One of Super Mario's most beloved side-kicks, Yoshi, is back in his own game. Along with an assortment of familiar Nintendo faces (Mario, Princess Peach, Donkey Kong, et al), baby-sized though they be, the Yoshis and the mini-me friends/dependants embark on a sunshine- and flower-filled adventure to defeat the evil Magikoopa Kamek.

Though stock Nintendo fare at face value, Yoshi's Island DS does introduce some new gameplay elements, mainly found in the unique skill sets of each baby the stork drops in Yoshi's built-in saddle and then command/co-op with Yoshi. For example, with Baby Mario on board, Yoshi can dash and run faster; Princess Peach enables a higher jump, and so on. Meanwhile, the Yoshis themselves retain their original, trademark abilities: eating enemies to make eggs, targeting enemies with said eggs, and the destructive attack inelegantly known as the "butt stomp."

Yoshi's Island DS attempts to take advantage of the dual screens by playing out on both. However, occasionally, this can go horribly wrong, as when the dead space between the top and bottom screens prevents you from seeing oncoming/incoming enemies; they'll appear out of this very void quite often.

Too, in spite of the "improved" level design reinventing the familiarities of previous Yoshi's Island games on Game Boy and SNES, finding your way through some of the sprawling stages can get confusing, and for a game supposedly suited to all ages, it's likely as not to frustrate its younger audience into giving up entirely (welcome to Life, baby).

And though you can plow through the games main "quest" and finish it with relative easy, the real (considerable) challenge of Yoshi's Island is achieving 100% level completion -- collect every bauble, explore every nook, etc. -- which then unlocks more gameplay in the form of mini-games and side-quests. Completing 100% of each and every level proves to be quite the head-banging ordeal.

Unfortunately also, the game sports no multiplayer mode, though it verily screams for buddy play. The recently released and frightfully similar Super Mario for DS has multiplayer play, which makes perfect sense there, and no sense here for the lack of it.

Still, even after all this time, a 2-D platform hopping throwback like Yoshi's Island can still be fun and charming. Taking the time to appreciate all of Yoshi's trademark animations and sound effects will bring a happy or sappy tear to the nostalgic gamer-eye -- as will all of the overly adorable bite-sized versions of famous Super Mario characters.

All said and done, Yoshi's Island will definitely keep you occupied with tons to do and the persistant lure of just one more just-out-of-reach item. Not a perfect game by any stretch, but if you own a DS and are a platform-hopping, bauble-collecting fan, Yoshi's Island is a worthy addition to your collection, warts and all.