Nintendo 64 Reviews S-Z

I enjoy a good arcade racer as much as the next guy (more so actually), but San Francisco Rush is bogged down by rudimentary graphics, lousy audio, and some serious control problems. It's hard to believe this game was released after Ridge Racer (Playstation 1995) and Daytona USA (Saturn 1995), because Rush isn't even in the same league. Its tracks are limited to the San Francisco area, which apparently justifies the heinous "fog" you'll encounter. The rolling hills look okay, but the buildings appear boxy and plain. The framerate remains smooth however, and Rush certainly delivers when it comes to catching huge air on hills, which can be exhilarating at times. Navigating the easy courses is a breeze, but the sharp turns of the advanced courses are practically impossible to corner due to your non-existent turn radius. Even when you lean on the analog stick you'll slam into a wall and explode. Oddly enough, the game immediately sets you back on the track - often in a more advantageous position than before the crash! So what's the secret to turning? Well apparently hitting reverse (of all things) when approaching a turn allows your back-end to swing out far enough to make the "power-slide" (and trust me, I'm being loose with the language here). I'm not sure if it's a glitch or a feature, but it sure beats the hell out of slamming into every wall. The quality of Rush's background music is generally bad, but it does have a certain "Pulp Fiction" vibe that some will like. The circuit mode lets you work your way through 26 track variations (including mirror and backward modes), and if you have a controller pack, the game will save your place along with best times. San Francisco Rush is rough, but many gamers have fond memories of unlocking the game's many secret areas and items. Check out the sequel (Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA) for a far better-realized racing experience. © Copyright 2007 The Video Game Critic.

You don't have to be a kid to appreciate the easy winter fun of Snowboard Kids. Sometimes described as "snowboarding meets Mario Kart", the game features goofy characters with freakishly large noses. The courses are very inviting with their well-groomed trails and bright blue skies. The night track is downright spectacular with gorgeous lighting effects and a quaint town backdrop. The tracks feature plenty ramps, cliffs, tunnels, and bridges to keep things interesting. If your controller is equipped with a rumble pack, you'll definitely notice it as you ride over planked bridges or use the "fan" power-up. The tracks are wide enough and the analog controls make it easy to carve. Power-ups and weapons are provided by creepy clown icons. Some weapons are incredibly cheap, like one that simultaneously drops pans on all of your opponent's heads (really?). Each race requires several "runs" down the slope, and you need to enter a tiny lift gate at the bottom of each hill to ride back to the top. Why did they make these gates so tiny? They are so easy to miss! Most trails have appealing winter themes, but what's up with the "grass valley" stage? Who in the [expletive] wants to snowboard on grass? That doesn't even make any sense! There's also an amusement park track that's equally dumb - and unnecessary. The single-player mode challenges to beat all the tracks, and you shouldn't overlook the mini-games which include a rapid-fire snowman shooter. The problem is, saving your progress requires 121 pages on a controller pack, and that's pretty much the whole thing! Snowboard Kids also supports multi-player split-screen action for up to four players, and the frame-rate holds up pretty well! The races are longer than Lindsay Lohan's rap sheet, so if one guy pulls way ahead it turns into a dull affair. Fortunately it is possible to adjust the number of laps (although I had a hard time figuring out how). Bonehead design decisions not withstanding, this lighthearted racer will keep you in good spirits during the cold winter months. © Copyright 2012 The Video Game Critic.

