There are very few games from my childhood that I remember more fondly than Yoshi’s Island. The SNES I had in my living room was my first console, my grandmother gave it to me, and I had very limited games. I don’t know who bought them or where they came from, but I bounced around playing a bunch of different things. Often times with my dad we would just sit there and laugh as he would watch me flair around not really knowing what I was doing.

Yoshi’s Island was always my favorite. I think it was because I had some affinity to Yoshi in the first place. I loved the concept, music, looking for all the secrets in the levels, and the mechanics felt real solid on the game.

With that being said, Yoshi’s NEW Island for the 3DS is something I just finished on my trip to Seattle, and I honestly was so disappointing that it made me sad. I was scared going into it that it could not live up to the original. I have played the original on SNES and emulators multiple times through the years, and enjoyed it every time. Not just because of the nostalgia, but because it is a solid game for me.

YNI gave that injection of nostalgia, but delivered not on the game play I loved. I felt the entire thing to be so tedious. I did not want to find all the coins and flowers, and instead rushed through levels because I was so un-engaged that I couldn’t care less. I wanted to be able to finish the game and play it all, which all in all was not that long.

Why on earth did they not make aiming the eggs a smoother process? Why did they change the transformation sections around to be wonky as shit? Why does the level select screen look like trash? Why is there zero inspiration or improvement on this game?

Maybe it is just because i was so in love with the original and it still holds a firm place in my heart, but this new version really is worth all the bad reviews it gets. Sigh.