When the NintendoDS was released a lot of people were sceptical about that Touch Screen - and still are. I tell you it’s the most innovative control system to be released since the D-Pad. On games such as Metroid Prime: Hunters, you use the Touch Screen to its full potential; with the Touch Screen acting as a right Analogue Stick and being pixel perfect, where your aim on the screen is where you hit the target. Games like these have been a developers dream for years. Where you can actually control the characters with 100% proficiency, whether you jump, shoot or, as in Yoshi’s: Touch and Go draw clouds and bubbles.

Nintendo have released another delightful game for their now infamous NintendoDS - a game which use’s the Touch Screen as Nintendo intended it: to create new ways of playing games we’ve never experienced before. Using the Stylus you have to guide Yoshi through the air or on the ground carrying baby Mario, jump obstacles run along the clouds or throw eggs to take out your enemies. The aim of the game is to reach the Goal with the highest score possible, then attempt to beat your score(s).

There are seven different colour Yoshi’s to use. The Yoshi baby Mario lands on depends on the score you have achieved on your way down from the sky area. The sky area is at the start of the game where the stork drops you; you fall down towards the ground and pick up some balloons. All you have to do is guide baby Mario to the ground. Guide baby Mario to the ground by drawing clouds vertically to block your enemies or create bubbles around them to capture them and turn them into coins, which you can collect to add to your score.

Drawing the clouds with a sweep of the Stylus will allow Yoshi to move up and down the screen, to block off enemies or just to get to the coins/fruit. Yoshi is constantly moving from right to left by his own accord, and so you have to keep up with him. Touching Yoshi will make him jump, while circling objects or enemies will trap them in a bubble, allowing you to move them at your own pace.

Although this title is a 2D scroller, that fact shouldn’t scare you off. 2D scrollers still play a promenent roll in the gaming industry of today (like SNK’s Metal Slug, Capcom’s Viewtiful Joe and Capcom Fighting Jam). Who say’s the past is past - with all the retro gamers out there.

There are four different game modes. Firstly there is Score Attack the objective is to score as many points as possible, to get into the rankings. Then there is the Marathon Mode, in this mode the objective is to get as far along the course as possible by jumping, throwing eggs, drawing clouds etc…  Unlike the Score Attack mode, Marathon mode never ends – each new 1000m you travel is randomly generated, adding huge depth to the replay value - so the further along the course you get the higher your score. In the Time Attack mode, the object is to rescue baby Mario from the Toadies as fast as you can, make sure to rescue baby Mario before the Toadies reach the end of the ground arena; the quicker you complete this the higher you score, so be sure to complete as quick as possible. The objective of the Challenge Mode is to travel as far as possible along the course in the allocated time. A flag marks the spot which indicates the furthest you have travelled in previous games. Remember to get as far along the ground arena as possible because your score depends on the distance you have travelled, as opposed to the items you have collected or enemies killed. And finally the VS Mode, all you need is one Yoshi’s: Touch & Go game card and two NintendoDS’s. So make your mate pick up his NintendoDS and download. Each player plays using only their Touch Screen, while their opponents play is displayed on the top screen.

Yoshi’s: Touch & Go is a really enjoyable game that you never part with, it may sit on your shelf for week after week but you will always go back to it. With the Marathon Mode always changing you always play on a slightly different board.

The graphics are up to standard of the usual Yoshi/Mario games. Seemingly unable to push the NintendoDS all that much, but as I’ve said all along, not every game released needs to push the system’s graphical capabilities. All they have to do is put a little thought in to the game - to produce games of quality. The theme tune is also becoming of a classic Nintendo, from the infamous vaults of Nintendo’s happy music makers.

Yoshi’s: Touch & Go is a quaint little platform-esque title from the halls of Nintendo exclusively for the NintendoDS. A new style of platform game, which gives you a unique way of playing. Perhaps the first wave of NintendoDS software is going to be peaked with titles that capitalise on creativity as opposed the opinion that the NintendoDS is relying on “names” to take it ahead. Some may have been disappointed with the launch line-up, but when gems such as these start becoming a regular thing, you know you’ve done right putting-off your trade-in.