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Following in the conceptual footsteps of Yoshi’s Island, Yoshi Touch & Go brings back Baby Mario (with far less crying) and Yoshi for a game that defies catalog genres. The title mixes elements of classic Mario games and sidescrolling shooters with touch screen controls for an experience like you’ve never played before.

Using the dual screens and touch screen to full effect, the game also has a dual structure. You’ll start with Baby Mario falling from the stork on the top screen, with three balloons keeping him from plummeting to his death getting snatched up by Kamek. On the bottom screen, you’ll need to draw lines of clouds to direct Baby Mario’s path, guiding him around obstacles and towards coins and power stars. If you botched the path, you can always blow into the microphone to whisk the clouds away. The stylus can also be used to draw bubbles around enemies, which turn them into coins. Bubbles can then be dragged and “thrown" toward Mario. After Mario passes through the tree-line, Yoshi will arrive to catch him automatically. Your score to that point will determine which color Yoshi appears and how much ammo will be available in the next section.

On the ground, Yoshi walks across the lower screen without player input. You’ll still draw cloud paths to keep Yoshi from falling into holes or to direct him wherever you please. Tapping Yoshi will make him jump or hover to get coins or quickly dodge an enemy. Tapping any other point on the screen will cause Yoshi to throw an egg at that point. Shooting eggs is your only way to grab coins or hit enemies on the upper screen, and if you hit multiple objects with one shot, you’ll get combo bonuses as well. You only have a limited number of eggs though, so it’s wise to continue circling the enemies on the lower screen, whenever possible, rather than shooting them. Circling more than one enemy can also net a bonus, and bubbles can be used to snag out of the way coins and fruit, too. Eating different kinds of fruit fills up Yoshi’s egg supply in various increments, making the high-yield melons a worthy prize indeed.

Many players will likely be surprised to learn that rather than having a long series of standard levels, Yoshi Touch & Go is set up more like an arcade game that you start from scratch each time. There are four significantly different ways to play. Score Attack and Endless modes are available right away. Time Attack is unlocked when you best the top score in Score Attack, and Challenge mode is unlocked after you’ve gained the top spot in Endless. A balloon-popping mini-game unlocks after you’ve toppled the highest scores in all four modes.

Score Attack is the quickest and most basic way to play. You’ll go through a Baby Mario section and one Yoshi section, trying to rack up the highest score by grabbing coins and shooting enemies.

Endless mode, as the name implies, is infinite. After guiding Baby Mario to the ground, you’ll keep guiding Yoshi as far as you can, and the distance traveled is what counts. Since it takes only one hit to kill Yoshi, one mistake or an unexpected enemy can send you back to the starting line. Levels in Endless mode have pre-built sections, but they are arranged randomly, making for a slightly new experience every time. As you start making it to higher distances, you’ll come upon new environments, like caves and windy valleys that threaten to blow your clouds away! While the distance is what determines your score, coins and enemies still rack up, and once you get 100 points, a power star will release. Grabbing the power star, sends an invincible Baby Mario (cape and all) running at top speed through enemies. However, if you’re not prepared to draw cloud paths quickly enough, that coveted star could cause Mario to run straight off a cliff.

Time Attack has Mario falling through a sky littered with power stars that cause him to fall faster in addition to making him invincible. Yoshi has a new goal altogether. You’ll see a group of goons carrying off Baby Luigi, and you’ll need to catch up and defeat them as quickly as you can, before they escape. Yoshi’s cloud paths in Time Attack actually cause him to run faster, so you’ll want to avoid terra firma as much as you can. The game will work against you though by forcing Yoshi to trudge up hills that tower far into the top screen, where you can’t assist him.

Challenge mode, like Endless, couldn’t be more appropriately named. It is far more difficult than any of the other modes, and is somewhat of a mixture of Endless and Time Attack. The score is again measured in the distance you survive, but this time, once Yoshi gets going, Kamek will count down from 100 seconds. Once he reaches zero the game is up, but each enemy and coin you grab will add time to the clock to keep you going. The level design in Challenge mode is very different though, placing you in a virtual minefield of spiked enemies that can only be destroyed with eggs, making ammo management more important than ever.

Yoshi Touch & Go also has a two-player VS mode. While we weren’t able to test it out, it does support single card multiplayer. Multiplayer gameplay is basically a 1000 meter race, with your player on the bottom screen and your opponent appearing in the top screen. Hitting combos of three or more coins or enemies will cause an equal number of obstacles to pop up in your opponent’s path.

Another feature that Touch & Go sports is the option to “Watch for PictoChat" while you’re playing the single-player game. If a player in a chat room comes within range, the game will notify you, and you’ll have the option to join them in the chat room, making it easier to set up multiplayer games. Hopefully, Nintendo and third parties will be able to carry this feature over into more future games.

While the game may seem brief in writing, it has a quality that keeps you coming back over and over. Like Tetris, you’re usually trying to beat yourself, knowing that you can keep improving: you shouldn’t have shot so many eggs, or you should have kept your eye on where Yoshi was going. Having to keep up a path for Yoshi to walk on, track enemies on both screens, grab fruit to replenish your ammo, and correctly time combo shots will eventually get the better of you no matter what, but in the meantime hours can disappear without notice.

Yoshi Touch & Go releases on March 14th in the US. The Japanese version (Catch! Touch! Yoshi!) is available now from our partners at Lik-Sang.