Review Information
Game Reviewed Yoshi's Quest Gold, by Yoshimaster
Review Author Vitiman
Created Jul 21 2019, 10:02 PM

General Commentary and Game Overview
First, I would like to say that this is the same guy who made Mario Sketch (a fangame I've been known to utterly loathe) as well as something called... "Mario & Luigi's Two-Man Circus", according to the wiki. Like, screw all these other old fangames, where's THAT one? I'd kill to play whatever that is, because it sounds like high level art.

Moving on, Yoshi's Quest is a very old fangame that Yoshimaster made that doesn't appear to even be on the site anymore (if I ever find a copy of it, I'll have to share it with people then!) that - believe it or not - I actually played way back when, and I recall comparing this remake to it.

So, does it hold up? Well... no, for a few reasons. To call this a demo is a bit misleading, and I'll explain why shortly.
Pros Very cute custom graphics
Captivating yet simple world building/story
Charming idea!
Cons Not the buggiest implementation of the default TGF movement, but certainly the hardest to control
Bland, uninspired and vacant level design
A dead-end without a warning?!
3 / 10
Yoshi's Quest does not get any awards for its gameplay. It's very basic, very to-the-point platforming where you jump on certain enemies to kill them and the rest hurt you regardless, often without any actual indication or telegraphing as to which does what. The levels are sparse and have a lot of empty space, so that makes it a fair bit worse. The cameo/allusion to arcade Donkey Kong was a sweet gesture, but it didn't do a lot to improve on what is a pretty dull chore to play through.

More tragically than all of that, however, is how the demo ends: it kind of doesn't. You see, there are only two levels, with two little village segments as well. There's also a minigame you can supposedly play after visiting the second village, but I was never able to figure out how to actually play it, so I'll have to forego discussing it for now.

Okay, so how does this demo not end? Well, the second level just isn't finished. It's a beach-themed level, and you get to a point where there's a bridge that leads to the water, and no matter how far you jump, you won't find any land or even any hint of land, I've tried under-jumping, over-jumping, going some other way, I've only found dead ends. It's better to call this "scrapped" outright than any kind of proper demonstration of a future game, though that might also partially be hindsight's fault.
6 / 10
Probably the game's strongest point! The custom graphics are all very well done and pleasant, and I actually think this is one of the best Yoshi sprites MFGG has to offer - and it's not even available in the sprite section! I may have to "rip" it sometime and throw it up for people to use, because it really genuinely is a very cute Yoshi sprite. The rest of the graphics range from rips to customs and even some edits, and it all works fairly well together. Nothing to truly write home about, but a cut above the rest from its era; well, visually at least.
4 / 10
The choice of MIDIs is your usual choices, but I found them to be a bit more inspired this time around, and it was a cute selection of music from games like Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Super Mario RPG, which are some great games! So I appreciated the choices here, honestly.

Sounds were run-of-the-mill, generic bad rips from the past, not much else one can say there.
2 / 10
I would recommend playing this only once to get a grasp on what a kid from the early 2000s thought was an honest-to-god attempt at improving what was a pretty weak (from my recollection, anywho) fangame they had made not too long before. It's so unfinished it doesn't even give you any kind of "thank you for playing!" screen, and it's otherwise rather too undercooked to be worth sharing around and reminiscing on what could have been.
Final Words
3 / 10
I'm disappointed that a game with such cute custom graphics not only falls flat in regards to any worthwhile gameplay, but doesn't even have the courtesy to throw together a half-baked second level that you can actually finish! Only play it if you're a hardcore fangame enthusiast or interested in MFGG's ever-thriving history - I'm both!

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