Technical Information
Developer: Game Freak
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: 1991
In Europe and Australia, this game is known as “Mario & Yoshi.” In Japan, it’s called “Yoshi no Tamago.”
Despite its name, you don’t control Yoshi in this game, instead, you control Mario.
This is a puzzle game in which you move plates and group pieces (enemies from the Mario series) into pairs.
Final Thoughts – Analyzing the Game as a Whole
Graphics and UI
The graphics are quite nice! Considering the limitations of the NES, the game would have benefited from more color variety on the gameplay screen. There are only two colors, one for each game mode.
The animations are extremely simple and even somewhat lackluster for an NES game. However, they do their job well in a puzzle game.
The options menu is simple, but the game itself doesn’t explain the difference between modes A and B. This also isn’t made clear during gameplay.
Unfortunately, this explanation can only be found in the game manual. This could have been easily resolved with a brief explanation before starting a match.
Soundtrack and Sound Effects
The game allows you to choose between three songs. I didn’t like them very much, they’re kind of bland. After some time playing, the music becomes annoying, which can discourage longer play sessions.
In my opinion, out of all the tracks, the least bad one is the first.
Gameplay
The gameplay is very good! The game is quite simple, but you can easily spend a lot of time playing without even noticing the hours passing.
There are two modes:
In A Type, your objective is to accumulate points.
In B Type, your goal is to clear all monsters from the screen in order to advance to the next level.
Before starting the game, you can adjust the falling speed of the enemies, the difficulty level, and the music that will play.
At first, the game can feel a bit complicated, as it requires good coordination. Once you get used to it, you can increase the speed for a more challenging and enjoyable experience.
In multiplayer mode, players compete in B Type, whoever clears the screen of enemies first wins.
Replayability and Game Retention
The game is quite simple and doesn’t offer anything extraordinary. Still, it’s a great title for killing time. Whenever I’m bored, this is always one of the games that comes to mind.
