Ever since the Nintendo DS has been released Nintendo has promised gamers new and innovative games. We got a port of an 8-year-old game at launch. Then, with Wario Ware we got a port of a GBA game with a touch interface. So far there hasn't been much innovating going on. Yoshi Touch & Go changes all of that. The game is completely original and it's fun to play. The problem is, it's only fun to play in short bursts. The game seems more like a fun game demo than a real game and at $29.99 it's disappointing there's not more to the game.

Yoshi Touch & Go is not a true action/platform game with levels and bosses. Remember the old arcade classics like Pac-Man or Asteroids where the object was to see who could get the best score? That is pretty much what this game is. You begin the game with Baby Mario attached to three balloons falling from the sky. Using the stylus on the bottom touch screen players draw clouds to direct Mario where to go. As the screen scrolls down, the clouds scroll up to the top screen and Mario will move along the path that was drawn by the player. There are various enemies and coins littered about the screens. Simply drawing around many enemies will turn them into bubbles that you can then flick to Mario to collect. Spike enemies can't be trapped in bubbles, so they must be avoided by drawing clouds around their paths. If an enemy hits Baby Mario he will lose a balloon. Losing all three balloons spells game over.

Successfully making it to the bottom takes skill and practice. Once there, Yoshi is waiting on the bottom screen to carry Baby Mario along the rest of the level. Players will have to once again draw clouds so Yoshi can walk over bottomless pits and to avoid enemies. Tapping on Yoshi will allow him to jump. Yoshi also has eggs that can be thrown by tapping the screen. Taking out more than one enemy at a time nets more points. Tossing an egg at coins and fruit that are scattered throughout the level (some on the top screen) will collect them. The fruit is especially important to nab since it allows Yoshi to produce more egg ammo. The microphone is also used to whisk away any unwanted clouds that players might accidentally draw. Of course the object of the entire game is to see how many points you can rack up before dying. There's not really any level progression, but the game does become much more difficult the further in you make it. In that respect the game resembles a puzzle game where it continually becomes more difficult.

A recurring problem with many Nintendo DS games is that they don't offer the same amount of options, levels, and replay value as many games do on other systems. It's like the games are being designed to be gimmicky, but in doing so they are often very short (Wario Ware Touched and Feel the Magic) and unfortunately that's the case here. The game is fun while it lasts, but it doesn't offer up the replay value like a game of Pac-Man or Tetris does. I give Nintendo credit for trying something new, but the game offers up way too little for the price of admission. I don't want tech demos I want full-length games