Decided to make Yoshi's Story the first game I play through NSO's N64 app. This game has a reputation for being a mindlessly easy baby game...and, yea, I'm a little ashamed to admit I actually did get a Game Over here. Revoke my True Gamer™️ license, I guess. Nonetheless, I can still see why people feel that way about this game; I swear to you I would not have died here if it wasn't for the movement being weirdly oversensitive, making it hard to position yourself or not go farther than you intended. Still, though, I recall never beating it until now, since this was one of those games I always liked to replay the first level or so over and over.
I really want to love this game. In some ways, I do: it has such a cute art style. I'm not afraid to admit that that ending credits music with the music box got me a bit emotional (I just have a soft spot for that kind of thing) and I found the cut-out picture book aesthetic of the menus and cutscenes to be charming. Sometimes the level design could actually be pretty interesting, too. I like how levels are built with a bunch of areas and stuff to find. The main problem is what a lot of people are already saying here, and that's the fact that this game is WAY too short. It only took me around 3 hours and I could have beat it even faster if I didn't slip up and get that one Game Over. There's signs of a cool game here, but its just not there. It lacks any kind of depth. Maybe there's some kind of 100% completion run that requires more thought, but, overall, this game pretty much feels like the Yoshi equivalent of a LaCroix: there's hints of great flavor and you could maybe get something out of it, but it just feels underwhelming.
This review is a lot more disorganized and unfocused than my usual review, mostly because I'm not really sure what to say about this game. It's so simple that I have nothing to comment on. I suppose I can say it made me feel happy for three hours as a big "turn your brain off and enjoy the cute Yoshis" type of thing, so I suppose that's all I could ask for from this. Definitely a huge downgrade from Yoshi's Island, though, and I've never even beat that game before. Probably for the best that this game is far from the one most people think of when they think of the Yoshi IP. Overall, this gets a 2.5 stars from me. Would've been a 3 star for being mildly entertaining, but it's just such a nothing-burger of a game that it dropped down a star from me.
I really want to love this game. In some ways, I do: it has such a cute art style. I'm not afraid to admit that that ending credits music with the music box got me a bit emotional (I just have a soft spot for that kind of thing) and I found the cut-out picture book aesthetic of the menus and cutscenes to be charming. Sometimes the level design could actually be pretty interesting, too. I like how levels are built with a bunch of areas and stuff to find. The main problem is what a lot of people are already saying here, and that's the fact that this game is WAY too short. It only took me around 3 hours and I could have beat it even faster if I didn't slip up and get that one Game Over. There's signs of a cool game here, but its just not there. It lacks any kind of depth. Maybe there's some kind of 100% completion run that requires more thought, but, overall, this game pretty much feels like the Yoshi equivalent of a LaCroix: there's hints of great flavor and you could maybe get something out of it, but it just feels underwhelming.
This review is a lot more disorganized and unfocused than my usual review, mostly because I'm not really sure what to say about this game. It's so simple that I have nothing to comment on. I suppose I can say it made me feel happy for three hours as a big "turn your brain off and enjoy the cute Yoshis" type of thing, so I suppose that's all I could ask for from this. Definitely a huge downgrade from Yoshi's Island, though, and I've never even beat that game before. Probably for the best that this game is far from the one most people think of when they think of the Yoshi IP. Overall, this gets a 2.5 stars from me. Would've been a 3 star for being mildly entertaining, but it's just such a nothing-burger of a game that it dropped down a star from me.