Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

I don't know why I never played Yoshi's Island back in the day. I mean, Super Mario World is probably my favorite 2D platformer of all time. Probably? No. It must be! But for some reason, the sequel didn't interest me in 1995. I must have moved on to more 'mature' games by then, and the crayon colors and baby Mario must have scared me off.

But I did finally play it sometime in the late 2000's when I picked up the GBA port of the game. I remember being pleasantly surprised. But for some reason I didn't stick with it all that long. And I really haven't thought about the game since.

Luckily, Yoshi's Island found its way back to me via the Switch Online service. My daughter is three months now, and she seems to really like watching bright and colorful visuals. So as an alternative to cartoons, I fired up Yoshi's Island and put her little chair next to mine in the game room.

Well, the bright colors really did seem to comfort her. And me? I had a lot of fun playing the game as well. Visually, the game holds up incredibly. I mean, I'd much rather look at graphics like this in 2019 than say Donkey Kong Country or Mortal Kombat.

It also plays well. Yoshi feels like Yoshi, and the levels are interesting. But with that said, I feel like the game would have benefited from NOT having the Super Mario World 2 title. It should have just been called Yoshi's Island and considered a spin-off, because this doesn't feel like SMW2. It feels like its own thing. And having that comparison in my head kind of hurts it.

Let's be real - we've never gotten a follow up that can compete with Super Mario World. I suppose the closest is that you could call the New Super Mario Bros games spiritual successors. And while I LIKE all of those games to varying degrees, none of them are as perfect as Super Mario World.

But I digress. This is a super fun game. Although one that I need to turn the volume down on. As a new dad, there's a certain level of unneeded stress that comes from hearing a baby crying in a game. C'mon.

I'm currently kicking around in the second world, and having a solid time. Certainly I'd consider this BETTER than any of the  NSMB games anyway. And I'll definitely say that Nintendo has done a great job with the SNES games on Switch Online.  I feel like even in their first initial batch of games they've out shined the NES offerings.