The first Star Fox (SNES, 1993) was a revolutionary title that brought 3D polygon graphics to the masses. But while it was certainly innovative, the SNES system was in a bit over its head. Running on a far more capable platform, this Star Fox sequel has aged much better than the original. It doesn't stray far in terms of gameplay, but refines the formula to near perfection. As you glide over planets and through open space, you traverse predefined courses containing towering structures and swarming enemies. The smooth framerate and well-defined hazards make it very easy to target enemies, fly through arches, and snag floating power-ups. Not all of the stages are linear however; a few the boss encounters occur in areas that let you fly around freely. Although many gamers were anxiously anticipating this "open" style of play, these stages turn out to be among the weakest in the game. Sure, there's more freedom, but you're constantly having to turn around to re-engage your targets. Still, these stages do provide a nice change of pace. Star Fox 64's controls, graphics, and sound are all beyond reproach. Even with dozens of enemies on the screen at a time, you can always tell what's going on. I really like the "charge" and "lock-on" weapon systems, and the somersault maneuver is also useful. The aiming and collision detection are extremely forgiving, eliminating the frustration factor often found in this type of game. There are still some minor issues with "fog" on land, but the space stages look impressive as you maneuver around huge floating metal structures. Your squadron partners (Slippy, Peppy, and Falco) have returned, and this time they have voices. The heroic musical score has a very Zelda-like quality, and some of the sound effects and voice clips (including the robotic "good luck") have been held over from the first game. When you take into account the four-player split-screen mode, Star Fox 64 is nothing less than outstanding. If I had to complain about anything, it might be the drawn-out intermissions that I couldn't skip. It's interesting to note that this game was initially packaged with a "rumble pack", which was a pretty novel concept for its time. The effect is barely even noticeable now, although the throttle still feels pretty good. The Star Fox series really came into its own with this well-executed sequel. And when it comes to pure fun, few N64 games can match Star Fox 64. © Copyright 2006 The Video Game Critic.

With fantasy cars racing on rollercoaster-style tracks, this feels like a cross between Super Mario Kart 64 (N64, 1997) and Star Wars Episode One Racer (N64, 1999). Stunt Racer 64 is more "race" than "stunt". Oh sure you can execute some flips, rolls, and spins in mid-air, but I'm not convinced it's really necessary. The opening "tutorial" forces you to perform a checklist of actions like jumping through hoops, performing a flip, and collecting 2000 coins. To be honest, I was a little pissed off at having to pass this mandatory training, but it certainly does teach you the ropes. The "league mode" challenges you to participate in a series of races on tracks with themes like candy land, medieval castles, the Wild West, and a land of giant toys. The night tracks tend to look beautiful with their neon lights, but some daytime tracks suffer from fog. The tracks tend to have wild configurations with corkscrews, loops, shortcuts, and hazards to avoid. The best tracks are short and sweet, but some tend to drag on. The arcade racing action is fun thanks to the silky smooth frame-rate - and plenty of guard rails! The physics feels realistic, especially when you land at an angle and have to struggle to get your four wheels down. Your car tends to drift sideways in the air, which can be good for lining up an upcoming turn, and bad if you get turned the wrong way. There's nothing worse than finding yourself stuck on the rail after running an otherwise flawless race. Coins and power-ups on the track give the game a Mario Kart flavor, but there are no weapons to be found. I like Stunt Racer's arcade simplicity, but the game has issues. First, the confusing menu interface will have you going in circles! Who designed this?! There are plenty of opportunities to save your progress, but inexplicably not before the boss stage! Isn't that when you need to save most?! The background music is totally hokey and never seems to mesh with the stage themes. I'm a little surprised and disappointed at the lack of a split-screen mode. Stunt Racer 64 is a real oddball title, but if you're looking for a single player racer this will do the trick. © Copyright 2012 The Video Game Critic.

