Yoshi's Island DS is the direct sequel to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, an indirect follow-up to Yoshi's Story, and chronologically the third video game in the Mario franchise. Compared to its predecessor, this game has fewer levels, remastered graphics (although still in "pen and pencil" style), new babies, and a whole new adventure. In this game, Kamek and the Toadies have kidnapped all the babies in the world. Yoshi, Baby Mario, Baby Peach, and the Stork team up and attempt to save the babies. Baby DK and Baby Wario debut in this game. This was the first Yoshi's Island game since the original which was released in 1995. An interquel, Yoshi's New Island for Nintendo 3DS, was released in March 2014.
Story
Kamek and his army of Toadies steal all of the babies in the Mushroom Kingdom, as well as in other nearby areas. The Toadies take the babies to Bowser's Castle, but the Stork comes in and attacks two Toadies, making them drop the babies they are carrying. The two babies land on Yoshi's Island and are revealed to be Baby Mario and Baby Peach.
The Yoshis find the babies and decide to help them. They figure out that Baby Mario, once again, wants to save Baby Luigi and the other babies from Kamek and his Toadies. The Yoshis take the babies with them and go to rescue the kidnapped babies. Later on in the adventure, sometime after the defeat of Gilbert the Gooey, a group of monkeys kidnaps Baby Peach. The Yoshis and Baby Mario find another baby, Baby DK, who was left behind when the Toadies were kidnapping all the other babies. With the help of Baby DK, Yoshi is able to rescue Baby Peach from the monkeys. Baby DK joins the team when the monkeys are defeated.
Promptly after defeating Bessie Bass on a battleship, the Yoshis and the babies are swept away by a tidal wave in a storm. They eventually find Baby Wario, who is also left behind. Baby Wario then decides to join the party.
When Priscilla the Peckish is defeated, Baby Wario decides to join a team of Bandits in hope of getting money. Meanwhile, after the Yoshis defeat Six-Face Sal, it is revealed that future Bowser and future Kamek are the ones kidnapping the babies and that they are looking for the seven star children. The star children are young children that have magical stars in them. If one collects all the stars, then they become the ruler of the universe. Kamek kidnaps Baby Bowser (while Kamek of the past tries to stop him), and Baby Bowser and Bowser get into a fight, ending with Bowser causing his infant self to fall out of a window of the castle. Baby Bowser lands on Yoshi's back and joins their team, although they are worried that he might attack them.
Baby Bowser does not stay for the rest of the adventure. When Big Guy the Stilted is defeated, he leaves with Kamek, who then returns to Bowser's Castle and uses a Crystal Ball to check every baby they have kidnapped (with the exception of Baby Luigi, who hides from it) to determine if they are star children, which they are not. Bowser becomes furious, and he sends the Toadies to keep looking for more babies.
The team finally arrives at Bowser's Castle where Baby Wario and Baby Bowser are arguing over who gets to keep some treasure. They then notice the Yoshis and help them travel through the castle. When they finally get to the top of the castle, however, Baby Bowser tells the Yoshis to leave. When they do not leave, Baby Bowser thinks Yoshi is there to steal his treasure. Baby Bowser fights Yoshi, but Yoshi defeats him.
Bowser then comes in the room and is angry at what Yoshi did to his younger self. He then fights Yoshi, but gets defeated just like his younger self. Kamek then uses magic to help Bowser become giant. The four babies with four Yoshis fight against the Giant Bowser using Giant Eggs and are eventually able to defeat him. Kamek escapes when Bowser is defeated, with four Toadies carrying Bowser right behind him. Baby Bowser decides to escape with Bowser and Kamek, and holds on to his broomstick.
The Yoshis save all the kidnapped babies, and the storks take all the babies back to their home, except for Baby Wario, who is homeless. Supposedly, the Stork adopts Baby Wario and takes him to a raft where Baby Bowser's treasure ends up. A flying rock hits Kamek's broomstick, and Baby Bowser lets go and falls down right in his treasure. Baby Wario and Baby Bowser start arguing about who gets to keep the treasure again.
It is then revealed that the seven star children are Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Baby Peach, Baby DK, Baby Wario, Baby Bowser, and a newborn Baby Yoshi, who hatches from a Yoshi Egg at the end of the game.
Adventure[]
Gameplay mainly revolves around adventure mode, similarly played out as the original. Throughout the five unique worlds, a different colored Yoshi takes on one out of eight levels, with a mini-boss in Level 4 and a boss in Level 8 of each world. Enemies, items, coins, and other collectibles litter the levels. Some items count toward a score of 100, which is then displayed in the level select screen. If every level in a world has 100, one level, the extra level, is unlocked.
When a Yoshi is hit by an enemy, the baby is knocked loose from his back crying, and the star power - the source of the protective bubble that keeps the Toadies from taking the baby - goes down by one star per second. If that number goes down to zero, Toadies take away the baby and a life is lost. Yoshi, however, still has a small amount of time to recover the baby even after the Toadies have grabbed. Yoshi can rescue the baby by touching the bubble with its body or its tongue. If Yoshi hits the bubble with an egg, the bubble gets knocked down, making the baby easier to reach. The star power starts at ten in each level. If a baby is recovered with less than ten stars, the star power slowly reverts to ten. Additionally, groups of five stars can be found in Winged Clouds and crates, and goal roulettes give twenty additional star power, allowing the star power to max at thirty. Remaining star power also counts toward the score at the completion of the level.
Although Yoshi cannot be defeated in normal circumstances, he instantly loses a life if he touches spikes, lava, falls into bottomless pits, or gets crushed. The mode also features the Island Museum, which is accessible at any time. In this museum, all the enemies the Yoshis have defeated with Yoshi Eggs appear as exhibits.
Minigames are unlocked in Adventure Mode:
- Tulip Shooter - Yoshi must grab and spit enemies into a tulip.
- Flutter Challenge - Yoshi must try to flutter-jump as far as possible.
- Bouncy Maze - Yoshi must maneuver his way through a simple maze of Bouncies.
- Speed-Eater - Yoshi must try to swallow as many enemies as possible.
- Egg Toss - Yoshi must hit targets with eggs.
All minigames have a set time limit. Achieving a high score in any minigame awards Yoshi with lives. Harder versions of all the minigames can be unlocked by collecting all the Character Coins in a world.