a short one, with its only real out-of-the-way secret actually leading you away from major collectibles. Everything else is given right to you, often in large doses. But hey, a lot of platformers will have shorter, fast-paced stages, so YI's entitled to a few too. It just has to cram 25 coins and flowers into that space.

How do you post so fast? Is this made ahead of time, or can you just make an LP fast?
Are you gonna LP any YI hacks?

I tend to approach it like so:

Play through several stages (an entire world, if there's enough time in one sitting), screenshotting like mad.

Comb through the screenshots to get it down to ones I want to use. I try to get these first two steps taken care of on a weekend.

Post on a stage or two.

It also helps that I've played this game to death, so I know where just about everything is (though I have been surprised a couple of times) and the actual gameplay isn't too difficult (plus, even if it has some exploration elements, sidescrolling platformers seem among the easiest genres to present in this format). Plus, I've been training for a couple of races lately, and I've long been in the habit of taking my mind off of hard runs by focusing on some unrelated topic, so it's been a good opportunity to get my thoughts organized.

I've never actually played any YI hacks (insert joke about YIDS here). If there are any that stand out, feel free to recommend them, and maybe I'll give them a shot.

In a stunning twist, the world featuring Koopa Troopas has one as a boss!



The only thing that may be more surprising is that there will be a few sequences involving Koopa shells like this.



A close call with some spikes, then it's yet another flower we can scoop up with a shell (we can also bash the lava guy, not that it's really necessary).




Again we're confronted with the plight of the exploited deceased Shy Guy laborers. The chain is just as deadly as the ball, and since we suffer knockback when hit, you can't count on passing through it. Destroying the block gives us clearance to slip underneath.



Here's where things open up a bit. There's initially a block plugging that gap in the first shot. There are two red coins, which I grab now, and a door down there, which I'll come back to. I also missed a shot of a cloud off the lower right in the second shot that only a Koopa shell can reach. It offers a 1Up. There's also that ghost arrow up above. We get a few options in the order we want to take care of things.




We can bring in some stars and gaze longingly at all the cool things we could get if we'd gone through the other door.



Time to try that out now!

I enjoyed SMW2+ and SMW2+2, and I recall Frozen Islands being alright. The former is tough, though. Not Kaizo tough, but Lost Levels tough.

We can clean out that stuff we glimpsed earlier. The staircases can actually work against us, giving us limited access to little coin caches (which are in range of multiple spike balls). It's best to only trigger what we need to advance.



Remember smashing cracked blocks in the ceiling back in 1-4 and 2-4 (or right in front of us in 4-4)? Well, it's okay if you don't, because there have been a few blocks right in our face to smash in this stage! It's a nice way of calling back to something earlier while still making sure it's fresh in our minds.



Pseudo-mid-boss? There are just two quarter-Mildes to destroy (plus the four ordinary ones each of them spawns), and we're rewarded with a solitary red coin for our efforts.



This moment absolutely terrified me as a kid, and I lost way too many lives getting scraped off the arrow. It's really not hard, but takes a bit of coordination, and shows that the game, while still relatively laid back about trying to kill you, is steadily ramping things up.




On the other side, we're confronted with a locked door and one last unlocked door. I always grabbed the ghost arrow and used it to reach the unlocked door, but you can also stay true to the world theme and use a Koopa shell to reach it. Options! Plus, although you've probably figured it out by now, the game hasn't actually said you can carry around the arrow lifts, so if you were to try riding it all the way to the door, it would probably vanish before you get there.




Through the locked door a new menace awaits: Fishing Lakitus! While ordinary Lakitus aren't nearly as threatening as their classic counterparts, these guys are much more dangerous than the angler variant that turned up in SMW. The ability to tongue upward ruins ordinary Lakitus' lives, but the dangling hook puts a damper on that strategy. Like that one room in Bigger Boo's Fort, this is like a huge jungle gym, letting us really make use of our agility to elude our foes, while snagging red coins in the corners. We have to be a lot quicker and more alert to get through these guys unscathed, though.