I recall standing in a local Blockbuster video store in 1996 watching some kid playing this at a Nintendo kiosk. Super Mario 64 was intriguing on so many levels. The Nintendo 64 controller offered precision analog control and the game's open-world design provided unprecedented freedom of movement. The ability to "go anywhere" had long been the Holy Grail for gamers like me. Once you gaze upon that bright, beautiful castle you feel an overwhelming desire to explore. It was also fun seeing your favorite Mario characters rendered in three dimensions for the first time. But in order to make the 3D transition the Super Mario formula had to be altered. Instead of focusing on platform jumping Mario 64 emphasizes exploration and item collecting. Mario has a huge arsenal of moves including the ability to climb, swim, wall-kick, punch, somersault, ground-pound, and can even tiptoe past dozing Chain Chomps. You can still pounce on certain enemies but it's a little awkward. Like so many early 3D titles Super Mario 64 has not aged particularly well. The camera is high-maintenance to say the least. Simply positioning yourself to read a signpost can be tricky, and navigating underwater areas is the worst. Fortunately Mario will hangs onto a ledge when your jump comes up short. In terms of graphics the angular scenery is constrained by blurry walls that are less-than-pleasing to the eye. Still, there's something magical about Super Mario 64 with its thoughtful puzzles, gently ramping difficulty, and wonderful orchestrated music. There's a nice variety of worlds to explore and plenty of hidden surprises on the way. Defeating bosses awards you with stars to unlock new stages, and the game prompts you to save regularly. Super Mario 64 hasn't aged as well as its 2D cousins but it still has that Nintendo charm, and that counts for quite a bit. © Copyright 2019 The Video Game Critic.

Despite its long-standing policy against violence, Super Smash Bros. features Nintendo's most popular characters beating the living crap out of each other. The 12 fighters (four hidden) include Mario, Star Fox, Pikachu (of Pokemon), Donkey Kong, Link, Kirby, Yoshi, and Samus (of Metroid fame). Designed for four-player mayhem, you leverage your character's special attacks to knock opponents off of elevated platforms. Link wields a sword, Donkey Kong pounds the ground, Samus fires missiles, and Kirby literally consumes his foes. Battles are set in eight "home worlds" including Donkey Kong's jungle, Star Fox's ship, Yoshi's Island, and Princess Peach's castle. You also get the familiar background music for each, which is a real treat. The characters and arenas are rendered in lush 3D, but the action is strictly 2D - which is definitely a good thing. The simple control scheme includes two attack buttons (A and B), jump (any C button), and guard (Z). Super Smash Bros. is a dream come true for life-long Nintendo fans, but it takes someone who grew up on the Sega side of the tracks to judge this game objectively. Smash Bros. is a very unconventional fighter. Instead of health meters, each character's damage meter indicates their vulnerability to being knocked into oblivion. This damage is represented as a percentage, yet this number can far exceed 100% - which won't sit well with math majors. And even if a character gets knocked far off of the screen, he can often jump on air - sometimes repeatedly - to work his way back into the fray. Am I the only person who finds that really, really cheesy? Spicing up the action are cool weapons like shells, ray guns, Mario's hammer (from the original Donkey Kong), and a lighted sword that resembles a light saber. The single player mode presents a string of challenges, such as battling an army of Yoshis or an oversized Donkey Kong. It's only moderately fun, but lets you unlock characters and other goodies. The main event is the four-player battle mode. These fights are totally chaotic and very much conducive to button mashing. Although the camera tries to maintain a tight angle, it's hard to keep track of your fighter. By default, each contest is played over a specified time period, and the fact that each player has an infinite number of lives never sat well with me. I much prefer the option to limit the matches by "stock" (lives). Super Smash Bros. is a fun concept that brings together a lot of memorable characters, but as a game it's vastly overrated. Its novelty value is through the roof, but if you're not a Nintendo fan, you'll probably wonder what all the fuss is about. © Copyright 2008 The Video Game Critic.

