Alex comments on the only Yoshi game coming out worthy of the phrase "epic."
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/blog/33905
Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. I know I got angry at Yoshi's Epic Kirby Epic Yarn, but Nintendo more than redeemed itself with an honest-to-goodness, legitimate Yoshi's Island game. With this and Zelda 3DS within the span of 40 minutes, I really have to wonder why they didn't hold these games for E3 and what they have that can top this.
First off, it looks to be one baby Nintendo character, no Artoon (they're defunct), and a beautiful new art style that continues the clay and pastel look of the original games. With Shy Guys, egg throwing, and collectibles, the best part about this game is that the joyous spirit of the original (one of my favorite games ever!) remains all too intact. But the question remains: Who is developing it?
There are more developers, but these are the first ones that come to mind. As far as I'm concerned, there's the obvious possibility of an EAD studio (which is a wild card) but there is also the curious possibility of HAL Laboratory.
Of Kirby and Super Smash Bros. fame, HAL is the perfect fit in almost every way. Not only does the new Yoshi's Island have an art style not unfitting to the Kirby universe, but they have been unusually quiet on 3DS. Being no stranger to handheld development, they developed Face Raiders, co-developed the Kirby DS games (and made two by themselves if I remember right), and they have a portable history dating back to the original Game Boy. But above all, who doesn't want a Yoshi's Island game from the Kirby guys?
But man, we got Yoshi's Island 3. We got Yoshi's Island 3.
We got Yoshi's Island 3!
Hate to break your bubble but it's more then likely Arzest is making the game. Arzest was started by the key members of Artoon and has a lot of their former employees as well. They still have a close relationship with Nintendo, so I'd say they're the most likely since the company is made up of people who worked on the Yoshi's Island DS.Arzest is a real small studio who havent done anything more significant than a few minigames in Wii Play Motion and a bit of collaboration not unlike 1-Up (Arzest's staff is only slightly larger). While that may sound like they have been quiet on 3DS until now like AlphaDream, the production values on this game seem to be way too high for them to take on a main development role.
HAL is more then likely working on a new Kirby for the 3DS or Wii U, or maybe even both like.
The original Yoshi's Island is brilliant and timeless. This YI looks like complete ass. Does literally NO ONE remember the revolting game that was Yoshi's Story?
It's interesting we are essentially getting 2 Yoshi games so close to each other. One in the Island series and one that looks to follow Story. Except for the massive amount of collectibles in Island stages I wonder what's going to really differentiate them? Hovering/flutter jumping, tongue lashing, egg throwing will be present in both for sure I wonder what's going to be the hook?