MFGG - Mario Fan Games Galaxy

Review Information

Game Reviewed	Yoshi Invasion, by Beowulf
Review Author	Q-Nova
Created	Jan 30 2020, 3:57 PM

General Commentary and Game Overview

It's fun to play big games that take you through wild journeys! Back in the early days of fangaming, those games would last about an hour or two with a dozen levels, but the definition has gotten more ambitious over the years. Sometimes, though, it's nice to spend no more than a few minutes on a game, and that's where minigames come in!

Yoshi Invasion is one of those minigames, this particular one coming before the GameCube even hit the stores! It also features a quirky crossover between Yoshi's Island and Mega Man! Hey, if Yoshi can fight against Bill Gates in Windows, then I don't see anything wrong with this idea!

Pros	+Neat crossover +Simple, pick-up-and-play gameplay +Good graphics +Funny ending
Cons	-Very little content -Gets too hard very quickly -Painful scream -Dr. Wily gets misspelled

Impressions

Gameplay 7 / 10	It's up to Yoshi to protect his island, not from Kamek's goons, nor Yoshis, but robots from Dr. "Wiley" (that's how it's spelled in-game)! Lucky for Yoshi, Dr. Wily has underestimated the dino's power, as even letting a robot fall on your head shoots it up to the moon! Hitting robots net you points. Don't go snoozing off, though, because the robot rain gets intense pretty quickly! Eventually, Kamek will come in to turn those baddies into his iconic, magic shapes! Losing after that point will actually reward you with a cute ending. Yoshi plays very well, even if he uses the old Clickteam platforming engine we all know and "love". The game is very easy to understand and it's fun for a while. It's hard to stand up for more than a few minutes, though, and there could've been more to it. Like, would it hurt to have robots that veer to the left or right, or spike-covered robots on the ground that you have to jump over? Additional modes like co-op could also be interesting.
Graphics 8 / 10	Beowulf used sprites that are upscaled and smoothed out through some filter, known as Hi-Res. It looks pleasing, though, and the YI and SNES Mega Man sprites go well together despite slight color differences. I'm surprised by how smooth Yoshi's ducking animation is, and I like the CGA-colored Yoshis! I feel like the robots might be from Mega Man X, which would be weird, but I'm not too sure. A couple points get knocked out thanks to the poorly pasted clouds that look like soap suds, along with the barely noticeable HUD that could've been more than dull numbers.
Sound 7 / 10	For a time when the Yoshi civilization is in danger of enslavement, the best song Beowulf could find is the YI title screen theme!? Is this trying to tell us that the Yoshis want to think about happy memories before they get into eternal tortue? The intro theme sounds pretty cool -- that should've been used for the actual gameplay! Sound effects, while low-quality, work well, except for the scream that sounds like it was recorded through a poor microphone. Ugh, that one is simply painful on the ears.

Final Words

An early example of a few good minutes that will leave you wishing for more.

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