With its fantasy tracks and big air, Top Gear Overdrive calls to mind Beetle Adventure Racing (Electronic Arts, 1999) and San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing (Midway, 1996). You begin with a modest yellow Volkswagen bug, earn money to soup it up, and eventually trade it in for something sportier. The championship mode is divided into seasons, each offering a set of interesting track locations set in cities, swamps, canyons, and snowy mountain peaks. The courses can be hard to follow the first time through, and the foggy split-screen mode doesn't help matters. Each track contains several semi-hidden shortcuts that can give you a serious leg up on the competition. With an underpowered car you'll need to rely on these shortcuts just to make any progress! The first time you play Top Gear Overdrive I'd recommend visiting the options menu. Setting the "high-rez graphics" to "full" will substantially improve the look of the game, although the scenery still looks a little soupy. Cranking up the brightness option gives Overdrive more of an arcade look. Be sure to adjust the controller configuration unless you want to fiddle with those annoying little yellow arrow buttons. After some initial frustration I found Overdrive to be a hard game to put down. The races are short and the races are intense! There's nothing worse that leading the pack during the last lap, only to clip a guardrail and go up in flames. Keep an eye out for fuzzy icons on the road that award you with money or turbo boosts. The boosts are surprisingly weak but you'll need every advantage. You have to finish in the top four not only to clear a course, but to keep any money you collected during a race. Overdrive has some major clipping issues, and after one jump my car went right through the road, sending me into some sort of polygon netherworld. There are definitely some issues, but that didn't stop Top Gear Overdrive from being one of the more addictive Nintendo 64 games I've played in recent memory. © Copyright 2016 The Video Game Critic.

When I fired up Top Gear Rally the game warned me other data had been detected on the controller pack and I may not have enough room to save my progress. Are you telling me it couldn't figure that out for me? I thought computers were supposed to be good at math? Anyway, you can tell a lot about a game by its arcade mode. It that doesn't win you over the rest of the game probably doesn't stand a chance. You begin with only a single track (coastline) and two cars. Playing Top Gear Rally is an underwhelming experience. The scenery looks drab with non-distinct landmarks and washed out colors. And my car is so slow! It says I'm going 100 MPH but it looks more like 30! The two-player split-screen mode is so plodding it takes forever to complete a single lap! There's a selection of weather conditions to choose from (snow, rain, fog, night) but these seem designed to obscure the game's draw-in problems. In the rainy jungle you can barely see the road! The championship mode is playable but compromised by lousy AI. You're racing against 19 other drivers yet you'll only see two cars (at most) on the screen at a given time. After a while I realized I was really only racing one "pace car" with the others serving as token milestones. The action improves as you unlock peppier cars but the controls feel squirrely. To initiate a power slide you quickly tap the brake as you round each corner. Maintaining control is key - if your car turns around you might as well restart. Fortunately arcade physics allow you to bang into walls without losing much speed. The game is at its best when you're just on the cusp of losing control. I don't hate it but Top Gear Rally never gets beyond steering a boxy car around a blurry world. © Copyright 2017 The Video Game Critic.

The first Turok had a killer gimmick, and that was dinosaur hunting in the wilderness. This second edition feels more like a Doom clone, and I'm not sure why anyone would want to play it. The developers tried to make the stages more sophisticated, but inadvertently took all of the fun out of the game! Your goal is to protect "energy totems" on various planets. Man, could they possibly come up with a more boring premise? I doubt it! The first stage is absolutely unbearable with its endless switches, portals, and dark, narrow passageways. Your main adversaries are lizard men called "dinosoids", and they're really uninteresting. And whose idea was it to incorporate those annoying mini dinosaurs who jump all over you? Yeah - that's fun (as if)! Turok 2 makes you do a lot of platform jumping, but it's less forgiving than it was in the first game. Too many times you'll see boxes you think you can jump on, but they turn out to be just a millimeter too high! Your air supply is now limited when swimming, and that always sucks. When you hit one of the many switches, you'll hear a door opening, but you'll have no idea where it is. Turok 2's graphics are worse than the first game. Your enemies are composed of large polygons that make them look terribly blocky. The scenery has a medieval quality, but it's not particularly attractive or distinctive. The controls are deplorable. There's a noticeable lag between when you move the joystick and when the screen responds, which is not acceptable for a frenetic shooter like this! Making matters worse is a choppy frame-rate that makes it hard to target even close enemies! The four-player split screen mode was more than my friends could stomach with its dark, muddled graphics. My friend Scott was appalled that he couldn't kill Chris despite repeated hits and excessive blood. At one point he exclaimed "C'mon! - I even see organs on the ground!!" If you play Turok 2, you'll be hating life too. Seeds of Evil is an insufferable piece of garbage that set the franchise back to the Stone Age (or is that up to the Stone Age?) © Copyright 2008 The Video Game Critic.