Also, for some reason, Yoshi doesn't automatically swallow these clouds. You can spit them out or swallow them manually (which still gives no eggs).



We're boxed in by more of the Breakout-style bricks that we saw in 4-4. Here, we see that there are red and yellow types as well as green (hitting a red one will turn it yellow, hitting that will turn it green, and a green one will vanish with a single hit). I always try to destroy every single brick just for fun (go for the eggs/flowers first, then the spring).



Success!

Boss time!



But not before setting the stage a little. This actually makes for a neat transition into World 5 (obviously, more on that later). It also makes use of an interesting tileset; the only time we'll see it on the SNES (the GBA makes use of it in its exclusive stages).




The mist is not only a nifty visual effect (completely different from the mist that we've seen earlier in 2-6 and 3-4), but even when the transparency stuff is done, the background helps sell us on the atmosphere (compare the first and last of the above shots).



It's go time!




In my experience, Hookbill's one of the game's underrated bosses. I think the problem comes from his design. While Naval's growing tendrils and thorns and whatnot and other bosses are showing off transparency effects, stretching and squashing, or eating you, Hookbill's just a giant Koopa.

But in the context of the game, he's just so much fun. It's one of the fastest paced fights of the game, and one that requires a multi-step process to win. As you can see above, if left to his own devices, he'll initially crawl forward on all fours, like an 8-bit-style Koopa, seemingly burdened by his new weight. Then he'll rear up, take a few ginger steps, then suddenly break into a sprint and attempt a high-flying body slam!



He even flinches on impact and blinks, dazed, for a moment. Great attention to detail (there's also the moment right before he rises, lowering his head as if collecting himself. When he goes from a walk to a run, he leans forward. It's subtle stuff that makes both for nice visual details and cues for the player).

I think my kaiju fandom is showing again. There's something about the sight of a big, but goofy-looking critter launching itself into gravity-defying pro wrestling moves.

Okay, time to go about winning this thing. Jumping on his head when he's on all fours will cause him to cough up all the eggs you need.



You can expedite his shift to two legs with a shot to his face (causing him to visibly flinch!).



You can't jump over him when he's at his full height (and exactly how long he walks before breaking into a run is seemingly random, so it can be easy to take a hit here), but an egg shot to the face will stop him in his tracks. It kind of reminds me of interrupting Bald Bull's charge.



It takes two subsequent hits (with him leaning further back after each, presenting a smaller target) to topple him.



Have I mentioned I love the details of this fight? On impact, he rocks back toward his head, legs kicking upward, before settling back down. It not only looks natural, but has gameplay implications. We need to deliver a ground pound to his exposed plastron in order to do actual damage, and if we rush into it, we can easily get kicked and spoil a 100 percent run. He also clutches his face and flails the entire time.



After landing the hit, we're launched a considerable height and distance, which both corresponds to his "unflattening" and also gives us room to react to his retaliation:



He'll bounce around the screen in his shell. He bounces three times, the same distance each time, but since he covers so much ground, it can be tricky to be at both a safe distance and keep an eye on his approach. Eventually, he comes to a landing and pops out on all fours again. It takes three ground pounds to win the battle.




Even his defeat is memorable.

Hookbill may not cut as impressive of a figure next to other YI bosses, but this fight is just ridiculously fun. Including the egg shots required to topple him, he actually takes the most hits of any boss in the game. He has several different actions that he transitions between smoothly, and it's just cool to see such an active boss (that's still huge). On the flip side, it's nice to have a fight that requires egg tossing and ground pounding in tandem. Plus, this one just makes you feel powerful. This thing is running and jumping all over the place, shaking the screen, but you can just push it around and knock it down with the right timing.

Again, there are similarities to Punch-Out, with it really capturing the satisfaction of being the "quick little guy" who can knock down the overwhelmingly larger foe. There's just something inherently more satisfying to actually knocking Hookbill over than striking a weak spot on the others and watching it flash.

