Game:

Yoshi's Story (1997)

Duration: 2:02:15

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0

Originally recorded: March 24, 2022
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I don't really have much else to add to what I said the last time about this one. Honestly, it was just more of the same. Honestly, I had less than a full cycle's worth of stages left to go through in this stream. And the fact that I'd screwed up on my very first attempt was the only reason I had to do an extra cycle this time.

I think what surprised me the most was how much more annoying the first stage in the final world was compared to the second. As far as I could tell in Yoshi's Story, it seemed that the higher number a stage was -- which in turn, meant that more hearts had to be collected to unlock it -- the more difficult it would be to complete. But 6-1 seemed way more difficult than 6-2 was.

Either way, I can't really think of much else to discuss here. It's one of those rare games I can't even respect for how experimental it was. Having to play through the game at least 4 times to see every single stage in the game is annoying. What's worse is that this is a 2D game that embodies the very worst traits of the collect-a-thon, a horrendous blight on the medium that is generally relegated to 3D platformers. Honestly, the fact that this game managed to surpass just how terrible Donkey Kong 64 was -- though it can't be understated that this revelation doesn't move DK64 into the realm of "good game" -- is baffling.

Frankly, I can understand how DK64 came about based on both Rare's shift towards collect-a-thon platformers with the Banjo-Kazooie series and a tendency towards one-upsmanship that was ever-persent in the third and final game of the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy. But I can't even begin to comprehend what Nintendo themselves were thinking when they mandated that literally every quality that made Yoshi's Island a delight to play be violently ripped out of its sequel. The only other game from Yoshi's "dark age" I've played thus far is Yoshi's New Island, which just felt like a bland retread. Yet, when compared to this abomination, it's tolerable. I now know that Nintendo made a 2D platformer that was worse than one of Arzest's... and my life is worse for it.

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