Yoshi’s Touch & Go

When the DS was introduced at E3, one tech demo really sparked interest in gamers as a unique game unlike any before it. This demo was Balloon Trip, a Yoshi’s Island-look-alike game that many thought to be the follow-up to that game. Later, the game was given the name of Yoshi’s Touch & Go, and was just recently released in Japan as Touch! Catch! Yoshi!. The game is not a “platformer”, nor is it the follow-up to Yoshi’s Island that fans thought it to be, but instead, Yoshi’s Touch & Go is a unique action puzzle game that will become the exemplary of the unique features the DS is capable of bringing to gamers.

Game! Routine! Yoshi!
To play Yoshi’s Touch & Go, you will need the following: 1 Nintendo DS Stylus. That’s it. Everything you need to do in the game only requires the use of the stylus. Baby Mario falls at a constant pace and Yoshi walks completely by himself, with no need for you to do anything else but secure a path for them. To do this, you use the stylus to create clouds which Baby Mario will fall into and which Yoshi will walk on. The skies are perilous and full of enemies, and you must guide Baby Mario through these dangerous skies while attempting to collect as many coins possible. Yoshi’s Touch & Go is not an adventure game, however, as it plays more like an action/puzzle game in which your ultimate goal is to get a higher score on your next try. As things get more hectic on-screen, it is up to your hand-eye coordination and quick thinking to get through the level, which can be a problem if you mistakenly place a cloud where you don’t want it to be. Thankfully, the DS’s unique “blow on the Touch Screen” function is incorporated in this game, and if you don’t like where you have placed the clouds on the screen, you can simply blow them away with the power of your breath. You control the skies!

As enemies become more pestering and numerable, you can simply encircle them by drawing a cloud around them, which prevents them from harming the defenseless descending Baby Mario. Not all enemies can be defeated this way, however, so you must watch out for what occurs at all times on both screens. Once Baby Mario has landed atop Yoshi, the side-scrolling portion of the game begins. In this section, players tap the enemies to throw eggs at them, draw cloud platforms to make Yoshi walk on them, and tap Yoshi to make him jump. Tapping him while he’s in the air executes his jump flutter he’s well known for.

Find! Chat! Yoshi!
Nintendo has spoken of a “community” it hopes to create using the DS, yet nothing has been seen which does this just yet. Now, however, we might just be getting somewhere. Included in Yoshi’s Touch & Go is a feature that allows your DS to find PictoChat sessions that are taking place in your vicinity. An icon appears on-screen when it finds one, and gives you the opportunity to quit the game so you can go chat. This is the feature that was supposed to be included in the DS, but was later removed, and it’s nice to see such an option begin to hint at the community that Nintendo has envisioned.

Multi! Player! Yoshi!
Yoshi’s Touch & Go features a promising multi-player game mode. This mode only requires one copy of the game, utilizing the DS’s Single Card Download Play to connect. Your game appears on your Touch Screen, while your opponent’s game appears on the top screen. The goal of the multi-player mode is to reach the end of the level first. There is only one level in this mode, but enemies are randomly placed every time you play it, making it a somewhat different experience every time. For those that want to cause chaos to their opponents, be sure to kill as many enemies as you can as you will make it harder for your opponent to kill and dodge enemies that are created through your bonuses. Multi-player like this doesn’t get any more addicting or challenging.

Yoshi’s Touch & Go has a scheduled March 2005 release. Check DSAdvanced for the full review of Yoshi’s Touch & Go when it becomes available.