The stage itself is one of the slower-paced ones, but it's still pretty fun. I enjoy how it opens up in the middle and lets you make some choices as to how to proceed (and lets you kick a few last Koopa shells).




With that, the entire surface of the island has been reclaimed! The Koopas' only remaining influence is their floating stronghold above the mountains...

As I said going in, World 4 doesn't have a clear environmental theme like 3's jungle (or 5). The main elements tying it together are a recurring color scheme, Koopas, and emphasis on trickier platforming. This ends up working very well, letting each stage have its own identity. I feel like I've talked at length about each stage, so I don't know what else to say. I just appreciate that the game really hasn't shown a glaring weakness in a long time (I mean, they were few and far between when they did show, but it seems to have gotten even more impressive).

Next Time: We venture into the mountains!

I think it's a shame that Nintendo never made a Mario bowling game where he used Koopa shells insteads of balls.

...Are you certain there? That seems like something that existed at one point.

Maybe a VirtualBoy game?

You're right : http://www.mariowiki.com/Goomba_Bowling. In a Mario party game.

But instead of regular bowling controls I think it would have been better if you had to jump on the shells.

And ages before, in the first two Mario Parties too!

Are you guys ready for the best world?



Things start out nice and clear, but the snow quickly ramps up. I'm going to speculate that this was at least partially inspired by Donkey Kong Country's first snow stage. I give the edge to DKC on this one, since its sudden blizzard is timed to the music (plus it's a brutal stage). But there really aren't many similarities beyond that.



Meet Thunder Lakitu. The Lakitu line has really stepped it up here in the second half of the game. This guy's blast are much faster than Spiny eggs, don't have visible crosshairs, aren't edible, and send waves of fire across the ground (reminiscent of SMW's Sumo Bros). They can still be defeated by gobbling up their clouds, and I'd recommend doing that as soon as you see one.

Between making the screen flash as they charge up their blasts, they also make a telltale noise (and the fire spreading across the ground makes noise). They really make their presence felt.



We risk getting up close and personal to one to get this flower.



Again, we're lured into the sky (this time by ordinary coins, so skip this unless you're compelled to do otherwise).




Hey, it's Spike, everyone's favorite dude who vomits up gravity-defying spike balls to throw! They're usually green (and they usually don't blow up their spike balls like balloons as they do here, but gotta show off that ability to resize sprites!), debuting in SMB3. They were only an occasional sight for a long time after that, but have become something of a staple enemy since the New SMB games. There are actually only two of them in the SNES version (again, the GBA stages give them a little more love), one right after the other.



We begin an ascent, and have to contend with two of these Piranha guys. The fast-falling snow can actually shake up your timing with their projectiles a bit. We get a cloud full of stars as a reward.



Up until now, Chomp Rocks have been welcome sights and valuable tools. But with them rolling down slopes, they can easily cause us to lose our footing and drop into a gap. It's not hard, but it is a sign that we have to be more wary as we get further into the game.




Just as Koopas and monkeys dominated the previous two worlds, this world's "mascot" is the Bumpty. Like the monkeys, they're both tougher to kill than normal enemies and don't cause damage on contact, making them fun to play around with. Also like the monkeys, they make you want to keep them around just to see their lively animations and antics. Running into one will send both of you bouncing away, and when they see Yoshi, they like to run and slide at him. You can snatch one, but you can't swallow it. Jumping on them won't harm them, but will give you a nice height boost (allowing us to get to the "top" of the stage, which I feel should be worth a 1Up, but nothing seems to be there). They have an advantage over real penguins with the ability to fly (slowly, over a small horizontal line, but I'd take it).

I think this is where the Mario series' love affair with penguins began, as blue penguins would of course return immediately in SM64 (also generally friendly, but capable of shoving you off a ledge here and there).

There's a little chopper section over to the side here in what feels like a retread of 4-3's chopper section.



Things change up as we take shelter from the blizzard in an ice cave, with icy floors and icy melons.




