I was so excited for Yoshi's Story before release. The graphics looked great, and I loved Yoshi's Island. Essentially I was hungry for a sequel similar to Donkey Kong Country 2: something that was more of the same but improved upon.
However, Yoshi's Story was a big deviation. It didn't feel similar at all to Yoshi's Island. The lack of challenge was, yes, a bummer... but Yoshi's Island was a HUGE game. Yoshi's Story was not. This was back in middle school, when I could devote more time to games, but recall beating it in a day or two. I ended up going back to get nothing but melons... not because the game captivated me, but at that stage I was just trying to get my money's worth.
It's not a bad game, but didn't feel worth the price tag, as N64 games were not cheap.