Every cloud has a silver lining... so join us on this cloud making adventure!

Yoshi Touch & Go has the famous green dinosaur go on a new adventure with a twist – He’s now a brain dead moron that walks forward without stopping, whether an enemy is nearby or not.

The game starts off with a stork dropping Baby Mario in the sky, hurtling to impending doom. It’s your job, as some sort of spirit guide/cloud wizard, to guide Baby Mario to the floor to safety past spikes and enemies. Eventually he’ll land on Yoshi who will then continue the traumatic journey for our young moustache-less hero.

Gameplay

As a DS launch title in Japan and releasing fairly soon after launch in the UK and US, Yoshi Touch & Go had the task of showing everyone what this whole ‘touch screen’ business was about. Yes, as bizarre as it may sound, the DS was one of the first touch screen devices to be embraced by the masses and for many, especially those under 30, was the first device to introduce them into a future filled with touching. As such, it had a lot to prove.

With this title, Nintendo wanted to show that touch-only controls could be applied to not just party games, as previously seen in Wario Ware and Feel The Magic/Project Rub but in platformers too.

With Yoshi walking along at a steady pace, it’s up to you, stylus in hand, to create platforms for him to walk on. As he strolls up to a cliff edge, you’ll have to draw a line of clouds to the next platform whilst also looking out for pesky enemies that, if you draw circles around, will be captured in bubbles that kill them and turn them into money.

Enemies mainly come in the form of Shy Guy that can be easily killed with the bubble method but there are others that shake things up, such as the monkeys that throw spikes which break the bubbles and sneaky high flying Shy Guy on the top screen that swoop down at quick speeds to catch you off guard.

As well as drawing clouds for our now zombified hero, Yoshi does have some form of retaliation. Tap anywhere on the screen and Yoshi will throw an egg in that direction which comes in handy for shooting foes or capturing hidden fruit and coins on the top screen.

Unlike traditional Yoshi games of yore, and perhaps where the general dislike for this title by many comes from, is its level design. This is not a typical adventure with a set amount of levels to traverse and complete, this is instead a high-score chaser.

Levels are randomly generated, with the amount of enemies per level and difficulty in platforming increasing as your journey goes on. Not only that, but this title doesn’t go easy on you, one hit and you’re out – One!

Controversy alive in 2005

The game had praise and criticism levelled at it upon release. The controls were generally liked, it was an interesting new take on the Yoshi formula and worked well but the randomly

generated levels and the simple task of getting the highest score possible left many people sour. It felt as though it was lacking content and more of a tech demo. Possibly the biggest nail in the coffin for this release was its asking price of £30 though – A price that even I will admit is too steep, despite my love for the title.

Personal Taste

I personally loved this game as I’m a high-score junkie. I’ll admit, even I was taken off-guard initially by the lack of content, but when I’d got it into my mind that it was all about the high-scores, I couldn’t stop playing and would constantly strive to do better.

Not only that but, as simple as it sounds now, I had to get all of those Yoshi colours. After each stage, the current Yoshi would come to a halt and throw Baby Mario on to a new one – You always knew you were onto a high score when the white and black Yoshi started appearing!

Gameplay aside, which I loved and still love now, the game was full of memorable music and had the beautiful graphics of Yoshi’s Island. The music especially is one of the highlights for me and even now, over 10 years later, I find myself whistling that theme.

Modern Day

How does it fare now? Admittedly, I was in awe of touch controls back then. As my first ever touch screen device, it seemed like magic to be able to draw my own platforms on screen but of course, in this modern day where we use touch screens constantly without thinking about it, has it lost its charm? No. Sure, the controls aren’t as interesting as they once were, but it still works really well and is a nice deviation from the standard Mario and Yoshi adventures.

For £6.29 on the eShop, the asking price is perhaps a bit too steep, and the method of playing isn’t ideal but if this was Nintendo’s next iOS release I could see it doing really well. The urge to play just one more time and beat that high score, the constant feeling of being under pressure thanks to the one hit kill and the desire to see every version of Yoshi reminds me of the times I have spent besting my score on Pacman256 or Crossy Road – Yoshi’s Touch & Go was vastly misunderstood at the time but I feel in a world full of endless runners, it could fare very well now. Alas, that’s never going to happen – So I’ll just have to enjoy it on my old DS and hope that one day, /one day/ I’ll find another fan to share scores with.