Yoshi Touch & Go marks the first time Baby Mario and Yoshi have been paired up since the Super NES. Unfortunately for the both of them, this game isn't that stellar of a reunion for the duo.

The story thus far: the stork has dropped Baby Mario and the bird needs to find him. As Yoshi it's your job to bring the little tyke to the stork and reunite the Mario brothers. Yes, this is almost the exact plot of Yoshi's Island which also makes it difficult trying to place the story in a time line. I prefer to think of it as an alternate telling of Yoshi's Island because there is no other way this game could fit in. That is unless the stork is that clumsy and dropped Baby Mario twice. The story will not compel you to play this game at all.

The gameplay will make you want to try Touch & Go out, it's so simple that it is addicting. The game is divided up into two portions, the Baby Mario stage and the Yoshi stage. The Baby Mario stage is a slow vertical drop where you must guide the youngster into coins and away from enemies. Using your stylus you draw clouds to direct Mario and to ensnare enemies in a bubble that will turn them into coins. The number of coins you collect in this stage will determine what Yoshi is waiting for you when you land and the maximum number of eggs you can carry in the next stage. Blowing into the microphone will whisk away any clouds you draw. This is exceptionally useful if you wind up making a mistake. Instead of a vertical scroll, Yoshi's stage has you on a continuous horizontal scroll. Once again you can use your stylus to make clouds to direct Yoshi, trap enemies, and to collect items. In addition, you use the stylus to make Yoshi jump, flutter jump, and to throw eggs. The number of eggs Yoshi can carry is determined by its color and they are powered by fruit so to refill your cache you'll need to chow down on the various fruits scattered throughout the stage. The microphone performs the same job of blowing away clouds for Yoshi.

Although you collected coins to determine Yoshi's color, in Yoshi's stage the purpose of them changes a bit. Every coin you collect and enemy you defeat adds points to your star count. Once this hits one hundred a Super Star appears and it can transform Baby Mario into Super Baby Mario complete with cape, super speed, and unlimited stars to throw! Super Baby Mario is handy, but is also tricky to control. Occasionally you'll wind up inadvertently leading him into a ditch because he follows your clouds exactly. What this means is that Super Baby Mario will even run on the bottom of your clouds and ultimately to his own defeat. It happens so quickly that you might not even be able to catch him in time.

Touch & Go revamps the graphics from Yoshi's Island and gives them a fresh look. Instead of the child-like scribbling (which I liked) from Yoshi's Island everything gets a more painted flair (which I also like) that is more gentle to look at. I'm glad that Nintendo always tries to give Yoshi a different graphical style from other games, it helps to set it apart and makes it entertaining to watch.

The sounds are great in this game! Almost every sound from Yoshi's Island returns in this game. I say almost every because Baby Mario's cry is reduced to just one wail this time! The sound effects are crisp and are quite impressive; hitting a Tap-Tap (which apparently were renamed as Spiked Fun Guy) still results in a metallic kind of ping, coins have the familiar ka-ching sound, etc. Yoshi retains its familiar voice for every jump, flutter, and failure. Even some of the music is redone for Touch & Go. The classic level start music from Yoshi's Island plays at the beginning of Yoshi's stage for Score Attack. Most of the other songs in the game don't come from Yoshi's Island, but they do have a similar feel about them that works out well.

Ok, yes, this game is mind-numbingly short, there are only four modes to play in with one hidden bonus game that's relatively easy to find. The saddest part is that each mode is just a slightly different take on the game's main premise. Score Attack just wants you to get the highest score before you reach the end of the stage. Marathon is similar to Score Attack with the exception that there is no pre-defined end to the mode. This game ends when Yoshi gets hit or falls into a ditch. Challenge is basically Marathon, but this time you're trying to outrun Kamek and every point earned counts towards your time. This mode ends when you either get hit or when time is up, whichever happens first. Time Attack has you racing to save Baby Luigi from the Toadies before they escape. Time Attack and Score Attack are probably the least entertaining modes because once you've beaten them there is little left to do. Challenge and Marathon are the real meat and potatoes in Touch & Go because there is no real end to these modes. The real difficulty in these modes is to beat your old score because the further you get the harder it becomes to progress. Anybody who enjoys puzzle games or arcade games will get a kick out of the challenge. There is also a versus mode, but I haven't had the chance to try that out yet.

I think one of the best features of Yoshi Touch & Go is the Pictochat search function. Turning this option on will alert you when someone starts Pictochatting nearby and gives you the chance to stop the game and join them. This little function is quite handy to find other people to chat with without wasting your time by staying in Pictochat forever. Hopefully more DS games will implement this option in the future.

Yoshi Touch & Go isn't without it's flaws. Many have accused it of being little more than a tech demo and it's hard to argue against that. Although the game is enjoyable it is ridiculously short and more could have been put into it to help make it more robust. There are also some problems with using the stylus. Sometimes when you want Yoshi to jump you'll wind up throwing an egg instead. Occasionally this poses a real problem because it might be hazardous to accidentally jump. Also troublesome is the microphone's sensitivity. You can set how sensitive it is under the options, but you can choose only high, low, or off. High is set so sensitive that brushing your sleeve over it can cause a gust of wind to whisk away your clouds and with low you'll have to bring the DS near your mouth or try to exhale sharply enough that it will reach the Mic.

This is not a bad game at all and I'm sure puzzle gamers will enjoy it the most. Because the game is so short it's hard to recommend buying this game without trying it out first. I took a risk buying it, but I don't regret it at all. Everything else in the game is done so well that it's a bit of a letdown that there isn't more to it.