It's hardly the thrill it once was, but the original Turok still has its charm, offering an exciting brand of prehistoric first-person shooting action. Granted, it's hard to go back to these early first-person shooters with their fuzzy textures, imprecise controls, and heavy fog. But despite its technical limitations, I found myself intrigued by Turok. The tutorial does a good job of explaining the controls, although few gamers will be pleased with having to use the four C buttons to move and R to jump. There's no crosshairs when it comes to aiming your gun or bow, but if a target is near the center of the screen, chances are you'll hit it. Two things that concerned me about the tutorial were its overemphasis on swimming and platform jumping. I never thought these elements made sense in a first-person shooter, and Turok did little to change my mind. Although the platform jumping is more forgiving than most, it's still tedious enough to dock Turok a letter grade. Otherwise, the game is fairly enjoyable as you explore expansive outdoor wilderness areas while collecting items, unlocking new areas, and facing off against both man and beast. A handy map overlays the screen when you need it. Turok is commendable in terms of its raw violence. Upon shooting an enemy, the blood is excessive and the screams are crystal clear. Sometimes blood will squirt from a victim's neck as he keels over in agony. The raptors are pretty scary because they run straight toward you and the sound of their stomping feet is alarming. It's cool how a raptor's momentum will cause him to slide toward you after you shoot it. The manner in which they struggle and contort on the ground is equally amazing. But not all of Turok's graphics are so easy on the eyes. The dark scenery makes it tough to spot narrow crevasses, and when your "spiritual invincibility" kicks in, the psychedelic colors make it impossible to tell what's going on. Turok's audio is high quality. The jungle sounds and bongo drums strike a primeval tone, but they are repetitive. Likewise the roars and screeches that suggest nearby danger are way overdone. It's easy to see why Turok was popular in its time, but FPS games have evolved rapidly, and this one is looking its age. © Copyright 2008 The Video Game Critic.

Considering Midway's track record of producing flashy arcade games, it's amazing how Twisted Edge turned out looking so butt ugly. I actually had to put in my 1080 Degree Snowboarding (Nintendo 1998) cartridge just to reassure myself that the Nintendo 64 was indeed capable of playing good-looking games! When you first turn on Twisted Edge, you're warned that "you don't have enough room on your controller pack to save", but don't believe it! The warning only applies to saving "ghost" data, which consumes an insanely large chunk of space. In fact, minimal space is required to save your progress and scores. Extreme Snowboarding's characters are dark and indistinct, and the courses tend to have a dreary, washed out look. The developers clearly got carried away with the system's "smoothing" effects, transforming everything into a fuzzy mess. Not only is the scenery shrouded in fog, but even the mountain backdrops look blurry! Does Twisted Edge's gameplay compensate for its shoddy visuals? Almost! The responsive steering controls make it a pleasure to carve into the icy tundra, and you can easily adjust the position of your body in mid-air. The rumble feedback is effective, especially when skidding along ice patches. Although the courses are definitely bland, I like how they tend to be wide open and easy to follow. You can perform tricks off ramps, but they don't serve much of a purpose besides causing you to wipe out. Performing holds is easy enough, but executing flips require complex button combinations - which I found bizarre. Twisted Edge's championship mode offers a decent challenge for the solo player, but the split-screen mode is an affront to all people with sight. Twisted Edge's equally horrendous soundtrack consists of whining guitars, and you'll want to shut that garbage off immediately. Twisted edge is certainly extreme - if by "extreme" you mean lame! For better snowboarding action on your N64, stick with 1080 Degree Snowboarding. © Copyright 2008 The Video Game Critic.