And icicles! We can knock them down with eggs, which is especially helpful when trying to clear gaps. Some will also fall on their own, giving a warning shake before they do. Bumpties, icy surfaces, and pits can also make progress treacherous, since we don't have much clearance to jump over them. There are an abundance of ice melons to neutralize the Bumpty threat, though.



This is awesome. It'd probably be asking a little much to have snow accumulating on the ground as we play, but we get the next-best thing: we see the effect of the blizzard when we come back out of the cave.



Jumping around pine trees will shake snow down from them, and occasionally there are melons to be found in them as well (obviously).



This section is like a reprise of the last stretch of 2-5. We have Pokeys, obstructions that can really slow us down (terrain and bubbles earlier, the green Piranhas here), Lakitu, something to ride a Lakitu cloud to, and Fly Guys bearing red coins. There have been very few callbacks this blatant, and even this is plenty different from the earlier stage, so I'm perfectly okay with this. The Fly Guys are easier to reach here too.




Finally, we get some options for the final sequence. We can bounce off the Bumpties to get the final red coins, toss eggs down there, or we can kill the Piranha so we can bounce to the switch so we can trigger platforms. Options are always good. Plus, it plugs the gaps, letting us continue to adjust to moving in snow with less stress.

There's no groaning about ice levels here! This is a fun introduction to a new world, introducing a few new enemies and really going the distance with the environment (including making "snowy" versions of previous backgrounds). I like how the end of 4-8 seemed to be high on a tower built on mist-covered mountains, and we've moved from that to taking on the mountain itself.

Next Time: There's seriously an enemy called Dr. Freezegood.

Guys, I think we should ride the ski lifts.




We immediately come across a great mechanic: a snowball! It functions basically the same as Chomp Rock, but its size increases as we roll it (it does eventually reach a maximum size). Even its texture is nifty. If we roll it back to the start, we reveal a hidden 1Up cloud.



Our time with it is short, but sweet. We can bowl over some enemies (including the ever-obnoxious Tap Tap), reach some red coins, and finally use it to scale this wall and advance.



This stage is really generous with checkpoints. We've been through about three screens with no pits and just a couple enemies.




This next part, on the other hand, can be quite tough. We get long expanses of pits, with Bumpties fouling our jumps between them. There are several collectibles, often in clouds directly over the center of the pits. The ski lifts help us move along, but we don't always get one when we want it. There are two switches (one hidden at the start, the other halfway through this segment) that provide temporary platforms, but as you can see in the last shot, it actually seals off the last group of red coins.



We have to wait for the blocks to subside, then shoot them.

This area takes either a lot of patience or a lot of jumping skills and precision (to make the most out of the temporary platforms). I think it's no accident that they bring in ordinary Lakitus rather than the new upgrades, as we already have a lot to worry about.



A checkpoint immediately following this is well deserved.



On the next screen, we're greeted by a pipe that apparently does nothing.



It's the one they call Dr. Freezegood!

These snowmen are harmless to touch, but they can push you around if they ski into you. If you jump on them (or even are higher on a slope than them while touching, as in this shot), they fall apart in a puff of snow (and usually several coins). But they're so cheerful and harmless that I tended to get in the habit of trying to avoid them (doing pacifist runs before I knew what those were).

Between them and the Bumpties, there's a real emphasis on enemies that don't actually hurt you. It gives the wintry stages a fun, festive feel, like you're just playing around in the snow (and said playing can get out of hand when there are bottomless pits nearby, just like in real life!). This introduction is in a nice, cushy valley that's completely nonthreatening.



The floating platform above the valley has a little secret.

We fall for quite a while.



Then we get five stars (first time we get invincibility since 4-1) and a chance to bash away at this coin block. The ice (and having to repeatedly grab stars to extend the invincibility; lose it and all the stars vanish) can make it tough to be as efficient as possible.



Ah, the pipe was an exit only. Mystery solved.



The second valley is a bit more dangerous than the first, and the goodies make it too tempting to simply take the easy way over.




