History YMMV / YoshisIsland

* CriticalResearchFailure: When you are inside Prince Froggy, you are supposed to AttackItsWeakPoint, which turns out to be its uvula. The problem is that only humans have uvulas (granted, he's not exactly your everyday frog).

** Should Yoshi's feet touch solid ground within the first one or two seconds of getting hit and dropping Baby Mario, Yoshi will stop moving for a second to shake his head. Even worse, if Yoshi gets hit again while Baby Mario is in the air (or if he gets hit at any time by a Gusty), he'll be sent spinning backwards before doing the same. This can get aggravating when going for OneHundredPercentCompletion as it makes easy mistakes waste precious stars.

** Yoshi [[OutOfCharacterMoment committing]] [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContex tax fraud.]]

* UnderusedGameMechanic: Of all the vehicle transformations in the original game, the Car is easily the least used, only appearing in one level in the original version, "Lakitu's Wall". In the GBA version, it does make another appearance alongside all the other transformations in one of the added Secret levels, "Go! Go! Morphing!".

* UnderusedGameMechanic: Of all the vehicle transformations in the original game, the Car is easily the least used, only appearing in one level, "Lakitu's Wall".[[note]]In the GBA version, it does make another appearance alongside all the other transformations in one of the added Secret levels, "Go! Go! Morphing!".[[/note]]

** Videos of people/characters crying or screaming being synced up with the high-pitched horn sound 10 seconds into the music track "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMmpRcld1FU Flower Garden]]".

** Not to the same extent, but some feel the name "''Yoshi's New Island''" is bland and unoriginal because Nintendo already used the "New" naming for their ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' series of 2D platformers, and that Nintendo in general needs to stop adding the word "New" to games that act as revivals of older gameplay styles. Not helping is that it was confirmed that Nintendo once considered calling ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds'' "''New Legend of Zelda''" due to the game being a throwback to ''Zelda'''s early years. Others think it's okay becuase there's actually a "New" Yoshi's Island in the form of Egg Island.

** [[AssPull "Suddenly... Warping through time and space... King Bowser appears!"]]

** ''Yoshi's Island DS'' for its baby-hopping ScrappyMechanic, ''huge'' SequelDifficultySpike (while the old one was only difficult when you were going for 100%) and lack of inventory items. Arzest listened to this and made ''Yoshi's New Island'', which fans complained was [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks too much of the same.]]

* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Raphael the Raven, the fifth world boss of the original ''[[VideoGame/YoshisIsland Yoshi's Island]]'', proved popular enough to reappear in ''VideoGame/PaperMario64'' doing a HeelFaceTurn.

** Lunge Fish are a mook example. In the first game, they only appear in the final area of level 3-7. Doesn't stop them from being notable enemies within the franchise and undoubtedly contributed to their appearances in later games.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Raphael the Raven, the fifth world boss of the original ''[[VideoGame/YoshisIsland Yoshi's Island]]'', proved popular enough to reappear in ''VideoGame/PaperMario64'' doing a HeelFaceTurn.

* ThatOneLevel:
** Getting [[HundredPercentCompletion 100%]] on ''any'' of the levels in World 5 of the first game is quite the feat. Taken UpToEleven with its BonusLevel where even surviving, much less getting 100%, is very difficult because of the PlatformHell. The deathtrap ''can'' be prevented but that's a GuideDangIt in itself.
** Simply put, nearly all of the extra stages in the first game are this, with the exception of World 6's (when using items), which is more like a pat on the back for finishing the game.
** The new Secret levels in the [=GBA=] port, ''especially'' Endless World of Yoshis/Crazy Maze Days for being extremely long, nearly PlatformHell and a maze to boot.
** Any secret level in the DS game, for being PlatformHell. Notable among them is "Welcome to Yoshi Tower!". Rising lava, only just enough stars to max out your counter, loads of hazards, and no checkpoints.
** Most of the secret levels in the 3DS game are also very hard, though 4-S in particular stand out as it has the dreaded return of Poochy combined with loads of thorns and barely enough time to jump over them.
** Slime Drop Drama from the 3Ds game is normally fine to beat, but doing it without taking damage with 30 stars can be really annoying, the first room might have a crate of five stars, but you might just have to get red eggs, enter and exit a locked door over and over again and pin down the Shy Guys or Snifits. And there is barely anything besides the middle ring and three Snifits tucked within walls during a moving platform segment to supply you with stars in the second room. Kamek can easily become ThatOneBoss trying to get through without getting hit.

* GuideDangIt: If you want a 100% score, both the bonus levels "Go! Go! Morphing!" and "Items are fun!" require you to know about mechanics that aren't hinted at anywhere in the game. To wit, that the helicopter morph can break soft soil above it with its blades, and that Yoshi can jump on, and therefore bounce off of, spiked enemies as long as they're frozen with a blue watermelon first.

* {{Squick}}: Froggy spasms after his defeat, which can gross some people out.

* TearJerker: The music box that plays in the original game as the story is told.

** The series itself is OlderThanTheyThink. Although the main platformers started with ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld2YoshisIsland'', the first game starring ''Yoshi'' was in fact ''Yoshi's Egg'' (aka simply ''Yoshi''), predating the ''Yoshi's Island'' by four years. Even then, three other ''Yoshi'' games were released between ''Yoshi's Egg'' and ''Yoshi's Island''.

* CriticalResearchFailure: When you are inside Prince Froggy, you are supposed to AttackItsWeakPoint, which turns out to be its uvula. The problem is that only humans have uvulas (Granted, he's not exactly your everyday frog).

* GuideDangIt: Completing the bonus levels requires you to know about several mechanics that aren't hinted at anywhere in the game. Notably that the helicopter morph can break soft soil above it with its blades and that Yoshi can jump on spiked enemies as long as they are frozen first.

** The 10 and 20 point Stars trivialize the 30 health requirement for HundredPercentCompletion, because all you need to do is pop one of those at the end of the level to max your health regardless of how much you lost beforehand. The only problem is that you can't use them in boss rooms, but there's another trick to offset that. When eggs ricochet off the walls, they change color from green to yellow and then red, the latter which give 2 Stars. By bouncing them of adjacent walls and grabbing them with Yoshi's tongue, you can change any egg into a red egg, making it easy to maintain max health even in boss rooms.

* GameBreaker: Collectible items like those Bullet Watermelons. It's very easy to use them to just blast thorns to pieces, since the seeds can destroy thorns on contact and you get an absolute ton of them from just one melon. Even Extra 6, one of the most brutal levels, becomes a cakewalk with just 2 or 3 in stock. Naturally, they were removed in the DS sequel.

** Any secret level in the DS game, for being PlatformHell. Notable among them is "Welcome to Yoshi Tower!". Rising lava, only just enough stars to max out your counter, loads of hazards, andno checkpoints.

** Some fans easily reimagined Kamek's motivation and mission to kidnap the babies for the young Bowser, because his Prince was lonely and needed a playmate.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Oddly, the strategy guide to ''Yoshi's Island'' states that Sluggy the Unshaven is just trying to give Yoshi a friendly hug in his boss battle. Which explains why in order to defeat him you have to [[StealthPun break his heart.]]

* GuideDangIt: Completing the bonus levels requires you to know about several mechanics that aren't hinted at anywhere in the game. Notably that the helicopter morph can break soft soil above it with its blades and that Yoshi can jump on spiked enemies as long as they are frozen.