This golf game features a single Hawaiian course but it's a good one. Waialae (pronounced "why lie") has palm trees, scenic mountains, ocean views, and even a few high rise buildings. Fly-by previews introduce each hole but there's no audio commentary - only text. Most holes allow several approaches, and hole 13 has three separate fairways! At first it appears you're limited to a set of fictional golfers, but you can overwrite one of them to register yourself. The players are represented by digitized images who execute fluid swings. If only the ball movement looked as good. You can't make out your tiny ball traveling through the air, but you can see that ugly blue "tail" trailing it. The big round swing meter is a schizophrenic thing. Sometimes it moves fast and sometimes it crawls. You'd expect the slow movement to be desireable for accuracy, but it's annoying having to wait. The narrow "sweet spot" is hard to nail, and the worse you do, the smaller it becomes! I do like how when you "duff" the ball it just goes a short distance instead of veering way out of bounds. What makes the course tough are the hurricane-force winds which really tend to knock down your shot. Putting is tricky too. It's hard to judge the green (they always look flat) and when the ball approaches the cup "moon gravity" suddenly kicks in. The sunny, tropical scenery is pleasant enough, but severe pixelation tends to undermine its natural beauty. In terms of audio, I hate that audible chime that plays whenever you hit the button. The two-man commentary team are masters of the obvious. The play-by-play guy sounds like he's reading to second-graders ("Uhhh ohhh. It hit a tree!"), and the color guy is worthless ("Good putting"). The game auto-saves your progress and statistics, which is pretty sweet. The best aspect of the game is the pacing; there's little down time and you can play 18 holes in about a half hour. Waialae Country Club isn't bad but it's below average as golf games go. © Copyright 2015 The Video Game Critic.

In 1996 Nintendo 64 owners were starving for a good 3D fighter, and War Gods generated plenty of buzz and anticipation. The idea of mythical gods battling to the death sounds exciting, but in fact it's really, really boring. War Gods tries to bring the brutality and mystique of Mortal Kombat to the realm of 3D, but fails miserably. The characters are part of the problem. Kabuki Jo is supposed to be a medieval samurai, but he looks more like a clown with that red bushy hair. Cy-5 is a blatant Terminator knock-off, and Maximus is a gladiator with a mask over his face but no armor on his body. Pagan is a female fighter whose sole purpose seems to be to strut around in a thong and high heels. Tak is a stone warrior who looks more like a Marvel Comics reject. The only two characters remotely interesting are the dog-headed Anubis of Egypt and Voodoo the skinny witchdoctor. The character models are detailed enough but the backgrounds are sparse and boring. Like watching two immortals engaged in an endless struggle, playing War Gods feels like a pointless exercise. Each battle takes place within a circle, yet it's impossible to be knocked out of it, even as you are being pounded on the edge. The awkward control scheme employs a separate "3D" button to provide limited freedom of movement. It's a bad idea, evident by the fact that no fighter since has tried to incorporate it. Cheap attacks are the order of the day, coupled with "hold spells" that render the victim helpless as they get the living [expletive] kicked out of them. Characters fight hand-to-hand, but frequently pull weapons out of thin air to perform special attacks. Since they're freakin' gods, I'll give them a pass on that one. The damage dealt tends to be minimal, extending matches to agonizing lengths. When Tak impales an opponent with a spike and throws him across the room, you'd expect that to do substantial damage, right? But no - it only takes about an eighth off his life bar. Not a problem, as I discovered that by running and mashing A, I could perform this impale attack over and over again on my helpless foe. I nearly finished the game using that technique, but had to shut the damned thing off out of sheer boredom. © Copyright 2010 The Video Game Critic.