We do more ski lift riding, with the snowmen really bringing the area to life. One just chills on the summit, watching us. Others go skiing by below (sometimes backward), and still others ride along with us.




Things get more hazardous for the final stretch, with Bumpties and poor visibility posing some problems. I should also mention that if you jump when riding a lift, you'll stay aligned with it and land safely as long as you don't touch the D-pad (and you don't run into an obstacle like a Bumpty, of course).

This stage is a lot of fun, continuing to build on the snowy mountain atmosphere. There could have easily just been generic platforms taking us over the pits, but they crafted something that suited the environment. The stage alternates between being a safe playground and precise platforming over ledges. It also nicely sets up the next stage...

You must lead an interesting life.

Okay, YI, you've gotten lucky with two snowy stages that are actually fun. But deliberately going for the deadly ice mechanic? You're flirting with disaster here.



At least we get the courtesy of a warning. It also reminds us that fire melons get three shots and learn it can melt ice cubes.

Audio is typically the GBA version's weakest department (and tacking on Yoshi's modern voice doesn't help), but it has one advantage here. In the original, slipping on ice makes this really annoying squeaking sound (actually the exact same sound as the Mousers, but pretty much constant whenever you're in contact with ice). The GBA version omits that noise.



We promptly get the chance to try it for ourselves (that's a flower in there. For some reason they look like that when frozen).



Triggering the bridge with the Spray Fish around can be a bit tough. From the aesthetic side of things, we can see that water has yet another distinct look in icy regions.



After so many years, I only just discovered this, and it blew my mind. If Baby Mario is loose around Bumpties, they'll try to kidnap him. It's really rare to actually take damage around them, since they and the enemies they're grouped with are mostly designed to try to knock you into pits. The amount of details and features they packed in is ridiculous.



This is sneaky: A Bumpty's hiding behind the tree, waiting to slide out and bash us into the pit.



Then we have a couple narrow platforms guarded by Piranhas. We can fry them or egg them, but we have to watch our momentum on the ice.



Another bucket boat!



I really like this. We have to keep up a decent pace, because the Bumpties will eventually start to drop down, causing big problems for us. We also have to actually be careful with our use of the fire melon if we want the pair of red coins. It is actually possible to melt those first two cubes with one blast, but it takes some very careful positioning. Of course, if you happen to lose it, you can use a Super Fire Melon if you have one and just melt everything in sight.



In the next area, we can use a fire melon to reach a checkpoint, flower, and invincibility!




We had a chance to get the feel of Baby Mario on ice in the secret area in 5-2; now it's the real deal. It's not so bad if you can keep moving forward, but if you miss a coin and have to go back, that's rough. If you happen to run out early, this area can be pretty tough between the Bumpties, lots of pits, and small icy ledges.

There's a door between the second and third screenshot, but if you're still invincible when you get past it, the "Invincible Mario blocks" form a bridge that let us get another red coin and lead us to that pipe. You have to be ready to commit once you press on though; running out of invincibility basically means death.

Taking the pipe gives us access to a ton of coins. We can actually use the Bumpties among them to help bounce us around faster than we could normally fly. Oh, and look at the little birds in the first and last shot!



All paths converge again, then it's more ski-lift riding!



Bumpties, ice, and pits is a combination to be wary of, but throwing in thorns should put you on high alert. If you can destroy the lower layer, then as long as you don't jump around them, you'll be fine.



A couple more jumps (and a ledge-guarding Bumpty that can be very tough to spot), and we reach a suspiciously unlocked hut.



It's skiing time! All we can do while on the slopes is jump (not flutter or ground pound). It can catch you off-guard a few times, but almost all of the collectibles are right in your path, and only the first third of the slope even has collectibles.



This flower's the only true "gotcha" moment, as you have to jump over the gap a little early or else you'll sail over it.



If you hit a hazard, you'll trip and roll, building up snow around you. If you can button mash fast enough, you can break free and resume as if nothing happened. In this particular instance, there's probably no time to do that, but this is a good ways down the hill. They're more merciful the first few times.



The second phase is pretty much one gigantic jump. The birds (Goonies) are just there for scenery. You have to be trying to screw up this part. Also, nifty mountain background.




The third section has a few jumps we need to make, but there's nothing more to collect. These enemies are slightly more aggressive scenery, but you're still moving too fast for their payloads to hit you (unless you jump repeatedly to slow yourself down). And is that a skele-bird? It's easy to miss when gliding down the mountain.

It could be easy for an icy stage to be frustrating, but I feel like this one manages it well. Bumpties, ice, and the fire melon are used well, and even invincible Mario and his unique attribute of spawning temporary blocks are given a new spin while on ice. The skiiing section can lead to some frustrating retries (though there is a checkpoint right when it starts), but it is a nice payoff after the introduction of ski lifts.

Next time: The fortress that doesn't end.

Get comfortable, folks. We have a big one here.



For some reason it took me many years and playthroughs to notice that door. Long after I had been able to 100 percent the stage and the game.



Inside is an old-fashioned Chain Chomp! After re-imagining the creature in two different ways, it's cool to see one of the "original specimens" displayed.



Well, it does have one new trick. This is just for show, and we can safely run behind it when it lunges into the foreground.



Unfortunately, we can't set it free; its post is in the background and non-interactive.



It's immune to almost everything we have. Seeds will bounce it around, but do no damage.



The only thing that will work are our screen-wiping items: Winged Clouds or POW Blocks. Using one will cause a door to appear.



This leads to an awesome little secret. If we hold Select and press X, X, Y, B, A on the map screen, we can play the Bandit mini-games as much as we want. You don't need to find this secret room to trigger this; it will work as soon as you can access the map screen. This is also the only two-player element to the game. Unfortunately, even though all of the games are designed as duels, they only allow Throwing Balloons and Seed Spitting to be played in two player. I mean, Yoshi has some unfair advantages over the Bandit in Gather Coins and Popping Balloons (flutter and tongue), but he also has those, plus the ability to shoot upward, in seed spitting. Oh well, can't really complain about an Easter Egg.




On to the stage proper! Here's a Dangling Ghost, who will rock back and forth like a pendulum until you come close, at which point it tries to snatch Baby Mario. A projectile will temporarily stun and shame it.



If you're not too quick to trigger the stairs, you can load up on yellow eggs (and bounce around on this spongy material).



The spacious castle really encourages us to go nuts with our jumps. With Yoshi's flutter, this is something I feel inclined to do anyway, so it's nice to be rewarded for seeing how far off-trail you can get.




Of course, right after enjoying the sweet taste of freedom, we have to make some very careful, restricted jumps. Hopefully you got a feel for the sponge earlier. This is a very tough test of knowing how your jump and flutter work.

Back on the main path, we run into these virtually indestructible foes. They pretty much only exist to play with. If we jump on them or hit them with an egg, they'll splatter against the back wall (in different patterns!), then reform.



Here we're introduced to the Sluggies, who will either crawl along the ceiling or remain stationary (depending on color), then drop down as we approach.



We can slaughter them for a prize.



I'm convinced those guys are only up there so you can lob a Sluggy up and watch them perpetually bounce it back and forth.



After smashing open that nook, we need to do a couple quick jumps, using the platform to reach up there before it starts moving.



We see a bunch of coins below, and eventually the way to reach them. This round, hypno-dial platform requires some balance to stay on, especially when we come to a slope, then flatten out. You can snag the red coins with eggs, but the other Yoshies may make fun of you.



Immediately following those platforms is a pair of stair clouds. If you trigger the right one first, it actually seals off a path that leads to a couple red coins. This is a nasty move, but for some reason I never fell for it (only just discovering there was something up there). Maybe it's because you see the left one right away, and have to go almost a full screen length before realizing the right one is even there.



Our reward for ruining a 100 percent run is a trio of winged clouds that each produce single, ordinary coins (like they're deliberately trolling).



Then you can rejoin the main path.