I know polygon graphics were a novelty in 1996, but it's still a stretch to characterize this title as "3D". I've seen Wayne Gretzky's Hockey compared to NBA Jam, but NFL Blitz would be a better comparison, since both were published by Midway and employ the same commentator. I thrive on arcade-style sports games like this one, but its list of flaws is longer than Lindsey Lohan's rap sheet. For starters, my buddy Steve and I were frustrated as hell by our inability to set up a game so we could both play on the same team. Who designed this menu interface?! Forced to go head-to-head, it was immediately apparent that the default "side line" camera angle wasn't going to cut it. It's a terrible vantage point, especially when the puck is on the far side of the rink. Fortunately other camera options are available including an NHL 94-style overhead angle. Great - now if only the camera could keep up with the puck we could have some fun! This game may be too fast for its own good. The puck zips from one end of the rink to the other, and in a split-second you can steal the puck, pass it to a teammate and deflect it into the goal! Oh yeah - I meant to do that! The control scheme is a mess. The lower C button is used for turbo but the Z trigger would have made a lot more sense. You need to press awkward button combinations to execute power shots and one-timers. When a CPU-controlled teammate gains possession of the puck, you need to press the right shoulder button to take control of him. The graphics are best described as gaudy. The screen is cluttered with unnecessary colored icons and the puck has an obnoxious flashing indicator over it. Still, it's not a total loss. The contests are short, high-scoring affairs, and the outcome is always in doubt. Scoring a hat trick turns the net into a raging inferno! You're prompted for your initials before each contest, and these are used to record statistical information (saved to memory card). It's not a terrible game, but with a name like Wayne Gretzky you expect a lot more. © Copyright 2011 The Video Game Critic.

So I turn on Yoshi's Story for the first time and I'm greeted with this sissy, high-pitched "yo-ha-ho-ha-hooo" music and I'm thinking "What the [expletive] is this?" Like Mario, I always thought Yoshi appealed to all age groups, but the excessively cute soundtrack and infantile "story" make it evident that this was aimed at the younger crowd. The story revolves around the Yoshis' (yes, multiple ones) quest for the "Super Happy Tree". I think that speaks for itself. But once you skip through the corny text and turn down the volume a bit, you're in for a real treat. It's not often that you get to play a quality 2D game on the Nintendo 64, and this is far prettier than any 3D game you'll see on the system. Much like Yoshi's Island (SNES), this game is striking in appearance, with artistic textures that appear to be constructed from papier-mâché, knitted cloth, clay, or carved wood. The gameplay adheres to the standard Mario World formula, but introduces an addicting treasure-hunting aspect with branching paths and stages that cleverly loop around on themselves. The goal of each stage is to collect 30 pieces of fruit, which are easily snagged with Yoshi's long, agile tongue. For a kid's game, Yoshi's Story's control scheme is rather sophisticated. Yoshi can jump, ground-pound, swallow, swim and hurl eggs by aiming a cursor. My favorite move is the "flutter jump", which is basically a double jump with more personality (Yoshi puts plenty of "umph" into it!). It's easy to slide off ledges, but the flutter jump usually gives you a chance to recover. The non-linear stages are artistic but not particularly imaginative, taking you through a forest, cave, jungle, ocean, and clock tower. Some stages are more maze-like than I would prefer. Certain areas allow you to "zoom in" to get a closer look at suspicious places. The pace of the game is slow and deliberate but still enjoyable and satisfying. I love how you have a pool of different colored Yoshis to "use up" during your quest. Yoshi's Story wasn't appreciated by the critics when first released, largely because it can be completed in one sitting. But that's offset by the fact that you can choose multiple paths through the game, and there are numerous secrets you'll miss if you just whiz through it. Plus, the game records high scores for each stage so you can always try to beat your best. It might resemble a kiddie game, but Yoshi's Story offers ample challenge for the adult gamer. Personally, I had a ball playing this. Hell, by the end I was even humming that queer little song! That's just between you and me, by the way. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.